Overview & Reviews

Acura is an upscale automaker known for offering cars with impressive levels of luxury, features and performance. It's come a long way in a short time, however, as the history of Acura is relatively brief. Parent company Honda introduced the Acura brand to the U.S. market in 1986 in an effort to create a separate luxury division for its products. At first, it was just a two-car show: the Legend sedan, which was the first true Japanese luxury car sold in America, and the Integra sport coupe and sedan.

Though essentially a marketing creation for the North American market, the Acura brand was immediately successful. Consumers liked the features, performance and upscale image of Acura cars, along with the fact that Acuras were backed by Honda's reputation for reliability and low ownership costs. In 1991, Acura introduced its crown jewel: the all-aluminum NSX sports car, which offered performance close to that of other exotic cars while undercutting them in price.

As Acura's product line grew in the 1990s, however, the company struggled a bit. Some of its products were duds, and it risked alienating loyal customers when it replaced the Legend and Integra names with alphanumeric designations. The company jumped on the hot luxury SUV bandwagon in the mid-'90s with the SLX. Unfortunately, the SLX was just a rebadged version of an Isuzu SUV, and its quality did not match customers' expectations.

For the new millennium, Acura revamped its product range. An all-new SUV called the MDX debuted, sporting numerous family-friendly features, including a third-row seat. The Integra was replaced with the RSX sport coupe, and an all-new entry-level sport sedan called the TSX was introduced after that. A complete redesign of its most popular model, the midsize TL sedan, followed, as did a redesign of its flagship RL luxury sedan.

By mid-decade the NSX was gone, but Acura filled out its model lineup with the street-performance-oriented RDX compact crossover, the TSX wagon and the ZDX, a fastback-styled crossover that placed unique styling over practicality. Today Acura is still trying to find its ideal niche but there's no denying the quality of Acura's vehicles, nor their appealing mix of performance, technology and value.

User Reviews:

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  Great car with a few qualifications - 2009 Acura TSX
  By subcollector - July 13 - 11:18 pm

  Traded in an excellent 05 Nissan Altima. My wife fell in love with the TSX. Very handsome auto with Tech package. A whole lot of useless gadgets. Paddle shifters that I will never use. Nav system is wonderful. Gives excellent fuel economy. Could use some additional interior and trunk room. Steering is somewhat quirky. Extremely sensitive and requires constant correction on straight highway driving. Ride just a bit too sporty. You feel every rut in the road. Handles very well. Very well built. Only problem was a defective speaker. Nice car!

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  Everything Id hoped for and more - 2010 Acura TL
  By James - July 13 - 9:43 pm

  Own and love a BMW Z4 and was preparing to buy a 535XI until I drove this car. Pulls well in all six gears, and close ratio shifting is smoother than any car Ive ever driven. (reminiscent of a previously owned 1995 NSX). Technology is easy to use and impressive. All wheel drive makes the car feel as if its on rails on sweeping freeway on-ramps. An absolute blast to drive.

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  Best Used Car Ever - 1997 Acura RL
  By tdsouza743 - July 12 - 5:40 pm

  I bought this car, tongue-in-cheek, 3 years old in 2000. My daughter had just totaled my Honda Accord, I got her her own Sable (for punishment) and bought this Acura 3.5RL for myself. It turned out to be the best used car Ive ever had. Cushy ride, great reliability, superb design, plenty of power, decent mileage. Still going very strong in the hands of same daughter. I miss it. My 2004 RL is great, but not as comfortable.

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  Acura Quality is Questionable - 2007 Acura TL
  By SteelRing - July 12 - 4:16 am

  Just finished my last payment so I will say this about my first wholly owned car: its an excellent drive but its far from perfect in terms of quality. First there is the 3rd gear problem affecting many models of manual transmission (both Honda and Acura). The battery has died twice, the passenger power window had problems going up, driver seat back cover came lose and some gaskets and weather seals have been replaced. The only good thing is that all was covered under warranty although the dealer still gouged me with their various xxK mile service, etc, which is not cheap. Still, it was engineered very well and so much better looking than the latest TL and way better feel.

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  Not my favorite car at all - 1997 Acura TL
  By Eric - July 11 - 1:32 am

  Lets see when I bought this car ay first I loved it had no problems at all until the ac idler pulley went. Got that replaced. Then no more then a month later that belt Burns off, then the ac compressor went. Like a 600dollar job. My catalytic converter and flex pipe go. 700 dollar job. Back brakes plus calipers both sides. Front ones need to be done now. Passenger window gettin ready a blown speaker. Also the d led light is out for drive. Left front tierod too. And this is all happened in about 5months. Theres more Im sure but this car is horrible for things going wrong between 89,000-100k miles. Ridiculous. Was wondering if anyone else has probs like mine.

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  I miss my 4Runner but - 2010 Acura TSX
  By mds0200 - July 8 - 11:04 pm

  OK, after a decade and a half of driving Toyota 4Runners, I finally made the move back to a car. The TSX caught my eye because of its sporty styling, fairly good gas mileage, tech-laden interior, and reputation for build quality. I drove the TL and its nice, but the TSX just feels sportier. After 2000 miles, Ive averaged 30+ mpg in mixed city/highway driving (30/70 split). The car feels nimble and cruises easily with 4 people. The V6 was tempting, but the price and gas mileage penalty helped sway me. The baseline engine is a nice balance between performance and efficiency. In addition to being safe, reliable, and practical, a vehicle should be fun to drive. The TSX is.

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  Shell be missed - 1992 Acura Legend
  By s OConnor - July 8 - 5:36 pm

  I bought this car from my niece in 06 who bought it from my dad in 97 who originally bought it new in 92. I had always loved this car even though my dad preferred the design of the 88( i personally saw no comparison!). Its pick up was amazing, stopped on a dime and maintenance, while expensive in comparison to American models, isnt required too often. The handling was unmatched and I always found the style very sleek. The paint held up although the last year lots of flaking on the roof. With 295,000 she met her fate when someone pulled out in front of me in traffic totaling the car. A terrible ending to a most amazing life.

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  Trip need more DVD Audio - 2010 Acura MDX
  By Todd - July 8 - 1:57 pm

  I just took a 4600 mile trip from San Diego to KC down to Nashville and stopping off at Memphis. The ride of the car superb, seating is the most comfortable, I am 61" and 270 lbs and never have been in a vehicle so comfortable. The AC unit did exceptional while driving through the desert in Arizona and New Mexico it was like instant cool when turning the car on after stopping for gas or food.

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  Still great after 7 years - 2003 Acura TL
  By ZacharyV - July 7 - 8:45 pm

  Now with 170,000 miles, this car still runs great with no problems. Transmission was fixed under recall several years ago. Otherwise, no major problems. Very fun to drive and show off. One great looking car in nighthawk black Pearl. (and get compliments on it still).

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  Great Performer - 2010 Acura ZDX
  By Dan - July 7 - 9:13 am

  This car is AMAZING! From the sculpted exterior, to the performance drivetrain, and finally the ergonomic interior, Acura didnÂ’t miss a thing. After 10 years of Lexus crossovers (RX300, 330, and 400h), I needed something with driver involvement. Driver involvement doesnÂ’t even begin to describe the fun I have driving hard on descending radius ramps or merging into traffic. This thing is a hoot! During my daily commute, when I canÂ’t play, the ELS stereo reproduces sound that is far superior to the Mark Levinson systems from the Lexus RX. My only complaint is the mileage. I expected to hover in the 18-19 mpg range, but so far itÂ’s just over 16mpg. Again, AMAZING barely describes it.