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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  one hot car - 2005 Acura TL
  By oznow - April 22 - 7:18 am

  Overall I luv the Acura TL. Its a blast to drive.

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  Roaring noise from exhaust at 2k rpms - 2004 Acura MDX
  By asharkov2 - April 21 - 2:00 am

  My 2004 MDX makes a low-pitched annoying roaring noise at about 2000 rpms from the exhaust. I took my car to the dealer, and this is what the mechanic wrote: "I test drove the car and could hear the roaring noise at 2Krpm. I swapped exhaust from a new MDX and it still made the same noise. I swapped the air box assembly and it still made the same noise. I test drove another 04 MDX and it makes the same noise" The service manager told me that this is "a characteristic of the vehicle," that nothing can be done about it at this time, and only if Acura gets enough complaints, it may look at the problem, and find a fix.

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  My First SUV - 2006 Acura MDX
  By holly - April 17 - 9:58 pm

  I test drove all the SUV crossovers out there before deciding on the MDX. I love the width of the car. Much wider than a Chev. Tahoe and the like. It is a smooth ride and handles very well. I love navigation which is something that I wasnt even interested in in the beginning, but after I test drove one with navigation, my mind changed. Now Im spoiled and will always have to have Navigation. After driving a Chrysler 300M for several years, I am surprised at many features that my Chrysler had that the Acura doesnt. Being a luxury car you would think it would have everything. See below under "suggested improvements". Other cars like the Lexus 330 had much softer/plusher seats too.

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  Nice car, but not perfect..... - 2006 Acura RL
  By braindrain - April 16 - 3:14 pm

  Traded an Audi A8L for this. Had Mercedes, Audi, Saab, etc, and decided to shop wide due to insane pricing on german cars, lousy residuals on nice american car leases. Ended up between the RL and Infiniti M35. The RL most certainly has the most features of anything in its class, although Im not sure what class it is. Sold as a full size Honda in Japan, thats sort of what it is. Nice materials, but whacky electronics, including the dumb keyless ignition that has stranded me 5 times. Bad gas mileage too, my Durango does better. VERY loud tires too, gnaws on my eardrums on concrete highways. Acura had a good 42 month lease, that I now regret. A nice 24 month car, but no more......

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  Terrific Car! - 2004 Acura TL
  By PTJ - April 16 - 10:00 am

  I have only about 500 miles on the car, but Im thrilled with it. Looked at the G35, Audi A4, and a few others not worth mentioning. But I love that the car is fully loaded; the design is refined, its a blast to drive. Get the 6-speed manual! If its reliable, Ill never go back to Audis and VWs.

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  decent car...Terrible transmission - 2002 Acura MDX
  By JohnA.Feer - April 15 - 2:41 pm

  This car is a good car short term. After my second year owning this car a bunch of lights came up on the dashboard. After getting it checked, weeks later the transmission starting to fail. acura has honda products including the transmission, and honda is known for the worst transmission. The car starting bucking and did not get into gear, and would have trouble reversing. Very comfy, nice options, but just bad transmission, and sunroof.

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  RL Thoughts - 2005 Acura RL
  By Mike - April 12 - 10:13 am

  The car is a very nice blend of luxury and performance. While it lacks the handling of a BMW 5 series, it also has better real world driving characterisitcs. It has a very well integrated approach to technology and I love the features, all of which are standard; Navigation, XM radio, OnStar, All Wheel Drive. Add the beautiful interior, refinement and the fact they are willing to significantly reduce the price and you have a great combination.

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  10 Month Review - 2004 Acura TL
  By kells - April 10 - 10:00 am

  Bought the car 3 days after its introduction. Reading reviews for 8 months now and agree with 95% of them. Its a good car and I am very pleased. Here are some things to watch out for: Paint peeling from bumper at the seem where it meets rear tail light. Dealer said that most peeling has been reported in the front of car, so keep an eye there too. From heavy rains, water leaking onto front-right dash speaker. Dont know if its from door seal or windshield seal. Careful grabbing for hood release, mistakenly ripped fuse box cover off and now have to tape it in place. Glove box door rattles.

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  Sorry I bought it - 2000 Acura TL
  By FoSho69 - April 7 - 9:34 pm

  This is the 2nd Tl Ive owned in the past 3 years. My first one had the navigation system. The car ran pretty good, except for the navigation performance. It wouldnt hold the GPS position if its life depended on it, although it was very user friendly. I currently have a 2000 TL and I dread the day I bought it. First off, The transmission. It was sticking, then gave out altogether, stranding me along the road. Ive taken it to acura numerous times for service and I get the run-around. I was furious when it finally broke. It also has the worse cup holders. Also, playing burnt CDs from home is impossible. When I get another car very soon, I will buy another Lexus.

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  my04tl - 2004 Acura TL
  By Ed - April 7 - 9:03 pm

  When I initially looked at this car, I fell in love with it. The exterior design was much nicer than Lexus 330. The price I got was about $1200.00 less than Lexus 330. I experienced few problems with this vehicle. The stainless steel side panels got easily scratched and dented. And also the leather seats did not hold well. overall, it is a nice car but not for $38,000.00 (incl. Navi)this car should be priced in low $30,000.00 range.