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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  First and Last Acura I will ever own - 2000 Acura TL
  By Nels - September 25 - 2:00 am

  Purchased used in 2004 from a relative who bought it new. Found online the tramsmission had problems which had not yet been mailed to the owners. Took it in to Acura service who said the gears werent discolored so the recall instructed them to increase coolant to the gears. Took it in last year because it was stalling and paid Acura service over $1000 for FUEL INJECTORS! Now at 68K miles, the transmission is almost dead. Acura service says I should have changed the transmission fluid every 15,000 even though they didnt mention this the several times it was brought in and the extended warranty for this known transmission problem expired after 7 years or 100,000 miles. Never again Acura.

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  Absolutely Awful - 2010 Acura TSX
  By dimitrir - September 13 - 2:00 am

  Regardless of price, this must be the worst car on the road! Suspension is so clunky and noisy that I do not want to drive this car. Corporate ACURA and dealership say that "this is the way it was engineered". ACURA should be absolutely embarassed and ashamed.

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  If youre short, dont buy - 2010 Acura TSX
  By The Trader - August 28 - 1:17 pm

  Traded a 05 Volvo, wonderful car except for turn radius bought a 10 Prius traded it for the TSX - talked into it by saleslady rather than the TL, I preferred. What a year! Hate this car I cant see out the front as the seat wont come up high enough or the steering wheel wont adjust high enough without blocking the dash (at least I can see the dash unlike Prius). Seat belt locks door too heavy and hinges in wrong places for me. This car was built for a giant. Im just a little ol lady and dont need all the gadgets, much less the sporty feel.

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  Honda can not fix the problem in 8 years - 2007 Acura TL
  By Art - August 25 - 7:48 pm

  Car has same problem my other acuras This 2007, has had the same problem as my 1999 TL, which acura wrote up a service bulletin in 2003 about the poor engineering on the evp canister purge valve, which would take about 1 cent worth of S/steal to fix when making the car, or about $500 in an acura dealer. They still did not fix the problem by 2007, 4 years after service bulletin. Transmission. 6 speed manual, had same problem as my sons 2000 rxs with 3rd gear. again poor engineering same transmission. Acura does not correct their engineering problems in a timely. Neither of these problems I should have had in a 2007. Acura knew of the problems and the poor engineering since 2001

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  Transmissions - 2002 Acura MDX
  By Tom - August 9 - 4:13 pm

  Stay away from this vehicle. Buyer beware. I had my tranny replaced at the dealer after numerous issues, in fact I had to take it to a different dealer who said yes after 109KM it needs a new tranny. Now I need another 139 KM it died. I called Acura? Honda Canada only to be told too bad it is past warranty (which it is). I repeatedly told them that there have been major issues with this model and specific problem to which the reply was. No there hasnt! Please Google 2002 acura mdx transmission issues before you make a major mistake.

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  Dump the Car if You Can - 2003 Acura TL
  By Nadine - August 6 - 2:59 pm

  I bought my TL at around 87K miles and it has been nothing but a headache. Last year the transmission had to be replaced. Im very gentle with the car. The the engine was gummed up so that was another large expense. The rear view mirror had to be replaced because some chemical in the mirror started leaking out. Now the PCM Unit has failed and it will cost $1200 to repair. Im quite angry with Hendricks Acura in Charlotte right now because they didnt mention that I could get an exchange or a reconditioned PCM which will cost less. They also want to charge me for a 2nd diagnostic before they replace the PCM. This is the absolute worst car I ever owned!

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  Worst car ever purchased - 2007 Acura RDX
  By Terrible car - August 5 - 11:31 am

  In the first 3 months this brand new car was in the shop for electronic malfunctions, sunroof malfunction, rear hatch cracked, turbo replaced, warning light indicator malfunction, "flooding issues" and engine noise. This has been our worst experience with a car purchase, Acura service was terrible along with Acura Canadas response. I would NOT recommend this car, it is noisy, rough and unreliable.

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  Pass on the 05 TL - 2005 Acura TL
  By Missed on this one - July 23 - 12:53 pm

  If you are considering purchasing one of these vehicles I would suggest passing. Build quality, particularly interior components, is very poor, many squeaks, rattles, very un Honda like. I cant keep tires on the car. With 40K on the car, I am now on my third set. Although this is more sporty than the earlier version, ride quality is harsh, the car sits too low to the ground and is just not well built. I am a loyal Acura/ Honda owner however I cant recommend this car.

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  Be Careful! - 1997 Acura Integra
  By wmsptPA - April 29 - 10:06 am

  Beware of used Integras! These are popular cars to modify, and when people do this, they mess things up seriously! Due to the moron who owned the car before me, my integra is endlessly dying on me for one reason after another, as soon as I fix one problem, a new one comes up. I have spent thousands of dollars trying to keep this thing on the road (I cant afford another car), and as I write it is dead at my house, wont start due to an electrical malfunction of some kind, which will probably also cost a fortune. Integras are great cars as long as they have not been modified at all, be very cautious that the one you are considering buying has not been modified at all!

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  Transmission Problems - 2003 Acura MDX
  By RL - April 28 - 7:01 pm

  Bought the vehicle certified and thank god I did. Three transmissions later and numerous minor fixes. Dont buy any MDX earlier than 2006 or you will be at the dealership often.