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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  Nothing compares for the price - 2010 Acura TL
  By montoro - June 17 - 5:50 pm

  Bought the car a few months ago and love it. The handling and power is unbelievable. I find it extremely easy to cruise on the highway and the tech package is a must with an actually easy to use nav. i looked at other cars and the nav always seemed very complex.

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  Best luxury SUV on the market - 2010 Acura MDX
  By CAMDX - June 17 - 4:32 pm

  The mdx is my first Honda/Acura, and after almost a month of ownership Im thoroughly impressed with the quality, workmanship, and technology features of the mdx. It has plenty of room for a family of 4 . The handling and acceleration are top notch for an SUV of this size and weight, you feel confident driving it. Love the navigation, voice activation, and bluetooth connectivity. Dvd entertainment system works great. Awesome sound system. Well thought-out interior. Aggressive exterior design. Definitely a better buy for the $$ compared to other luxury SUVs from BMW, Mercedes, and Volvo. Highly recommend to others!

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  Unstable and dangerous car on snow - 2007 Acura TL
  By Vic - June 17 - 1:57 am

  Please beware this car is extremely dangerous on snow conditions due to its suspension, tires and being a front wheel drive vehicle. I would not recommend anyone to buy this car if you get snow in your areas. I would recommend to go for AWD vehicles like Audi for snow states in US. Snow tires will not be of much help for this car.

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  Nice Commuter SUV - 2010 Acura RDX
  By bob - June 16 - 8:14 pm

  I finally found it, a compact crossover SUV that has the right combination of luxury, comfort, and drivability at a reasonable price. My daily big city commute requires superb acceleration and smooth handling to ensure a safe drive. The Acura RDX gives me this, is fun to drive, and gets reasonable gas mileage. The seats are wide and welcoming for my 50+ year old body. The RDX is a very good value compared to other luxury SUVs. The base model cost 10-15% less than the other SUVs that I considered, yet had all of the features that I wanted. And when I sit in it, I can tell that Acura delivers a high quality product.

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  THE best thing I ever did was buy this! - 1994 Acura Integra
  By appie - June 16 - 5:49 pm

  My Integra has given me 11 years of reliable transportation.It has 207,000 mi now and still feels as peppy as it did when I bought it.I use 87 octane and have for probably 7 years now.I keep the oil changed regularly and regular maintenance done every two years or so.I love everything about it, the power windows, sunroof, cruise control, zippy 5 spd tranny, ease of parking, a huge trunk and its just so much fun to drive.We now have a 1 yr old and she loves riding in it too.I will never sell this car, I will drive it until it dies and then I will buy a TSX.BTW I am 34 yrs old and this is only the second car Ive owned, my first was an 81 Civic. I will always be a Honda/Acura girl.

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  Good overall value for the money - 2006 Acura RSX
  By Ed - June 15 - 1:13 pm

  This car has a nice combination of fuel economy, reliability and performance. That said, it does have some negatives. Mine came with red paint that after 4 years was severely faded. Had it repainted. Im 6 and of average build and weight and found the seats very uncomfortable. Im also an upholsterer. I rebuilt and reupholstered the seats in a faux suede (were leather). They are now comfortable. Like most Hondas, excessive road noise. I completely removed the interior and applied sound deadening materials. This insulated the cabin to outside noise, but road noise will still be transmitted into the cabin. The project goal: create a luxury sport coupe. Goal shortfall: road noise.

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  Bravo to Acura - 2000 Acura RL
  By frank - June 14 - 9:16 pm

  I have had this car for 6 years. Recently gave to my daughter and bought an infiniti m45. This car is awesome, ten years old, 104,000 miles and runs like a top. A little TLC and my daughter has a mint vehicle! The body /sedan build is great. If you have a chance pick one up! You wont be upset.

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  2010 RDX Review - SH-AWD - 2010 Acura RDX
  By Justin - June 14 - 7:20 pm

  First time buying an SUV. Looked at the Rouge, Escape Ltd., CX-7, Tiguan - also higher up the XC-60. For the money (paid $33) the RDX blew away the comp. Love the interior (first luxury car), audio is awesome - leather heated, very comfortable seats (fr and bk). exterior is nice. Very peppy, i merge like a champ w/ the turbo. everyone compliments my new ride, & rightly so. Im a proud owner BUT MPG is killing me. i need AWD (in Alaska) and Im averaging 18.5 MPG. I drove a Jetta before, so maybe Im over reacting but premium fuel and 18.5 is the only thing Im not thrilled with. If you are in the $30-35k range this is the vehicle hands down. Happy Owner

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  Joy killed by the Remote - 2010 Acura TL
  By cooolbabu - June 14 - 3:40 pm

  I always a had remote-start with new my cars for the last 15 years. This time, I went Acura Remote. It cost $900 and you get only one remote start. And it weights a ton. I need a janitors pouch to carry remote-start and the FOB. Luxury car seems like step down from my previous Chevy Malibu.

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  Wont buy it again - 2008 Acura MDX
  By gamerchick - June 14 - 3:18 am

  After almost 3 months of owning it, I got a leak from the edge of sunglasses holder. I brought it over to the dealer ship, they didnt find anything wrong with it. Soon after, My memory seats are not working at all. It takes lots of pushes to get the seat moved to the right position. I brought it to the dealership again. when they tested it, the button worked fine. so they said they couldnt do anything till it acted up. And of course after I got home, the memory seat didnt work. Long story short, this issue is still not getting fixed yet. I would not buy Acura again.