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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  Love the MDX, hate the mileage - 2006 Acura MDX
  By AED2491 - February 18 - 3:13 pm

  I love the MDX. I drove a company car for years, and switched jobs so I had to purchase a car for the first time in over 10 years. I purchased it due mostly to the fact that it was the best- fitting SUV for me. (I am 64" tall, so the leg room was what led me to the MDX). Looked at other mid-size SUVs (Toyota, Volvo, VW, etc.) and others were just too small for me. All the features in the car are outstanding!

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  Great little suv - 2006 Acura MDX
  By John Read - February 15 - 1:57 pm

  More road noise than you would expect. Still a great little suv. Still more road noise than I like.

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  The best car ever - 1994 Acura Integra
  By Megan - February 10 - 1:10 pm

  I got this car when I was 16, and I drove her like a 16 year-old. The up- keep was cheap: regular oil changes, brake work, tire changes, and tune- ups. The gas mileage was good and still is 8 years later. Shes been an excellent car, and I hope to drive her for as long as I can. Shes fun to drive, and I feel safe in her. I would buy this car 10 more times.

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  Not bad for a car this old - 1995 Acura Integra
  By Cowboy Curtis - February 10 - 7:09 am

  I went through a lot of things, mostly bad, with this car. I had to replace a lot of things on it, but I think most of the problems with it were because of previous missuse and such. I ended up selling it because it just wasnt comfortable enough. I think this was mostly because of the terrible leather seats. Its decently quick, though the lack of torque means you dont get much punch for just squirting through traffic or whatever. Sounds terrible even with an aftermarket intake (my Corolla sounds better). Fun to drive. Ill always remember cool autumn nights in 03, just driving around campus with the windows and moonroof open, listening to New Order and forgeting all of my problems.

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  Low quality control - 2005 Acura MDX
  By moxnix1 - February 7 - 9:26 pm

  Fun to drive, very responsive handling. Fuel economy is disappointing. Nav system and touch screen controls locked up when car was only a few weeks old. Temp control on heater has never worked properly and seatbelt sensor for passenger seat doesnt work. Other than that I love the car.

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  I like it, but.... - 2003 Acura TL
  By Christian W - February 7 - 10:00 am

  Acceleration, handling, great sound system, and comfortable seats are all very compelling reasons to own one. I compared against several cars with the closest competition for me being the Infiniti G35 and/or I30. I owned an Accord for 10 years prior, so I decided on the TL. My most concerning problems are the transmission and exterior paint. The trans has moments where it can’t decide which gear to be in. As a result, it feels like it goes neutral. The paint on the front hood pealed - been repainted twice. Other problems include brakes, moonroof, driver seat, and exterior. Trim around windows is actually decal strips. Mine started bubbling.

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  2007 Acura MDX Tech/Ent - 2007 Acura MDX
  By nick@night - February 6 - 10:33 pm

  Car drives very nice and is quiet compared to other Honda vehicles using the same platform. Features (tech and entertainment pkg) are well thought-out and appeal to those who can appreciate new technology. I only have 1k miles on the clock so its still too early to tell how the MDX will hold up. Michelin tires are very quiet and handle well.

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  Fast and high-tech - 2009 Acura TL
  By Eli - February 4 - 2:06 pm

  Engine is smooth and powerful, but produces some torque steer on the FWD model. Without the AWD option its easily the best value compared to competitors. This car is a geeks best friend. The interior is full of innovative technologies such as a nav system that routes around bad weather and automatic climate control that tracks the suns position in the sky. The stereo is impressive, but the built-in hard drive is limited to playing ripped CDs, no directly loading mp3 files. The car is very easy to control with electronic steering and downshifting the transmission for engine braking is extremely smooth. But it would be nice if Honda moved to a 6-speed or better to match Toyota.

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  love my mdx - 2001 Acura MDX
  By MDX - January 29 - 12:21 am

  My mdx has proven to be the best suv and best car I have ever owned. It handles like a small car and can turn on a dime. Great for hauling the kids to soccer practice and school. More than just roomy but comfortable too. Great CD player, six disk, with 12 speakers. Kids love to ride in the car. I had the first in our area and people were always asking about the car. Neat middle information screen, TV like. Looking forward to the 2007 model that is when I will be buying my new MDX

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  Expected a great car, but.... - 2005 Acura MDX
  By professor - January 27 - 6:57 pm

  I purchased this vehicle one year ago and have had some problems with the exhaust system and acceleration. My MDX makes an annoying noise at the 2 rpm mark, and does not have very good acceleration at times I have had it checked (with little success) at my Acura dealer. There are also some interior noises in the back doors, which is bothersome to listen to at times. I really expected a lot more from this vehicle, especially for the price that I paid. The gas mileage is not that great as well....getting around 14-15 mpg in the city and 17-18 mpg on the highway, and I drive fairly conservative.