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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  Excellent SUV - 2007 Acura MDX
  By Satisfied in TX - April 18 - 4:58 pm

  My wife and I narrowed down our choice for a reliable, slightly used mid-size luxury SUV to the MDX. We made a great choice! We considered a Mazda CX-9, Lexus RX 350, Toyota Highlander and Volvo XC-90 and the MDX topped them all in our book. The MDX hugs the road incredibly better than any of the other SUVs, nearly driving itself most of the time. The power from the 300 hp V6 is at its best from 40-70 MPH and makes interstate driving easy & exhilarating. The interior quality far exceeds the other SUVs out there and its tough to pass on Acura (Honda Motors) storied reliability and low maintenance. Gas mileage is average compared to others above, but the extra performance is worth it!

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  Love This Car! - 2010 Acura TL
  By jimmyt_2 - April 18 - 2:44 pm

  This is my 2nd TL (2005). Had this car for 7 weeks & 2500 miles. I love everything about it except the grill, but everything else is so perfect I dont notice the grill any longer. This car is a beast. Performance and handling are amazing. The car accelerates so well without getting hard into the gas, it feels like a turbo kicks in at about 40mph and launches you to 60. The SH-AWD is really fun once you figure out how to use it (when to accelerate during a turn, etc.). The car corners like its on rails. It was too easy to chirp the tire in my 05 if I accelerated from a stop. Not this car. Cant wait to try it in the show.

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  Be aware of rattle noises - 2010 Acura TSX
  By NL3 - April 16 - 9:26 pm

  Like the car but has lot of rattle noises from various places (research around on the internet - you will know what I mean). For me its from the passenger seat door - brand new car with 2900 miles and I have noises. If that doesnt bother you then its a perfect car. Otherwise be aware before what you are buying.

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  Amost Perfect - 1999 Acura TL
  By okiegem - April 16 - 11:08 am

  I checked with Consumer Reports before I began searching for a reliable car that my elderly parents could enter/exit easily. This fit the bill above Toyota and Nissan models. We found it VERY comfortable. I really L-O-V-E its appearance and performance! It now has 90K on it and runs beautifully. When I purchased it at 50K, its brakes were pulsing and the dealership included a full brake job before I closed. Its A/C control was replaced a year later when it went out. Otherwise its been a great car and Id buy again. In fact, Im thinking about replacing it with a later year of the same model and design, because I dont like the design of the newer TLs.

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  Hands down, best car EVER! Case closed - 1991 Acura Legend
  By tre91acura - April 16 - 8:31 am

  Hello all. This review is all you need to read. Straight to the point. The 1991 Acura Legend L is a superb ride. Mine is showing some wear and tear, inside and out, but that due to me and my neglect. If you can get one in decent condition, get it, join the club. I get people asking me to sell it to them often, so that tell you how awesome this car is @ 19 years old. I do not drive my Legend daily due to crazy city traffic and have another car for that purpose. Everyone that have a Acura Legend, lets restore it, maintain it and keep it looking and running in pristine condition. Do not sell yours, well, Im not selling mine. Good luck with yours.

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  Follow-up Review - 2010 Acura RDX
  By follow-up - April 15 - 2:43 pm

  I originally reviewed after only a few days. Now I have had it about 6 months. Great car. Smaller than my MDX, but same great vehicle. The computer says I get 19.5 mpg all city driving. FWD is better on fuel than AWD, but still should be better. Very peppy and easy to drive. Turbo is great. Tech package is a must. I connected my ipod and love the fact the I can control it with normal stereo controls. Chevy Traverse drove well, but the interior, road noise, and overall drive doesnt even compare to Acura. I love it.

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  BEWARE: Bad Transmissions - 2002 Acura MDX
  By jj0103 - April 15 - 8:13 am

  Nice vehicle but not withstanding of the reputation of Hondas reliability. Transmissions have known issue under NHTSA recall 04V176000 of gear failure that could result in transmission lockup. This happened to me at 113k miles after Acura said they fixed the issue. While driving 35 mph the front end of the vehicle seized and skidded 5-7 feet. Luckily there wasnt a car behind me. They tried to charge $7k to fix the transmission. It appears there are 100s of similar cases reported online and Acura is using plausible deniability to avoid litigation issues. I logged a complaint w/ NHTSA & sold vehicle due to safety concerns.

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  Amazing! - 2009 Acura TL
  By Steve - April 13 - 3:57 pm

  Great performing car and amazing handling. It handles as well as or better than my Porsche C4S AWD on the corners and curves.

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  Very nice car - 2000 Acura RL
  By New RL driver - April 13 - 10:03 am

  I bought this car with 172,000 miles on it just a couple of weeks ago. What a nice car to drive. Knew Id buy it on the test drive. Had a 99 Mercedes S320 for a lot of years and took it to 180,000 but paid the price along the way. The mechanics that looked at the Acura were amazed at how it ran and performed after all the miles and no issues at all. Plan on driving it to 400000.

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  Great Vehicle - 2001 Acura MDX
  By Great Vehicle - April 13 - 12:32 am

  I now have 168,000 miles on this MDX with virtually no problems, except 1. Two years ago, the Torque Converter went out. The dealer indicated that it would cost about $5,000 to repair unless Acura stepped. The dealer, Butler Acura in Ashland, Oregon contacted Acura and asked about it. Acura agreed to replace the entire transmission and torque converter (new, not rebuilt) if I would cover the labor cost. The car had 132,000 miles on it at the time. That is standing behind a car. The warranty was only for 100,000 miles, but they felt it should not have gone out, so they replaced it. The car does have a bit more road noise than I would like, but otherwise is a great performer!