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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  Best car I have ever owned - 2007 Acura TSX
  By Nick - March 16 - 10:07 am

  Car is made 100% in Japan, have had no problems with it. Have 88,000 miles on it. Have a ton of confidence in the reliability of this car. MPG is good on Hwy and back roads, around 31- 33 on average. Stock stereo is nice, good sound, XM and MP3 work great. Decent acceleration, smooth quite ride. Acura service is great and reasonably priced.

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  Not bad for price - 2003 Acura CL
  By Daniel - March 14 - 11:07 pm

  Ive owned this car for about 4 months and am enjoying. I use to own a 01 Altima so I consider this a real upgrade. Although I love this car I have had quite a few problems with it in just these 4 months of ownership. I have already had to replace the transmission and starter. I have an exhaust leak so my check engine light is always on. Acura says it will take time to find the leak ($105 an hour just to diagnose and see where the leak is coming from). The 2003 automatic CLs are also known for transmission problems. Luckily mine was 2 months away from the warranty expiring so I did not have to pay a cent. Other then those things I am pleased with this car and would recommend for the price.

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  Fantastic Car! - 2010 Acura TL
  By Lisa Van Der Wall - March 13 - 7:34 pm

  I have owned this car for 9 days and I love it! The exterior body style and interior body is beautiful. I got the Basque Red Pearl with Ebony (black) interior and I get so many compliments on the color and body style. It handles great...very tight. I like how the car shifts. The Technology Package is well worth it. The sound system is great and it is nice to have XM radio for a while. The seating is very comfortable in the front and back. My sons car seat fits perfect in the back. I would recommend this car to anyone. I have had a Ford Mustang GT, a Volvo and two Toyota Camrys. By far, this is my favorite car so far.

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  service - 2006 Acura TL
  By lgs - March 13 - 6:42 pm

  A good car. but dont get it serviced by the dealer, Acura will call you over and over to question you about the service, I called the local dealer and they could not get me off the call list. Well, if you go local dont give your phone number. Otherwise a great car, but the trunk could have better lighting, awesome sound system though.

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  150k and drives/looks like new - 2005 Acura TL
  By kp28217 - March 12 - 9:30 pm

  What can you say about a car with 150K miles that doesnt have a rattle or squeak, everything works perfectly and drives like new? 33 MPG on highway and averaging 28 in combined driving. The interior still looks new. Impressive car given the mileage and age. Very pleased and would highly recommend. Best stock stereo Ive had. Better than BOSE in Infiniti and Harmon Kardon in my BMW.

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  Dependable and fun to Drive - 2006 Acura TL
  By macura - March 11 - 6:45 am

  I was originally looking for a second automobile with good fuel economy. I bought this car when it was 3 years old with 25,000 miles on it. This car has exceeded all my expectations. Its agile, and, while others complain of the "heavy" steering and road noise, I love the way this car feels. It is as planted at 60mph as it is switching lanes at 80mph. I can "feel" the road surface through the steering wheel not an objectionable feeling imho and the steering response is quick and precise. All this and I regularly get 30 mpg in a well appointed, sneaky fast and RELIABLE Honda product. I made the right decision!

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  Last Acura I will ever buy - 2002 Acura RSX
  By Bub24 - March 11 - 12:00 am

  I absolutely hate this car! It has been nothing but an expensive lemon. 1st the oil pump went bad ($800) then the vtec pressure switch $74, then the vtech actuator. Now the timing chain is stretched. 83,000 miles are you serious? Oh and forget about finding replacement parts at your local autoparts store. Almost every piece of this abomination is special order or my favorite "dealer only $$$$ part" I am done with Acura and there overpriced crap.$1366 to replace a timing chain!What!

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  Great Cool Car! - 2010 Acura TL
  By RSPS - March 9 - 4:56 pm

  2010 Acura TL/Tech, best car value for the drive and luxury ever. Very well built. My long distance drive feels too short now! It looks gorgeous with its sharp ready to pounce exterior. Wo said it was ugly, controversial Yes, Ugly no, Futuristic Yes, bland blending into sea of cars, No!

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  My Mechanic told me to buy a Honda. - 1994 Acura Integra
  By Honda Gooooood - March 9 - 2:54 pm

  My Mechanic told me to "Just go buy a Honda", when I told him that I wanted to Dump more money into my Ford again. I didnt like the exterior design of the Integra originally, but I decided to buy this car, after weeks of just reading reviews on all the cars that I was interested in. This one had the best reviews. Cheap & Reliable. This is by far the best decision I couldve made. This vehicle is definitely SOLID. Its @ 217,000 miles and feels like I bought a newer car! So if you find one in decent shape & a decent price, get it. I got this car for $700 bucks, privately owned. Finally! After 2 Fords, 2 Dodges, a Jeep, a VW an Olds and a Chevy, in less than 15 years. Finally, Reliability!

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  Awesome - 2010 Acura RDX
  By Bill - March 9 - 9:24 am

  This is the second Acura I have owned, the MDX being the first. All things considered it is the best small SUV on the market period. I looked at them all- BMW, VW, Audi, etc. As long as you are not looking for a troop transport it has plenty of space.