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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  Usual Honda Quality Missing - 2004 Acura TL
  By Sundance - February 28 - 11:10 pm

  We are long time Honda Accord owners, maybe as many as 10 dating to the first Ohio built Accord in 1982 and this is our first Acura. We are just not used to poor quality from Honda and the Acura needs their full attention. Dealer has it now to fix rattling windows on both sides. The Bridgestone tires are poor in the rain and the 2005 NAV cars now have Michelins. The Acura Customer Service people are poor and offensive to their customers. Honda really needs to take a look at the entire picture at Acura.

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  2500 miles - 2016 Acura TLX
  By rick d - February 28 - 3:19 pm

  This is a really good car. Very solid and enjoy driving. Best value for my dollar. I do think Acura should step up to the plate and turbo the engine on the 2.4 to compete with Lexus and Germans.

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  Awesome Car - 1991 Acura Integra
  By Larry C. - February 25 - 6:45 pm

  I have a 1991 Acura Integra with 190,000 miles. I teach Drivers Education in it. I have put on 40k a year and have not had to do anything but replace three window motors. (same window) Other than that, I could not recommend this car enough. I am in the market for another one.

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  Excellent Choice - 2003 Acura TL
  By bigragu - February 25 - 12:33 pm

  I made the purchase after looking at Accord and Maxima. Someone told me to check out TL. I drove the Type-S and purchased it immediately. I very reliable car. Would purchase again in a second.Took to dealer for oil change, they noticed the tranny recall, gave me a loaner, and was all completed painlessly in a day.

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  Superb entry lux SUV - 2003 Acura MDX
  By dk - February 24 - 10:00 am

  If youre interested in a 7-seater lux SUV, the MDX is for you. The exterior design is conservative but appealing. The leather seats are very good, but other interior materials could be improved. The V6 has lively performance, but at the expense of poor gas mileage in low gear (Id love a hybrid of this vehicle!). The 3rd row seats sold us, together with very well balanced safety features inside and out--such as the VTM-4 and VSA.

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  Still A Great Drive - 2005 Acura NSX
  By Matt - February 23 - 9:17 pm

  Unless you are going to go to a racetrack and take on the new vette or vipers, you will not be disappointed by the horsepower. The car is still 5.0 sec to 60 and handles incredibly well. The NSX is very much improved from the 2002 model year forward. There are very few automotive reviews on the post-2002 NSX which is a shame because the driving experience is much imporved over the older car.

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  2017 RDX - 2017 Acura RDX
  By Peter Fahlman - February 23 - 10:12 am

  Love the ride and comfort of the RDX

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  Overall a Good Deal - 2003 Acura TL
  By David - February 18 - 2:07 am

  Ill be returning this car in a few days after 70,000+ miles. I enjoyed it very much. A few problems which were unexpected for a Honda product. Rearview mirror fell off in the first week. Had a wheel bearing go out within the 1st yr. And just got a new transmission due to the recall. All problems were taken care of by the dealer. Given that, I really liked the way the car drove and how comfortable it was. I needed something with a little room, especially in the rear seat and this was better than all comparable vehicles. All in all a good value. Now I have a 2005.

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  A good value - 2003 Acura TL
  By wrx_tester - February 15 - 2:00 am

  Car does accelerate well but transmission kickdown in both auto and automanual is not at all smooth. RPM at 75mph is less than 2000 which helps limit engine noise. The stereo is not up to snuff vs. German brands. Build quality esp. around the bumpers was questionable. Give them a push and they might fall off. Could use 7" wheels instead of 6.5".

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  4 Transmissions in 4 years? - 2001 Acura TL
  By Brendan - February 11 - 8:12 pm

  We bough the TL used from the dealer - other than the tranmissions we havent had a lick of trouble, but 4 trannys now in a 4 year old car with 67k miles? Acura had done the right thing by us each time - no complaints there - the warrenty has been extended on the transmission to 7 years, 100k miles, but I do not feel like I can trust this car. The service advisor tells me there are spot problem with TL transmissions that were taken care of starting in 2004. I love the car other than this and woudl buy Acura again, but just not a TL built before 2004.