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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  Disappointed MDX Owner - 2004 Acura MDX
  By Frustrated MDX - December 29 - 2:00 am

  This car continues to spend more time at the dealership.Have had both headlights replaced due to design flaw & moisture getting inside. Lever on middle row seat broke.Finish on steering wheel cover started to come off.Recall for timing belt.Design flaw with the brake calipers & the constant clicking noise. Design flaw with the gas tank & constance sloshing sound of gas. The latest was the breaking of the power steering pulley belt that left my wife stranded on a LA freeway in the rain at night.It took Acuras roadside service 3 hours to finally get her towed.Acuras thanks to us was giving us a crappy Ford Focus for a loaner. All this for a $44k SUV.

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  Not what I had hoped for $50,000+ - 2016 Acura MDX
  By Daniel - December 17 - 5:16 am

  It came down to the 2016 Volvo XC90, Honda Pilot, BMW X5, and 2015 Toyota Highlander. We were inclined to get the XC90 for all the safety features & the incredibly cool look. The drive is great, however it felt really risky getting a brand new everything car. The dealer had been saying they would get in Jan, the first ones did not appear till May and it seemed like they were trying to get it right. Visibility was ok. However, loaded with all the safety features it was getting to 60 though it starts at $47 all cars had very confusing option packages & what is considered a safety feature. The test car 3rd row seat seem to have a problem. Then they recalled the vehicle to fix the third row airbags. We keep cars for 10 years & did not want to be going back to the dealer over and over again. The final straw is when they were offering factory maintenance for all models except the XC90 which had 1 year less of the maintenance. On a new model they should not insert more doubt. The BMW drove great but the 3rd row was not big enough for anyone over the age of 12 so had to cross it off. The highlander felt less luxurious but most importantly did not have all the safety systems that we were looking for so we decided to pass. At the time the 2016 was not out, it appears from the reviews that they have added some safety features. We were left with the pilot and the MDX. In the end, the Pilots cheap minivan arm rest on the drivers side along with the bad handling and turning radius on turns made us skip it. Any man over 200 pounds will find there is no way to lean on the arm rest comfortably. The turning handling and radius were a big concern also as on a sharp turn near our house the car veered into the oncoming traffic lane. We did it twice. Finally, unless you get the highest trim the handling is so "trucky" the kids got out and were ready to throw up. This left us with the MDX. We were excited to be moving up in the luxury ranks and were hoping the reliability would be there also. After a bad selling experience we picked up the car and immediately noticed things. There is a paint defect under the clear coat on the roof. There was a sticker there so it was clearly a known problem and they sold to us anyway. We have complained with no response. The hood does not latch unless you slam it. If the hood is already down there is no way to close it without opening it and slamming it. Finally if you look around the car you can see multiple places where the rubber is not flush including the doors & hood. I walked around the lot and would say 50% of the cars had the same problem. Not what we had expected at $50+ . Dealer was no help with these issues, I have read on line about cars getting water on the inside I am hoping that the rubber problems will not cause that. When you go to the car wash & open the back doors there is water in the painted part. As for the drive it is pretty good, the 9 speed transmission is a little bouncy especially as low speeds, but no one is getting dizzy at least. The stop start feature takes getting used to, as if you need immediate power like turning onto a highway of making a left turn onto oncoming traffic, the car will hesitate long enough to make it dangerous. You have to turn the wheel of take your foot of the pedal to start the car & be ready to go, or turn the feature off, however if you do that I cant imagine how much worse the gas mileage it would be. We are getting 15.5 in the city, & its Premium so it has been surprising. Power in the SHAWD is very good & its a quiet ride with good handling. Seat comfort for a large driver is not as good as I would have hoped. I would like the seat to go back more when its high up and it just wont, so you end up sitting kind of low which removes one of the benefits of and SUV. As for the safety features the lane assist works well on a Interstate highways at high speed, not so good in other settings. The automatic follow feature is very sensitive and breaks really hard and speeds up hard, so much so that you cant use it. The break alert system works ok, I wish it would also go on if I am breaking but not hard enough. It will not stop the car automaticlally at low speeds like the volvo. The heads up display in bright sun creates a distracting reflection on the winshield & and the pairing with SIRI does not work well. The NAV is a complete waste of money, I wish I could convert the screen to show my iphone instead. Nav traffic & directions sub par in every way. The voice input is the same as our 08 Accord, very clunky. AC is hard to keep constant, need to adjust all the time. In the end we are very disappointed with what we hoped would be an amazing car. We hope it lives up to the reliability.

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  Acura is just average - 2002 Acura TL
  By Gerhard - December 13 - 12:53 pm

  I bought my Acura based on consumer reports reliability and performance recommendations. However, my Acura did not live up to my expectations. I spent the extra money on Acura over domestic products and other foreign brands because I thought I was getting top quality. Instead I got many headaches. For the record, I still like the design and I like the performance. However, I did not like the fact that I have had to have my transmission changed 2 times. I am on my third trans and now I have to purchase a new timing belt that is supposed to cost over $1000. And that is only at 7100. Needless to say I would not recommend this model, nor would I endorse this brand any more.

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  Timing belt issues with a 2009 MDX - 2009 Acura MDX
  By Enjay - December 10 - 1:16 pm

  My 2009 MDX with 3500+ miles has been taken to dealer 3 times in the last month. Once I had to get it towed to dealership. First time I was told that they was issue with poor quality Timing belt pulley. So timing belt got shredded. They had to replace them both. They took almost week to replace it. Within a day, 2009 MDX developed issue. This time there was an issue with Catalytic converter. They took another week to replace. Again within two days, "Check emission system" came up again. This time I was told they would have to replace another catalytic converter and also sub converters. This is putting a big question mark on Acura products. Quality?

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  I thought Acuras were good? - 2003 Acura TL
  By ShouldaBoughtaCaddy - December 8 - 9:23 pm

  Purchased car used with 90,000km on it. Tranny blew at 185km. Dealer wanted $6000 to replace it, not under warranty. Only under certain VINs were the trannys covered under warranty. Had a Honda Sabre (Japanese TL) tranny imported from Japan, installed for $3K, seems ok for now. The car is pretty quick. My V8 5.3L GMC Sierra get almost the same MPG. Repairs are expensive and front wheel drive cars are a pain to work on. Honda (Acura) has totally dropped the ball on this one. They have built their reputation on reliability and performance. What happened here Mr Honda? Ive had much better luck with my 95 Nissan, my 98 Civic and my 02 GMC Sierra. Shoulda bought a caddy!

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  Bad car ruined by punishing suspension - 2016 Acura RDX
  By Joel - December 6 - 11:08 pm

  Purchased the 2016 RDX advance which comes with nice tech features. Ride is comfortable on highway, punishing on bad pavement or potholes. Also what Acura claims are rain sensing wipers is false.they must be turned on and off manually each time it rains.as if left in Auto position, they continue to wipe even if dry.otherwise no complaints. Good car if you dont mind feeling every pebble on the road, but my last car was a Lexus so I may have been spoiled.

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  Worst Car since my 1977 Chevrolet - 2002 Acura TL
  By R Jarrell - December 4 - 2:09 pm

  Im on the second Transmission now. Its going bad and the dealer wont acknowledge. Among other failures blower motor, emissions sensor, brake rotors, leaked for over a year - defective rear view mirror, trim is coming loose on dash. Thin metal will dent at the slightest bump. Awful quality. Great mileage though but they lightened it up too much. I will never buy another Acura. Not as good as a regular Honda.

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  Electric and Plastic quality lacking - 1997 Acura RL
  By todd - November 30 - 2:09 am

  Hoping the previous owners have corrected the majority of electric problems. This car has 122,500 miles and has had the following electric components replaced - Steering column ($1,850) both back window regulators ($600 each) climate control ($1,400) engine temperature sensor ($300) ignition switch ($400). Currently the drivers window is not working, suspect the window regulator (est $500). Plastic pieces that have or are broken - sunglass holder ($190) both vanity mirror covers passenger seat side panel glove box restraining line. I read all 25 reviews before receiving this car, a few mentioned the window regulator problem. Well buyer beware of the electric problems of this car.

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  Questionable reliability - 2009 Acura MDX
  By Sri - November 25 - 1:21 pm

  2009 MDX with less than 4000 miles developed an issue with timing belt and timing belt pulleys. Got it towed to dealer. Dealer told us the front part of engine also got damaged. So they are trying to repair. Filed a complaint with Acura.So far as there was no action from their side as well. I did not pay 46K to get such trouble prone vehicle. People buy acura vehicles because their reliability. It looks like Reliability is getting questionable now.

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  Nice look/poor performance - 2004 Acura TL
  By Jonathan1 - November 5 - 10:00 am

  Bought for my wife last winter. Very quick straight line but horrible front wheel drive handling. Torque steer very dangerous and at high speeds car gets very light. Most people are fooled that front wheel drive vehicles are superior but with sport tires on vehicle TL is useless in snow. Bought infiniti G35X for myself and for the same money there is no comparison. Wife now borrows my car every chance she gets. Also every 60,000 miles plan on spending $1,200 on a timing belt. My Infiniti is a timing chain and never needs to be replaced. Thank god we only did a 24 month lease.