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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  ted - 2004 Acura MDX
  By ted tummins - November 3 - 2:00 am

  ok with overall performance

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  2016 rdx w/advance pkg. - 2016 Acura RDX
  By Wayne selan - October 31 - 1:27 am

  Great ride. Dont take that as its a sports car, its not. Just a great cruiser and if you want some fun slip it to sport and use the paddle shifters. Biggest complaint is the voice regonition. Only had it a month but it takes some work to master, and i havnt , and not sure i ever will. Best way is to put in an address before you leave, trying to find a certain restaurant etc on the go gets frustrating. I get better mileage than stated which is a nice surprise. Love the blind spot detector and the backup camera is awesome, really gets a wide view which is great. I am not disappointed with this suv at all, just the oppisite. Best bang for your dollar by far. Oh yeah the seats, especially the cooled option are the most comfortable of all the higher end SUVs, at least for me. Everyone has a different butt and back but for me its like sitting in my lazy boy.

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  almost 2 years - 2003 Acura RSX
  By acura owner - October 27 - 2:00 am

  excellent investment overall...i used to own a 94 integra 4-dr before the rsx, and i absolutely loved it too, which is why i decided to get another acura...reliability...

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  I wish I had a good one - 1991 Acura Legend
  By acura - October 22 - 2:00 am

  When I bought the car it was nice and I liked the the overall look of the outside and interior. But about after a month I had to replace the temperature sensor because when you would just sit there in park the temperature would go up and the fan didnt kick on. AC didnt work so I took it to the mechanic and some wires were loose so he fixed that, but about a week later it stopped working so I brought it back in agian and they found out that it was bad computer which is supposively a big problem because they crack, and now it wouldnt start it will either cost $100 and might be another $400 just for the parts so far I have spent $1000 plus without the engine problem I wish I got a good one

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  Nice, but youll want more - 2003 Acura RSX
  By minus9 - October 19 - 2:00 am

  I wanted a sporty 2-door and the RSX was the nicest. It beat the Celica, the Civic Si, the Tiburon, etc. You get Honda reliability. You get great milage. But after a year, the car rattles like crazy and I wish that I had more power and more smoothness. Save up and get the Infinity G35 and youll be happier in the long run. Youll soon outgrow the 2-doors and wish for more space if this is your only car.

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  my acura - 2000 Acura TL
  By eleanor F - October 13 - 2:00 am

  The check engine light keeps coming on.The no. one cylinder was miss firing.Had to have the engine cleaned with a Chevron product that cost $140.Hope this doesnt happen on regular basis.

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  I love it - 2004 Acura MDX
  By T mom - October 13 - 2:00 am

  I looked at MB, BMW, Toyota Sequioa, and bought this because of ease of driving. Luxorious interior. Smooth, quiet ride. Great seating avail. in 3rd row. Big back seat! Great maintenance plan! I love the wood grain dash. I didnt get NAV system, and I wish I would have. Love the DVD/TV though.

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  Cool Get Around Car! - 2004 Acura RSX
  By Vouthanack - October 11 - 2:00 am

  I traded my 99 honda accord v6 for this car I fell in love with about 8 months ago. The beautiful black exterior paint seems to look nicer than most other cars, to include the black interior. REVVING this car up is not a problem. Easy to steer around, and a lot of front visibility. The looks of the car need to be re-vampped at the very back end of the car (because it looks cut in half). Comfortable sound system with the ease of an in dash 6 disc CD changer makes highway driving less work. The rear seats are good for putting objects in, but NOT big people! Love the red lighted interior, Acura did not go wrong with that!

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  mpg stinks at 14mpg - 2004 Acura MDX
  By gtotgrufff - October 9 - 2:00 am

  performance and 3 across in back seat

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  Great Economy Car - 1994 Acura Integra
  By TravFlava26 - October 6 - 2:00 am

  The Acura Integra has been very good to me and would recommend to anyone.