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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  Great luxury SUV for the money - 2017 Acura RDX
  By Denise - April 23 - 5:53 pm

  I love this car. It has the space and height of an SUV, but drives like a car. The standard features are better than all of the competitors. Acura service is also top notch. They go out of their way to help and accommodate you when you bring the car in for maintenence.

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  Great used vehicle - 1998 Acura RL
  By acuhins - April 23 - 2:00 am

  The car is very nice inside and out. Drives quietly and responsively. Mine has a very nice CD changer conveniently in console. With gas prices and high- test requirement, it can eat some fuel costs. Also, the tank is rather small (14 gallons) limiting the range per tank.

• 

  GOOD CAR - 2002 Acura RSX
  By CINDY - April 23 - 2:00 am

  THIS REALLY IS A GOOD CAR. FUN TO DRIVE. ITS ACTUALLY GOOD WITH GAS. ACTUALLY AS OF TODAY I AM AT A HALF A TANK AND 200 MILES. NOT BAD WITH GAS PRICES GOING UP!

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  Transmission Problems - 2001 Acura MDX
  By Yancey - April 18 - 2:00 am

  I have enjoyed my MDX but I have had a transmission failure at 36,000 miles. Acura did not cover the failure because they stated that I had a third party transmission cooler placed that voided their wonderful warranty. The AAMCO dealer that replace the transmission for $6000 told me that the cooler was not the problem. I have also had a friend that had a transmission failure at $40,000 miles. The local Acura dealer was not only unhelpful but downright indignant.

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  Its a nice car, but.......... - 2003 Acura TL
  By honda tech - April 17 - 2:00 am

  im overall happy with the car, but found out one bad thing after purchasing the car. found out that some of them were leaking oil from the block. it is not a recall, and the customers are not informed about it. acuras fix for the leaking block is JB weld. this is very disappointing. if i were to find out mine were leaking oil, i would drive it till it ran out of oil. i would let the motor seize up so acura would have to warranty the whole motor.

• 

  Fun Car - 2000 Acura Integra
  By talkative - April 15 - 2:00 am

  A great fun car. After three years, I still like the peppy response and solid control. I often take this for granted (and realize what it offers when I have to drive a rental/friends car). Totally reliable, this is the car Id want to be driving on a lonely dark road.

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  Transmission horror - 2002 Acura TL
  By dgytoronto - April 12 - 2:00 am

  First day off the lot and it was back in the shop. Got a new transmission and a computer. Just got the car back last week with another new tranny @ 40000 km. The new one is also giving sloppy gear changes and will shift unusually on hills. I wonder how long this will last for? Dealer was mediocre - missed the problem on several visits. They said that they get kept in the dark about the problem transmissions by Honda. I dont think that they can build them to handle the big horses this car can put out.

• 

  Have no fear - 1994 Acura Integra
  By cocheez - April 9 - 2:00 am

  I bought my 94 5 years ago with 112,000 miles and got a good deal because people get scared of cars over 100,000. Last week I passed 200,000 with only $800 in all that time in extra maintenance. (not counting tires) My radiator leaked once, not a big deal and the starter needed replacing, also not a big deal. I wanted a car that would take me where I needed to go and totally got my moneys worth buying used. I am sure my car can see more miles, but eventually the transmission will need to be replaced.

• 

  Its really a shame - 2001 Acura CL
  By blanco - April 8 - 2:00 am

  At 47,000 miles my poor tranny died. This problem has caused a very obvious and apparent drop in resale value - and frankly I have little confidence the rebuild Acura supplied will "tow the line" for the long haul. Its too bad because otherwise this car is near perfect for my needs and desires. The motor is awesome. Probably the smoothest revving V6 out there - and it has good torque thru the power band. Close to BMW smoothness really - but a I-6 should always be superior to the V-6. Handling is excellent, solid feedback through the wheel for a FWD car.

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  Not what I had expected. - 2016 Acura MDX
  By Jerry M - April 7 - 3:16 am

  After owning Hondas for over 30 years and a 2004 Honda Pilot for the past 13; I decided I was going to get myself a luxury SUV. Given my happiness with Honda vehicles, I always assumed it would be an Acura MDX. After taking it for a test drive I have nothing really bad to say about the vehicle, only that it looked and drove like a very, very nice Honda, but not what anyone would consider a luxury vehicle. It lacked the plusher interior as well as the driving enjoyment that one would expect from a luxury car (at what what still a luxury price). As a matter of fact, I also test drove a completely decked out 2016 Honda Pilot Elite and found that other than being even bigger tan the Acura offered similar features at a lower price.