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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  Definition of reliable - 1992 Acura Integra
  By Kane - December 8 - 3:32 pm

  Bought this car used with 260,000 kms on it, drove it for 2 years and all I had to do was change the oil and put gas in it. Amazingly reliable car. This thing will run forEVER. Handles great, got 27-32 mpg no matter how hard I drove it. A/C stopped working but that was no big deal.

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  Loves to redline! - 2004 Acura RSX
  By Adam - December 7 - 12:13 pm

  Bought my Type-S used with 29k miles in 06. 3 years later and now with 83K miles the car still drives great. Very reliable, great on gas, with few bolt ons car will give you a run for its money. I have driven the car hard for 3 years and never gave me any problems.

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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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  Great Reliable car - 2003 Acura TL
  By VK - December 6 - 5:50 pm

  I bought the car new. After 105K miles its still running great. I did have some transmission trouble and while it was out of warranty and did not fall within the recall group, Acura graciously replaced it. Feel good about the safety features.

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  Fun to drive - 2010 Acura TL
  By Deepak - December 6 - 3:46 pm

  We just picked up our 6 speed TL yesterday. It was snowing outside, so we had a first hand experience on snow and the car handled beautifully. The 6 speed transmission is very smooth to shift and is really fun to drive. The dealership we bought it gave us a very fair price and we are really thrilled to own this vehicle (this is our second Acura and the fourth from the Honda family).

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  What a great car - 2009 Acura TSX
  By Hammer - December 6 - 10:01 am

  I purchased a TSX 4 cyl in Sep of this year. I have driven it approx 10,000 miles to date. More than normal for us. The reason I wanted to write this review is because I have no complaints about this car. It is the best vehicle I have ever purchased. Im 60 yrs young and I had many new cars (ie. Chevys, Fords, Volvo, Saabs, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Honda, Nissan etc.), but this is by far the best Ive had. I got 37 miles per gallon driving this vehicle on the interstate at 65 mph. I have yet to get under 30 mph with in town and driving home in the country. WOW now to me that is great! I could sell these cars.

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  First Time Acura Owner - 2009 Acura MDX
  By cegledi - December 5 - 9:15 pm

  Im excited to finally own an Acura. Its my first glimpse into the luxury world and am not a least bit disappointed. Wish they beefed up the standard features (back-up sensors, power tail, USB cable, etc.). However, I think the overall value and the performance of that sweet V6 makes me not care about much of the other stuff. So far, so good. Life is good.

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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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  Texas TL 2005 - 2005 Acura TL
  By bms1971 - December 4 - 12:56 pm

  Only had this car a few months, love the interior and exterior as well. Had Type S before this one, wish Acura would have designed a performance version of this new TL ... maybe RWD w/ 300hp. Otherwise the car has been great, and has delivered on all angles since I bought it.

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  A peach - 2010 Acura MDX
  By PHIL BROWN - December 4 - 11:01 am

  Very god car, great turning radius, lode the hard drive for all my favs. Screen controls not user friendly.