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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  the problem car - 2002 Acura RSX
  By j .huddleston - June 2 - 2:00 am

  i have had the car in the shop like 20 times. the transmission been pulled out 3 times. ive had it in for abs problems 3 times. the motor idles really rough. and alot of little things have gon bad.

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  Acura 3.2TL - a descent sedan - 2000 Acura TL
  By jcw - May 31 - 2:00 am

  A competent sedan with good performance and luxury for the price. That said, a bit boring looking and handling a bit soft. No major mechanical problems but ongoing problems with the airbag warnings have continued since new. If you can afford better, go for it. Youll be bored with this car and wish you went for better.

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  Beautiful - 2002 Acura RL
  By chadwoodland - May 30 - 2:00 am

  Beautiful car with a smooth refined engine. Perfect for motoring not suited for sports driving.

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  3.2 TL Premium, Excellent car - 1997 Acura TL
  By Ken Biddulph - May 29 - 2:00 am

  I love this car, its a bit big for my needs but it handles great inspite of its sheer mass and 15 inch wheels. Excellent interior, better looking than the newer TLs in my opinion.

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  acura 3.2 T.L. - 2001 Acura TL
  By Grant Smith - May 29 - 2:00 am

  The car has been a great experience. The body style could stand to be redesigned, but the interior is great. I have been in the Audi A6 and the BMW 3 series niether of witch have the ease of operation of all controls like my TL.

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  Not too shabby - 2001 Acura TL
  By Phillip M. - May 28 - 2:00 am

  For the most part I like what this car has to offer as basic features.. heated seats and mirrors, sunroof etc. I did have to have a new transmission but in after the last one almost killed me by stalling and almost stopping dead in its tracks on I-95 in Florida but overall I think its a great car for the money and resale looks good.

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  A Very Mixed Bag - 1996 Acura TL
  By WavyGravy - May 26 - 2:00 am

  This car is in one word interesting. The materials and design on the inside and out are of top quality, but the engine is another story. The inline 2.5 Litre inline 5 cylinder is the outcast of Acura engines. While it loves to rev high and sound very buzzy, it doesnt move you as fast as you would expect it too. With some very agressive driving in my automatic 2.5, Ive been able to squeeze out a 0- 60 time of 7.4 seconds. Not too bad in my book, especially since its a 5 banger pulling around 170 horses. Not a fast car, but one that will move you around in style and almost guranteed to fire up every morning.

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  Booyah! - 1990 Acura Integra
  By TigerT - May 24 - 2:00 am

  I bought this car used 5 years ago when it had 80,000 miles. Other than routine fixes, this car is as reliable as they come. I now have 130,000 miles on it and I plan on having it for another 4 years.

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  TL 2.5 - 1997 Acura TL
  By Steve in Alabama - May 24 - 2:00 am

  Good reliable vehicle. Good looks and fair performance. Had problems with power windows not much else. Aucura nameplate still impressive and gets looks.

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  Good Upscale Accord - 2006 Acura TSX
  By gary41 - May 21 - 7:26 pm

  Car is a good package for a sub-$30K sport sedan with tons of accessories. Nice not having to buy all the options you do with BMW, et al.