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:

• 

  2001 GS-R - 2001 Acura Integra
  By ScottS - May 21 - 2:00 am

  I bought this car a little over 2 years ago and have averaged over 20k miles per year. Great fun to drive once you adjust to the high rev range. Good build quality (only one minor problem with the rear seats). I beat the crap out of it on a regular basis and it always comes back for more.

• 

  Sporty and reliable - 1999 Acura Integra
  By tdesi420 - May 20 - 2:00 am

  I love tegs a lot. this is actually my second integra. i had a 98 gs earlier, and this one is just as good. love the styling of the car. great for college kids and single people. not recommended for use as a family car. parking is easy with this car, especially here in NYC. Love it!!!

• 

  More Car for the Money - 2004 Acura RL
  By friedoyster - May 20 - 2:00 am

  Absolutely qualifies as an entry in the luxury car segment, but is not as technically current as its competitors (like the Lexus LS430), BUT it costs a lot less money. Since this should be the last model year for the existing design, rebates and incentives should be plentiful as well. It drives well, is extremely quiet, and has many cool creature comforts like XM sat, voice activated nav, on-star, etc. The engine is an old design and eats more gas than it should (similar MPG to the 8 cyl Lexus). Overall, its a good trade-off for value vs state-of-the-art luxury.

• 

  none - 2004 Acura RL
  By jon1234 - May 17 - 2:00 am

  I purchased this car for traveling to work. Then my work gave me a 2003 lexus es300. After 2 weeks of driving the lexus i returned it for a traveling expense and kept my acura. My RL is far better and more comfortable than the lexus.

• 

  Mixed emotions - 2007 Acura TL
  By Paul P - May 13 - 9:36 pm

  Fun to drive but does not go well in snow. Great looking interior and very comfortable. The Bluetooth is very inaccurate and extremely frustrating. Any noise in the car (i.e. fan or highway) throws off the voice activation of the Bluetooth. No dummy light for washer fluid. Cigarette lighter too close to the transmission stick. DVD stereo is nice but only DVD music works and there are very few of those and they wont work on regular CD players. Tire pressure indicator goes on in cold weather. I had planned to keep this three years, but Im going to trade it in before hand. Even though I am a Honda fan, our Toyota Sienna handles the detail much better than my Acura TL. I wont buy another.

• 

  Not happy - 2003 Acura CL
  By nolec5 - May 13 - 2:00 am

  Have had the car since October of 2001 and have had the transmission replaced twice. Plenty of rattles. If I knew the car rattled this bad, I would have kept my Pontiac GTP. Looking to trade in very soon.

• 

  not so impressed - 2002 Acura RSX
  By addida - May 6 - 2:00 am

  Since i have my rsx, Acura change : alternator, seat detector, alternator strap. My hood has to be repaint. it will cost me 350$CAN for a crack fog lense. Leather on the driver seat is cracked. Rsx is an nice car but for the price that i paid for , im not fully satisfied.

• 

  Fast but not reliable - 2000 Acura TL
  By C.R. - May 6 - 2:00 am

  Purchased as a Acura certified used car 2 weeks ago with 36k miles. Car is in repair shop for a new tranmission already. What exactly did Acura certify? Certainly not the mechanical operation!

• 

  MDX - fun and efficient - 2005 Acura MDX
  By Bill1701d - May 4 - 7:36 am

  This is my first SUV and it is a fun car to drive. It also has great safety features and ample room although the third row has very tight leg room. Its cargo space is excellent with the third row seating down and adequate when up. The drive is firm but smooth and holds the road well. I just bought the car so these are initial reactions, but I have a feeling this will be a vehicle that will hold up through the years nicely.

• 

  good exp with this car - 2000 Acura TL
  By sbintexas - May 2 - 2:00 am

  Other than one minor problem with the Sunroof this has been a great car. Also it held value well. Transmission is a little sluggish as it as aged.