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 if you want a racer - 2000 Acura Integra
  By Marine1983 - November 12 - 2:00 am

  Bought the GS-R new trading in a 9 year old 3 series BMW. The GS-R has not held up as well as the BMW and does not handle/drive as well as a 9 year old BMW. Dont get me wrong, this is a great car if you want a Civic on steriods with leather. It is noisy at highway speed, uncomfortable on long trips, but a blast around town on short trips.

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  Excellent Car for the Money - 2004 Acura TL
  By MOBOFE - November 12 - 2:00 am

  I chose the TL over the Audi A4, Infiniti G35 and Volvo S60. The TL,imho, had the best interior layout and build and the abundance of standard features outfoxes the competitors I mentioned. There are however, two considerations that you should take into account - info which didnt come apparent until after I purchased. A. The sports seats look great but their quality is suspect - crease and butt marks (leather wasnt pulled taut and secured enough) appear only after 200- 300 miles of driving. Very disappointing to have to face this problem on a 30K+ car. B. The Bridgestone EL-42 tires are absolute terrors in snow or wet conditions.

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  Smooth sailing - 2002 Acura MDX
  By smart guy - November 10 - 10:00 am

  I purchased this vehicle after comparing with other SUVs. I particularly liked the ride quality and luxure amenities vs. other SUVs I drove. Acura has put together a nice blend of funtionality and luxury.

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  Excellent Ride - 2002 Acura CL
  By g8rb8 - November 10 - 2:00 am

  If you are willing to spend a little bit more, this is definitely a quality car. Its quiet, smooth, comfortable, and extremely reliable. I would recommend this car to anyone who wants an exhilarating coupe.

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  2000 Acura TL - 2000 Acura TL
  By Jiml - November 8 - 2:00 am

  This car has been a huge disappointment. At 1,000 miles my dealer replaced the radiator and at 35,000 miles the entire oil pump and seal assembly was replaced. I dont know if my dealer is trying to rip off Acura or if the vehicles reliability is really that bad.

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  My point of view of RDX - 2007 Acura RDX
  By diamondpearl - November 7 - 10:20 pm

  Its been about 2 month since I purchased 07 RDX right after debut. I have really good image of honda also I had Acura RSX type S before and really liked it. That is why I decided to buy RDX. I am well satisfied with my purchase; however, I see the car is not well built. I happened to find many rattles from dashboards, passenger seat, and twitters. I hate that ticking sounds that dashboards makes. This year RDX missing few things, and I dont see how a car at this pricepoint does not have these as standards: passenger power seat, memory seat for driver seat, auto-dim back and side mirrors.

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  be aware - 2000 Acura TL
  By johno - November 5 - 2:00 am

  my 3.2TL is 2 yrs, 9 mo. old with 63,000 miles - out of warranty... my transmission was fried... acura chaged me $800 and supplied a tranny free... have heard it said that acuras are having tranny problems - I know mine did... also, have a piece of paint flake off the front of the roof... finally, while under warranty I complained about the CD player not playing CDs I burned at home they said it must be the PCs fault... after the warraty ran out, it stopped playing at all - I had to get it repaired on my own - they said the laser was malfunctioning...

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  Poor quality control - 2004 Acura TL
  By fmahler2 - November 5 - 2:00 am

  When braking the car still down shifts hard. The poor quality control refers to the interior. We have owned many cars and this one had more rattles and noises coming from the headliner, and the center column, than all the cars we have ever owned. When taken in for service to try and fix the problem, we were always told they couldnt hear for find any problem. Needless to say we only kept the car for 5 months.

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  Marks Review - 2002 Acura RL
  By medison - November 2 - 2:00 am

  Car has plenty of power in most circumstances. Indecision of the automatic transmission is partly to blame. Gas pedal placement is slightly encroached by the center console. Some compartments are too small (sun glasses, change) and the seat controls are hard to reach. There was one very small dent that I noticed that seemed to have occurred at the factory. Reliablity has been top notch. Overall I am very pleased with this car. It is very comfortable and I enjoy driving it as well as being seen in it. I was originally going to buy a TL-S but opted for the larger size vs. performance. I am 40.

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  A Great SUV - 2002 Acura MDX
  By MDXowner - November 1 - 2:00 am

  The MDX is a capable blend of SUV, and family car, with a dash of sports car thrown in. The exterior styling is distinctive and elegant. It looks sporty and clean. The touring package adds nice wheels and a roof rack which compliments the overall styling theme. The interior design is on par with most cars in this class. It hosts a bevy of standard features such as leather trimmed seats, 8-way power drivers seat, and heated front seats. The engine is refined and strong.