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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  2000 TL3.2 - 2000 Acura TL
  By digitalcopy - September 5 - 2:00 am

  In shop for 2nd transmision replacement. 1st one died @30,000 miles, second one dead @ 63,000. Rest of car is great. Poor tranny design which is obviously flawed. Heard this from many other owners of same model.

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  Pimp Ride - 1998 Acura CL
  By dpvistaz - September 4 - 2:00 am

  This is a GREAT daily driver! Very comfortable and fast! highly recommend this vehicle over accord/camry

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  Not bad - 2003 Acura TL
  By ninja - September 4 - 2:00 am

  Already 22000mi after 1 year. Overall very happy with the car (chosen over G35), except for a few things. Still like the simple good looks. Finally used to the "harsher" ride of a "sports" car (always check the tire pressure!). Still adjusting to the split-second shifting lag (even in manual shift mode), having had a manual trans just prior. Regret not getting the NAV.

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  Too smallfor over 6 feet tall! - 1996 Acura TL
  By Tidepride824 - September 3 - 2:00 am

  I like my car, but my dad cannot fit in it well, and he is only 61"! The leather feels a little rubbery and not luxurious enough, the Accord feels more luxurious with its velour.The engine is smooth and peppy, but mileage is a litle on the low side for such a small engine.

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  GREAT INSIDE OUT - 1992 Acura Vigor
  By GUY B - September 2 - 2:00 am

  This car has never let me down, its not a new car, but still drives like one. Everything works, I put no $$ into it but gas...

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  Its a keeper! - 2002 Acura CL
  By rpb2 - September 2 - 2:00 am

  A fun vehicle to drive in the city and handles well on the open road. As in most coupes the rear seat is for looks only. The trunk is huge and most useful when traveling.

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  220 - 1991 Acura Integra
  By Rick Moore - August 28 - 2:00 am

  The car is awsome. It is reliable and the mileage is great. It gets about 230 miles per fill up.

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  Great Car - 1998 Acura CL
  By Insomniac - August 24 - 2:00 am

  Great car, great mileage, fun to drive. Some problems with a rattle in the dash, otherwise perfect.

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  My first Acura - 2016 Acura RDX
  By Torr310 - August 22 - 9:30 am

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  1991 Acura Integra RS - 1991 Acura Integra
  By Judas - August 22 - 2:00 am

  GREAT FUN!!!