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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  TLBOY - 1998 Acura TL
  By Pearl - July 18 - 2:00 am

  Very reliablegood performance. Very smooth ride and precision steering and handling.

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  Gsr Integra - 1996 Acura Integra
  By Tim_N - July 12 - 2:00 am

  Great car. I love that its 4 door. Pretty fast for a car that you can get 35 mpg. A great alternative to getting a civic or accord at the same price. Unless you can afford a bmw 7 series or something similiar this is a great car.

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  Great Reliable Car - 1997 Acura TL
  By TRayner - July 12 - 2:00 am

  Have enjoyed the car since purchase. Very sharp simple design and cleans up very well. The placement of the fog light switch and criuise control button is hidden behind the headlight stalk. Very bad position. Love the leather interior and the factory sound system is excellent. Factory Michellins are adequate but a bit loud. Trunk is a bit small with a small opening, so loading luggage has to be planned. No problem ups to 100,000 miles and counting. Do keep the transmission fluid changed since the Acura dont have changeable filters.

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  Mechanically - perfect - 1996 Acura Integra
  By Dick Burton - July 8 - 2:00 am

  Mechanically, my Acura Integra is perfect. It runs great. The A/C is still cold 6 years later.. Everything still works well.. Reliability is unsurpassed.. The paint leaves a bit to be desired. Its not peeling, but its a little rough in places. (Starting to show its age.) Plastic parts are flexing with age and sometimes rattle. The hatchback: I wasnt sure about it when I bought it, but its turned into a Godsend.. It allows me to take bulky items I wouldnt be able to transport otherwise.. The wheelbase is a little too short and the ride is a little jittery, but otherwise a great car.

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  Great Cars! - 1993 Acura Integra
  By driveguy - July 8 - 2:00 am

  I still have my 93 LS special with 155,000 miles. My wife had my original 1990 LS and put on 200,000 miles and it was still going strong. My 93 doesnt seem as sturdy and quiet. Had an igniter go out on me which made everything go dead while I was driving. The heater core leak radiator fluid all over the floor mats and was pretty expensive to replace. spent more money fixing than the 1990 LS. It also squeaks whenever I go over any dips or bumps and my mechanic has not been able to eliminate it after several attempts. Despite the problems, it still drives pretty nice and looks good too..

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  Overview by Gus - 1990 Acura Integra
  By Kezia - July 7 - 2:00 am

  Bought my 1990 Integra GS Coupe with 95,000 miles on it nine months ago.I have now put 10,000 miles on it. Only trouble Ive noticed is that I had the brake rotors turned about 1500 miles after purchase and the brakes are shuddering bad again. Other than that the car has been terrific. I have many fine features, all of which are working fine. I love the way the car rides, handles and accelerates with the 5 speed. Its a smooth and efficient vehicle. I average 32 mpg. running around. I endores it.

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  Nothing comes close for the price - 2002 Acura RL
  By Satire - July 6 - 2:00 am

  This is my fifth Honda product (just gave up a 99 TL, had a 97 CL, 93 Accord Coupe & a 1985 Accord hatchback). Couldnt make up my mind between the RL, TL Type-S or wait for months for an MDX. Looked at several others. Got mine (w/o navi) for $35,500. The smoothness & the handling is surprisingly better than expected. Price & value won out. But am disappointed in a few things (see below). I must bring this up now as its the most amazingly stupid thing Ive ever seen......just what the heck is this push the close button twice on the sunroof thing all about?!?!? Love the one touch open but not the hold, release & hold again to get it fully closed. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

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  91 Coupe L 5 Speed - 1991 Acura Legend
  By Daddy O - July 5 - 2:00 am

  I have had this car for almost 2.5 years and have had very few maintenance items. I personally have had to replace the master cylinder, clutch, and radiator which was my fault for not filling it up properly. Overall I have probably put about $1000 into the car. Thats remarkable when you consider it is over 10 years old has 165,000 miles on it.

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  Acuras Away - 2002 Acura RL
  By D. Garrison - July 4 - 2:00 am

  Love the beast. Its much sleeker looking than the Lexus and for my dollar is a better buy. But yes it could use a V-8 and adjustable shock system.

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  96 GSR - 1996 Acura Integra
  By beavisdms - June 26 - 2:00 am

  Love the car. Just what I wanted... Deceptively fast... I should have gotten the leather interior. Only real problem is the paint on the rear spoiler is dying a terrible death. The rest of the cars cosmetic features are fine, but the dark green paint is bad now on the spoiler