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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  2002 RSX - S - 2003 Acura RSX
  By Fele - June 17 - 2:00 am

  Boughth mine in July 2001 (first batch). Car is excellent and very fun to drive (I love the 6 speed shifter). I had trouble with leather on my car seat (Acura replaced it). Otherwise had no other problems with it. Highly recomend for the price.

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  Acura 2003 TL-S - 2002 Acura TL
  By - June 17 - 2:00 am

  The car has 5000 with no trouble. Handles well, excellent pickup, great gas milage.

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  You get what you pay for - 2006 Acura TL
  By Chery - June 16 - 11:20 am

  Nice car, not awesome when you are use to driving a BMW. I traded my 5 series bimmer in around January, boy I miss it...this car just does not measure up in performance, if you like bimmers...I will keep it the remaining of the year and get me another bimmer in January 07. Dont get me wrong, it is really a nice car, except with minor issues of the interior compartment I think this car is a 8 out of 10! Performance wise, it cannot touch BMW. Bimmer lovers dont waste your time.

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  3.5 does everything very well - 1999 Acura RL
  By Ben M - June 16 - 2:00 am

  This is a very good car that is in a difficult competetive bracket- iblcuding the Lexus LS400, Mercedes E Class, BMW 740, Infinity Q45. It doesnt beat these cars in any category but for its price, it cant be beat. After 39,000 miles, Ive notice some ride deteriation. Potholes are more noticeable than they were 2 years ago. Also, the paint quality is not that good. There are several specks where the paint is chipping up. Overall a very good car.

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  91 Legand Sedan - 1991 Acura Legend
  By TIPSTER - June 15 - 2:00 am

  Hmmm, just looked at how I rated the auto on 1-10 scale and may appear lower than my true feelings. Hard to rate gas mileage and exterior styling a 10 on this auto. I have owned the auto for 3 years. Was originally going to get a Volvo 850 (now v70) but was instantly seduced when drove this auto in comparision. Has held up very well -- very good build quality. It is a great way to get a nice performance oriented upscale sedan inexpensively...and it is much less expensive to maintain than Lexus, Volvo or Infiniti. You sit rather low in this vehicle vs. other cars you might compare it too...took some getting used to.

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  Great Car - 1998 Acura TL
  By Rick Ward - June 12 - 2:00 am

  Excellent quality, very reliable. Highly recommend.

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  Acura Confidence - 2003 Acura TL
  By aspatc - June 11 - 2:00 am

  My husband and I bought this car just 5 months ago. We previously had an Integra which I bought just out of college. My husband has a nasty commute and the Integra was "just too small" for him. Hes 63" about 240lbs. I finally conceded to the new car and we traded the Integra for the TL. He loves it and I enjoy driving it when hes not around. Our Integra was just about 5 years old and had almost 100,000 miles on it. We never had any work done outside of the scheduled maintenence. So far the TL is living up to the reliability standards of the Integra and my husband really appreciates the headroom.

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  A Jewel of a car - 1991 Acura Integra
  By IntegraLover - June 9 - 2:00 am

  This is the only car I have ever owned and will be for some time yet. 200k miles and still running as good as the day I bought it (NEVER garaged). The main lesson learned is that if you do buy a Honda/Acura, if you do the regular maintenance (i.e. oil changes every 3-5k, timing belts, etc.) these cars will run trouble free and last a very very long time. Not to mention the style, while not flashy, is rather conservative, and 11 years old it still looks good! Seen how ugly the 91 Celicas or Eclipse look in this day and age?

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  Transmission failure at 10000 miles - 2001 Acura TL
  By edsak - June 7 - 2:00 am

  I have had car only five months with 10000 miles and was told today I need a "new" rebuilt transmission. The whole reason for buying Acura is reliability, not with mine... Anyone else out there having problems with their transmission? By the way the "rebuilt" is warranted for only 36000 miles if purcahsed. Not a happy camper...

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  Still a great car at 70,000 miles - 2000 Acura TL
  By onlyme - June 5 - 2:00 am

  This car is the best new car Ive ever owned! Its been driven nearly 70,000 miles (mostly highway and at high speeds) and asks for nothing but an oil change at 3,000 and a tank of gas. It looks great with the rear spoiler (which I feel was a bit pricey but it makes the car). The paint is still beautiful (white diamond pearl), the interior still great. Great fun, value and reliability. Only cars Ive driven which was more fun were BMW 540i and M5 - but youre in another class now!