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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  lIZ REVIEW OF 97 TL - 1997 Acura TL
  By LIZ BECKER - March 19 - 2:00 am

  Overall the car is pretty solid, my only complaints are the road noise and the sheer wind factor on the drivers side. Cush claims this is a design problem and cannot be fix. I find this hard to believe in a car that when was new sold in the 30s. The sheer wind factor can be very irrating and would love to be able to fix. Cush dealership is great would buy from them again.

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  Lotta fun.... - 2010 Acura TL
  By Ajaz Fiazuddin - March 17 - 8:03 am

  This 2010 vehicle has been mine for 3 years. I bought it in 2013. It is a pleasure to drive in all climates and conditions.

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  Love my TL - 2003 Acura TL
  By WLGood - March 17 - 2:00 am

  What a great car for the money! We considered the new Accord, but realized for the same money we could step up into an Acura. I will admit that the outside styling is some-what dull, but once you get behind the wheel, you forget all about that.

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  A Sportier Honda Accord - 1993 Acura Vigor
  By ImissCA - March 14 - 8:56 pm

  A very comfortable car with a little bit of zip as well. I bought mine with 89k on it and now its got a total of 130K with no break-downs. The 5 cyl 2.5 liter is peppy and fun to drive with the five speed transmission, although now Im starting to crave more power. I bought the car because I wanted the reliability and quality of a Honda Accord but I wanted something a little more unique and a little more sporty. My only complaints are that there are no cupholders, and the option dispersal. The GS version came with leather, sunroof, an upgraded stereo, and an extra airbag. I didnt want leather, so I couldnt get a sunroof in my LS.

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  Fair ride - 2001 Acura TL
  By miamicarfreak - March 12 - 11:14 pm

  From 0 to 60 it drives like a $60000 car, from 60 to 80 it drives like $20000, at more than 80 it drives like a $10000 car.

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  Overall, this SUV is a good compromise - 2016 Acura MDX
  By Steve Chang - March 12 - 9:48 pm

  After driving this vehicle for 12k mile, I think this vehicle is a good compromise. Its not as sporty as a BMW X5, not as big/bold as a Chevy Tahoe, not as pretty/sexy as an Audi Q5, but its (fully loaded) price is most likely the lowest in this group, its fuel efficiency is good (I averaged almost 21 mpg with mostly city driving, and about 28 mpg on highway), has very large cargo area (if you fold down the 3rd row), a quiet/comfortable ride, handles impresively on snow, and it comes with almost all the safety features that you can imagine. A few major gripes: 1) Watch out for the middle seats seatbelt (a real safety hazard, and a major design flaw) - since the seatbelt automatically retracts to the roof where it is anchored, my mom was hit hard on her face (by the seat belt buckle) as the middle passenger released his seatbelt. 2) On a two-lane windy road, the auto collision sensor can mistaken an oncoming vehicle (in the other lane) as an obsticle and suddenly hit the brake for you (which can be very scarely to anyone in the vehicle) 3) Unimpressive accleration for a 3.5L VTECH engine. 4) So-so brake performance 5) Lacks a "360 degree camera" which I believe is an option for other countries (since the owners manual talks about it) 6) No way to program the vehicle to "remember" the heated seat settings, which can be very annoying in cold climates 7) Interia material is OK, but not in the same league with the Germans 8) Why an SUV requires premium fuel??

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  i like it! - 1998 Acura CL
  By xin - March 12 - 6:25 am

  The car only had 16,000 miles on it. Good deal!!! I drove it all the way from nevada to texas. the CL was really comfortable to all-day driving. Besides that, I had the most fun in the twisty mountain roads of northern texas. I was a bit afraid of going fast at the turns but before I knew it, I was taking the corners faster and faster. until I couldnt believe this car was able to hold the road. It was even scary! It was a memorable moment. The car felt solid throughout.

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  just got it - 2017 Acura RDX
  By brady - March 11 - 1:02 pm

  I have not had my SUV that long, less than a month but I must say I was a little apprehensive about the purchase but after a few days found out that I love it. Gas mileage is not as bad as I thought it would be, some options I would like to have is adjusting the lift gate (hit the garage door when in the garage) my other SUV you could adjust. Size is great, more roomy than I thought it would be and I am very happy with the safety features.

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  1998 Acura 3.2 - 1998 Acura TL
  By dstanzi - March 9 - 5:11 pm

  Car rides very well and has been problem free for 52000 mile. Standard maintenance has kept operating costs low.

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  Great Car just a meek player - 2000 Acura RL
  By Batkins - March 8 - 5:32 pm

  Great car, after 26 months nothing has ever gone wrong, not one single problem or repair require. Better than my old Lexus and a million times better than my 94 Q45. You cant get a better quality car at any price. Quality, beauty, luxury, comfort, but with lack luster performance. My kids call it an "old mans car." But I call it "perfection at its finest."