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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  Awesome - 2004 Acura TSX
  By CAMSHAFT - January 17 - 10:00 am

  I love it. It is the perfect car for me. Its so pretty though I dont want to mess it up> Overall great car!!!

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  fun to drive but needs improvements - 2003 Acura RSX
  By peter - January 9 - 2:00 am

  With all the luxurious basics, RSX seems to have improved the previous integra.

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  Awsome car!! - 2016 Acura MDX
  By Raghu - January 7 - 1:06 pm

  2016 Acura MDX SH-AWD with Technology and Entertainment package has been very good so far: My overall experience with Autonation, Stevens Creek has also been very good, very friendly staff. The salesman Mr Allen Kim was very helpful so does the finance person Mr Christian. If you happen to decide to buy Acura buy it from Autonation, Stevens Creek and ask for Allen Kim. The car itself is very spacious, nice / plush interiors and I like the push-button gear shift once I got used to this. +Good Performance +Overall comfort +Excellent safety +120V AC supply in the rear console is very good and handy on the go. Cons: -Cruise control is not as smooth and speed is not constant when the roads have elevation. -Navigation is slow/un-intuitive. -Glove box illumination works only when the engine is ON -Third row leg space is okay for kids and bit jammed for adults but for the price/size, I guess this is okay. I was also considering Audi Q7 but I think I made a good decision to stick with Acura MDX due to its looks and features. Few things Acura could improve further, given that this is the "Entertainment package" trim: 1. USB port could also have supported the rear video playback (ex: AVI/MP4) 2. Similarly, instead of decade old audio/video jack ports in the rear video in/out, they could have included the HDMI port or maybe another USB port. 3. Could have included the BluRay disk drive instead of the previous/old generation DVD optical drive for the rear video playback 4. I hope / expect to see if Acura could fix or improve any of these and also consider adding "Car Play" integration in forthcoming firmware upgrade.

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  Fun To Drive - 2005 Acura TSX
  By Steve - December 22 - 6:16 pm

  After comparing many other near luxury wannabes, I found the TSX to represent exceptional value for my hard-earned money. I had owned a TLS and really loved it. WDP with Parchment interior. I dumped it for a lower monthly payment and for the glass fog lamps that continually needed replacement @ $300. The TSX is made in Japan. Looking at other imported product, it seems to have suffered a little in build quality when the point of manufacture is transferred to North America. I wish someone from the automobile industry could speak on this issue. We want to support our local workers.

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  Honesty - 2005 Acura TL
  By Smiles - December 19 - 1:53 pm

  Great car, lots of style. Rattles a little especially when cold. Handling is good but not on par with the Audi A4. Strong acceleration, some lag between first and second gear with the automatic when pushing the car. Love the technology and the amenities, nothing comparable in the same price range with all the bells and whistles. However nothing handles and drives like the German cars, but cash is always the deal breaker. Nice job ACURA!

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  2004 Accord, I Mean TL - 2004 Acura TL
  By Toco229 - December 17 - 2:00 am

  For one year I drove my Honda Accord, from 2003, then with the announcement of the 2004 TL, i sold mine. But as soon as i went into the car i realized it had some very similar attributes to the Accord. Same styling, same navi, same leather options and all. When i went for a test drive i found it extremly uncomfortable. I could feel every bump in the road and more. But i was very happy that when i put my foot on the accelerator it zoomed off with the roar i loved. Over all its a great car but i wouldnt recommend selling your accord to get another accord, i mean TL.

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  Hits the sweet spot between minivan and crossover - 2016 Acura MDX
  By Richard Ades - December 7 - 10:56 pm

  Smaller and nimbler than a minivan but with third row has more flexibility than most crossovers. And some nice luxury and safety extras. A little sluggish in first gear but other than that a great car.

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  No substantial complaints. Great SUV - 2007 Acura RDX
  By ECB - December 4 - 10:33 pm

  Purchased mine 2 weeks ago and have put on about 800 miles. The RDX handles amazingly and accelerates extremely well, very much like a sports car and far better than any other SUV. The technology package is a must. Acura/Honda has the best navigation system around. The handsfree capability is also impresive. Cargo room is good, as well is storage room in the RDX. Interior build quality is quite good; the leather seats are extermely comfortable. Sound system is, by far, the best I have heard in any car. I have averaged 21 mpg and Im anticipating a slight gain when the car breaks in. Please keep in mind that I do about 70% highway driving and I am a fairly conservative driver

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  Excellent toy not much of comfort - 2006 Acura TL
  By fred - December 1 - 7:36 pm

  I researched alot before making my decision. This car is fun to drive, but its rough like my Jeep. I have never seen a luxury sedan this rough. The handling is fine; nothing special. You will feel every hole and bumps on the road. The technology on this car is exceptional. The navigation system, voice recognition is just awsome. After all those were the REASONS why I bought this car. The sound system is not that impressive as I had read on edmunds before; it is ok though. I had a lexus LS400 before this car and I know my next car will be a lexus again. Over all, I am ok with it.

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  Best Acura/Honda that Ive ever owned - 2016 Acura TLX
  By Zoomn - November 30 - 8:07 pm

  This new TLX replaces my 2013 TSX SE. The TSX was a nice enough car with a great interior (tu-tone suede on the SE trim) and a very sporty demeanor. Its negatives outweighed is positives, though, in that it had too choppy of a ride and too much road noise to be truly enjoyable over the long haul. Those shortcomings have long been Acura and Honda traits, but no more! The TLX has a truly quiet and comfortable ride that is well controlled and never truly harsh in any way. The rear steering, or PAW-S, allows compensation for the softer ride in giving back a sharpness to the handling that is equally appreciated. The only weak link in the handling is the stock 17" touring tires that are stock on the 2.4L models. The V6 that I also drove handled slightly better with its 18s without any appreciable difference in ride, so Ill likely swap up when the stock tires are worn. Other than that and in spite of some weak areas in design, this car is proving to be everything that I could ever want in a sporty daily driver. The 2.4L has a nice snarl under hard acceleration, the 8 speed DCT is responsive and generally very smooth and decisive in its shifts. Again, the balance in ride and handling is superb and tech features like standard lane keep assist, blind spot monitoring and cross traffic alert is all above par and works quite well. The same can be said for the Tech packages ELS sound system that delivers crisp, clear sound. Lastly, the LED headlamps are truly impressive they are to headlights what Halogens were to sealed beams and Xenons were Halogens as they deliver brilliant light for good clarity and increased visibility. The only glaring shortcomings come down to Hondas tech packaging. The dual screen setup doesnt bother me so much as the number of steps needed to complete even simple tasks. Case in point is the seat heaters. You touch the screen and then a second tab pops up to select the level heat that you want. It would be much simpler to touch the screen, default to highest setting and reduce levels and to off by repeating that touch. This repetitive nature is similar for just about everything that youll do including audio, nav and bluetooth related functions. Lastly, I have noticed a pretty bad lag in responsiveness to inputs at times especially with bluetooth. Honda really needs to address this issue as having driven a number of cars before buying the TLX their system was truly the least user friendly that we encountered. Not a deal breaker, mind you, but still a glaring issue on an otherwise really nice car. So, in closing, the TLX is a great sporty sedan for those that desire a middle of the road approach in a car that delivers equal parts of comfort and handling in a truly impressive package.