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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  Great relief!!! - 2017 Acura MDX
  By RG - June 7 - 10:15 am

  Ive owned it for about a month and from all my experiences so far, Im very impressed with quality of interior as well as luxury feel of the car. Ive driven German cars for the last 5 years and decided to go back to old reliable Japanese-made cars and couldnt be more relieved. After spending a ridiculous amount for maintenance on my 328 iX Drive, looking forward to owning this car and not worrying about the next pothole or the next maintenance project that will cost thousands of dollars.

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  This is Simply a Wonderful Automobile - 1999 Acura CL
  By Ken Kreps - June 6 - 1:09 pm

  Bought new, it has gone from being our first car to our second car and has proven to be an outstanding buy. Its comfortable to drive, looks great, has many great features, gets wonderful mileage (29-30 on the highway on regular). True, for its age it is is a low mileage car (just a few hundred over 60,000). No maintenance other than routine. In nine years we have replaced the tires, battery, alternator, brakes, and recently, the timing belt and water pump. All of these are routine for a nine year old automobile. We will drive this car easily another 3 or 4 years, as there is no way we could purchase nearly as fine a car for its current fair market value. This was a great buy for us.

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  After 130,000 miles - 2002 Acura RSX
  By sjava - June 6 - 12:04 pm

  I have more than 130,000 miles on this car. I lowered my car with aftermarket coilover. All the problems I got are associated with the suspension. Other than that I had zero problem. Im getting 29-30 mpg on 80% hwy and 20%city. I love the fact that this car looks like a coupe but its a hatchback. The hatchback provides so much utilities, youll be surprised. One time I picked up a 52" LCD TV and the store employee said no way I can load it to my car but I did. There is no other car that provides so much fun, utilities and 30 mpg.

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  Acura MDX review - 2016 Acura MDX
  By Peter Goldfarb - June 5 - 6:55 am

  The ride is very comfortable and quite, acceleration for this size of vehicle is not bad. I found one issue with car: if you put the smart car key and smart cellular phone (iPhone) in the same pocket - your phone may not work or (and) you cant start car.This happened to my wife (she keeps her phone and car key together in her purse).

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  Awesome car!!! - 2009 Acura TSX
  By trevmann - June 4 - 10:03 am

  I just picked up my new 09 TSX this afternoon, and I think Im in love! This car is absolutely amazing! I traded in my 08 TSX because I loved the new styling of this car so much. The new 09 seems to drive even smoother than the 08, seems to handle better, and the audio system is definitely improved. I had no complaints about my 08, I just really liked the new design. I really like the backup camera in the new 09, I like the Acuralink feature on the new 09, and the interior and exterior design is definitely on par! I am very pleased with Acuras new design!

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  1999 GS-R - 1999 Acura Integra
  By troy - June 4 - 8:52 am

  I got my GS-R hatchback with 25K miles and sold it close to 70K. The 1.8L VTEC truly is one of the finest engines ever. Tons of revs, lots of high end power, usable torque, good exhaust note and excellent fuel economy (35 mpg on the highway). My paint was black and as long as you kept it clean and waxed it once a year, there were few cars that looked better. I loved that it came with a spoiler, something that has eluded many cars I have owned before and after this one. The shifter of course was precise, smooth and near effortless. My only problems were 2, count em, 2 bad clutch master cylinders, probably the way I drive. :)

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  Surprise, surprise! - 2007 Acura TL
  By Gordon - June 3 - 11:47 am

  On a return trip to Dallas, TX from Austin our average mph was 73 & gas consumption was 32 mpg (did hit 33 for a short time). Cant beat that with a stick!!

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  My TL - 2005 Acura TL
  By Nikki - June 2 - 10:30 pm

  This car was an excellent investment. I am impressed with the durability, reliability, and performance of the vehicle. Despite its 270 hp, the gas tank is small, so I only end up spending anywhere from 30-34 dollars on gas (that is with the currently high gas costs in NY). Its a six cylinder, so fuel efficiency is not expected to be quite like a four cylinder, but its pretty good. The pick-up and overall speed of the car is excellent- it packs enormous power! The only qualm I have is that I figured the stereo system would have been a bit better in sound. Dont get me wrong, its great. But initially, I had expected a little more bass and volume. But I highly recommend it to anyone

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  First Acura MDX - 2016 Acura MDX
  By Sack - June 2 - 5:31 pm

  We just picked this up last week without even having the intention of buying an Acura. We originally looked hard into the Toyota Highlander and Honda Pilots but realized the lease incentives were absolutely horrible due to the demand of both of those (we are in a spot in our lives where leasing makes more sense). We started to look into non-3rd row options since our youngest is 2 and we have another one on the way in June, and we could go for a 3rd row when they got older. So I noticed a lease deal on an Acura RDX and wanted to investigate since we didnt like the RAV4 and CR-V options. The RDX drove well but was too small. The salesperson told me about a lease deal on a base MDX so we test drove it and LOVED IT. The features are the same and the quality is better than the higher trim Highlander and Pilots and the lease payment was cheaper per month. It has heated seats, leather, moonroof, backup camera, dual cabin screens, a 3rd row, jewel eye LED headlights, among other options. My wife has been driving is most of the time but so far we love it. Definitely give it a shot if youre open to lease and are considering Toyota/Honda 3rd rows - youd be surprised on payments.

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  Jason - 2008 Acura TSX
  By Jason - June 2 - 2:14 pm

  I previously owned a Saturn and the upgrade to the Acura TSX has been unbelievable. I have not had a single problem with the car. Not only is it much more comfortable but I am currently getting 31 mpg with highway only driving. This does drop to 22-25 with mixed highway/city driving in dallas but I have very little to complain about with this car for the cost.