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 car-bad trans. - 2002 Acura TL
  By Jeff - August 24 - 7:44 pm

  Factor 2,500 into the cost of a major transmission rebuild at an independent shop if the car is past the warranty (5,000 at the dealer). Its a matter of when not if this will be needed. My original transmission failed at 30,000 (covered by warranty at no cost) and the replacement failed after 73,000 and American Honda would not help with the cost at all. Hope their new cars are better, Im not going to take the chance. Time to try another manufacturer.

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  Huge disappointment! - 2015 Acura MDX
  By CORunner - August 13 - 10:16 am

  I have owned my 2015 MDX for about 8 months so far. I have tried to love it, or even like it, but I cannot. I traded in my 2008 MDX after six years of loyal service to “upgrade” to the new model. That was a big mistake. The 2008 MDX was a great car and I loved it from the day that I bought it. It wasn’t perfect, but it was good at almost everything. The 2015 was a hassle starting on the day I drove it home. It was raining really hard outside, so we did most of the deal looking at the showroom floor model. My mistake. The salesman informed me that all models had parking sensors, fog lights, and Michelin tires and I assumed that he was correct. In fact, he had lied about all three… I got the dealership to agree to swap my tires to Michelins for free (they only come on the top of the line model now). The fog lights and parking sensors were something I should have checked, so I decided to pay for the upgrades myself. Buyer beware. The fog lights went in without issue, but the parking sensors were a joke. When you upgrade, you can only get rear sensors, not front, and they are not the same sensors that are used on the top model. My installed sensors were not flush with the bumper and they did not work. I had to back almost completely into a brick wall to make them start beeping. So a 50% success rate for dealer installed options. Not impressed. Why Acura would dream of building a $50,000 CUV, make it longer, and not include parking sensors as standard is beyond me! The changes from the 2008 to the 2015, or rather the 2nd generation MDX to the 3rd, were largely not improvements. The power to weight ratio is better on the new car, but acceleration feels anemic in comparison. The suspension is absolutely awful. I had the electromagnetic dampers on my 2008 and it was impressive in the corners! The new model feels far less confident when pushed and my front dampers have developed a constant squeak that causes pedestrians to watch my car as I drive past. The stereo in the old MDX was one of my favorite features and somehow they managed to ruin that on the new model as well. The bass response is weak at best. The touch screen controls are simply awful and make things like adjusting the fan speed for the climate control dangerous while driving. The safety features, like lane departure warning was such a nuisance that I had to disable it. The forward collision warning is dangerous. Mine would go off randomly when I wasn’t near another car! The last thing I want is for my car to slam on the brakes and cause an accident that otherwise would not happen. I spoke with the dealership about the function and was informed that sometimes metal manhole covers or expansion joints will cause the system to produce a false positive. Another safety feature that I had to disable. The materials used inside look and feel cheap. I have a black interior and much of the plastic actually appears to be dark brown. I have had people ask me about it as soon as they get into the car for the first time, so it is noticeable. Finally, the redesign has lowered the height of the vehicle, so while there is a slight increase in cargo space, I’m finding it to be less useable. Oh, I just received my first recall notice… Acura North America has been useless. To be fair, there are a few minor improvements. The cabin is generally much quieter, the LED headlights are great, and the gas mileage is better. I was previously getting 14-16 mpg city / 20-22 mpg highway and I am now seeing 19-21 city and 26-28 highway. If I could go back and undo this deal, I would! My 2008 MDX was superior in almost every way. Build quality has seriously gone downhill. Im not sure if its just with the introduction of the 3rd gen MDX or if its also the assembly line moving from Canada to Alabama. If you are seriously considering a new MDX, I suggest that you take your money elsewhere. I wish I had.

• 

  Transmission! Transmission! Transmission! - 2015 Acura TLX
  By richteg927@gmail.com - August 11 - 9:08 am

  Hate the 9 speed transmission!!! As others have reported, the car shifts rough. I could manually shift better than this car. 1st to 2nd, 2nd to 3rd gears terrible jerking. At 40 MPH coasting down hill the transmission starts searching for a gear causing it to shift into neutral and when a gear is found the car surges forward. This also happens in stop and go traffic where the shifting can cause unexpected acceleration. (Several near accidents) Despite a recall the "Parking" gear doesnt always hold. You need to use the emergency brake to be safe. Ive had the car into the shop 5 times in the past 10 months. Their answer to the problem, "We are working on it." Really? This is supposed to be a high-end luxury car? It wont be long before we start to hear about serious accidents caused by the uncontrolled shifting and acceleration.

• 

  Avoid at all cost - 2010 Acura RDX
  By David Collantes - August 8 - 10:56 am

  Very unreliable car, poorly manufactured. "Leather interior" is not quite leather, instrumentation will not give you details on battery not charging, or similar issues until it fully dead. Ride is not comfortable, "eats" gas like a monster. Overall craft of the car is poor. Will never buy an Acura again, unless it comes straight from Japan.

• 

  Transmission issues with the 9 speed automatic - 2015 Acura TLX
  By R Small - July 24 - 4:47 pm

  I purchased a 2015 Acura TLX v6 with technology package back in December 2015 and have many positives to say about the car, but unfortunately the 9 speed transmission frustrations kill my enjoyment of the car. The shifting is erratic, especially the shift between 2nd-3rd gears. The shift into 3rd gear causes the car to jerk, while all higher gears shift like butter. Ive taken the car to the dealer, and theyve stated it is normal for this transmission. That is not acceptable to me when purchasing a luxury sedan. If Acura can resolve this issue, it would be a great car. There are a fair number of others who have similar issues (based on forums).

• 

  Coulda been a contender - 2015 Acura TLX
  By D Stewart - July 22 - 8:20 pm

  If not for the horrible transmission, the TLX V6 SH-AWD would be a great car. However, this transmission has no clue what gear it should be in at times. At a short and/or rolling stop, the transmission cant find first gear until the engine revs and then the car lurches forward. Travelling at around 30 miles an hour, you give it gas to accelerate.. the car has a huge lag. Id have given the car a 1 star but I like the rest of the vehicle

• 

  Waste of money - 2013 Acura TSX
  By ej023 - April 12 - 6:53 pm

  Beyond disappointed with this car. I enjoyed it for about 2 months. Just over 5k miles put on in 19mo and already runs like a clunker. Sounds like crap when it starts, even with snow tires it cant move in a dusting of snow. HUGE mistake on my part to lease it. Ive owned a Toyota, Ford, Dodge, and now this Acura. It is unquestionably the worst of the bunch. I would never waste money on Acura again.

• 

  Brand new 2015 MDX - Electronic Issue - 2015 Acura MDX
  By newyork5 - February 8 - 8:15 pm

  I had an interesting experience with the 2015 MDX this weekend. After only 5 weeks with a new car and less than 1,000 miles, my car broken down. I was shocked. Suddenly, all my systems were not functioning and the computer was warning about no all wheel drive, no power steering, no LDW, etc. So, I used roadside assistance and scheduled an 830am appointment on Saturday morning to pick up my car and have it towed to the Brooklyn Acura dealer. At 9am, I was told they would tow the car at 940am. At 10am, I was told 11am. Finally, I had a tow at 11am.

• 

  Do not buy this car - 2013 Acura RDX
  By michdes001 - January 14 - 8:35 am

  I dont know where to start. Interior cheap. GPS is the worst-does not even recognize state roads. Also the entry of data into this system takes impossibly long time. I have reverted to using Google maps. Voice activation- throw it out the window- does not understand a single command from someone with no accent at all. Loud interior on the road- you hear all road noise. Cant even hear people on the bluetooth on the highway because car is so loud. Bought this car brand new and wish I never drove it off the lot. My husband has 2008 TL and his GPS is more knowledgeable than mine. And, with only 30K miles on it, it already has a knock with all regular maintenance performed as scheduled.

• 

  Honda disappoints! - 2012 Acura MDX
  By tx_mdx - December 23 - 5:59 am

  the MDX is not a luxury SUV. Honda, please go and try a german, or even a Lexus and try to learn from them! Noisy on the road at 70mph Poor quality audio Bad ergonomics Steering is too light with no feel. All kinds of rattles after 2 yrs and 26k miles. Mileage: a joke compared to similar size SUVs On the plus side: Engine ok Handling ok Will happily get rid of it when the lease is over. Will return to germans without hesitation.