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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  You wont be disappointed! Great handling SUV! - 2009 Acura MDX
  By Gerald Kershner - April 4 - 6:09 pm

  Best SUV Ive ever driven and owned. Take a test drive and see for yourself. Bought it used with noisy directional tread tires, replaced them with Acura OEM tires ... wow, what a difference.

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  Love this car! Best $600 I ever spent! - 1994 Acura Legend
  By David Johnson - March 28 - 8:22 am

  I bought my 4DR Legend LS from its original owner on Craigslist. It had 196K miles on it and needed head gaskets, which the owner was honest about, and the paint was a little faded. So I spent 2 weekends taking the heads off, and while I was in there I put in new belts, hoses, and a rebuilt alternator and starter from Napa. Contrary to other reviews, the engine does *not* need to come out of the car to do this. That was 4 years and 40K miles ago. To celebrate the fact that Ill probably own this car another 10 years, I had it painted for $1000 by another guy I found on Craigslist a few month ago and it looks like new again! Ive driven it from Colorado to California, all over Colorado, Wyoming and Utah, in all kinds of weather, including ski trips to the mountains. It has never let me down and the performance is amazing for such an old car. Even my girlfriend loves it!

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  Another great Acura MDX - 2014 Acura MDX
  By L J - March 27 - 2:44 pm

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  2013 Acura ILX Hybrid w/ Tech Package - 2013 Acura ILX
  By Kerry Olson - March 26 - 10:26 am

  In April of 2015 we were in need of another car. Initially I looked at a BMW 335 and a Infintity G37 coupe, both of which I loved being a man. However I knew my wife wanted a good gas mileage that also had navigation, a CD player, heated seats, etc. I ended up choosing the ILX as it was below the book value at the time, was fully loaded, and though a hybrid it was sporty looking compared to other hybrids on the market. I also liked the option of shutting off the hybrid mode, which gives the car more umph when getting into traffic in the DFW area. On average with city and highway driving we average 39.3 MPG with the car not in hybrid mode. We have kept up with oil changes, etc and I dont know if there is a correlation or not but the car does get better mpg within the first 20% of a new oil change. The front seats are comfortable especially considering that the basis for this car is the Honda Civic. The only flaws I see are limited storage, and no leg room for an adult in the back seats. However the interior dash layout is great, the hands free is one of the best I have used, and though it takes premium gas I have never paid more than $24.00 to fill it and my wife can drive 4-6 weeks before filling. It also looks like a higher dollar car. We will always be an Acura fan due to this car.

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  Just hit 170k miles and very reliable - 2004 Acura MDX
  By Costa - February 20 - 7:50 pm

  I bought this as a third vehicle (instead of a work truck for my rental properties) with about 160k miles. I have owned it for a little over a year and it just hit 170k miles with no major problems. The original owner maintained it well for its first 160k miles, as have I for the last 10k miles. I do have to replace the power steering pump soon, the loud whine that seems to be a common problem, but otherwise no problems. I have never owned a car with mileage this high so I have no basis for comparison but I am very happy with the reliability. It also drives great and if the odometer said 50k miles I would believe it. The navigation system seems very modern for a 12 year old car and the leather is in like new condition. We have an Infiniti JX35 with 50k miles and the drivers seat is already more worn than this MDX with 170k miles they must have used a very high quality/durable leather. The only downsides are no blue tooth in the 2004, I believe 2005 models have blue tooth, and the interior is small for a 3 row SUV (trade off for handling well for a 3 row SUV).

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  Great ride - 1995 Acura Legend
  By Raymond Lloyd - February 10 - 10:34 pm

  Very please with my purchase

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  Reliable and luxurious - 2014 Acura ILX
  By Tommy - January 27 - 5:58 pm

  My family has had a few acuras. We have always loved them. From an Mdx with 200k+ miles to brand new RLs. Great ride, sleek look, great gas, inexpensive to maintain compared to other cars in this class.

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  BEST BANGS FOR THE BUCKS - 2004 Acura MDX
  By Tong Chang - January 26 - 4:57 pm

  I have 335,000 miles on this car. Still going strong with original motor. Only changed out the Alternator, Belts, and struts/shock. Proper maintenance will this car will give you many years.

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  Love this car - 1994 Acura Legend
  By Lana Carlon - January 24 - 12:16 pm

  This car has been trouble free, I love it and I dont know if I will ever get rid of it!

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  Legendary Acura - 1990 Acura Legend
  By Reinzcarnation - January 8 - 12:27 pm

  Parts for The 1990 Acura Legend are available (new & used) as any vehicle will need repair after 100K miles. The "VG new cars make VG pre owned cars" has a picture next to it of my car!