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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  Keeps on going - 2003 Acura MDX
  By rquigley1 - January 14 - 1:31 pm

  I was the 2nd owner. Bought in 4 years ago with 100k on the odometer. Super reliable. Changed timing belt at 140k and follow the service recommendations. I do all my own work from fluids to plugs etc. Read some posts about a tranny shift problem and noticed a little hesitation around 170k. I did a triple flush of the AT fluid and care is running just fine. I expect to get it to 200k and then buy the current body style acura. Only real problem is a hum in the stereo and loud whine in the rear dvd system after about an hour of operation. For the money- a super car.

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  NO PROBLEMS AT ALL!! - 2003 Acura TL
  By 1soccerfan - January 5 - 8:42 pm

  I bought this car Sept 2010 with 110K miles. I drive at least 2,000 miles per month, this car has 141K now. 14 months and Ive driven it 31K miles with NO PROBLEMS OR ISSUES. Oil changes and tires only. I drive my cars hard and I expect something to go wrong but the transmission shifts perfect and everything works perfectly. I go on 2-3 hour road trips at least twice a month with no worries. I trade cars about every 2 years and I have to say this is the best one Ive had in a long time.

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  Back to lexus - 2008 Acura MDX
  By raindude - January 1 - 12:59 pm

  So i bought my mdx with 80k miles on it dec 2009. The technology, room, power, etc were great. I thought that this was finally e vehicle that i could run to 300k. Not. Turns out the torque converter was going bad at 95k miles. The dealership said that these things happen. I brought car to a local transmission place for a better price. They said their are many many problems with the mdx and pilot transmissions. They recommended a full trans rebuild since it would need one eventually anyhow. Not sure why acura and honda havent corrected this but the problem has been going on for 10 years. Bye bye acura. Bought my lexus instead....

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  Acura cost cutting ruins this car for me - 2012 Acura TL
  By jr171 - December 27 - 4:52 pm

  The TL is fun to drive and is well designed. Unfortunately, after living with it for 6 months the cost cutting Acura is so obvious that it ruins the car for me. Here are my annoyances, individually none of them are deal breakers but combined they kill my TL enjoyment Issue 1: The wheels of my 44k car are plastic. The 2011 model were metal and looked a ton better. Issue 2: The bumpers of my white TL are a yellowish white that dont come close to matching the body when its cloudy outside (bought the car on sunny day so I didnt notice) Issue 3: Misc quality issues. All the chrome paint has flaked off my key fob, the leather is low quality and wearing quickly, the back speakers rattle, etc

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  My first Japanese car - 2012 Acura RDX
  By scotch1 - December 20 - 6:22 pm

  My first choice was a BMW X3 or Audi Q5, but the price was about 9K to 10K more than the RDX. The car is sporty, fun to drive, good seating confort in the front and rear seats. Love the surround sound stereo, Nav and Blue Tooth. The voice commands to operate most controls is hit or miss. Have about 3K in miles so far, average about 19 to 20 in town driving. The ride is a bit stiff, but NVH is good. Have owned 4 Volvos, the RDX is much more compliant with impact harshness than any of my Volvos. Yeah, I hate the beak front end, but at least is does not look like the Nissan Joke, I mean Juke. Most Japanese cars lack the sense of design when to BMW or Mercedes.

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  What a snatch! - 2009 Acura RDX
  By itzsyk - December 17 - 2:16 am

  Its been 2 great years since I first picked this baby up. The biggest reason for choosing this car, is because the 2.3 liter engine from Honda is only used in the RDX. The small turbo is also very peppy. Theres virtually no lag - VTec kicks just under 4k rpm. Unfortunately, the drop in peak power is very noticeable. The ride is stiff, but supple. Just enough to feel confident without suffering back pains. I put regular gas for 1k miles recently, and to my surprise, there was no loss in power. But, there was loss in the stiffness of the steering wheel. Regardless, I advise premium gas. The brakes were the biggest disappointment. They feel like they stop 60-0 in 130-140 ft.

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  Good Value - 2011 Acura MDX
  By mvarga - December 3 - 10:44 pm

  I have had the 2011 Acura MDX w/Advance Package for about six months now, and I somewhat regret my decision to buy an Acura. While the ventilated seats and blind spot assist are great, the interior quality is lacking. For a car that costs over $50,000, I would expect a lot less plastic and authentic wood trim. If you are looking to buy a seven passenger midsize SUV, I would also consider the Lexus GX460 or the Audi Q7 because both of those vehicles have interiors that are far superior to that of the MDXs. Overall, I think that you get a lot for a cheap price. I would definitely recommend the Advance Package because it has many useful features.

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  12 ZDX - 2012 Acura ZDX
  By keybd29 - November 18 - 9:12 am

  This car is lightening agile lane to lane but in a sustained curve it tends to roll and under steer. I believe this is because the zdx has a high center of gravity and perhaps made worse because of its heavy all-glass roof. The zdx has very poor throttle response, just lots of lag, and utterly no steering feedback! Keep your eyes glued to the road! Build quality is super and interior cabin is quiet. Rear seating in too cramped for most adults except for short trips, and, I find that even in the drivers seat my head often brushes the roof. IMO driver controls are dangerously complicated. All in all I find the zdx middling to poor in terms of fun to drive.

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  Torque converter issue - 2010 Acura MDX
  By curious52 - November 13 - 7:37 am

  There is some concern about torque converters in older MDX vehicles, but now this goes forward to the 2010 model. At about 35,000 miles, my vehciles began to hesitate and shudder when it was necessary for the transmission to change gears. I read some Twitter reports which gave me reason to take my car to the dealer. They road tested the car and agreed the torque converter needed to be replaced, covered by the warrenty. They also told me they had replaced converters on four other 2010 MDX vehicles. The job takes about two days as the transmission must be lowered to replace the part. There is noticable difference now. My dealer was excellent in how they handled the matter.

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  Acura Transmission - 2003 Acura TL
  By howard42 - November 13 - 2:51 am

  There are several years of very poor Acura transmissions around 2003. Catastrosphic failures of the transmissions. My 2003 was bought new, babied, garaged, and had an impeccable maintenance record. All maintenance done by dealer. Transmission died at 118,000. Repair cost was 75% of actual value of car so was not worth repairing. Needless to say, Lexus will be my new car company.