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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  Best CUV out there for the Money - 2007 Acura RDX
  By ever_green - May 8 - 9:24 pm

  This car is great. Oops I mean SUV. Well same thing real for this "CUV". Sometimes you forget its an SUV with its excellent acceleration and sport suspension. You feel the road unlike any other SUV out there. It feels more like my friends BMW 3s. Apart from performance Acura offers excellent interior design with everything you need, really. Comfortable heated leather seats, Dual zone AC & so on...The super handling AWD also helps on snow and offroad. even though this car is not designed for offroading I still do it and it feels just as good as my highlander on dirt and light muddy roads. Only thing Im unhappy about is the MPG in hwy. I get 21MPG.

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  Outstanding - 2009 Acura TL
  By Golfer - May 8 - 11:59 am

  And I wanted a CTS but my wife said no- glad I listened to her. This is my second Acura (MDX previously) after many years in GM vehicles. This vehicle has it all, styling both exterior and interior, good mpg, tech package is user friendly, great sound system and a hard drive to record your favorite music both from CDs and the XM Radio.

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  After18 years its been a good one! - 1991 Acura Legend
  By Stacey - May 8 - 11:55 am

  I bought this car new in 1991. It has been the best car ever. At 18 years of age it still looks brand new. Classic styling never looks old. My oldest son has been driving it the last 7 years and it now has well over 200K miles on it. It still runs great... a testament to what great engineering and meticulous upkeep will get you. One word about the lack of cup holders. In 1991 they didnt have cup holders in cars other than minivans!

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  Best value in its segment, by far... - 2016 Acura TLX
  By Todd Rutherford - May 8 - 7:13 am

  Bought a fully optioned TLX V6 with SH-AWD and Advanced package with less than 700 miles on it. A little history: The vehicle had previously been wrecked leaving the dealership when the teenager driving it rear-ended another car on the freeway. There was no frame damage and the car was repaired at the Acura dealer back to factory specs. Since the kid didnt want a car that had been wrecked before and since daddy wrote another check for $50K to buy another new fully loaded TLX, this vehicle was subsequently sold to an independent used car dealer for about 1/2 the MSRP. Their loss, my gain! This is my 4th Acura and 7th Honda product in recent years and so far Ive not been disappointed. Though Hondas have dominated our car ownership experience, our family has owned various models from Chrysler, Ford, GM, Mercedes and BMW over the years and theres reason we keep going back to Honda. The build quality on this vehicle is excellent by comparison to other models that weve owned, across all manufacturers. The ride quality is great and the steering feel is good, though still not as good as the 3-series BMW. The transmission can be a little quirky at times but nothing thats unacceptable. Even though my vehicle was essentially new and I paid almost $15K off MSRP because of the previous wreck, it still would have been a good buy at its MSRP based on similar cars in the segment with the same features. Is this car the best in its segment? No, its not. Does it represent the best value in its segment? Absolutely!

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  Great Car w/ Big Liability - 2004 Acura TL
  By CRS - May 8 - 7:11 am

  The body style is sleek, its fun to drive and comfortable. Over a few years developed too many vibrations and rattles for high end car. Biggest disappointment was Acura Corp. not backing my TL when the front right ball joint broke going 60 MPH in the center lane. Parts did not indicate failure. This was my second and last Acura. I feel that I cant put my family at risk with a company that will not admit they have a dangerous & critical design flaw with their wheel assembly and unwilling to back the consumer.

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  Want a sport sedan needed an suv - 2007 Acura RDX
  By Turbo Fan - May 7 - 7:28 pm

  I chose the RDX because I wanted sport sedan like handling and power but the utility of an SUV. Gas mileage is not as bad as some say. If I ease into the throttle, I can get about 25mpg highway with some city driving. Ride is firm, but you get lots of grip. Sport mode tranny is neat but not necessary. This is my first turbo engine and overall I like the power surge surprising that a 2.3L can feel this strong in a 3,900lb vehicle. Turbo lag is not bad spools up faster than the 2008 CX7 and 2009 Subaru Forester I drove. RDX felt more powerful than CX7 despite having less advertised hp and one fewer gear. Glad I spent the extra money and chose the RDX over the CX7.

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  Disappointing - 2009 Acura MDX
  By amital - May 7 - 4:46 pm

  Save your money folks -lot better stuff out there for the price. Have owned new MDX for about a year. Maintenance costs are VERY high. Differential fluid changes every 15,000 miles - not kidding. Its based on the service code. Dealers are all old school and in terrible condition. Have been to 3 different ones and theyre all unprofessional -- and crooks to boot! Today I took the MDX in and apparently the brakes went out at 25000 miles. Fog/DTL light cover had melted from heat and they told me the exhaust from someone backing up real close must have done it -- unbelievable! Acura cust svc is just as bad. I have a Lexus too-the service experience and reliability is in a whole diff. league.

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  Great Birthday Gift! - 2005 Acura TL
  By akaprls20 - May 7 - 3:24 pm

  I bought my TL for my birthday and have been happy ever since. After months of researching the TSX, I checked out the TL and never looked back! I purchased mine from a private owner and got a great deal! Dont be fooled by the dealers who want you to think that you get so much more buying a CPO. More money for no reason. The owner who sold the car also had an 06 TL and said the 05 drove a little faster. Apparently there was some change in that year. Oh well, my gain!

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  Best Car I Own! - 1995 Acura Integra
  By Mitch - May 7 - 12:39 pm

  This car is awesome!I Have had this car for almost 5 years now and it has never let me down, the only thing that I have had to put into it is routine maintenance. It is a very reliable car. It gets good MPGs (about 26-27 city and 31-32 hwy) and the car runs smooth. I have taken it on a 2000 mile round trip and it was very comfortable and the car had no problems running the 13 hours trip. The 5-speed tranny still shifts smooth and after putting over 60,000 miles on it, the car still runs like the day I bought the car. The car currently has 107000 miles on it and I have no doubt that it could make it to 200,000 miles easy. Its hard to find reviews on cars this old thats why Im writing this.

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  Best First Car - 2002 Acura RSX
  By redline8x1000 - May 7 - 2:00 am

  This was my first car that I had bought on my own. Got it when I was 27 and now Im 34. (I just got a cpo BMW 328i with all the bells & whistles). This car had it all for the money. I was one of the first to have it. It was the TYPE S too. The handling was great for its classes. However I noticed that in the last couple years the suspension started to give a bit. The hatchback was great since the backseats could fold down and I could carry a lot of things in the back. The car had over 130,000 miles on it when I sold it to carmax. Im sure it could have lasted several more years but I didnt have a need for 2 cars. Ill miss this car for sure, but Im really enjoying my new ride! =)