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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  Love this car - 2015 Acura TLX
  By sandre63 - November 2 - 7:34 pm

  This is my third Acura, Ive had two TLs over the past six years. I liked them but alway felt like something was missing. This car has everything and more. They thought of every detail from the lights turning on at night when I get close to the car to the technology that enhances the driving experience. I feel like I got a lot of bang for my buck

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  Excellent Car - 1998 Acura TL
  By lizaven17 - October 25 - 5:21 pm

  I got this car back in 2010 as a starter. Since then its needed an upstream O2 sensor and a wiper motor. I have fallen in love with this car and worked a great deal on it. My TL has done two coast-to-coast cross country trips with stellar performance. The car is kinda rare in the US so parts can get expensive if you break the wrong thing. But overall this car is great. A word of caution to fellow tuners out there: the design of this car is kinda nonsensical. Things like wiring a subwoofer are extremely difficult. But as a basic car, the 5cyl is really reliable and the interior is spacious and comfy. A pure-blooded GT car if you ask me.

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  My feel good car - 1991 Acura NSX
  By governess54 - October 19 - 1:55 pm

  I have owned my NSX for over a year, I was looking for a Z but when I saw the Black Beauty I had to have it, works flawlessly on short or long trips, you have to drive defensively because the car is so low (and trucks so tall) but when Im in the mood for a rocking good time with plenty of [non-permissible content removed] I go for a drive . I have the 1991 with auto transmission and I would love to add the 2015 (manual) when are they going retail?

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  So far its been amazing - 2005 Acura RSX
  By cczajka21 - October 17 - 12:59 pm

  I bought this car about a month ago with only 84,000 miles on it. For being almost 10 years old, I thought that was pretty good. I have always loved this kind of car and ended up finding one when I wasnt even looking. After the first test drive i fell in love. The 6 speed is amazing and so much fun to drive. It has the perfect amount of power for me and it handles great. I was worried about the mpg because before this car I had a corolla and got excellent gas mileage. I go to college in a big city so I figured that would lower my mpg but Im getting an average of 29.5 which I thought was good. So far I have had no problems and hope it stays that way so i can keep this car for a long time.

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  My ILX is a great car - 2015 Acura ILX
  By stevenrose - October 5 - 11:10 pm

  I really enjoy owning my ILX. The ILX offers a great value. For just over $27,000 you get a lot of standard features including leather, 17" wheels, back-up camera, luxury car dealership service treatment and Acura reliability. The ILX handles great, for a small engine it is refined and smooth. Acceleration is decent and the car feels more powerful than 150HP. On the highway you dont even realize you have hit 80 because it is pretty smooth. Road noise is the only downfall, but when you are listening to the great stereo you dont hear a thing. If you read some reviews I think they are unfair, the car is excellent. I test drove the Audi A3 1.8T and the turbo and love the ILX by far.

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  Excellent Value - 2010 Acura TSX
  By jazzrockfusion - September 28 - 9:08 am

  Purchased May 2010 after purchase of wifes 2010 TLX the previous month. After 4 years of driving my TLX, I am still loving this car. The 6 speed manual transmission adds another dimension of FUN on the road. Honda has one of the smoothest shift boxes around (traded in my Honda Civic SI). On the highway, I have opened it up to 125 mph effortlessly (I didnt have it floored either and wanted to push it but figured I was lucky enough to be ticketed). I have to applaud Acura as they do not nickel and dime you to death when premium features are added on. Try that with Lexus or Infinity?? ELS 5.1 stereo system is impressive. Another reason I stand by Hondas flagship is reliability and longevity

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  Amazing as always - 2015 Acura MDX
  By kmfl - September 22 - 8:55 pm

  Wonderful SUV just like my previous 2! Bought a 2014 Tech realized how much I wanted the features of the advance so a year later I bought another one and I must say no problems at all, and every possible luxury feature I could ever hope for! I am an Acura client for life!

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  Love this new car! - 2015 Acura TLX
  By jwrinn - September 21 - 3:00 am

  Love the new TLX. Very smooth ride. Electronics in the dash are well thought out. The interior design is sporty yet classy. The LED headlights give the car a very sleek and trendy look. The Econo mode boost gas mileage. 70/30 split of highway/city driving has earned me 29mpg.

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  Caveat Emptor - 2012 Acura MDX
  By gibbsie - September 18 - 9:50 am

  Ive had my 2012 MDX for two full years now (and 25,000 miles) and its definitely a mixed bag. I like the way it handles and with room for 7 or 5 and lots of gear its certainly fit the bill of people hauler and long road trip mule, but for $45k, I expected better--better quality and reliability. I have driven the 2015 model and there are some improvements, but there are too many issues with this vehicle to recommend it highly. I plan to sell it and consider other options.

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  No Manual = No Fun - 2015 Acura TLX
  By gt0279a - September 15 - 3:59 pm

  I owned a 2006 TSX 6spd manual with nav. Fun car and hard to beat the price with all the features. The 4 cyl was hi-revving and fun to drive, but the car was small and lacked low end power. Unfortunately, in the TLX they got the size right, but the car lacks any fun factor. Way too many buttons to push, no manual transmission option and cheesy faux wood paneling. At least with the old TL and TSX you could opt for no wood. The TSX also came standard with leather, not as nice as the TLs, but better than the fake leather used in the base TLX. I know a similar optioned BMW 3 series would come in around $5-7 grand more, but a nice used 335i seem better to me.