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:

• 

  Great Car for the $ - 2011 Acura RDX
  By ljb5966 - March 14 - 3:53 pm

  I was deciding between the Outback (steering wheel issues) and the Prius (breaks, etc.) and reliability was the reason I looked elsewhere which is the #1 thing I have to have in a car, so I turned to Acura which currently has the best reliability rating of all manufacturers. I dont love the car, but we needed towing and I wanted a hatchback and this fit the bill at a decent price, and my husband is a Honda/Acura loyal follower. It is very nice car inside, but it is lacking in some areas.

• 

  TSX #2 - 2010 Acura TSX
  By pbacura - March 6 - 9:30 pm

  Replaced 08 TSX with 10 TSX about 8 mos & 8800 miles ago. New model feels larger, more comfortable, and more expensive than the previous one. The comfort comes at the expense of the lively, responsive steering that made the Gen 1 TSX such a pleasure to drive. Although a common complaint is the lack of 4cyl power, I have never found that to be an issue. I still think it is an excellent value as a entry level sports/luxury sedan.

• 

  Excellent Value - 2011 Acura MDX
  By akanorm - March 3 - 2:57 am

  Ive had the MDX for about 2 months and have driven it about 1k miles. It handles well for an SUV and the quality and the technology is equivalent to that of BMW and Lexus. I also, considered the A4 and A6 Audi, Avante, The A4 was too small and the A6 was not readily availability subsequently the dealer were asking nearly list price for the A6. Overall, Im pleased with the car and would suggest others in the market for an SUV to test drive the MDX.

• 

  SH-AWD Will Make Everything Better - 2008 Acura MDX
  By marko221 - March 1 - 7:23 pm

  During the recent snowstorm we received at Lake Tahoe, our MDX simply blew past everyone installing chains and kept up with the 4x4 rigs with the huge mud/snow tires and lift kits. Even on icy surfaces, we held our traction. The OEM Bridgestones have 5/32" tread left but the power distribution to the fronts, rears, or left or right was incredible! It can be monitored on the computer within the dash. My confidence kept building during our 3-hour commute up the mountain. A hazard warning blipped on and off when I intentionally tried to "drift" the vehicle on an icy patch at the gas station. Note to all: the commercials regarding the SH-AWD are fact!

• 

  Love this car but problems are starting to add up - 1999 Acura TL
  By danielle_1989 - February 28 - 12:20 pm

  I love this car I got it in 2007 It drives so nice and love all the features that this older car has to offer. Problems are starting to add up the driver seat is ripping and it is leaking oil and in order to figure out why they would have to tare the engine apart. Also major problem the catalytic converter is going and was told that cost a lot to fix, also the lights are really stupid to change cost me $400 to change the bulbs and they had to tare my engine apart just for that. Gas miles are okay not too bad. I really do love this car and if nothing was wrong with it I would run it till it died. One more thing Not good in the snow at all!!

• 

  1-year, 22K mile update - Not sure if I would buy again. - 2010 Acura TL
  By jimmyt_2 - February 23 - 1:17 pm

  I took delivery on 3/1/2010 and have put 22K on the car since. Overall I love the car and think it is an amazing value. BUT...the car has a noise that is related to tire speed. It ranges from the sound of a thousand crickets to something that sounds like a squealing belt. Of course every time I take it to the dealer, they canÂ’t hear it, or by the time they have someone that can ride with me, the noise subsides. IÂ’m concerned that they will not get it fixed before the warranty is up. The dealer mentioned that they are replacing a lot of the AWD shafts due to noise but he didnt think that was my problem.

• 

  Beware! - 2011 Acura RL
  By scatback - February 9 - 10:42 pm

  My 6th Acura, very comfortable and well equipped for the price. But multiple gremlins including a transmission malfunction, directional headlights dont operate, keyless entry malfunctioned, the new directional microphone for voice command must point in another direction because the system is unuseable, the nav doesnt include HD graphics, is still DVD rather than hard disk based and is therefore slow and distressingly inaccurate. Id like to like the car, and there is much to recommend it, but from the time I picked it up (and discovered 45 lbs. of pressure in the tires) it has been a disaster

• 

  Overall satisfied but plenty of room for improvement !!! - 2010 Acura MDX
  By yar7 - January 23 - 1:48 pm

  After having a bad experience with the dealer who insisted & put a different remote starter because of supposedly Acuras is not reliable and dealing with Acura headquarters who were not responsive to our complaints, I am now content with my 2010 MDX ,7,500 miles on it. There is room for improvement in terms of gas mileage, noise reduction and quality of interior materials.

• 

  Disappointing - 2010 Acura TSX
  By ssmu - January 19 - 10:36 pm

  My wife has been driving a TSX since 2004, its first model year. Weve been quite happy with that car it drives well, its comfortable, and its been quite reliable. So when I decided that I didnt want to spend any more money on my aging BMW 323i, I bought a 2010 TSX. Bad decision. Although the car is comfortable and fairly quick off the line, its steering is unforgivable. The electric power steering has a pretty good-sized dead zone at the center point, and it requires constant attention at highway speeds to keep the car pointed in a straight line. After a month I gave up and got rid of the thing. I now have an Acura TL with the works, which I absolutely love.

• 

  Happy Acura TL owner - 2008 Acura TL
  By riphraph - January 16 - 11:00 pm

  No manufacturer has yet to build the perfect car (or everyone would drive that one car) but the Acura TL line comes close in the important categories. Best in safety, styling and reliability. Am impressed with the luxury. Seems like most of the displeasure on the sites deal with issues with uncooperative dealerships. Hint. You can go to the Honda dealers for service if needed. Have been getting 23 - 24 mph. Solidly built. Smart engineering, sensible appointments, solid door gaps. Its a Honda after all. Low cost to own when compared to similar cars (Lexus IS350 and Infiniti G37 - try getting same upgrades for same $$) or BMW 323i (expensive to own)Front wheel drive takes some getting used to