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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  Reminds me of my BMW 540i. Very elegant. - 2008 Acura MDX
  By Addy - November 22 - 11:54 am

  Traded in a 2006 Toyota Sienna LE for the 08 MDX Sport with black on black. Unlike many other autos, this SUV is truly unisex. I got this for this for my wife but would love driving to work -) It really reminds me of the BMW 540i Sport I used to drive some time back. Do not expect a Lexus RX style smooth ride with the Sport package. Its a road hugging SUV, with tighter steering and superb pick-up. The 300 HP engine is pretty responsive

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  Great Car - 2004 Acura TSX
  By keith82 - November 22 - 10:00 am

  Had the TSX for about two weeks now and have to say its a great car. I looked at other cars such as the 3 series, A4, accord V6 coupe, saab 93 and decided to go with the TSX because of the quality, standard features and price.

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  Tight!!! - 2004 Acura TL
  By cdkruaya - November 22 - 10:00 am

  Best decision I have made since I leased the 03 model.

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  I Would Buy Another - 2002 Acura MDX
  By Freddie - November 22 - 9:05 am

  My husband and I test drove several SUVs before selecting this one. We selected it in part because it has the drive and comfort of a car unlike the truck feel of many others. The body style is great (didnt change for a few years). We like the reliability, overall style, navigation system, and mileage (is still very good). After 143,000+ miles & over 7 year it still looks and drives great. A new transmission was installed a few months before the extended warranty expired so we incurred no extra cost. No other major work has been needed. Two times the navigation malfunctioned but shortly corrected itself. We need to update our navigation CD because some locations cant be found.

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  Solid Car - 2007 Acura TSX
  By Roger - November 21 - 11:47 am

  Great vehicle so far. Excellent MPG at 50-65 mph, I am averaging around 33-34 mpg. Runs smooth, pretty quiet ride. Excellent car for the money. Could use more room in the backseat. Acura has great service, and makes a great car!

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  1997 Acura 3.0CL Premium - 1997 Acura CL
  By Mir - November 21 - 11:04 am

  Iv bought my CL back in 2003 with 43,000 miles, its now 2008 and i have about 121,000 miles on it, the car is definitely fun to drive, the J30a1 3.0 liter VTEC engine produces great power in such a light car, the only problems I ran into were alternator at early age, battery, starter other than that the EGR valve was replaced through an Acura check engine light recall. I now have 121,000 and my transmission has begun to slip on me.

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  Cant believe Acura - 2003 Acura TL
  By Shocked!! - November 20 - 2:00 am

  Im a honda/acura guy. I bought Acura for the reliability, and the most bang for the buck. Its actually a fun car to drive but my faith in Honda/Acura has greatly diminished. Acura knew about the transmission problems that they have been having with the TL from 98- 2003. I should have done more home work. Ive had my car for a few months have 4k miles on it and my transmission is bad !!! The kicker is that they wanted to replace it with a remanufactured tranny..... No thank you. Screw the 100k extended warranty......... A major recall in the making....

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  Best luxury value - 2008 Acura RL
  By Kanthi Rameswaram - November 19 - 9:24 pm

  A co-worker of mine gave me a ride to work one morning. She picked me up in her Acura RL. By the time we reached work I believe I repeated the phrase - "this is a great car" - about 5 times. Well I own one now, just completed one year of ownership. Let me tell you folks there is no better value for money in the luxury category. I compared the RL to the BMW 5 and the Audi A6 and I saved about $15k easily. The best car that I have owned bar none. You are surrounded in luxury and comfort. The AWD, steering and handling are superb. I wonder how I ever survived the LA labyrinth without my Acura nav system - it is amazing. The only negative is the rear middle seat, it is uncomfortable.

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  2008 TL-S First Impressions - 2008 Acura TL
  By JVC - November 19 - 10:09 am

  I purchased a 2008 TL-S in late October. I was looking for a sporty design with a smart interior. The TL-S also had more room than my 2007 BMW 328xi. I have owned the Infinity 235 and find that its interior does not match up to the TL-S. I love the wheels, the ELS sound system and the whole exterior look. I know it may be tired but it is classic. I looked at the 2009 but was not impressed by the design. I also received a great deal on the year end model. I traded-in a 2007 Saab Convertible. Acura makes buying very easy because there are only two trim levels. The competitors make you pay for every feature.

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  Exactly What I Expected - 2009 Acura RDX
  By hm - November 17 - 6:56 pm

  This is not my first Acura. These vehicles are designed to be a balance between value and luxury. Are they German engineered - NO. That said, they are good performers with great reliability. This is a fun vehicle to drive loaded with features that would be costly options on other brands. Fuel economy is based upon how aggressively you drive and the car is not going to magically transform into something else after to take it home - so give it a good test drive!