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:

• 

  Very nice car - 2005 Acura TL
  By sleeper22 - January 6 - 8:16 pm

  I bought my 05 TL with a little over 54,000 miles. It now has 105,000 miles. The 3rd generation TLs are very good cars. Comfortable, quiet, roomy, refined and I like the FWD because we do get snow here in KY. I just did the timing belt replacement (almost $1000 at dealer) so guess I will be keeping it for awhile. I really like the TL as in my opinion gets great gas mileage for a car that performs this well. I average 22-24mpg combined and anywhere from 28-33mpg highway. The only complaints I have are the brakes. They perform well but rotors tend to warp easily and the calipers went bad around 95,000 miles. Other than this the TL is probably the best car I have owned.

• 

  GREAT CAR, ESPECIALLY FOR THE PRICE!!! - 2012 Acura TL
  By mbessette - January 5 - 1:59 pm

  I traded in my 2008 Range Rover Supercharged for this car and it drives just as good if not better than the Range. Also has better electronic features, reliability, and cost a third of the price. Overall just a good quality car very happy with it!!!! P.S the AWD handled better than any other i have driving and i also drove a Subaru and an infiniti in the past

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  Love this car - getting better every day - 2013 Acura RDX
  By wdkymys - January 3 - 5:13 pm

  Shortlisted the RDX and Q5 (also looked at X3 and XC60). Q5 is a great vehicle but similarly equipped, was $7K more than the RDX. The RDX was so well equipped and drove so well, I figured $7K was too much to pay for the Audi badge. 1000 miles now on my AWD RDX and loving it. Ride is incredibly smooth, quiet and relaxing (better than Q5). The last poster who says it rides rough doesnt own this car and probably hasnt even driven one. If there was a problem here, at least one professional reviewer would have mentioned it. Handling is really impressive too. Q5 is better, but seriously, how often are you driving slalom courses? Ive hit 32MPG twice in highway driving vs 27MPG expected.

• 

  Relative Bargain - 2013 Acura TL
  By koryme - January 1 - 2:33 pm

  Regardless if you like the exterior appearance or not, you cant deny that this is a luxury bargain. Match the features this car has to the equivalent BMW or Audi and youre looking at 10 grand higher. And that may not be including AWD. Performance, comfort, features, quality, transmission, and overall satisfaction couldnt be better. Not that its a bad thing, but if youre looking for an AWD sedan with a manual transmission, this is your only option. Note: Ive only owned my TL for a short time. If I experience anything like the other reviewer on here did then I will update my review. As for now, I couldnt be happier.

• 

  My 4th TSX - 2013 Acura TSX
  By tsxbythesea - December 30 - 10:56 pm

  This is a great car, all-around. Good-looking, extremely reliable, and best lease value. Power moonroof, xenon headlights, foglights, bluetooth, leather, and adjustable heated front seats are standard. Decent stereo. A/C vents in the rear and a cooled center storage bin. The 4 cylinder 200hp engine is powerful enough for highway passing and delivers good gas mileage. I test drove several cars to try something different, but none compare to TSXs overall balance of price, standard equipment, fuel efficiency, quality, and style. I strongly disagree with the reviewer who listed "button happy console" as a con. The buttons become intuitive after a short period of usage.

• 

  Three years, true love! - 2010 Acura TSX
  By amatista - December 29 - 6:12 pm

  Three years 36,000 miles later, I still adore my TSX. Superbly reliable (great after my previous car, a Murano, got bought back under the lemon law), great gas mileage (avg. 30 miles per fill up) and a joy to drive.

• 

  Sports car for the family man/woman - 2012 Acura TL
  By acuratloh - December 27 - 2:13 pm

  Owned the car for a few months, so its hard to rate the reliability. Its made by Honda, so it should be reliable. Once you drive the AWD version, you would have to be crazy to buy the front wheel drive version. I didnt get the tech version because I didnt want the navigation system. Built in ipod connection and usb port is nice. This car handles like its on rails. I no longer have to worry about pulling out onto a busy road when the roads are wet, this car flies. I get 26mpg if I drive freeway only at 75mph. I drive 70% city and 30% highways and average around 21mpg. Test drove the infiniti g37x, which was nice, but much smaller interior.

• 

  Awesome car and a great value too - 2012 Acura TL
  By chop100 - December 25 - 7:10 am

  I bought my base model last spring after researching luxury sedans for months. I got a great deal ($29,500 and 0% interest for 60 months) and I couldnt be happier. The car looks and feels like an expensive luxury sedan and yet I paid the same as an average mid-size sedan. I went with the base to save $4K over the tech package, how loud of a radio does a 50 year old need anyway? I have my own GPS and it has bluetooth and an aux hookup for my iPod already. Handling is good but not great, wallows a bit due to the size of the car I guess. The gas mileage has been the biggest surprise...averaging 27 mpg in mixed driving and even got 33 on a 1400 mile road trip.

• 

  Hard to impress me! - 2013 Acura RDX
  By qcman83 - December 22 - 9:33 am

  We bought this for my wife to drive. She was driving a 2012 Honda Pilot. In the past few years she has had a Honda CR-V, Lexus RX350 and a Honda Pilot. The comfort and quite has impressed us the most. I researched the 2013 RDX hard before we made our decision. Great choice. All of the websites said the the average price paid (TMV) for this model was a little over $37K. I was able to get it just a little under $36K. I would compare this to a Lexus RX350, its a little smaller, but about $9K less. Great decision....

• 

  A great used choice - 2008 Acura TL
  By edechazal - December 20 - 2:23 pm

  I purchased a clean 2008 TL auto with navigation 6 weeks ago. Its a wonderful car. Im a "car guy" but no longer a boy-racer since Im in my 40s. I appreciate refinement and pieces that work well together. This car delivers in most areas. The first test drive sold me on the cars feel and driving dynamics. Im 5 11" and the car fits me like a glove. I like the view from the drivers seat, the powertrains responsiveness and the look of the tan leather interior. I also test drove the redesigned 2009 model and definitely prefer the 2008 since it fits better. Piece of advice: be ready to spring for a new set of Michelins when you buy. Fresh tires clean up lots of problems.