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 vehicle I have ever owned - 2007 Acura MDX
  By Mark - November 10 - 2:00 am

  Great handling and performance. Lots of room in a moderate size. Steering is too heavy. Way better value than comparable German models.

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  TSX - 2005 Acura TSX
  By bubba - November 2 - 2:00 am

  Have over 170,000. A few problems, power locks, rear suspension (tow out), but for the miles and fuel mileage a fantastic auto. Navigation is outstanding, interior is of best quality. May buy anothr but only after 300,000 on this one.

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  Fantastic vehicle, but a few quirks... - 2007 Acura MDX
  By Kat - November 2 - 2:00 am

  We love our Acura. However, after putting about 10,000 miles on it during a cross-country move, we have found a few disappointing features. The leather seats are showing more "wear & tear" than I would expect for a vehicle this age. The leather quality in my Subaru is far better! The leather has pulled up from the center console and is loose. The radio is a bit quirky, as it resets the radio stations randomly to the factory settings (and no, its not because of the Driver 1 & Driver 2 keys). The paint seems to chip VERY easily. A beautiful car altogether, though, and a smooth ride that easily pulled a large U-haul trailer through the Rocky Mountains!

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  Acura MDX 2001 - 2001 Acura MDX
  By leslie ingle - November 1 - 2:00 am

  Purchased used from a dealer with app 40k miles on it. Was great for a couple of years and then at 95k, I had to have the transmission replaced. Acura did replace because of recall and I only paid a $400 labor charge. Very disappointed that now at 145k miles I am hearing the same noise and know it is again the transmission. I will never by another Honda or Acura. I have owned Toyotas previously and never had any major problems. Going back to Toyota but in the meantime I feel stuck with this car. Cant sell it with a faulty transmission and do not want to pay for new one.

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  Incredible look, High rev fun, Reliable - 2010 Acura ZDX
  By Ronny - October 29 - 2:00 am

  Wow, what a car!!! Just need more power!!!!

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  Good value - 2011 Acura RDX
  By jps1010 - October 26 - 2:00 am

  After considering a number of different vehicles I finally narrowed it down to the RDX, the Nissan Murano and the Audi Q5. I thought the Audi was the nicest of the trio but the price and the long term reliability concerned me. The Murano was also very nice, however, I have heard there have been numerous problems with the CVT transmission. I believe the Acura gave me the best bang for the buck due to their proven reliability, 4 year warranty and convenience of getting a loaner in case anything significant is wrong with the car.

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  Basically very reliable - 1997 Acura RL
  By Brad Gardner - October 25 - 2:00 am

  Bought the car at 29,000 miles and now have 144,000 miles. The only problems have been both back window motors, front struts went out at about 85,000, rear struts are also out. Now, i have a broken motor mount somehow to the tune of $725.00. I have really enjoyed the car, though it does have poor cornering manners. Recommend replacing the timing belt as called for in the manual.

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  Head gasket blown twice in 4 years - 1995 Acura Legend
  By Doberman - October 24 - 2:00 am

  I bought the car in 2006 when its mileage was 136K. The car had a sensor failure right after I bought it. The dealer was willing to fix it with free labor only. The car just turned 200K. In the past 4 years of ownership, I had replaced head gaskets twice, spending $2K+ each, replaced a control circuit board that failure caused a cable connector melted down. This year the left side ball joint broke and broke the ABS sensor as well. These could have been prevented if I was cautious about the noise I heard while driving the car. Last week, the car was hit at a spot between 2 doors on driver side by a truck. It is a total loss........

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  Not worth the money - 2002 Acura TL
  By Maggie - October 22 - 2:00 am

  Not only will I never buy another acura again, but I will warn everyone I know to never buy one. Transmission went out a thousand miles over our purchased "extended warranty". Acura should be ashamed that a 1994 Geo Prism has outlasted my way overpriced Acura. $3,000.00 later, transmission still not working, and the car is only worth 5,000!!!! Run, run away from Acura products!!!!!

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  Acura doesnt stand by product - 2008 Acura MDX
  By Im Dissappointed - October 19 - 2:00 am

  Nice driver, poor quality. When I hit around 30,000 miles I noticed my lower paint chipping badly and starting to get rust on bottom of my mdx. Went to my acura dealer to see if they would remedy the problem. They will not stand by their design or workmanship. On new mdxs they added a plastic strip and plastic flare guard on door. So they know the design was bad but will not fix the problem. My 2nd mdx, also have an rdx, will never buy another Honda product. There are many other nice suvs out there.