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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  The Realtors vehicle of choice - 2005 Acura RL
  By Roberts - July 28 - 12:00 pm

  Excellent comfort for ALL passengers! Plenty of leg room, quite and wonderful handling. All the power you will ever need! Beautiful interior design with just about everything "voice actuated!" The only negative thing I can say about the new RL is that the trunk space is a little too small for my "for sale" signs.

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  TSX premiem - 2005 Acura TSX
  By Mir - July 28 - 9:01 am

  VSA light came on 3 times or more, car would not go into reverse at times, CD player is weak and sensitive had that replaced as well very disappointed in car could use a lot more horsepower, kills on gas could be better, horrible for 4 cylinder feels like, youre driving a v6 with the gas mileage.

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  ACURA IS BEST - 2004 Acura MDX
  By ANDY FU - July 28 - 2:00 am

  FIRST, THANK YOU HONDA. SECOND, THANK YOU ACURA. YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST. GREAT LOOKING, POWERFUL , AND QUICK CAR... LOVE THE NAVIGATION SYSTEM.

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  Awesome New Acura!!! - 2004 Acura TL
  By happyinKC - July 28 - 2:00 am

  Driven the car for 3 weeks and am absolutely amazed at the great standard features and redesign at this price point. Love it, love it, love it. Handled awesomely in the snow and heavy rains.

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  Finest car around - 2004 Acura TL
  By genesisexo@aol.com - July 28 - 2:00 am

  This car is the finest car around for the money. I owned a TL previously and loved it. This is even better.

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  What a sweet ride--Exceeds Expectations. - 2004 Acura TL
  By Nathansilver - July 28 - 2:00 am

  What a sweet ride--Exceeds Expectations. The anticipation I suffered over the last three months was unbearable. As soon as the wife gave me the OK to purchase, I could not sleep very well. This is my first front wheel drive vehicle, and it did not take long to acclimate. I opted for the Anthracite_Ebony_6MT_Navi_HPT and I do not have a single regret. If you work hard and enjoy your life.. Enjoy Acuras new 2004 TL. Truly worth every dollar, and the competition cant come close to this vehicle, for the price. Life is too short--Experience the 04TL today!

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  Near perfect - 2004 Acura TL
  By Bingo - July 28 - 2:00 am

  This car should be the standard to how all cars are built in the future. Put 1000 miles on it in 8 days. The technology and ergonomics are almost perfect. The Navigation is the best on the market. Voice commands not perfect but close. The handling for the majority(99%) of drivers is excellent. the 0-60times are very believable and the v6 kind of sounds like a v8 untill 5000rpm when it screams. Very fun car and I havent got to the bluetooth yet.

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  This is exactly what I was hoping for!!! - 2008 Acura MDX
  By Boris Milev - July 28 - 12:05 am

  Acura has done a great job. I was originally looking at VW Touareg which I still love but since Acura arrived to China I fell in love with this car. The interior quality is slightly inferior to Touareg but otherwise it is a great car. Industry-leading SH-AWD (Honda is one more time riding the waves of innovation) and superb GPS system are just awesome. Feels and drives like a luxury sedan. Offers plenty of space (I am 63" tall). Sound system, air-con are just great.

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  Problems - 2005 Acura TL
  By nebbioloman - July 27 - 6:06 pm

  Simply put: The worst car experience I ever had. Brakes went @ 14,000 miles, tires @ 17,500, trouble shifting from 2nd to 3rd (transmission), wiper motor replaced, 3rd set of tires, 3rd set of brakes, recalls, numerous other headaches. to many to write about. I spent more time at the dealer than work. 17 mph city/ 20 mph highway

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  Love this car - 2003 Acura TL
  By sandy - July 27 - 4:51 pm

  My only problem was early on when the vsa went crazy, and it took dealership a month to figure out what to do with the computer. Other than, this car has been perfect. Great handling and very peppy. I dont use premium gas, only plus, and that works fine. Have gotten as much as 33 mpg on the long hwy drives average about 23-24, which is terrific. Sound system is great and finish is lovely. The CD player can make you a little crazy until it unloads and loads thats the only flaw. Got new Michelins (and it costs a fortune with the S model) at 43,000 miles, and standard recommended maintenance so far, nothing extra. Highly recommend it in fact my husband bought a 2005 TL.