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:

• 

  Love it. - 2016 Acura RDX
  By Nancy Perry - February 13 - 4:10 pm

  We traded in a 2004 Acura TL for our new 2016 Acura RDX. My husband and I are Senior citizens and found that the RDX was easier to get in and out. It has the Acurawatch feature which helps us drive our curvy back roads where we live. All and all, its beautiful!

• 

  Loving Acura - 2002 Acura TL
  By happywithacura - February 13 - 10:00 am

  We are extremely pleased with our new Acura. If you are not prepared to buy the Type-S model, dont test-drive it. If you are looking for a luxury sedan with sporty feel, excellent handling, premium sound, and comfortable ride, you have found the right car. The Type- S is a slightly tighter ride with improved handling over the regular TL model. However, the smoothness of the ride does suffer some. We are extremely happy with the car and would love to buy another to put next to it in the driveway.

• 

  Oh my God!! - 2003 Acura TL
  By acuralover85 - February 12 - 12:09 am

  I love my 2003 Acura TL Type S. This is the car of my dreams. Its fast, gorgeous, and reliable. I cant say anything bad about the car really. I have a great amount of head room (Im 6 feet), excellent power, and good gas mileage. The car gets so much looks its outragous. I get compliments on the clean leather interior all the time, and the car has an excellent paint job. I just love how the car came fully loaded with everything. I think I will drive nothing but Acuras from now on.

• 

  No Comparison! - 2006 Acura TSX
  By Karen, San Francisco - February 11 - 3:18 pm

  I was in market for a 4 cylinder vehicle that would provide the get and go power, as well as better gas mileage in comparison to my 2004 Honda Odyssey. I first test drove the 4 cylinder Honda Accord, but found the TSX handled better, had a smoother more comfortable ride, more horsepower and better standard equipment.

• 

  Excellent Car - 2007 Acura TSX
  By First TSX - February 10 - 8:48 pm

  Excellent car. It comes fully loaded for a not so loaded price. Fit and finish can not be beat.

• 

  Very nice car - 2002 Acura RSX
  By tbatey - February 10 - 1:40 am

  Performance is great for a 4-cylinder, comfort, features, and amenities are above average for this type of vehicle and price range. Gas mileage is great during regular driving, still good when having fun. Very fun car to drive with a beautiful engine/exhaust sound. Quality of build is very good, but not great.

• 

  Straight TL Review - 2004 Acura TL
  By SlyGuy0975 - February 8 - 10:00 am

  I have purchased two 04 Acura TLs in the last 3 months. My first purchase was a "Certified" pre-owned with 2,800 miles and was nothing but problems: Constant alignment issue that dealer had difficulty fixing, car shaking above 85 mph, noise coming from center speaker area, drivers door rattling, door trim coming loose, rear sub rattling, memory seats losing its memory, Im sure Im missing a few. After going back and forth with the dealer and about 2K dollars later I dumped that one and got into a new one with 6 miles. No complaints with this new one. So my suggestion would be to purchase a 04 TL that was built later in the year. Seems there were plenty

• 

  Owners Feedback - 2004 Acura TL
  By RudyE - February 8 - 10:00 am

  Fun to drive and handles well in all types of weather. Audio system is good not quite bose speakers quality. Navigation systems is user friendly. Handsfree system works well with my bluetooth compatible cell phone.

• 

  Integra GS-R - 1992 Acura Integra
  By DJ Counteract - February 8 - 12:00 am

  I love this car. Ive owned many Hondas and Acuras in the past, and this is by far the best.

• 

  Best Decision Ive Ever Made in a Car - 2002 Acura RSX
  By AcuraGirl - February 7 - 7:59 pm

  I have over 70,000 on my 2002 RSX and I loved driving every mile that is on it. The looks of the car are sleek, stylish, and so much fun! Even though my car is already 5 years old, it doesnt look it. I love the smooth shifting and the roomy trunk especially when the seats are down (I moved half of my dorm room with it!). The only problem I had was with the motor on the passenger door lock and with the passenger side airbag which they fixed right away. It handled excellent when a light pole fell in front of me on the freeway and I ran right over it without swerving an inch. I hit a semi-truck tire that blew out in front of me too and it didnt do very much damage to my car either.