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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  Only Type-S - 2003 Acura TL
  By vid - January 14 - 2:00 am

  This cars is sooooo much fun to drive...

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  WOW, What a change - 2004 Acura TL
  By bg1006 - January 14 - 2:00 am

  Just picked up my new TL last week - traded in a 2000 TL. What a difference! The improvements are vast, more power, more style (huge improvement here - the car looks mean), great stereo and very upscale interior. Acura definitely meant to move the TL up a class or two - mission accomplished. The 10% increase in price is justified and worth every cent.

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  RL After 9 Months - 2006 Acura RL
  By Lee - January 13 - 7:22 pm

  No problems after 11,500 miles and only regular service so far (second at 15,000 miles or so). Easy and fun to drive, very comfortable and quiet.

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  Great comfort - 2007 Acura RDX
  By Grizzly - January 13 - 7:54 am

  I purchased this car never having driven an Acura before, and I was sold from the minute I sat in the seat. Comfortable, secure, and sporty. The performance of the RDX greatly surpassed my expectation. Far better than any of the competitors in its class. And the technology features are easy to use and the voice recognition can do anything from find a location to turning on the A/C. I would highly recommend the RDX to anyone wanting to purchase a small SUV with performance and technology.

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  Les MDX - 2006 Acura MDX
  By Leslie Mays - January 13 - 6:27 am

  Driving experience with my 2006 MDX is hands down "all stares". I drive for a living, so at the time of searching for a new car I became very selective about the vehicle I wanted to purchase, I had a few in mind but, when I ran across the MDX on the highway I fell in love with the looks at first, then when I visited the dealer and saw what it had to offer, I was taken. All my friends love my MDX and for me the joy of knowing where I go the MDX will be there by my side.

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  Excellent Unbeatable price/content - 2007 Acura TSX
  By JMapar - January 12 - 11:44 pm

  After a lot of research, we bought a 2007 TSX (Auto w/NAVI, Glacier Blue) for its standard options, price, reliability. Wonderful car: zippy ride comfy seats nice leather. Voice activated nav is awesome. Paired my Bluetooth phone in one min! My wife loves to drive it. My son connected his iPod in 2 sec. After driving this car (really my wifeÂ’s car), I am jealous! My 2004 S430 has no Bluetooth or iPod connectivity my nav is not voice activated!

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  RL speaks quality - 2007 Acura RL
  By wynnc6 - January 12 - 11:35 pm

  I compared the BMW 5 series, Mercedes, Audi6 and Lexus 350. No comparison. The RL has SO many more features for the money it is no comparison. The RL is SOOO comfortable to drive. I got the tech package being a techie myself. I love the quality and ergonomics of the interior design. The V-6 has some punch but not like a V-8 (my only complaint). The AWD is simply awesome. The Bose 10 speaker stereo is unbelievable!

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  2002 Acura CL - 2002 Acura CL
  By J Denning - January 12 - 7:38 pm

  Bought it new in 2002. It is a beautiful car.

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  Excellent Value - 2003 Acura CL
  By motu - January 12 - 10:00 am

  This car is quiet, has excellent performance, built solid and the best value of the dollar that you can find.

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  Good value - 2005 Acura TSX
  By Blis - January 12 - 5:00 am

  I am very happy with my TSX. It has all the features that I wanted (stylish, nice engine, leather seats, manual transmission) for a very reasonable price. It feels good on the road, and gets awesome MPG (26 mpg so far, mixed city and highway driving, up to 80-90mph). Cars bad sides are: weak aftermarket support, radio is simple (no RDS, nothing fancy, still sounds good though) and some rattles (addressed by the dealership). More power would be nice as well.