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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  Lemon. - 2006 Acura RL
  By Bryant N - September 13 - 12:54 pm

  This is my first car, bought it used from a BMW dealership down the road from me about 3 years ago. From the instant we bought it I knew I was going to have major issues. It started with a ticking from the right front passenger wheel which turned out to be a loose brake pad. Next came the real isues, oil leaking. From everywhere. Brought it into the mechanic and he said that the entire engine bay and the passengers front wheel well are covered in motor oil. Major issues, basically had to rebuild the top half of the engine. I got it done and off I went. Next came the transmission.... I could stop at a stop sign and not be able to engage the transmission anymore, I was dead in the water... Only had reverse. So once we got it to the mechanic he said that a piece broke off my radiator, there was radiator fluid and engine oil in the transmission, and tranny oil and engine oil in the radiator. Boom! Brand new radiator and the transmission literally exploded so thats brand new. On top of all that comes the regular oil changes, spaek plugs, tires, etc. This car is a MONEY PIT! It will not make it over 100,000 miles unless you basically buy the car again! I will never buy another Acura or Honda in my life after my experience with this car.

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  Transmission bad!! - 2016 Acura MDX
  By Debbie - September 13 - 7:35 am

  I purchased a 2016 Acura MDX from Jay Wolfe Honda in Kansas City, MO and so far my total overall experience is a "0" I have had my car in the shop for about 20% of the time I have owned it and my last repair was to replace the transmission with 10,000 miles on the vehicle! It still shifts jerky at low speed but I havent taken the car back because I am going to pursue the lemon law and/or Acura arbitration. I had a loud noise in the rear end, after they replaced the struts (after 3 repair attempts) and it is better. There are 3 Service Bulletins out there for those of you who want to try them TSB No 16-035 replace rear suspension dampers and rear upper mount bushings. TSB No 15-039 Replace transmission end cover gaskets TSB No 15-054 Software update in powertrain and transmission control modules. I called Acura and none of these were linked to my specific vehicle VIN #. Had they replaced the gaskets, I may not have had a fluid leak which supposedly caused the transmission replacement. The module update is supposed to correct the shifting - that is questionable. The rear end work did help the noise in the rear end. I could continue with minor detail issued but suffice to say I WOULD NOT purchase nor would I recommend anyone to purchase an Acura MDX!!

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  strong smell from leather seat - 2016 Acura MDX
  By Wei Li - August 2 - 9:41 am

  I bought a 2016 MDX at Apr 2015. The car has unusual new car smell. At the beginning, I thought it will disappear soon .I am wrong. I cant stay in the car without the window open for more than one year. But unfortunately after two summers, the smell of new car just reduced a little bit and the leather seat still gives off strong chemical odor. I can confirm because if I smell closely to the leather its just too strong chemical odor. I have owned multiple cars with leather seats before. This is the first time I hit the issue. I very understand that leather products usually has "leather smell" and I actually like that. But this smell from ACURA 2016 MDX seats is not typical genuine leather smell. Its just unpleasant chemical smell. At the time I bought the 2016 MDX, I noticed it smells more strong than 2015 MDX. And it seems to be issue with all 2016 MDX at least the first batches. I was told by many people that baking the car in summer could reduced the new car smell. Now I have done it twice in the summer. Almost every sunny day I leave the car outside and open the window just a little. I have verified it doesnt work for this car. Because this time, issue is from seat. I am pretty issue besides the seat, the smell is OK. Just the leather chemical smell is too bad. One detail I noticed is there is no smell from back piece of seat. I am guessing that the back piece of the seat has different leather.

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  DO NOT EVER LEASE AN ACURA - 2017 Acura TLX
  By Adam - April 8 - 12:53 pm

  Unlike almost all auto companies in the class that Acura tries to compare itself to, Acura does not, under any circumstances, permit a lease to be assumed, regardless of circumstances. And when you approach the dealer to see if a buyback is a potential solution, they tell you that the car is worth far less than the amount of payments due..... Its a sham..... Do not EVER lease an Acura.....

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  Rattle Rattle Bang Bang - 2016 Acura MDX
  By Jerold - February 21 - 11:56 am

  The tech package was better in our 2004 MDX, Impossible for a six foot man to get in and out of drivers seat, and lastly the car has dash rattles and not only that the rear of the suv it sounds like it is bottoming out when it crosses tar stips.

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  2016 MDX Vibration Part II - 2016 Acura MDX
  By Very Disappointed - November 19 - 12:46 pm

  Very disappointed, follow up to my previous post, ok my car has been at the dealers 6 times now for a vibration between 55 to 75 MPH 4,900 miles they keep saying they have to confirm the vibration which I have a service order from October stating they confirmed the vibration, they replaced the brake rotors, needless to say vibration still there, they replaced the tires, vibration still there, took it back to the dealer today for 6th time, another test drive with the service manager he said he could feel something but wasnt sure what it was, back seat was vibrating extensively, service manager acknowledged it, said he would take a new MDX off the lot drive it same route we drove mine to see if the road made it vibrate. They called and said they test drove a new MDX off the lot and it vibrates worse than mine so its a characteristic of the vehicle. They actually put this in writing on the service order. I asked if they were informing consumers of this vibration characteristic when they were looking at the vehicles and they said no, I told them just because the other car vibrates does not make it right, it sounds like a design defect to me, this directive came from the District Service Manager I cannot believe they would actually think that is acceptable, they all vibrate so that makes it acceptable???? Buyer beware I would not buy the 2016 Acura MDX.

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  No service parts available - 2017 Acura MDX
  By Jagan - October 2 - 3:33 am

  My MDX top rear spoiler is damaged and when I went for a replacement, there is no spoiler available in entire USA and Acura wearhouse. They cant guarantee when it will be avialable. It might be 1 month , 2 months or a year. Such is the service of Acura. Its really frustrated my that they cant maintain parts inventory.

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  Dont buy Acura TL - 2012 Acura TL
  By No More Acura - June 21 - 6:37 pm

  I bought this vehicle in 2012 (certified with 5K miles on it). I have had a number of battery issues; cable rust issues ect.. I just ended up replacing the battery today just in 4 yrs. On top of that there was a serious recall for which I had to waste a lot of time. I also had to recently replace the tires within 40K miles. For the money you pay, there are more reliable brands such as Lexus which is better value for money. Stay away from this POS.

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  Swing and a miss - 2016 Acura ILX
  By Tim S - December 23 - 9:23 am

  I bought this car because after test driving it reminded me of my 07 Civic Si, which I sold to go back to school, only a bit more refined. However, having spent a couple months in it, any refinement I perceived was a false assumption based on the Acura badge. Ill start with the positives: The engine is good; its a rev-happy Honda engine with an okay noise and feels quick enough. Certainly not under powered, though it can feel like its working a little hard sometimes at 80mph and above. The transmission is pretty good too, but its an automatic. This car needs a manual transmission. And finally it has the right balance between ride comfort and feel for the road. Now to the bad: everything else. The worse is the drivers seat. The lumbar support is not adjustable. If you dont like to crank lumbar up to 11, youre not going to be comfortable. The upper part of the seat is even worse. There is absolutely no support for the shoulders, and consequently, zero lateral support. If you make a left hand turn at more than 5 mph you’re going to fall into the passenger seat. And somehow my feet even seem to get lifted off the floor when making turns at a reasonable speed, giving an odd weightless feeling that leaves me grasping for something to brace myself on. Which makes driving rather difficult. So you can forget about any spirted driving on twisty mountain roads. Then there’s the fact that in the best position I’ve found, my head is about half an inch from the ceiling, which creates more than a few visibility problems. The rest of the interior just feels cheap, like it was made by Fisher Price. I had been driving a mid-level Ford Fiesta. I assumed that even the cheapest Acura would be a huge upgrade in quality. I was wrong. Here’s the things that were betting in the 3 year older and $12,000 cheaper Ford: Steering/handling; leather wrap on the steering wheel; stereo (the stereo in the ILX is garbage)’ phone call quality; ease of using phone controls…pretty much everything related to the infotainment system. And the overall feel of the interior materials is just not that much, if any, better in the Acura. Also, the trunk is extremely cheap on the ILK. The lid feels like it’s made of tin and weighs about 2lbs. So you might think that if you don’t care about the infotainment system or having the feel of a luxury car, and just want something with decent driving dynamics, this car is worth a look. If it weren’t for the issue with the driver’s seat and lack of a proper 6-speed manual, I might even recommend it. But as it is, there are many other cars in this price range to look at, such as the GTI, WRX, and even the Civic Si.

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  They just cant get it right - 2016 Acura MDX
  By jl - October 28 - 8:13 am

  I thought many times before writing this review. I felt that there was no need to let others know about my problems , but my conscience just kept telling me to share my thoughts with the media. When I was driving home the first time from the showroom there was a metal knocking noise under vehicle and was quite concerned. I immediately called my salesman who put me through to service.the manager said there is a bulletin on this but acura had no fix ,but are working on one. i asked how long? and he responded by saying they have been working on it since 2014.I laughed and then choked and said what are you talking about. He said the design of the parking brake cable was not designed correctly and it knocks like a chain hitting the bottom. after quite a few adjustments and the rear brakes overheated from overtightening the cable, I just gave up and said I will live with it until acura comes up with a fix. Well, to continue, Ive had countless parking sensor issues that just go off even if no one is around waiting for the red light to change. It sometimes scares me thinking another vehicle is approaching .The only way to shut the sensors off is to override them and shut the system off completely. they removed my bumper 6 times ( damaging the bumper)and replaced modules and sensors and harness and still no fix.The dealers remedy is to just shut them off permanently, even though i bought the advance model to get this option factory installed.My preset steering wheel only works sometimes. My 9 speed tranny clanks ,I guess it wants to let me know its still there . My brakes practically go down to the floor and acura tells me that its ok. Seat adjustments are not great,but i guess acceptable. My rear backup camera looks like I have been driving in a dense fog ( useless) .They say other mdx cameras look similar. The ride quality on smooth roads is fine ,but try hitting a few minor potholes and it goes right through the cabin. While I was even servicing the vehicle a woman was complaining about the terrible ride quality and vowed to sell her mdx just to keep her sanity. There is a scraping noise when you first start the suv in the morning. Might I have to say more. Acura customer relations keeps telling me that they would like to continue working with me to correct these issues after more then 5 attempts ( i stopped counting) and yes I am aware of the lemon law.I said the right thing is to put me in another vehicle and you can continue to correcting these issues on your own and spend 24 hours a day to figure it out so other loyal customers dont suffer. Acura ,unfortunately with being the best selling luxury suv cannot get it right. i guess people gravitate to it because the price is great compared to other similar suvs .Also, acura shares the same mother company as the civic and accord who have held top honors for many year, so people that want luxury and reliability will hopefully get it like the honda products previously mentioned.I am not writing to punish acura I just want them to get it right. In closing, Maybe I just might just decide to stop punishing myself one day and move on to another brand after owning acuras for many years. I guess Im finally getting wise that taking off a shield on the front grill or giving real wood trim instead of plastic will ultimately not shield this company from customers realizing that there is something wrong here. What acura needs to do instead of fixing a grill issue is to fix mechanical issues that are the real reason why people have always purchased honda products in the first place called reliability.