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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  Putting the POCKET in Pocket Rocket - 2002 Acura RSX
  By newege - December 24 - 10:00 am

  After seeing one on the street the tastefully assertive exterior got me to the dealership. The wonderfully designed dash and the number of features for the money got me convinced to make the purchase. Now I will spend the next 3 years with regular trips to the chiropractor because I keep banging my head on the roof with every bounce. Its fun to go fast but the buzzing motor cycle sound is embarrassing! WHAT WAS I THINKING!!! Anybody want to buy mine?

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  Dont waste your money - 2003 Acura MDX
  By apersistent1 - December 1 - 10:00 am

  This is the worst QUALITY car I have owned in 25 years. You would not expect a “luxury” car have constant noises and problems. First, noise in front wheel well that took 3 weeks to find/fix. Next, the sound of the fuel sloshing in the fuel tank - Acura says it’s "normal" for this car. Next, stereo speakers in the doors started vibrating. Next, door noises. Turns out the seal "needs lubricating". Next, the brakes make a clunking noise - Acura says a "slight clicking". Whenever you shift, and apply the brakes, the calipers "adjust". Acura says this is normal. Caliper adjustment IS, the noise ISN’T!

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  need improvement - 2004 Acura MDX
  By chaunam - November 16 - 8:04 pm

  uncomfortable,vibration problems, opening on headlights, service department have a lot excuses and stories,

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  I would rather go back to my BMW328CI - 2001 Acura CL
  By Type-S - November 6 - 12:52 pm

  Transmission problems, check engine light constantly comes on, and loud sunroof, and slight rattles. I wish I had kept my old BMW328CI which had over 140k miles and never had any of these problems that my Acura CL with only 60,000 miles have. I have heard/read that the better Acura CLs were the 1997 to 1999. My co-worker has a 1997 CL 3.0 and never had any problems with it and has over 110,000 miles on it. You get a far better car for the money you pay for a BMW 3 series.

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  Another disappointment - 2016 Acura RDX
  By Richard Fisher - November 1 - 7:03 am

  This is my second RDX. I had a 2013 Base AWD drive model which was a very nice car but lacked the technology options. Now I have an Advanced AWD and the technology looks promising but disappoints again. The Nav system has only level of directions; no verbose or minimal. The instructions do not override the radio . I would like to have the radio go silent so I can hear the instructions. Yes I can turn the instructions off which is nice. The speed limit is not shown (nicer would be if the speed would go red if I above it - either 1 mph or some amount I specify). The nice folks at Acura could not help me move my addresses from my Garmin to the Acura Nav system. Wonder if Acura will ever truly think through the tech on their cars?

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  So so - 1999 Acura TL
  By Igor O - October 11 - 2:00 am

  Not the greatest car. For 30 grand should be much better. Good handling, average acceleration (not a Maxima) Brakes tend to warp, giving pulsations, when slow down. You can feel all the road bumps and exterior noise (compare with Lexus and you can see the difference). Bose system need improvement (cant play recorded and some times new CDs, I have better sound from my Altima and Camry). Why Acura put pieces of vinyl into a leather seats. I am not a heavy guy 160 lb, but vinyl already cracked. And lately strange sound coming from suspension and Acura could not figure it out.

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  RL Review - 2004 Acura RL
  By NFB - September 11 - 2:00 am

  Need following for such a pricy car: compass and milage computer in standard model much larger HP engine luxery fetures inside like others in its class. Car does flow nice on open highway

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  2001 TL Acura - 2001 Acura TL
  By Mrs. Markel - August 29 - 2:00 am

  I used to LOVE my TL until I had 4 transmissions for the car before 40,000 miles. The last time it was in the shop (8/2004) they told me come pick it up it runs beautifully. Tried to start it the next day and now the starter is out. Dont buy TL.

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  Worst mistake Ive Made - 2003 Acura TL
  By tmcdhs - August 27 - 2:00 am

  Still drive my 90 legend and performs well. Thought I would upgrade for an 03 TL, what a mistake. We have put 10k on the car sense purchase and its been in the shop four times and they still cant fix it. Cruise goes off with the slightest bump in the road. Dealer adjusted brake pedal and car locked up all four wheels and had to be towed three different times. Seat heaters very minimally if at all. Trying like the dickens to get rid of it. Cant depend on it to take the family on a trip, so it just sits in my garage... Bose Stereo sounds a bit better than AM

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  Overpriced HONDA - 2003 Acura TL
  By joann - August 24 - 10:00 am

  This car is a pony in a horserace. The advertised 260hp does not appear unless you floor the gas pedel. There is little or no torque, actually my mothers camry has more bottem end in normal driving. The ride is very rough an unrefined causing just about everything to rattle. The interior is cheap and is a carryover from a $16K Honda Accord with splashes of leather. DONT buy it...get the loaded Honda Accord if you are in this market.