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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  Learn about it first - 2008 Acura RDX
  By RW - May 7 - 1:23 pm

  Just bought my RDX and love to drive it. Make sure you know what you are getting with the RDX - it is a sports car with stiff suspension and a firm ride so if you want a soft, "never feel a bump" ride then look elsewhere. Went without the tech package - the $4k was too steep for me. If you want the suv where sport meets luxury (and dont need that much cargo room), check it out.

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  This is a wonderful car! - 2005 Acura TSX
  By Drew - May 7 - 4:06 am

  I have had my TSX for about a year now and it has been a wonderful car. It handles very sharply and it has just enough power to make it fun yet not exhilarating. I love the look of the interior and exterior. The only complaints that I have about it are that for being a reasonably expenisive car it has some cheap touches, such as the sound the door makes when you shut it and just other little trim details. When it comes to reliability it has been a wonderful car except that at about 17000 miles the air conditioner just stopped pumping out cool air and the dealer seemed the be almost mystified by this but they recharged it for free and it is working again. I highly recommend this car.

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  Excellent value by comparison - 2008 Acura MDX
  By Billboy - May 6 - 3:48 pm

  We traded our 2005 BMW X5 for this 2008 Acura MDX. The BMW was good, but the Acura is surprisingly better in many ways. Actually handles better, has a quieter ride and more power than the BMW. The interior is well-designed and matches up with our previous best in class, an Audi we owned a few years ago. The cost of ownership will be only slightly higher ($39 for an oil change where the BMW was covered while under warranty), but the eventual cost should be lower. The styling is what really caught my eye. More muscular stance and presence, but more interior space.

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  If Only Gas Was Free! - 2008 Acura RDX
  By Nancy - May 6 - 3:29 pm

  I absolutely love this car. It is sporty, fast, handles well, comfortable, super fun to drive. Unfortunately, I live in a busy city and this is not the car for city driving. Gas mileage is awful. I average 16 miles/gallon city driving. Havent taken it on the open road yet. This car is perfect for less populated areas.

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  still lovin this car - 2005 Acura TL
  By Dale Morris - May 6 - 1:02 pm

  42k miles on this and am still enjoying it. Best car I ever owned -- a great blend of sporty-lux-value. The car is fast and quiet, well- behaved on the road, roomy enough for family of 4, fun enough to drive alone on twisties. 6 speed manual tranny is great. No manufacturing or other problems, just normal oil changes and services.

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  Better than average crossover suv - 2005 Acura MDX
  By jsa - May 6 - 4:10 am

  We looked at the all-too-vanilla Honda Pilot for while, but we decided that it was so Honda that we couldnt bring ourselves to buy one. The MDX is a good compromise between blah and full-blown luxury. The ext. styling leaves something to be desired,but the versatility of the interior is what sold us over the Lexus RX330. We carry anything and everything in the MDX. Acura could do much better by adding the basic $38k items like daytime lights, seat memory and auto wipers. Ride is ultra smooth and quiet. Plenty of power and nicely appointed inside. A bit pricey for what it is though. Add auto-locking doors and power pass. seat to up the sense of value!

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  Teggy - 1999 Acura Integra
  By jeff - May 5 - 8:59 pm

  Have had the car for about 4 years now. The only money I had to put into it besides regular check ups was a completely new set of brakes, which the old set wore out at about 80,000 miles. Quick acceleration, fun and easy to drive. Not the best stock paint job but I can live it with. I really enjoy my integra and am glad I purchased it.

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  In the shop three times already - 2007 Acura RDX
  By Very Very Unhappy - May 4 - 10:57 pm

  In the last Month my RDX has been in the shop three times and the last time it didnt even last a week before the emission light went on again and when it goes on it seem to shift down and have less power it has been in the shop this time for a week and they dont know whats wrong with it they are in contact with Japan now and still have no idea whats wrong. Im probably going to trade it in once the find the problem. I can not trust this car. I thought Acura was a trusted car that had no problems I guess I was wrong.

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  Acura MDX = Amazing Sport SUV - 2008 Acura MDX
  By CLEW - May 4 - 3:27 pm

  We just purchased an 08 MDX with Tech and Entertainment with the power rear door. I drove X5 (3.0 and 4.8), Caddy SRX, and Mazda CX9 and hands down the Acura was the choice to make. It handles like (or better really) than the BMW with so many more options for the price. If you want a great, luxury SUV and want the best quality and value go with the MDX. The handling is so impressive, and the power from the 3.7 litre V6 will shock you. Navi is so easy to use and the whole sound system is unreal!

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  Great Car - 2004 Acura MDX
  By rtcxyz - May 4 - 2:00 am

  Extremely well designed. Excellent build quality. Classy and functional interior. Accelerates and corners beautifully, rides great. We evaluated the Lexus RX330, BMW X5, Volvo XC90 but the MDX was the clear choice. Only bad news is due to high demand/quality, the dealers arent willing to negotiate from MSRP. At least they are no longer adding a premium over MSRP.