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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  BEST DAY OF MY LIFE - 2004 Acura TSX
  By Love My Acura - April 23 - 10:00 am

  JUST AS SPORTY AND MORE SOLID THAN THE BMW 325i THAT I TRADED IN. THE BIG DIFFERNCE iS THAT I WILL BE GOING TO THE DEALERSHIP EVERY 5000 FOR AN OIL CHANGE NOT AN ENGINE OVERHAUL. BEST DAY OF MY LIFE WAS SEELING THE BMW AND BUYING THE ACURA

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  Still in love with my TSX - 2004 Acura TSX
  By Sydney818 - April 23 - 10:00 am

  This car is a keeper and thats something Id never thought Id say. Im the queen of trading in cars. Ive owned my TSX for 6 months now and still love getting into it every morning just as much as I did the first day. Its such a solid little car and extremely well-built. It was the best choice for me overall and has everything I need in a vehicle at a price of $27,000 with navigation!!

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  Incredible! - 2004 Acura TSX
  By kelsim - April 23 - 10:00 am

  I love this car. Its fun to drive and peppy!!!

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  No Fun To Drive - 2008 Acura TL
  By Dee - April 22 - 11:59 pm

  There is no joy driving my TL because upon acceleration at 2000 RPMs, it feels very rough like a grinding under the floor. After 2000 RPMs the rough feeling under the floor clears up. I have owned a lot of cars and our two other older vehicles (one of them is a truck and the other a small car) outperform this one. Other annoyances: when It rains and you open the trunk, water jumps the gasket and pours into the trunk space - debris too. There is excess noise when the moonroof is closed and the ceiling partition open when Im on the freeway. I would like my 2005 TSX back. This is our fourth Acura and probably our last. I should not have to write a review like this.

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  A for Acura - 2006 Acura TL
  By Bri Bri - April 22 - 9:38 pm

  Ive owned Volvo, Mercedes-Benz, Saab, Infiniti, and Audi and this in the best total package Ive ever owned. Ive now had my TL for two years and have yet to take the car in for anything else other than schedule service. Acura has created the best blend of performance, luxury, and reliability. By the way, the standard bluetooth technology is great.

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  The Best of Both Worlds - 2007 Acura RDX
  By michael - April 22 - 9:19 pm

  I have been in the car business 18 years, and have had a few front drive cars and 4 rear drive pathfinders. One day I was driving a front drive passenger vehicle and took a corner to fast and the rest is history. That day I test drove the 07 RDX SW AWD and the rest is history. I have never owned an all wheel drive vehicle with VSA. Being in the business, I have driven this vrossover hard. It corners better than any thing I have ever driven. Bring on the rain. Floor it from a dead stop and the car just launches forward, comfortable on long trips, the navigation is great.

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  Acura Fan - 2005 Acura TSX
  By Sharon - April 22 - 2:50 pm

  10-yr owner of a 1994 Integra. Toss up between TL & TSX, but could not see a reason to pay the extra $6k for the TL. Wanted the flexibility of the rear fold down seats. Regularly get 23-25 mpg. The trunk now seems small since I’ve put a stroller in it. Battery replaced under warranty at 2.5 yrs – was in for an oil change & battery tested low so they changed it FREE. There was a rattle in the dash at cold temps – told it was a cantilevered dash, so basically a design flaw. Tried to fix 3 times & then a month or so after the last try it went away on its own. Most recent problem has been a side-to-side rock in the driver’s seat - fixed under warranty.

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  Poor Fuel economy - 2006 Acura MDX
  By Acura MDX - April 22 - 2:45 pm

  This car is barely breaking 13 MPG thats combined city/hwy. Called Customer Service to see if they can do anything about it because the dealer couldnt. The worst customer service ever, they said "There is no issue for us to address". WOW! Thats after they put me on hold for 40 minutes.

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  Go Kart Honda - 2005 Acura RSX
  By Jymmijamez76 - April 21 - 4:14 pm

  I have had this car about 2 months now, and it just begs to be revd to 8k. Handling is very good, suspension needs to be tweaked a little if driving at high speeds. Loads of after market and online support. Really reminds me of the old CRXs, with some modern features and comforts. Leather seats are very supportive and comfortable. Bose System is great, plays my old Miami BASS cds and sounds great considering the small sub.

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  Luv my 08 MDX - 2008 Acura MDX
  By rt - April 21 - 1:04 pm

  Replaced a Honda CRV with this but not before test driving the Mercedes ML350 and ML320, BMW X3 and X5 and the Lexus RX. This vehicle was by far smoother, more comfortable, more powerful and somehow more economical!