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:

• 

  Solid, Competent Luxury Sedan - 1990 Acura Legend
  By Craig528 - March 9 - 2:00 am

  I bought this car from its original owners about 1.5 years ago--since driven it 44,000 miles (total of 194,000). Rides well, very fast--hard to cruise at less than 80 mph. Acceleration is authoritative. The car handles passably at a modest pace, but front wheel drive discourages enthusiastic driving. Quality of interior materials is excellent. Control layout and gauges are superb, simple to operate. The seats are comfortable and supportive. DO NOT expect parts to be cheap for these cars--many parts are now special- order. On the other hand, this car has never left me stranded.

• 

  What a money pit!!!!!!!! - 1992 Acura Legend
  By jtttma - February 8 - 2:00 am

  I bought a 1992 Legend with $48k miles in 2000. I thought it would be a reliable car that would last me at least 8 more years. In the four years that I have owned it, I have poured thousands of dollars into it. A new A/C ($1200), radiator, two front axles, replaced all motor mounts (come on, when was the last time you replace a motor mount in a car) and a load of other things. I estimate that I have spent at least $5000 in the four years I have owned it. The engine and transmission, they say, are great, but every thing else is garbage. I tell everyone who wants to by a used Legend to be prepared to pay thousands in repairs.

• 

  Boy am I sorry I bought this lemon! - 2003 Acura MDX
  By MelMel - February 6 - 2:00 am

  Theres alot to love about this car- wonderful ride, its really comfortable, nimble, handles like a sports car & has TONS of space. I could quibble about little things like the faux wood trim or the miniscule cup holder, or that the heated seats can suddenly get REALLY hot but the real problem w/this car is that I had tons of problems in the first few months. The window up/down thingy has been replaced THREE times & still doesnt work. Theres a rattling problem that took the service dept a couple of trips to fix & another rattling thing they CANT fix. All this on a relatively new car-wish Id bought a Lexus or Infiniti!

• 

  Gas Mileage Rip off - 2003 Acura MDX
  By WALF3 - January 31 - 10:00 am

  Ive had my MDX for 5 months and am truely dismayed at the gas mileage. The sticker reads 17 to 22, but I get 13-14 mpg driving 70/30 city/hwy. And when I bring it to the dealer, they have some excuse like its winter gas or we cant know your driving habits. Well Ive been driving for 30 years and never had such rotten gas mileage. And it takes premium gas to make it worse. Dont believe that sticker.. youre in for a shock.

• 

  Lemon City... - 2002 Acura RSX
  By 925 Type-S - January 12 - 11:40 am

  My Acura RSX-typeS was a lemon and was bought back by American Honda Motor Co. I owned the vehicle for 99 days- it was in repair or disabled for 56 of those days. Grand total- 43 days of trouble-free driving with my RSX. The dealer/ Honda couldnt fix the problem (SRS- light on= all airbags disabled) and I was directed to go through the Lemon law process for resolution. I will NEVER buy another Honda product.

• 

  2 years later... - 2014 Acura RDX
  By Ben Camposano - December 18 - 7:40 pm

  I purchased this 2014 RDX AWD Base. Doing comparisons with the CR-V, RAV4, and a Forester XT, RDX had the most bang for the buck as youd have to load up the former cars in order to match the RDX, but with less power and ride quality. But it wasnt all paradise for me when I had 4 instances of transmission slippage during Jan. 2016. Long-story short, the transmission had to be replaced due to the problem actually happening to the mechanic when he test-drove the vehicle. Also, Reno Acura did their due diligence by also warranty-replacing the rear shocks due to thumping noise that comes from the rear. Now, I bought this car since I heard/read so many reviews of their reliability. As a working student, I need this car to get me through a 1.5-hour round-trip commute to the university, and was quite disappointed to learn of the defects. Repairs aside, Im now questioning my decision to purchase this vehicle. Im hoping that itll get me through college before things really fall apart, and then trade it in promptly. For any of you experiencing problems, do your due diligence by documenting the problem.

• 

  PITA - 1990 Acura Legend
  By Ralph Schwartz - December 13 - 2:00 am

  This car has always been a minor pain - 2 climate control sampler fans ($), light switch ($$), transmission control module ($$$), power antenna quit. Then all hell broke loose last year - transmission rebuild ($3.000!!) Didnt have another car ready, so had work done. Now its making a noise which might be a pinion bearing (would be major $ again), and the radio has stopped completely (no power to it at all). The leather is definitely sub- standard, and has worn poorly, for what this car cost me when new.

• 

  Yawner... - 1997 Acura TL
  By mtalinm - November 29 - 2:00 am

  Picked this up in a hurry when my BMW died. As others have said, Im sure I can drive this car for 10 more years with minimal maintenance...the question is whether I would WANT to. From the outside, it looks like a Honda Accord with an Acura badge slapped on it. (The Honda stamps on the glass dont help.) The controls (wiper, cruise, even horn) are identical to the Accord my family drove in 1978. No evolution. None. Even worse is the engine. This thing can only break 10s 0-60 if I manually shift, and its a yawner for passing anyone.

• 

  Not Actually - 1998 Acura TL
  By jea16 - November 27 - 2:00 am

  Ive owned the car for a couple of years now. Almost everything has its troubles. I found out that its common on these cars to have 3+ fuel injectors to go out at once. Seems to me thats a flaw that needs to be fixed. The paint and body doesnt hold up near as well as any other car Ive owned. It squeeks, rattles, etc. The dealership knows me by name. Unfortunately, my wife just bought the 2003 and she is also a fequent visitor of the service center. I sold the BMW for a more reliable car. I messed up.

• 

  Bad Luck CL - 2003 Acura CL
  By zolman - November 17 - 2:00 am

  Transmision went bad at 24,000.