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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  2010 RDX Review - SH-AWD - 2010 Acura RDX
  By Justin - June 14 - 7:20 pm

  First time buying an SUV. Looked at the Rouge, Escape Ltd., CX-7, Tiguan - also higher up the XC-60. For the money (paid $33) the RDX blew away the comp. Love the interior (first luxury car), audio is awesome - leather heated, very comfortable seats (fr and bk). exterior is nice. Very peppy, i merge like a champ w/ the turbo. everyone compliments my new ride, & rightly so. Im a proud owner BUT MPG is killing me. i need AWD (in Alaska) and Im averaging 18.5 MPG. I drove a Jetta before, so maybe Im over reacting but premium fuel and 18.5 is the only thing Im not thrilled with. If you are in the $30-35k range this is the vehicle hands down. Happy Owner

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  Joy killed by the Remote - 2010 Acura TL
  By cooolbabu - June 14 - 3:40 pm

  I always a had remote-start with new my cars for the last 15 years. This time, I went Acura Remote. It cost $900 and you get only one remote start. And it weights a ton. I need a janitors pouch to carry remote-start and the FOB. Luxury car seems like step down from my previous Chevy Malibu.

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  Wont buy it again - 2008 Acura MDX
  By gamerchick - June 14 - 3:18 am

  After almost 3 months of owning it, I got a leak from the edge of sunglasses holder. I brought it over to the dealer ship, they didnt find anything wrong with it. Soon after, My memory seats are not working at all. It takes lots of pushes to get the seat moved to the right position. I brought it to the dealership again. when they tested it, the button worked fine. so they said they couldnt do anything till it acted up. And of course after I got home, the memory seat didnt work. Long story short, this issue is still not getting fixed yet. I would not buy Acura again.

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  Solid, Reliable, Fun, Comfortable - 2004 Acura TL
  By seattle_maslow - June 13 - 9:16 am

  I bought this car new 6 years ago and intend to keep it indefinitely. I have been recently shopping for a car for my wife, which made me look at this again for kicks. If youre looking to pick one up used, just do it. My car has been everything Id hoped for. I wanted something with good straight line acceleration, nice interior and very reliable.

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  More praise for an old dog - 1995 Acura Integra
  By Adrienne Ola - June 10 - 11:13 am

  I had to write a review after seeing all the great notes on this vehicle. Its true, this car is easily the most reliable car ever. I am hard on cars, forgetting oil changes, etc. but Im at 200k miles and i dont think this car will ever stop running! Great reliability, but I must complain that the INTERIOR is very uncomfy. Small seats, the back is a scrunch, and if you are tall, forget about it! These cars dont get great A/C, and on long drives youll get great gas, but youll be suffering in the summertime, and it always a stiff ride as the suspension in sporty this ride is definitely not Cadillac smooth. Paint also fades, but performance never has!

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  Great car but some repairs required - 2004 Acura MDX
  By Alex - June 7 - 2:46 pm

  Overall this is a great car, got it back in 2004 brand new, traded up from the Maxima, MDX handles excellently in bad weather, awesome traction. Great room in the back for the kids. I have 90,000 and it started requiring maintenance, so far replaced 2 engine mounts and will be replacing the 3rd one very soon along with the inner tie rod, the rear shocks had to be replaced at 30k. Funny enough I dont do any off road driving or towing, just regular city commute. Well still keep the car for another 10k and probably trade it for something else.

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  Good Car - 2008 Acura TL
  By Kendra - June 7 - 11:19 am

  When it rains, water barely touches the side windows. But if you crack the window to smoke, water pours into the car, all over you, the door, everything, even if its only sprinkling or misting rain. Taken the car across the country on 1000+ mile trips 4 times. The console is so small and poorly designed, nothing that can stored there or reached. If you ever drop something between the console and the seat, its gone forever unless you have very small arms or hands. Hope you dont drop anything valuable, like your wedding ring! Great navigation system. Great drive. 35 miles per gallon across country at 75 MPH. Sound system good enough. Passenger seat gets uncomfortable on long drives.

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  Wish it would last forever! - 2003 Acura MDX
  By Mom Driver - May 29 - 8:47 am

  Love my MDX and have had no major problems. My brake pads have been replaced several times, common for heavy SUVs. Vent knob spontaneously broke when I touched it a few months ago--sounds like this happens often with MDXs. Plastic trim on drivers seat has come off--also common. So far drive train and transmission work fine, but at 65K, I wonder how long that will last. Dont like style of new MDX as much! Too flashy! Want to keep this one as long as possible.

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  Nice, reliable, but boring ride - 2006 Acura MDX
  By Alan A - May 28 - 12:43 pm

  Bought car new. Got good deal because new model year was arriving and dealer wanted to unload. Car has been very reliable. Mileage running around 19 on average - and I do a lot of highway. Acceleration not bad at low end. Handling too mushy... feel like is going to roll over when aggressive on a corner. Interior space is adequate, rear seating relatively roomy, but third row seat is a torture chamber for anyone over ten years old. Overall, car has been lackluster and boring. I had a Nissan Murano before this vehicle and that was a much more exciting car to drive. This time I bought a Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 and, other than the gas mileage, this is one hairy ride!

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  Fix the Seats - 2008 Acura TL
  By Sandra - May 21 - 11:10 am

  Very uncomfortable for a long drive. Seats feel ok on short trips but on long trips they create backaches. Lumbar support is not positioned correctly and seats are not long enough to support the knees. Sit cushioning also needs adjusting. Suggest you check out the seating in a Lexus ES 350 for how it should be done especially the 2009 version.