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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  Most reliable car I have owned - 2010 Acura TSX
  By Brian Carter - November 23 - 8:50 am

  I have owned this car for 3 years now and never had to do more than routine maintenance to it (a battery, tires, and oil changes).

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  THE MDX IS WELL WORTH THE $$$$$$$ !!!! - 2003 Acura MDX
  By theinspector - November 21 - 10:00 am

  Ive spent many months researching and test driving other vehicles in the MDXs class. Compared to the BMW X5, Volvo XC90, Lexus RX330,Infiniti FX35/45, the MDX wins hands down! You cant buy a better equipped and safer vehicle for the $$ than the MDX. Also, as with any Honda product, you will never have to worry about reliability and resale values.

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  260 HP - Great Sports Sedan! - 2003 Acura TL
  By E-DUDE - November 21 - 10:00 am

  The best built near luxury car value on the market. I have no complaints other than the engine needs to be “tweaked” a little by the dealer after a 5,000 mile burn in Car is definitely in the BMW class as far as I’m concerned, a lot better value and more affordable Car is comfortable, yet sporty, has great power and handling and is an excellent value for the money. If reliability, great performance, decent styling and good value are important – this is your car! The engine and transmission are finely tuned and work well together, the “S” type is definitely the way to go when you’re going to spend somewhere around $30/k anyway

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  Extremely fun car - 2008 Acura TSX
  By Louie - November 21 - 1:30 am

  We just got this car last week. After you get past all the fun gadgets and solid interior, its an amazingly fun car to drive around town. The engine is surprisingly peppy for a 4-cylinder, and the work theyve put into the suspension really shows. Im not a car guy, but when you go around a corner, its amazing compared to the other cars I tried. Its a perfect daily driver that can also get you grinning on the twisties. Navigation system is great, love the fact that all the other amenities are included!!

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  6 months 10,000 miles and still love it! - 2007 Acura MDX
  By Larry - November 20 - 12:46 pm

  Bought my MDX in June 07 after testing all comparable w/3rd row seats (X5, Q7, GX 470). For the value, it won hands down. For the same items and options in others would have cost an additional 10-20K. Have 10K miles of city/highway driving, and love every minute of driving it! Its more like a sport sedan than SUV. Ride and acceleration are excellent seating comfort great in front & back seats. Yes, 3rd row is for kids and small adults, but if you want a full-time 3rd row, get a full-size SUV. They work great when heading out with a few extra friends. No question this is a great combination of value, fun, and luxury in SUV skin. Wife has TL-S - loves driving the X!

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  TL pleasure to drive - 2005 Acura TL
  By Robert - November 20 - 11:46 am

  I have driven the car now for three weeks, 2k miles. I tend to be a "spirited driver", so driving this car has been a nice experience. The only drawback is the torque steer resulting from the FWD on takeoff. I am used to rwd systems, so it comes as a surprise when your steering wheel doesnt correct when accelarating and turning at the same time, as when merging into uncoming high speed traffic. Highly recommend in every other respect. Like the XM radio feature too.

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  2002 Acura RSX Type S - 2002 Acura RSX
  By JohhnyW - November 20 - 8:27 am

  Overall Im happy with the car. My first car was an Integra, then I drove a Pathfinder and Im happy to be back in a two door coupe. That said, the Type S isnt as good on gas as Id hoped and its downright treacherous in the snow. Snow tires are needed on this car. My only other real complaint is that it doesnt reach a decent speed until you rev the heck out of it, but thats the V-Tech way. Oh ya, the V-tech chip fried a month after I bought it (I bought an 02 in 06). I love the red interior lighting, the short stick and the six speeds, although at times it seems like Im shifting way too much. Acura really just packed six speeds into 200 HP here as a gimmick, but it can be a fun one.

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  Love my TL - 2006 Acura TL
  By jbm - November 20 - 7:30 am

  All it took was sitting inside my car and the beautiful interior... driving only sealed the deal. I didnt choose the navigational system, didnt feel the need to spend the money. Other than the tires on my car, I love it. The tires are not suited for the car and have a "flat spot" that causes the car to shutter at 50 mph until the tires are warmed up.

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  Good for the price - 2007 Acura TL
  By rich1950 - November 18 - 10:48 pm

  Fast and stylish, great interior and sound system.

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  Not for the daily commuter - 2007 Acura RDX
  By JimTex - November 18 - 10:23 pm

  We bought this car knowing that fuel mileage was not its strong point, but have averaged about 19 mpg (mostly city). My wife loves this vehicle because it is incredibly responsive and handles as well as the BMW we traded in. The seating position is nice and high, but without the huge vehicle to go along with it.