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:

• 

  Best car ever owned! - 1995 Acura Integra
  By chevelleguy - April 27 - 5:49 am

  I bought my Acura Integra roughly 2 years ago. It has had NO problems. I repeat. NO. PROBLEMS. SCARY, i know. Car gets amazing gas mileage, but still passes cars on the on ramp. My car has 180K on it and it still remains full on the oil fill line at 3,000 miles. At 4,000 miles it drops roughly a half a centimeter. Simply amazing engineering into this 1.8L motor.

• 

  2004 MDX w/ Nav - 2004 Acura MDX
  By ovation00 - April 26 - 2:00 am

  Its been about 3 wks since I pick up my 04 mdx. The engine has just broken in and I started pushing it more. This vehicle drives, handles quite well and is quite. I like the easy-to-use buttons and simple interior. It looks wonderful with satin finish side step, rear spoiler, and wide side moldings. There are a couple of glitches to be fixed such as faulty tire pressure light (TPMS) and low clicking sound from the break pedal.

• 

  Great Car - 2004 Acura TL
  By Royal Flush - April 26 - 2:00 am

  Rides great,good accleration and mileage.Better than my Lexus GS300

• 

  Bargain Luxury - 2004 Acura TL
  By eam3 - April 26 - 2:00 am

  I have been trying really hard to find major faults with the car and the biggest one I can find is the fact that its front wheel drive (Im a fan of rear wheel drive myself). Other than that, this car has exceeded my expectations by a huge margin. Its smooth, comfortable, well made, reliable, luxurious, fun to drive and has a stereo that is just out of this world. I cannot recommend this car enough. My wife wants to trade her 2002 Volvo S60 T5 on a new TL for her now!

• 

  This is as good as it gets. - 2004 Acura TL
  By RTodd - April 26 - 2:00 am

  Outstanding car. Best manual transmission Ive ever driven. Amazing standard features -- you have to hear this stereo in 6-track DVD audio. The real reason to buy this car is the way it drives -- feels solid on the highway, but really maneuverable on twisty roads, and it corners like its on rails. Cant tell you about reliability cause its brand new.

• 

  Greatest car! - 2002 Acura RSX
  By DonWilson - April 25 - 10:00 am

  They have out done themselves this time!

• 

  Acura Rules! - 2002 Acura RSX
  By sam - April 25 - 10:00 am

  This car is great. Lots of power, tuned exhaust, 6 speeds with lots of road rush. Roll up the windows and it transforms itself into a luxury car.

• 

  Acura Rules! - 2002 Acura RSX
  By Sam - April 25 - 10:00 am

  This car is great. Lots of power, tuned exhaust, 6 speeds with lots of road rush. Roll up the windows and it transforms itself into a luxury car.

• 

  High Tech Heaven - 2005 Acura RL
  By JOVI - April 25 - 4:46 am

  This car is everything I expected and more. Smooth silky performance, luxury feel at every touch, and as much fun as a sport sedan can offer. I was waiting for the M35 AWD to launch but saw my Redondo Red RL and fell in love.

• 

  I looooove this car!!!!! - 2006 Acura RSX
  By Norma - April 24 - 10:30 pm

  This is not only a beautiful car, its also incredibly well built and fun to drive. I looooove my car, inside out. I love it so much- I dont mind paying $430.00 a month for it!