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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  Bean counter had too much to say - 2014 Acura RDX
  By rgf99 - December 2 - 9:08 am

  The rdx is a great car as far as it goes. It simply does not go far enough. Besides a few design flaws, weak A/C, poor interface to the iPhone, the rdx lacks many key features/options of luxury SUV. Parking sensors are offered, nor is adaptive cruise control, ... To add insult to injury many features that should be standard are only available on the tech model - fog lamps, power lift gate, .... Great potential but fails to deliver in the end

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  Good Value but not a Luxury SUV - 2014 Acura RDX
  By tramm - November 30 - 4:45 pm

  I traded-in a 2011Q5 for this vehicle. This is an okay car but so far I am not in love with it it sounds and rides like a slightly upgraded Honda. Pluses: About $4000 less than comparably equipped Q5-good standard features and value priced Comfortable drivers seat Good back seat leg room Good cargo layout - space not wasted Quiet engine with good power and pickup Good storage in front cabin Minuses: Q5 feels more solid and is more fun to drive RDX has choppy rear suspension Interior materials are okay but not what you might expect in a luxury vehicle Noticeable road noise, especially on uneven pavement

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  Super reliable - 2004 Acura RSX
  By maluchf1 - November 28 - 1:16 pm

  Owned a base 2004 RSX for 167k and had minimal problems with it. Ownership has been painless and low cost. At 167k the engine is still strong, the transmission (auto) is slowly showing signs of wear but I think it has another 30-40k in it. Just great engineering.

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  Outstanding, Reliable Luxury - 1999 Acura RL
  By collincolbym - November 27 - 5:16 pm

  I have owned my 1999 Acura RL for 6 years. I bought it used at 158,000 miles. It now has 212,000 miles. It has been very reliable, very comfortable, and is a solid vehicle. Honda engineering with Acura comfort. Definitely worth every penny!

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  Excellent car! Excellent deal! Best $1000 I ever spent! - 1991 Acura Integra
  By domcuch94 - November 24 - 3:25 pm

  Bought this car for $1000 off of a girl who lived down the road from me. Had 126K when I bought it, has 145K now and has been ultra reliable! Outside of normal maintenance like brakes, rotors, calipers, tires, exhaust, hatch supports, and oil changes. This thing has been fantastic! Only let me down once when the alternator went and I was stuck on the side of the highway. I had to get that replaced. But since then, has not left me stranded and it takes me everywhere so thats why I gave it a 5 for reliability. Very awesome car. Doesnt burn any oil, runs great, and hardly any rust on it! Will drive this car until the doors fall off!!

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  Great midsized SUV - 2014 Acura MDX
  By gra_jr - November 24 - 8:58 am

  Had the MDX SH-awd Tech for a little over a month now. Third Acura but first Acura SUV. Coming from the 12 TL SH-awd Advanced it is taking a little getting used to. The TL had much more "spunk" but it was a luxury sports car if you will. Overall it is a great car. Ride is silky smooth. We do get a little noise from the Direct Injection from the outside but cant hear it all in the cab. Strongly considered the RLX but couldnt justify the $6K cost since this is virtually the same interior dash layout, engine, and Tech features as the RLX tech. Also considered resale value. As popular as the MDXs are compared to bad reviews of the RLX it was a no brainer.... Go for the MDX!

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  Great car, lousy Nav/Ent/Voice System - 2014 Acura MDX
  By danrhiggins - November 16 - 9:50 pm

  I have had my 14 MDX (white Advance) since June and now have over 13K miles. I love the way the car drives. But the Nav, voice command and entertainment software is sub-par and of poor quality. Poor support for Apple products. Poor voice command (fewer commands then other vehicles, some commands dont work, etc.), very poor Nav display (not clear, doesnt work with polarized glasses.) Again, for a vehicle of this size it handles well and is fun to drive. Good use of interior space. Comfortable enough though the driver seat could use some more adjustment options. LKAS, AAC, CAS, BSI pretty cool. Nav/Voice/Entertainment very disappointing.

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  14 RLX from 11 RL - 2014 Acura RLX
  By rfw3 - November 11 - 8:42 am

  RL coming off lease. Dealer initiated a special offer which was very attractive and quite a bit less expensive that the RL lease. Both vehicles have many pluses and a few minuses. The critical reviews of the RLX in Consumer Reports and Edmunds made me focus in on the suspension and seat comfort. The RLX is our six Acura. Acura reliability is definitely above average. We did experience transmission problems with the RL which took a couple months to sort out. We have had three of four recent AWD vehicles with transmission problems. There is a message there I believe.

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  Review update - 2013 Acura RDX
  By vegasmurano - November 10 - 2:52 pm

  After 8 months or so with my RDX AWD tech these are my thoughts. My gas mileage stinks, I am averaging about 19 all around . But to be fair I live and work on Las Vegas BLVD and the traffic and amount of traffic lights are insane. No storage for my jumper cables or any cubbies to hide stuff. Gas tank way too small, needs another 2 or 3 gallons in size. Navi works good but it takes 5 minutes to tell the navi what to do, and it does not understand street names and you need to repeat it 5 or 6 times quite often. Cornering is no BMW but it is much smoother riding but still competent. Acceleration is amazing, but it will empty your tank fast if you enjoy it.

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  Unacceptable noises - 2014 Acura MDX
  By buchem - November 9 - 4:43 pm

  Soon after delivery we took a long road trip. Would have been enjoyable with great comfort but trip was ruined by dashboard rattles and intermittent grating noise under light acceleration. After three trips to dealer the dash noises are less but not eliminated and are judged to be "normal". Not in $50K car. Worse is the grating noise. Dealer says it is a "known issue" with no known cause or solution. I know the 2014 model is a total redesign butt his is just unacceptable. All I can say to potential buyers is avoid this car. Acura is selling cars with a known issue and not currently able to fix them. We are very unhappy customers.