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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  Trading my Lexus es 300 for new TL - 2004 Acura TL
  By brad barnes - March 8 - 2:00 am

  The new TL does not even compaire to the 2002 ES 300 I traded in. The new TL is truly a dirvers car.

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  lOYAL LEXUS OWNER SWITCH TO THE TL - 2004 Acura TL
  By jsg - March 8 - 2:00 am

  hAD THE TL FOR 6 WEEKS NOW AND WE LOVE EVERY MINUTE OF IT. HAD A ES300 AND WERE ON OF WAY TO GET THE NEW 330 AND STOP BY TO SEE THE TL FIRST AND HAD TO HAVE IT. NOT AS MUCH LUXURY AS THE LEXUS BUT MUCH SPORTIER AND FUN TO DRIVE. GREAT CAR FOR THE MONEY.NO OPTIONS EXCEPT FOR NAV. SYSTEM, EVERY THING INCLUDED IN THE STICKER. THOUGHT WOULD NOT LIKE THE SAT. RADIO BUT HAVE FEL IN LOVE WITH IT.

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  Bang for buck blows away beemer - 2004 Acura TL
  By sbh73057 - March 8 - 2:00 am

  At about the same size as a 530 BMW with 45 more horse power and more tourque for $17,000 less this car is great.If you have to have a wood dash spent the 17 grand. But dont be suprised to see tl drivers laughing at you.Some people knock front wheel drive but we dont all live in CA. It snows where I live.

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  shock & awe - 2004 Acura TL
  By travler - March 8 - 2:00 am

  this vehicle is by far the best automobile i have ever driven every thing is right.the only problem is the front seat belts are to far back hard to attach

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  I LOVE MY MDX! - 2006 Acura MDX
  By Duane - March 8 - 12:39 am

  I have driven the MDX when it first came out however wasnt in a position to buy due to my enthusiasm with the TL. Coming from a Honda Odyssey, I found it necessary for me to continue to have the space for me and my children while expanding my versatility with its all-wheel drive capability. Now my third Acura owned, the Acura MDX provides for me the luxury and performance I desire the necessity of satisfying the soccer and vacation trips, and the comfort of owning a truly reliable vehicle.

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  Love this Vehicle!!! - 2006 Acura MDX
  By paratrooper1 - March 7 - 6:43 pm

  My wife and I must have looked at every suv out there when we were in the market to purchase one. We have always liked the MDX but we just figured that we would find something that we would like better. Well, we didnt. We were going to get the Volvo XC-90 but it just didnt drive as nice as the MDX and the seats were not as comfortable and also it had very bad reliability ratings in Consumer Guide (as well as most of the European SUVs did). But as I said before it was just the perfect fit for us and what we wanted in a suv.

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  2006 Black Type S - 2006 Acura RSX
  By Carl - March 7 - 12:46 pm

  My Type S is fun to drive.The performance,quality and appearance are just what I was looking for.

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  Perfect - 2002 Acura RSX
  By Xero - March 7 - 10:00 am

  Absolutely Perfect and lovable. You dont need any other car but this one.

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  Like it - 2003 Acura TL
  By billo - March 7 - 10:00 am

  Looks cool. Little short on headroom for tall driver. Has zip when passing or entering freeway. Get a lot for $. No haggling over options they;re all there! Did not get the GPS, an expensive road map. Audio system a big surprise for a Honda product. I like that feeling of RELIABILITY.

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  I love this car! - 2004 Acura TL
  By Karen - March 7 - 8:30 am

  I love this car, it is so much fun to drive. It handles great, unfortunately, the gas mileage leaves a little to be desired, but the rest of the car more than makes up for that. Just found out it was listed as one of the top "sport" sedans in Consumer Reports.