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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  Great car!!! - 2002 Acura RSX
  By T-o-t-o - June 26 - 10:00 am

  Great car! Love it!

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  Love This Car - No Problems - 2002 Acura TL
  By AcuraTim - June 26 - 10:00 am

  Having owned this car for exactly one year I want to go on record as saying I have not had any problems. All Ive had to do is change the oil every 4000 miles. I have 22000 miles so far and have not experienced any transmission problems. This care is a lot of fun to drive - and I feel it is fast, responsive, and handles quite well. It is also a very comfortable car to drive.

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  2003 Acura TL Type-S - 2003 Acura TL
  By vman - June 25 - 10:34 pm

  Upscale Accord. Wish I chose the G35 or 330i which had better resale and reliability. Ride is jittery, stiff and not comfortable on city trips. Leather is low quality and went out of shape. Good room inside and seats are OK on long trips. Very thin paint. Squeaks and rattles appeared after first year. CD player broke 4 times. Like any big FWD sedan, the TL eats up front rotors on a regular basis coz they are nose heavy cars. I had tranny issues covered by the P/T warranty. Acura extended the trans warranty but long-term use became doubtful. Resale value took a big hit due to the tranny recalls of TLs and other Hondas. This could have been a good car if they offered it in stick.

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  Disgusted Owner - 2007 Acura MDX
  By Disgusted Owner - June 25 - 7:56 pm

  This car has been in the shop continuously. Driver door rattles, windshield leaks, interior trim was never fastened down, window regulator had to be replaced, steering wheel needed to be completely repositioned - one thing after another. I never thought an Acura would be this poorly built. The engine and handling is great, the interior is cheaply made and slapped together. Gas mileage is poor but it is an SUV. I would not recommend this vehicle to anyone. Dealer has worked hard to fix, but the factory sent them a lemon to sell me.

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  Very nice car, high reliability - 1998 Acura TL
  By TLW - June 25 - 9:15 am

  I bought my 98 2.5 TL about 5 years ago, I also paid $1200 for the extended warranty to 100K miles. I never got to use the warranty. At 107K miles now, D4 light is out, and I have replaced both oxygen sensors as well as doing the scheduled 104K miles timing belt / water pump service. I also replaced the battery a couple years ago, and new brake pads. Im due for replacing the AT fluid and filter. All in all, this car has been excellent. My car with 107K miles drives and feels like a new car - nothing loose or sloppy, and the throttle response is very smooth.

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  My first luxury car - 2005 Acura TL
  By Suzanne - June 25 - 12:19 am

  I have owned this car since March of 2005. So far its been a joy to drive, lots of pep and good handling. I looked at the Lexus and Infiniti but after reading reviews and comments from people who own one I chose the Acura for value, reliability and all the features that were included as standard equipment.

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  Disappointed in NH - 2007 Acura MDX
  By RS - June 24 - 7:50 pm

  We traded my wifes 02 RX 300 that never had one problem for 5 yrs. We wanted something a little bigger. The new MDX has 800 miles and the windshield wiper fell apart and scratched the glass. Also am hearing a series of thud sounds when shifting 1st to 2nd with little to no load. Additional rattles are coming from the rear shock area. The dealer had the car for over a week and found both wipers defective and replaced the windshield. Also replaced the exhaust below the cat converter and replaced rear swing arm spring seat as it was damaged along with replacing the spring itself. We picked up the vehicle and heard the same noise. Im thinking I should have kept the 02 Lexus.

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  One-Month Review - 2007 Acura MDX
  By Don - June 24 - 5:41 pm

  Like the styling and comfort, but there are things that I missed completely with the test drive. 1) The bottom of the steering wheel feels like a food grater as the sharp and hard stitching sits above the leather, 2) the navigation system is at least 2-3 years behind in features with only 2D maps and ugly text for street names, 3) the AUX input requires an iPod at full volume, 4) the voice recognition is worthless and unusable, its wrong at least 75% of the time, 5) when you drive in an "unverified" area (my home of 50 years) there are annoying warnings that dont go away without a lot of attention, and the worst, 6) the steering is so hard my wrists hurt when trying to turn a corner.

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  One of the great Hondas - 1991 Acura Legend
  By nate - June 23 - 2:50 pm

  I truly love my 91 Legend Coupe. Sure, it cant go 0-60 in six flat, and maybe the mpg is a little low for $3.00 a gallon, but its worth it. Simply driving it around town is fun, compared to some other beaters Ive driven. You get it on the highway and its like a dream solid as a rock. Performance, however, is not what you would expect from 200 hp, but Im pretty sure thats due to the weight and the transmission design (automatic). It is truly the kind of Honda that you hear about, the ones that have 125k+ miles and run better than most late model American cars. My advice: if you can find one of these with life left in it, buy it.

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  Performance - 2007 Acura RDX
  By lukeivic - June 23 - 8:22 am

  My husband already owns the Acura TL. So we wanted the MDX (awesome vehicle too). But we saw the RDX - good price, great quality and it had all of the bells and whistles as the MDX. I have been driving it since January and I love it. It is everything they said it would be. However, it is a ladies car because of the size. You have a luxury car for a great price.