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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  First Acura - 2005 Acura TL
  By jnickell - June 13 - 4:32 pm

  This is my first Acura. I was not sold on getting a car. Im an SUV man, but the gas prices were killing me. I didnt know what I was missing! I drive for fun now.

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  Now My Weekender, But Still My Favorite - 1993 Acura Legend
  By Acural53 - June 12 - 9:32 pm

  A timeless style, excellent build quality, classy coupe. Runs like all get out when pushed, very fast. Of my 3 vehicles, it is my preferred choice. Gorgeous dash at night. Parts not cheap, can be very expensive if not maintained properly. But if you keep it running properly, it will give you hundreds of thousands of miles of pure passion and pleasure. My LS 400 is my daily driver, its a wonderful car, but come the weekend, Im gone in my Legend. It is like no other car I have owned, and I have had many of them. And when Im out driving in the coupe, my wife just bites her nails, LOL!

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  Fun to Drive - 2007 Acura RDX
  By Lainey - June 12 - 9:07 pm

  I have had this CUV for about 3 weeks and driving has never been this fun! This car has the technology Ive been wanting. I was rather surprised to find out it doesnt have automatic headlights, all my cars have had those for years. The ride is very sporty. As one who had been driving 6 & 8 cyl cars I was leery of the 4cyl turbo, but it has the pep needed to get me where I want to go. Gas mileage isnt great but I knew that going in and its better than the car I had been driving so Im not complaining. There are things missing but obviously it didnt dissuade me because I bought one!

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  Most fun to drive car fot the money - 2006 Acura TSX
  By bnrdad - June 12 - 5:46 am

  As a former owner of 2 BMWs, a Lexus and a Mini, the TSX is the most fun to drive car for the money. After being beset with major quality issues with both of my BMWs (complete transmission failure and replacement at 1,500 miles for example, 12 trips to the dealer in 2 years, etc.), a nice, but too-soft ride and numb steering in the Lexus ES, and a fun-to- drive, but uncomfortable rear-seat and hardly any storage in the MINI, the TSX is the best all-around car I have found. For $27k you cannot beat it - plus Acuras famous quality and service. I highly recommend it.

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  WOW!!! - 2007 Acura RDX
  By Luis - June 11 - 7:03 pm

  I traded in my 2004 Nissan Murano SE. I test drove the RDX with the tech package and fell in love. This SUV handles better than most sports cars. The SH-AWD is great especially in inclement weather. Gas mileage in ok but I have a lead foot.

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  Still Runnin Fine - 2002 Acura TL
  By Northwest Guy - June 11 - 4:27 pm

  I last posted on 9/22/04 and its 3 years later. Car styles have changed, but the fundamentals havent. I do not drive a ton of miles annually, but I do take some long trips, as well as plenty of day-to-day ones. My original review still stands. I did finally put some new tires on the car which, of course, are better than the originals, but other than that, the car has been good to me - without incident or flaws. Recently, Acura extended the warranty on the transmissions to 9+ years, I believe. It gets consistently good mileage - you dont have to use premium all the time, either it drives well - excellent on cornering brakes are good and sound/navigation are great!

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  Fantastic Car - 2007 Acura TSX
  By Tomcat - June 11 - 4:08 pm

  I have had the car for just over two weeks and am completely satisfied with my choice. I test drove four competitor vehicles and found the TSX to be the most fun to drive and best value of the bunch. I commute about 100 miles a day mostly highway miles and find the gas mileage acceptable, >30 mpg. Seems 66 mph is the sweet spot for best mpg on the highway. I appreciated most of the extras being standard which makes finding the right vehicle simply a question of which transmission, which color, and with or without navigation. I highly recommend the navigation.

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  Test Drive It Carefully... Major Regrets! - 2007 Acura MDX
  By DisappointedOwner - June 9 - 10:12 pm

  I have owned two other MDXs and loved them. This one is a major disappointment. The steering is tough. The steering wheel is impossible to find a place to grip it comfortably. The joystick navigation is annoying and distracting to use. No touch screen navigation. The rear/side blind spots are overwhelmingly dangerous. You simply can not see out the rear/sides. The front seat feels crowded and I have to crouch down in my seat to see the front of the car. The rear view mirror appears to block 1/3 of the vision of the front window. Overall, a very uncomfortable driving situation. Test drive it for a day before you buy it. A ride around the block wont reveal the problems.

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  Great Car!! - 2006 Acura TL
  By loveTL - June 9 - 4:10 pm

  I boght my TL last month and I love it! Ive considered other luxary/sporty sedans but nothing came close to TL. You get so much for the money. NAV system with the handsfree link is great. I just moved to a different state and NAV system with voice activation came in really handy. It hasnt betrayed me so far and I use it every day. Sound system is very good as well.

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  1st time MDX buyer - 2005 Acura MDX
  By luckyd - June 8 - 10:33 am

  I compared the 05 MDX with the RX330. I ultimately purchased the MDX based on the value for the price. I love the voice command system, still trying to learn the commands. The ride is smooth for an SUV, nice acceleration, quite interior, & clean console setup. I like the clean integration of the front radio with the dvd system. The MDX was much larger than the RX330.