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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  acura cl3.2s type - 2003 Acura CL
  By garymp - September 18 - 10:00 am

  great pickup, narrow seat, knee room overall performance excellent, owned one year, no problems either interior or engine, runs great all weather.

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  Gets better every day - 2002 Acura RSX
  By bao - September 18 - 9:16 am

  My appreciation for this car just increases as the miles rack up. Little things you dont notice become obvious after sitting or driving in other cars.

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  Luv my new RSX - 2006 Acura RSX
  By Rog - September 17 - 1:12 pm

  My new RSX is everything I could hope for in a new car. Rides like a dream! The interior is so comfortable and all the knobs and buttons are very easy to get to and easy to understand. Even the engine compartment is well designed with lots of elbow room. And its the sexiest car in the lot.

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  RL - 2005 Acura RL
  By tb - September 17 - 3:27 am

  GREAT

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  An exotic without the price tag. - 2005 Acura NSX
  By kushbudz - September 16 - 9:13 pm

  No other car I have owned has attracted so much attention (its almost a problem actually). The ride is exceptional and it corners like a bat outta hell. The interior is simple and free of the usual slew of buttons and oversized LCD screens. I much prefer this to the modern trend of bloating the car out with useless features (its a sports car not a cadillac). Add a supercharger and you will toast Ferraris and Porsches that cost twice as much.

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  Great Car - 2005 Acura NSX
  By O.C. Dave - September 16 - 7:19 pm

  The trill & performance of a Ferrari, with the reliability and low cost maintenance of an Acura. This is my 2nd. NSX and this has the best bang for the buck in the sports car market. I met a 1994 NSX owner whose car had over 200,000 miles on it. His only costs were for normal maintenance. I drove his 1994 and it was still tight and rattle free. People are always stopping me to ask questions or compliment on the car.

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  Impressed - 2004 Acura TSX
  By Ed - September 16 - 3:41 pm

  Have had the car for 1 year and 8 months and still feel like I got a steal. Silky smooth transmission in the manual, comfortable, stylish, thoughtful interior w/ simple elegant features of unsurpassed value. Awesome stereo. Comfy in traffic but fun when the opportunity presents itself. Tightly built w/tight enough suspension. Little to no torque steer. Expect top notch reliability. Loved not having to haggle over options though my dealer experience was less than pleasant (tough and not really friendly manager).

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  Acuras Legend Revamped! - 2005 Acura TL
  By Makiri D. - September 15 - 9:00 pm

  This vehicle had been through thick and thin with me. I have had it through the worst conditions. It was in a snow storm and handled lovely. It has been in a flash flood and it remained with little to no damage done. This car is excellent! I definately recommend the yokohama tires though. The firestone crap tires they put on the car when purchased did not even last 10000 miles. The yokos are definately made for this car! I have a friend who purchased a BMW 6 series for 82k dollars. He got in my car and said "you have the same features I have in my car!" I said "yeah I know but I paid thirty five for mine tho!". Acura out did themselves.

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  Nice Ride - 2005 Acura TSX
  By JVB - September 15 - 8:13 pm

  Its built solid, and has a nice ride with a safe feeling. Very responsive to the road conditions, but the steering is a bit stiff. The seating could have a little more cushion for a luxury sedan, but overall a comfortable and functional interior.

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  smoke them! all of them! - 2004 Acura RSX
  By SumMortuus - September 15 - 10:00 am

  I love this cars handling. Very Tight!!!! This car has the meanest 4- cylinder stock engine out there. The 200 hp 2.0 litre 4-cyl sounds like a V- 6, while being able to smoke many V-6s off the line at the same time. (Including many not so impressive mustangs) So much fun to cruise around in with the windows down the sunroof open, and the stereo goin.