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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  Nice Solid Car - 2005 Acura TL
  By hd_cath - March 25 - 7:23 pm

  Bought this car a month ago, finally gave up my 96 Volvo GLT Wagon with a 5 speed. A little disappointed with the automatic transmission, hardly seamless. With all the high tech stuff I cant believe it doesnt have automatic headlights. My 96 Volvo had that. The ride is pleasant enough and the sound system is awesome.

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  Nice Solid Car - 2005 Acura TL
  By hd_cath - March 25 - 3:30 pm

  Bought this car a month ago, finally gave up my 96 Volvo GLT Wagon with a 5 speed. A little disappointed with the automatic transmission, hardly seamless. With all the high tech stuff I cant believe it doesnt have automatic headlights. My 96 Volvo had that. The ride is pleasant enough and the sound system is awesome.

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  Awesome car!! - 2006 Acura RSX
  By stanley_eisan - March 25 - 9:06 am

  Great looking fast car for a great price. That v-tech motor is simply awesome and 31 highway miles, cant beat that either.

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  RL and Star Wars - 2005 Acura RL
  By Bill Kowalski - March 23 - 10:26 am

  The quality and overall technology put into this vehicle is outstanding. The voice recognition features and use of technology is the best Ive seen in any vehicle. Ive owned BMWs, an Audi A6 (Quattro) and Mercedes. I and have test driven Infinitis M35. Based upon my experience the Acura is the most user friendly vehicle Ive encountered. While it is quick, the Acura could use more low end torque to get it off the line quicker and a little more responsive, such as Infiniti has done with the M35.

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  Great for my tastes - 2006 Acura RSX
  By Jared - March 22 - 7:40 pm

  Certainly a big step up from a 97 Explorer. Sporty feel in the suspension and more than enough power get off the line. Hardly any disappointments, except: no automatic headlamps, poor sound system, and sometimes the automatic doesnt respond after slowing below 20 mph. As for the lights, my explorer had them, so why not this? As for the sound system, there is no stock system that could ever compare to a decent after market system and as for the throttle response, if it were a huge issue I would have gotten a manual transmission. As I said for the money, I dont think you could find a better car.

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  Black thunder! - 2007 Acura RDX
  By Jappi - March 22 - 5:29 pm

  Honestly, I was never even considering a Japanese SUV until I took the RDX for a test spin. I love the zero to 60 in 6.8 secs, SH-AWD (it truly works!), no-lag turbo. The RDX V4 Turbo is as good as any V6 guzzler SUV you see in the market, even better in some sense. And not to mention, the tech features are just fabulous. Everything works great. The RDX handles way better than BMW X3. And come on, the luxury and reliability of Acura can never be beat. The pricing is too good as well. And the best thing, the car is going to tell me when it needs servicing. Until then, I dont even need to take it to the service guys. How cool is that?! Go Acura!

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  Best car yet - 1992 Acura Legend
  By John from VA - March 22 - 9:56 am

  I purchased this car in 96. It had 50K when purchased, now has 135K. I have replaced brake master, converted AC to new freon when all the leaks were found. Much cheaper than installing a new system if you can find a mechanic to take the time. Tires, brakes and fluids just like any other car. Still need to do the motor mounts to fix the 1 to 2 shift issue. Its been in the garage its whole life, home and work. It still shines up like it was new except for the sand blasted front, I live in north east. Great car to drive and look at. Everything fits together so well and tight. I enjoy driving the 70 to 90+. It seems to get easier as speeds go up.

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  Great Car - 2004 Acura TL
  By Ed Shaw - March 20 - 2:53 pm

  I now have 75K miles and have yet to experience any problems. Would recommend this car to anyone.

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  My sweet ride - 2007 Acura TSX
  By cchanpa - March 19 - 6:47 am

  This car has a lot of items equipped as standard especially Bluetooth Handsfree, XM radio & Xenon headlights. Even though TSX is FWD, you can enjoy the adequate power from 2.4L I4 engine above 3k rpm. Fit and finish is exceptional.

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  To Know It is to Love It! - 2007 Acura TL
  By JAMES M. CASTELLO - March 18 - 10:16 am

  From the test drive to the drive home to the drive way, this is the most exciting car in this price range Ive ever driven. My drive to work is 30 min. and its not long enough for me to enjoy my new TL. Sometimes I find myself driving the scenic route to work. All I can say is this is a true drivers car - drive it, youll love it.