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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  Top Class quality for medium price. - 1994 Acura Vigor
  By Mazhar Syed - April 20 - 5:30 pm

  Acura Vigor, the name might sound too strong, but pull back the seat, put the trans in D4 and raise the gas slowly, you will feel the difference which you cant experience in a new mitsubishi eclipse(e.g). Honda has done a great job on this car, I tested it and it ran 0-60 in 8secs where consumer guide said 8.8secs(idiots). Anyways, this is a car that you will enjoy in every aspect, with 8 channel surround sound(4tweeters and 4speakers) if u can spend u can set-up 8 speakers along with a sub and make the worlds best sound system or upgrade 2-way speakers in the front and 3-way speakers in the back panel with a 10inch sub in the trunk as I did and ENJOY! For $4000, i bought a BMW M3 kicker lol

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  Fun and Reliable - 1996 Acura Integra
  By starlabrite - April 20 - 1:06 pm

  I have had the 1996 LS for a little over two years, and Im still impressed with it. I have packed on the miles (I purchased it with 97,000, now it has 148,000!), and it still runs great. The only major problems Ive encountered thus far: replacing the timing belt (a must) and the radiator. It looks great, but the paint is a little lacking. My hood is showing its age, as little dots of paint are stripping off, but its really not that noticeable. The paint is fading, however, and I think a new paint job would make it look (and feel) brand new. Not only is the car powerful and fast, its fuel-efficient, and the hatchback has proven itself extremely worthy when moving!

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  Love my new RDX - 2016 Acura RDX
  By Leah Zimmerman - April 20 - 4:52 am

  Dont waste your time even looking at the other SUVs.

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  A Reliable, Peppy, Attractive Sedan - 1998 Acura Integra
  By Fish Girl - April 19 - 1:24 am

  This is a great car! I am writing this review now because if youre looking to buy a used car, I feel the Intergra would be a smart choice. Ive had the car for seven years and absolutely nothing has gone wrong! I get the oil changed every 7k and follow the recommended maintainence, and thats it. The car still runs beautifully and still gets about 26 mpg in the city and 31 on the highway. I take this car camping, across country and just to work - it never disappoints and still looks stylish on the road after 7 years.

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  Superb car - 2000 Acura TL
  By Ravi - April 17 - 8:55 pm

  I have owned my 3.2 TL for a year now. I bought it used at 47,000 miles and it now has 62,000. It is a great all round car - Has ample power, a smooth ride, every feature you can ask for and its such fun to drive. Gas mileage has been impeccable and has not varied at all from the day I first bought it. I have even used the low grade fuel in it. It runs just fine. I havent even had to think about its reliability! I am 6 feet tall and this is the most comfortable car that I have driven. You may call the styling bland, but I feel that it has clean lines and looks aerodynamic. I would absolutely recommend this car.

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  Best combo of perf + luxury + value - 2005 Acura TL
  By Rob - April 15 - 3:50 pm

  Consumer Reports had this one right (rated "top pick"). Far far better value than BMW and Acuras rep for quality and reliability is BETTER than BMW and much more so than Audi. The only low: weak torque in 1st gear. Outside of that, EVERYTHING else is FABULOUS. Supple ride, nimble, powerful, responsive. Virtually perfect fit and trim, roomier back seat than Audi A4 or BMW 325/330. DVD audio (stereo) beats any 2-channel CD system. Once you experience the Navi system, youll never go backwards to non-Navi. Youll NEVER get lost! Three of my friends with BMWs were, RU ready: Jealous! They paid more, and they got LESS. A TEST DRIVE will convince you very clearly.

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  MDX Review - 2003 Acura MDX
  By Terry Milam - April 14 - 10:00 am

  I could find no fault with this vehicle.

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  Just the best... - 2005 Acura TL
  By ddonskoy - April 14 - 6:16 am

  Excellent car, the best Ive ever driven. No matter what other reviews may say, I did not notice any substantial difference in handling compare with BMW 3 series. The only small problem Ive noticed was sometimes not very smooth upshift of the auto transmission when the car moves from complete stop.

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  Awesome car - 1998 Acura CL
  By Jess - April 14 - 1:31 am

  I think this is about the 15th car Ive owned in my life and it is without a doubt my favorite. I love to drive this car! It is fast, smooth, stable, quiet, and comfortable. I work out of my car and drive 30,000+ miles per year. With gas prices climbing I have been driving "economy" cars and went out on a limb to buy this car used. It not as fuel efficient as the econoboxes but I will never go back. I actually look forward to making long trips on back roads with this car. I owned a Miata a few years ago and this car is faster with way more comfort and polish. I had to rebuild the auto transmission at 110,000 but everything else works great.

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  Smooth, responsive, fun and reliable! - 2001 Acura CL
  By Greg Z. W . - April 13 - 10:00 pm

  Wonderful car: drives like an M3, but is more quiet, feels luxurious and is absolutely reliable. The best GPS navigation system Ive seen. Ive put almost 70 000 miles on it and have not had a single problem. Just pour gas, change oil and have fun! The transmission have always behaved flawlessly and they did the scheduled fix at 40,000 miles. The only quibble I would have about this great car is the poor paintwork. Acura should really work on this.