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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  almost perfect - 2004 Acura MDX
  By jehmd - April 2 - 2:00 am

  Everything is great with my 04 mdx except one annoying problem. Excessive muffler noise @ low RPM.

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  2004 Acura TL - 2004 Acura TL
  By lilpain - April 2 - 2:00 am

  This car looks like a bmw m3. It handles like a dream and it is a eyecatcher.

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  This car is Great! - 2004 Acura TL
  By TLGuy - April 2 - 2:00 am

  I traded in my 92 Accord and felt right at home in this car. Certainly everything was much much nicer and had alot more toys, more power, but it didnt lose its "honda-ness" that I just cant explain. You would have to own a honda/acura for 12 years like me to understand. Look forward to 12 more trouble free years!!!

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  What a ride! - 2007 Acura TL
  By Azeemdadream - April 2 - 1:33 am

  First and foremost, I have to say this car turns heads like no other Ive driven. It looks good and sounds even better. Ive had the car for less than 2 weeks and cant stop finding reasons to go outside and drive it. The quad exhaust has this deep thundering hum when dropping from 3rd to 2nd. On the flip side of this, with the windows closed on the highway, its like sitting in a serene park. You almost want to turn down the stereo just so you can here the pindrop silence. The back up camera is all you need to reverse and the auto flip mirrors are just an added bonus. This car has so many features that I dont even know where to start. Love the car and hands down wouldve bought this again

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  High marks for this car - 1994 Acura Legend
  By GS_TWO - April 1 - 10:24 pm

  This car is wonderful. Lots of character, style, and performance. I agree with another post on this site, that the brakes are a little too light-weight for this car.The six speed Legend is legendary on performance, though. Highway cruising, accelerating, this car does it effortlessly. If you own one, hang onto it. This car may become a prized collectors item in twenty years or so. Im not letting go of mine.

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  Sooooooooooooooooooooooper! - 2002 Acura MDX
  By rrk - March 31 - 10:00 am

  I just love this vehicle. I just called around and got this vehicle in 2 days time. I test drove atleast 4 times on highways and local roads. I also tried Lexus RX300 and didnt like it. MDX matched all my requirements!!!!!!!!

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  Excellence - 2002 Acura MDX
  By BoosHound - March 31 - 10:00 am

  Acura has outdone themselves! The recent (and moderate) design changes clearly state that Acura has made a superior SUV with little room for improvement!

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  Love our MDX - 2002 Acura MDX
  By Derbys - March 29 - 4:04 pm

  We live up an unpaved drive on the side of a mountain. The MDX handles it effortlessly in all kinds of conditions. Extremely comfortable, fun to drive, wonderful Bose audio system.

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  One of the Best - 1990 Acura Legend
  By Spectromen - March 28 - 7:22 pm

  I truly think this is still Acuras best car ever. I bought it at 120K in 2001 and have had to do plenty of maintenance, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. Its true, dealer parts are expensive but they last, and theres usually alternate parts for the major systems too. As much as I love the TLs and RLs, I just cant bring myself to let go of this one until it dies, and even then, itll be a sad day.

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  Like my RSX - 2005 Acura RSX
  By Johnsogk - March 27 - 12:14 pm

  I get lots of compliments from people who see my car, which IS a lot of fun to drive. My only complaint is that I dont like the spoiler, which impedes my vision when backing up. I really like the fact that practically everything is standard, making it easier to buy and know the price.