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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  Great Car-Horrible Paint Job - 2005 Acura TL
  By Little Rich - November 20 - 1:40 am

  The title of the review says it all. This car needs to be built in Japan! The entire paint job is orange pealed and the deck lid has a sizeable foreign object under the color coat which will remain as Im not bringing a brand new car to a body shop.

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  I Love this car! - 2006 Acura TSX
  By Dawn - November 19 - 10:45 pm

  I love this car! I bought it 4 days ago and every day I cant wait to drive the 30 miles to work! I had been looking for a new car for 4 months and no car had everything I wanted. I was so frustrated. Then a friend told me about Acura! I didnt think we could afford it, but after taking one test drive, I was in love! It has everything! And, its all included in the base model! Its everything I ever wanted in a car! Its just 100% pure class! And I love the fact that you dont see a million of them everywhere! I love it!!

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  2016 MDX Vibration Part II - 2016 Acura MDX
  By Very Disappointed - November 19 - 12:46 pm

  Very disappointed, follow up to my previous post, ok my car has been at the dealers 6 times now for a vibration between 55 to 75 MPH 4,900 miles they keep saying they have to confirm the vibration which I have a service order from October stating they confirmed the vibration, they replaced the brake rotors, needless to say vibration still there, they replaced the tires, vibration still there, took it back to the dealer today for 6th time, another test drive with the service manager he said he could feel something but wasnt sure what it was, back seat was vibrating extensively, service manager acknowledged it, said he would take a new MDX off the lot drive it same route we drove mine to see if the road made it vibrate. They called and said they test drove a new MDX off the lot and it vibrates worse than mine so its a characteristic of the vehicle. They actually put this in writing on the service order. I asked if they were informing consumers of this vibration characteristic when they were looking at the vehicles and they said no, I told them just because the other car vibrates does not make it right, it sounds like a design defect to me, this directive came from the District Service Manager I cannot believe they would actually think that is acceptable, they all vibrate so that makes it acceptable???? Buyer beware I would not buy the 2016 Acura MDX.

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  Best Overall Value - 2003 Acura TL
  By Normin - November 19 - 10:00 am

  This car comes with everything: leather, HIDs, size airbags, 6 CD in- dash BOSE stereo...etc. The only factory installed option would be a Navigation system. Features like these would drive the cost of either the BMW or Infiniti over $35K. I paid $29K flat for the type S. Great acceleration and fun to drive. It makes you want to drive really fast. Im very happy with the purchase. And because its a Acura(Honda), I know that the reliability factor is high. Can the same be said about BMW or Infiniti ?

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  Great Car, Great Value - 2005 Acura TL
  By Randy - November 19 - 12:26 am

  After driving a BMW 330 CiC for a few years I can say that this car is faster, but doesnt handle quite as well. The sound system on this car is superior. I love the XM Radio feature. The navigation system on the BMW, although not a DVD and in some ways not as complete, was more accurate. This one takes some getting used to and I frequently cant find a place that I am looking for. This car is fun to drive, fast, comfortable and offers a superior sound system. The back seats have plenty of room.

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  I Could Not Be Happier! - 2003 Acura CL
  By Robert Clarke - November 18 - 7:18 pm

  I found a very low mileage 03 (12,135) with the tranny warranty until 100K! It has a very comfortable ride and it is extremely quiet also. 25 to 27 MPG highway with mid-grade. It does not need premium. Plenty of power, she can get away from you. I have to keep my eyes on the speedometer. All the bells and whistles and I dont see any other ones around. This ones a keeper!

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  What a car!! - 2005 Acura MDX
  By Brandi - November 18 - 3:06 am

  After test-driving 15+ different SUVs, the Acura won out. We seriously looked at the Lexus but with only 5 seats, it wasnt large enough for the option of my childrens friends accompanying us anywhere. The navigation system is awesome, and a lot of fun to use. The reverse camera is very useful, although you can be fooled with the scale of it (everything looks far away). You can get spoiled with the automatic wipers, speeding up/slowing down as needed. Very useful for city driving. The Bose sound system is awesome. The entertainment system displays the XM songs and artists on the screen, which the children have been having a lot of fun with. I cant gush enough - I love this car!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  Best Performing SUV for the money!! - 2007 Acura MDX
  By ggsdrummer - November 17 - 10:46 pm

  I test drove the BMW X3, X5, owned the Honda Pilot 2006. Once I saw this new MDX I had to test drive it. The SH-AWD really is impressive. It corners under acceleration like nothing Ive driven before. Ived owned a couple BMWs and we just bought for my wife a 2007 328ci with sport suspension. Im amazed at how well the MDX holds its own with the little sports car as far as feel and road holding under extreme cornering. Brakes are great. The third row is nice in a pinch for small trips.

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  Pretty nice Id say - 2004 Acura MDX
  By AM4TA - November 17 - 4:51 pm

  My mom just bought this car for herself a little while ago and it came with the GPS system which is the best feature out of all in my opinion, especially for the out of town trips. It drives pretty decent but will not make you bounce back in your seat. The drivers seat however needs to get fixed because the back of the seat isnt straight, its at an angle which causes my back to slide down toward the right side all the time and I cant position myself straight. Also the right exhaust pipe is hanging a little lower than the left one but that shouldnt be a problem. Other than that the car is pretty nice. Not a standout but not a car that people will hate either.

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  This car certainly has room to improve - 2006 Acura MDX
  By klin - November 17 - 4:09 pm

  The ease of driving and handling was what attracted to purchase this vehicle. On May of this year, I bought a new Toyota 4runner 2006 before I purchased the MDX. In my opinion, 4runner is a better built vehicle overall. The interior of the MDX is slightly cheaper, and I found the cover of the door knob actually moves a little bit instead of fix to the door, a small but annoying defect, and the interior looks cheaper comparing with Toyota. The back door of MDX can not close completely without slamming it. What a pain... If you just try to be a little bit gentle on the car, then the door wont close properly. In comparison, The 4runner has automatic door closer, and quality is awesome.