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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  Big Bang for the Buck - 2003 Acura CL
  By DTD - October 9 - 10:00 am

  Excellent performance and excellent handling. Makes me want to get in it and drive. Excellent comfort and support on long trip. Easy to read gauges. Fun factor equal 10. So what are the downsides? I am a 6and could use maybe another inch of headroom, but it is OK. Available colors are boring and dull. Best color I could find with tan. interior was white...enough said. Is the car a keeper? ABSOLUTELY!

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  Good while it lasted, now moving on... - 1999 Acura TL
  By Jamnurse - October 8 - 7:49 pm

  I bought this car with about 24k miles, currently 164k. Was gonna try to push it til 200k, but, Engine light staying on for a year now. Car has shut off on me twice while at the stop light (have a new battery). Ignition switch was changed out under the recall. EGR changed a few times. Engine going. I put quite a bit of $$ into it already. No sense putting any more. I got my thrill for 9 years. I had visor, wood grain and wing put on. I loved my car. Will always have a place in my heart... I think Im done with acura though. Dont like the shape of new TL. I like the RL, but, I think Im getting GS300.

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  Im making an offer tomorrow - 2003 Acura CL
  By acura_driver - October 8 - 2:00 am

  Best value in class. Fun to drive hard but is an interstate cruiser as well.

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  American Made Road Rocket - 2009 Acura TL
  By RI Car Guy - October 3 - 9:33 pm

  Having had great experience with our two other Hondas, we chose the TL over the Accord EXL-V6 for a nicer interior and quieter ride. So far this car has not disappointed, providing a proven drive-train in an upscale fun to drive car. Power and handling are great but the ride is a little stiff. It does absorb potholes better the the Accord and is much quieter. Tech Package is easy to learn (without reading the 2" thick manual) and the sound system is excellent. This car is currently a bargain, costing thousands less than foreign assembled competitors.

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  All around winner - 2006 Acura TL
  By Roy - October 2 - 5:30 pm

  I have the 2006 TL as a company car and have over 30k miles on it so far, so I think I can give a pretty fair assessment. First, it has a lot more interior room than it looks. Plenty of room for 6 footers in the rear sets. Power and handling are great, as is the overall styling of the car. My one complaint is that the bluetooth phone interface picks up so much ambient noise that its almost unuseable. I think the mic needs to be closer to the driver. That would fix the problem. The seats are great, but the interior is not as quiet as a Lexus ES 330. The ride is a tad on the harsh side, but still quite good. And the NAV system is the best out there.

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  Problems with my 2003 Acura 3.2 TL - 2004 Acura TL
  By Sundar - September 30 - 10:00 am

  The car is nice and gives much more bang for the buck compared to Lexus and Infiniti. I had some problems. The license plate is fixed by a peculiar plastic bracket. This got broken off and I ahve to get it fixed. Also, there is a crack on the bottom of the bumper below the license plate. The car is, however, fine and gives me around 25 miles for the gallon (mostly highway driving). I do not know why Acura does not provide MPG DVD players, only WAV players.

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  Great car, horrible reliability - 2002 Acura TL
  By value man - September 28 - 6:29 pm

  Why the whole world has not made a big issue that the reliability of this model years transmission is absolutely horrible is beyond me. Acura should be embarrassed - this model year is a black eye to their reputation of reliable cars.

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  2013 vs. 2016 - 2016 Acura TLX
  By Buck Stone - September 26 - 2:25 pm

  Not sure what they did but my 2013 off the line was incredible...2016 not...

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  9 month update - 2009 Acura TSX
  By Acura_Numbr_2 - September 19 - 9:52 pm

  Have had car for 9 mos. 17.5K miles averaging 29-31 mpg. I change oil every 5K no matter what oil life indicator says. Car runs fine, and fast enough to get a couple of warnings. 6 speed and clutch work fine. Two complaints. 3400 RPM @ 80mph cruising is a little high, my 2000 TL does about 2150RPM at same speed. I still have trouble with headlight pattern, sharp cutoff of light field makes hills exciting when driving in mountain passes.

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  This is a great vehicle - 2003 Acura MDX
  By Bruce - September 12 - 10:20 am

  I have owned my MDX for almost 2 years and have not had any problems. I drove it from Ohio to California and averaged 23 MPG. The seats are comfortable, the navigation system superb and the storage area large. It goes great in the Ohio winters too.