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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  Not overly impressed - 2009 Acura RDX
  By Jack Gantos - September 9 - 8:41 pm

  Ive had my RDX for nearly three years on a lease and I will be turning it in and not getting another. The gas mileage is well below what is listed at 17mpg in town. I live in Boston and drive around town and get about 11/12 miles per gallon, and Im not a lead foot. The Turbo is not as responsive as it should be--there is some lag, but it is not bad when it kicks in. Just not as perfect as the sales people tell you it is. The interior is basic. Visibility is routine. Body design is nice. But the interior trim is just an upgraded version of a Nisson X-Terra. I question if my "leather" seats are really leather. They remind me of the Mercedes leather- like material I had in my Turbo D.

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  07 Red MDX - 2007 Acura MDX
  By Jose A Ramos - September 9 - 8:20 am

  Comfortable ride although Ive experienced a little bit of wind and road noise.

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  Great overall value. Nice luxury features. - 2016 Acura RDX
  By Bob - September 6 - 3:28 am

  Owned the 2016 RDX for 2 months. Bought the FWD with technology package. The RDX has the best overall engine for small SUV. Same engine as the MDX, but much smaller car means better performance. Great HP for its class. Very good gas fuel economy and uses regular unleaded gas. Other SUVs that had similar HP were turbo charged engines that required premium gas (i.e. more expensive to operate). Transmission is 6 speed automatic that is very smooth and shift points are perfect. Ride quality is a little stiff, but that helps with handling. The car is very quite when windows are rolled up. Seats are very comfortable. Very nice dual displays (one of which is touch screen). Premium stereo with XM and HD FM. I like the HD FM sound quality. It has a 15GB hard disc so you can save CDs or transfer songs from USB stick. There are 2 key fobs that you can customize most of the car features for each. Seating position, radio settings, navigation settings, are just a few of the items. Car recognize which key is closer and those settings are active for that driver. Very nice. Only a few negatives: Lots of wind noise when back windows are down more than about 1 inch. The electronics take about 1 minute to boot up when you start the car. Does not sound like much, but much slower than my Lexus that is 8 years older. Navigation system works good, but a little funky to set. Sound quality is good compared to standard quality systems, but less than other premium systems.

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  Bling Bling - 2003 Acura MDX
  By GMoneyGrill - September 4 - 10:00 am

  Ive had my fully-loaded 2003 MDX since March and I absolutely love it! Ive researched it since 2001 and found it to be the best all-around SUV for the money. Love the 260 HP and after owning it for almost 6 months (11,000 miles already), I found things I like and dislike. I like the power/torque, 5- speed tranny! style, features (ala- backup camera, navi system- breadcrumbs!, DVD-wireless headphones, moonroof, memory/heated FRONT SEATS, BOSE stereo, auto wiper/headlights, and 2nd/3rd row fold-flat seats. Things I dislike are the lack of storage in the front area, premium gas, towing capacity, no dead pedal, navi system seems outdated, interior plastics.

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  Best car in its class - 2006 Acura TL
  By vince M - September 4 - 5:33 am

  Chose the 2006 TL after extensive research and after 1500 miles I think it,s a very good but not excellent car.Sure the look, the nav., the audio, are all very nice but the important issues are the dynamic and handling qualities.Here goes:It is fast,powerful,corners well when dry,shifts smoothly, and fun to drive.Now the negatives: Front wheels spin too easily on take off,torque steer is moderate,only fair in rain and snow,turn circle poor.

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  Why I chose this Acura but not others - 2007 Acura TL
  By BMR ETR - September 2 - 8:05 pm

  This is my 2nd TL - love the style. Also have a 2003 G35 which Im thinking of trading but in no way will I buy the new 2009 TL. Its become one of the ugliest new vehicles on the road (also heavier & bloated). I think acuras 25 year old 2009 vehicle designer needs some design school mentoring. Also the new ZDX not only has the ugly front but it also has an "asteck" type rear. 5 of my professional colleagues who now have Acuras will not come back to the new - gen. quirky styles. Too bad its really a good engineered vehicle but then so are many of its competitors. The G37 stats will blow out the new TL stats - and its not UGLY. Disappointed in Acura.

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  12 Years of fun - 1996 Acura Integra
  By GSR Fan - September 2 - 6:41 pm

  Recently sold my GSR. I put about 150K on it before selling. Never had any major issues, except regular maintenance items that need to be addressed in an older car brakes, clutch, suspension etc. Very fun car to drive and I got about 28 mpg on average.

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  Not reliable anymore - 1995 Acura Integra
  By JF - September 1 - 6:40 pm

  I bought the car with 48K miles on it, has 130k now. Acura/Honda reliability? My Integra didnt get that memo, unfortunately. Since I bought the car I have replaced the distributor, two wheel bearings, the radiator TWICE, water pump/timing belt TWICE, thermostat THREE times, the antenna, yes the antenna - TWICE, two brake jobs, along with belts/hoses/pulleys etc. It is an older car yes, but "its a Honda", right? Shouldnt have this many problems. I cant go 2 months anymore without it breaking down. Overall I have enjoyed this car the past 9 years. But it has spoiled Hondas reliability reputation with me. If 9 out of 10 Hondas/Acuras are reliable, I got the one lemon.

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  Dont believe the MPG estimates! - 2006 Acura MDX
  By Leet - August 29 - 3:18 pm

  If it were not for the mileage, this would be my favorite SUV (owned Suburban, Tahoe and Jimmy). The vehicle cant meet the minimum mpg rating. We drive this vehicle 50/50 hwy/city and are not getting crazy with the accelerator. Its sad that I sold my perfectly running 03 Suburban for something I was told would get 17- 23 mpg and it only gets 1 mpg better than my 03 Suburban. VERY disappointing...dont believe the salesman!

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  My first car - 1999 Acura CL
  By Ice Man - August 29 - 2:25 pm

  This is my far car. I researched this car right here on edmunds.com the night before I purchased it. Once I saw the reviews were great I bought it. Ive owned the car less than a week now and I love this car. The good: Im a college student. It gets 20-22 miles in the city, its fun to drive, its super luxurious, and fast. Its sleek, my car is bright red with white interior. The bad: the car has a horrible turning radius other than that I cant think of anything else I dont like about the car.