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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  Lovely Car for the money - 2004 Acura RL
  By Gardiner Westbound - November 28 - 9:47 am

  Refined, responsive, and nicely appointed. Intelligently designed and well executed. On Consumer Reports Most Reliable list.

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  What I have been looking for! - 2005 Acura RSX
  By zorman71 - November 27 - 5:42 pm

  Been looking at many different cars for ~2months. Then I went to the Acura dealer, where my journey ended. This car is very fun to drive, environmently guit-free, and I enjoy the heck out of communting to work & short trips on the weekends. So far it seems I can comfortably double any speed sign an any exit ramp while riding alone. My 4 year old daughter loves hanging out in the back on weekend drives, plenty of room for the 3 of us (me, mom & her). Should also note I tested the Scion TC3 & the RSX towers.

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  I love this car - exceeds expectations!! - 2004 Acura TSX
  By Jonathan Mozenter - November 26 - 7:58 pm

  I love my TSX. It handles like a dream and is very fast. It looks cool inside and out. I love all the gadgets (sunroof, heated seats, unreal stereo). So much fun to drive. Highly recommend. Cheap considering what you get.

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  Great car - 2005 Acura RSX
  By JLD - November 24 - 10:12 am

  Acura builds the best small performance car around but more importantly, I would challenge anybody to find a car with a better resale value including Toyota. Im now moving from an Integra to a RSX and my wife just got rid of her boring Subura Forester for an Acura TSX. Have to work on the kids now so we can become an all Acura family!

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  TSX - 2004 Acura TSX
  By chobert - November 23 - 7:56 pm

  So far weve been very pleased with this car. It drives and handles very well and is as solid as any new car that Ive owned. Gorgeous exterior designing. I would recommend to anyone looking for nice sporty 4-dr with a good performance attitude.

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  jimbos type S - 2003 Acura TL
  By jimbos tl - November 23 - 7:32 pm

  This is my first Acura, and it wont be my last. By far its been very reliable, the tranny shifts smoothly to the redline. Ive heard of the tranny recall, i dont notice of any problems with the tranny. Ive owned toyotas and nissans prior to buying this car. This car has it all for the price of 27k. Definitely a keeper, would buy another in the future. Keep up the good work Acura.

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  DQB Review - 2005 Acura RSX
  By dqb - November 23 - 1:52 pm

  this car is truly more refined than the last 02-04 models. the exterior is much cleaner than the last and performance has also increased. suspension is a lot better too because of the lower ride height and different suspension parts. Interior was pretty much the exact same thing, there was no change at all.

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  ACURA TL - Best in its class - 2006 Acura TL
  By commish - November 23 - 11:46 am

  Just an all-round fun vehicle to drive. By far the best value in its class!

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  Fantastic Car for the Price! - 2005 Acura TL
  By Rachel - November 23 - 6:16 am

  I cannot talk highly enough about this car! It has every feature that I could possibly think of, yet thousands less than BMW or Mercedes whos reliability stinks anyway.

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  Update to the Bimmer Beater - 2004 Acura TSX
  By Mike S part 2 - November 23 - 2:18 am

  I figured as my car is coming up to a year old I should update my review. It is still a great car to get into every day. Fit and finish are still Honda high. Still as smooth as the day I bought it. The annoying creak in the windshield is gone. Recomend one new or used.