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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  Awesome! - 2007 Acura MDX
  By Awesome! - November 19 - 2:00 pm

  I have owned over the past 5 years a 4.4 BMW X5, MB ML500, and Lexus GX. By far this 2007 MDX out performs all the above - in all categories. Handles like a BMW, but with more "toys" and better reliability.

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  Best Car I Ever Drove - 2004 Acura MDX
  By sunshineks - November 19 - 2:00 am

  My Acura MDX is the most comfortable and easy driving car I have ever had. I do alot of highway driving and the MDX almost drives itself. It is very quiet and smooth. I will never go back to driving a smaller car again.

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  great features - 2004 Acura TL
  By CSHIRAZI - November 19 - 2:00 am

  THIS VEHICLE IS FANTASTIC IN FEATURES, PERFORMANCE, COMFORT, SAFTY, QUALITY, AND RELIABILITY.

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  better than Honda Accord v-6 same price! - 2001 Acura CL
  By aveerothai - November 17 - 12:35 pm

  I bought this car used 2 years ago. No problem, fun to drive, Bose system, heated seat and memory seat and this car is going for same price as Honda Accord v6. What a deal!

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  2002 Base 5 Speed Acura RSX - 2002 Acura RSX
  By buhusky - November 17 - 10:00 am

  2002 base model 5 speed manual RSX. Impressed. Ride is nice, seats are firm & snug (but not tight) which is nice - they hold you quite well. Standard stereo is good (Alpine w/ 6 speakers) and sounds better than i thought with good bass response. Handles nicely, acceleration is good. Its the only one in my town so far and everybody looks! Totally red lights (except A/C - standard green) at night are different, but good. The headlights put out nice light. The sunroof is smaller but VERY quiet when its open, even when going down the highway. Compared RSX to Subaru Impreza (not WRX) & opted for this. No regrets, highly recommended!

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  Acura RSX - 2002 Acura RSX
  By Tony - Philly - November 17 - 10:00 am

  The real fun of driving this car is definitely the sequential shift. Learn to drive this car in both automatic and shift mode and you will have fun. Shifting manually allows you to gain the full power of the engine and is great for overtaking. Overall a fun car to drive with a good solid build quality and with individual styling.

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  Excellent quality - 2004 Acura TL
  By Patriot - November 16 - 5:16 am

  This vehicle continues to exceed my expectations. The acceleration is remarkable and requires your full attention when you are behind the wheel. The highway cruising experience, particularly on good roads is outstanding. Interior quality is a major feature. Stereo system, hands-free link. Six speed transmission.

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  I LOVE this car! - 2004 Acura MDX
  By LoopyL10 - November 16 - 3:30 am

  After driving a Ford Explorer for 6 years, I think I died and went to heaven once we purchased the MDX! A smooth, comfortable ride, good gas mileage for its size and plenty of room. Great power, a fun car to drive and own. I highly recommend over the Volvo, you wont regret this purchase! If you are considering the Pilot try spurging on the MDX a much more luxurious, better riding SUV.

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  Type S Owner - 2005 Acura RSX
  By Echo2 - November 15 - 10:21 pm

  Bought my 05 type-s in Sept, Love the car. It is an absolute blast to drive. I commute 35 mile each way to work, and enjoy every minute of it. Great on the highway and 2 much fun on the back roads. 2 weeks after I bought it I took it on a 1600 mile road trip. Its not the most comfortable on the long hauls, BUT makes up 4 it around town.

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  Best value and features for the price - 2004 Acura TSX
  By tyman_22 - November 15 - 7:27 pm

  This is my first new car, so I was looking for a lot of car with a reasonable price. No other vehicle I looked at came close to the TSX. The best part about it was that this car has no optional packages, you just choose to have or not to have a Navigation system and the transmission. The TSX has plenty of "get up and go" under the hood with 200 hp. Even with this power, you still get the mileage expected from a Honda product with nearly 30 mpg/highway.