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:

• 

  Love my Christmas present! - 2005 Acura TL
  By BWood - September 9 - 2:40 am

  I enjoyed my previous car, a Lincoln LS, but when ready to trade was looking for something a little more sporty. This car has the whole package and looks beautiful in black with grey interior. Lots of technology to learn, but I am looking forward to that too. Navigation is awesome!

• 

  TSX fast car with poor gas mileage - 2005 Acura TSX
  By john - September 8 - 5:04 pm

  Very poor gas mileage on the first half tank of gas. Can burn 1/2 tank of gas in 1 day just doing local driving.

• 

  Lovely Car In Every Way! - 2006 Acura TSX
  By Happyacura - September 8 - 5:03 pm

  Now that my TSX is 2 months old, I can write this. Its just superb in every way. Beautifully built and finished, not a hint of a squeak, rattle, moan or groan anywhere. The features/tech stuff are all awesome and work perfectly. The perforations in the leather keep my back cool, and the a/c is way cold. The stereo is excellent, the comfort is excellent, the engine and 5 speed auto tranny are flawless together. I cant think of anything not fully pleasing. I am fully confident that I made the right choice. I looked very carefully at the competitioni. The TSX smokes them all on value! Lastly, you cant tell is FWD, and you cant tell its a 4, thats praise!

• 

  04 Acura TL - 2004 Acura TL
  By tenncpa - September 8 - 10:00 am

  04 Acura TL is third TL owned and thus far, the best. Performance is smoother, quieter and more refined than 2002 TL- S, which was great car. It is hard to imagine a better car--performance, value and dependability--in this class.

• 

  Slightly too Expensive for what You Get - 2004 Acura TL
  By Overrated Acura - September 8 - 10:00 am

  The car is very nice, but Acura jacked the price up and now I think I overpaid. The dealer made me think the product was like gold. They said that they were all sold out, for months... Then, lo and behold, one showed up and I bought it for full sticker. I got caught up in the moment and now I am somewhat disappointed. The car is very nice, but not worth 35K. You are much better off getting the 3-series BMW.

• 

  Surprise, Surprise!! - 2002 Acura MDX
  By D. L. May - September 7 - 9:19 pm

  Bought the vehicle used with approximately 57000 miles on it. Bought the warranty and glad I did. Transmission had a major failure at 73000 miles. So disappointing as my warranty is covering most of the cost of repair to replace the transmission, but not all. I told the dealership I was surprised that a high end SUV would have a major drivetrain failure with just 73000 miles. I cant justify ever purchasing a Honda/Acura after this experience. Advice, dont buy this vehicle.

• 

  The Last Year RSX - 2006 Acura RSX
  By RR - September 6 - 9:24 pm

  This is a very cool looking and pleasure to driving Japanese coupe. The road noise is notified as a light weighted Japanese sporty car with a little harder struts system.

• 

  driver - 2006 Acura TL
  By milan - September 5 - 3:46 pm

  Great vehicle for your money. Cant find better car for that much. Great space also, with perfect rear seats.

• 

  Great Car - 2005 Acura MDX
  By Vigi - September 5 - 2:50 am

  05 MDX replaced my 92 4Runner, I get perfect parking 100% of the time, using the rear camera, excellent design and integration of front stereo with rear entertainment system. Very comfortable, kids love it to. Im waiting for the hybride version of this car, it gobles gas alot, but it worth the comfort.

• 

  WONDERFUL CAR - 2005 Acura TL
  By Olga hostetler - September 4 - 3:47 pm

  This car is fun to drive,and its packed with luxury functions. Ive had mine for a little over a year now, Ive had a lexus is300, bmw 325i, and i like the acura tl MUCH better.