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:

• 

  finally, a well designed japanese car - 2004 Acura TL
  By torontonian - August 20 - 6:06 am

  Ever since this car was a concept, I have recognized Alfa Romeo (156 & 166) styling. TL, along with TSX finally brought a sharp exterior design to a japanese car maker. car behaves excellently on the road, handles corners with authority and makes you feel truly content with your investment. Considering latest design flops that are Honda Accord and Toyota Camry, TL will capitalize and seize more of the market, establishing itself as a favourable contender in luxury and sporty sedan market segment, rather than in usual medium-size-sedan-workhorse group. Obviously, this car passed rigorous quality assurance process. I suggest adding "invisible" nose bra to protect your cars hood from stone chips

• 

  Incredible - 1991 Acura NSX
  By ravenarts - August 20 - 2:00 am

  After owning Porsches, Corvettes, Jaguars, BMWs, etc. NOTHING can compare to the NSX.

• 

  This car sounds great - 2004 Acura RSX
  By squarefoot - August 20 - 2:00 am

  The car really has a pleasant howl above 6500 rpm and the 6-speed makes it a breeze to keep it singing. The interior is high quality and elegant in its simplicity and execution. While not blisteringly fast it is quick enough to be fun and my mileage has been in the 30 mpg range. I found it to be faster and less expensive than a similar cooper-s or celica GT- S. Unlike some I feel the suspension is plenty stiff and responsive, if you want more try the A-spec

• 

  I love this car! - 2002 Acura RSX
  By Dylan - August 19 - 3:10 am

  What an amazing car. I am in love with this thing. Words are a waste of time. You have to go drive it.

• 

  janets review - 2004 Acura MDX
  By Miss B - August 19 - 2:00 am

  I love my vehicle... I am in the automotive industry- yet we do not sell Acura. I am so pleased w/ my vehicle- I would highly suggest buyers to see the value and luxury you recieve from the mdx.

• 

  The Best car in the whole entire World - 2004 Acura MDX
  By fdjksgh - August 19 - 2:00 am

  Wonderful, Drives Great, My Mom needs it when she drives it

• 

  Amazing Vehicle - 2004 Acura TL
  By John_Ohio - August 19 - 2:00 am

  Picked up my 04 TL two days ago. This is one amazing vehicle. Manual shifting is smooth as butter. Navi. system works very well. XM radio a big plus. Styling of the car is a huge improvement over the 03 model. There is some torque steer at fast acceleration, managable if you anticipate it. Comfort is great. Gadgets are great. A major step up from my 01 Accord Coupe EX-V6. First car with the high intensity headlights and they are simply amazing.

• 

  Youll love this car!!! - 2002 Acura RSX
  By Mike001 - August 18 - 10:00 am

  This car is addictive. I have been test driving cars for 6 months, and I didnt test drive this one right away because the review ("sport coup comparason") in Edmonds said there was some rear suspension problem. Well there isnt, at all, I dont know what they were taliking about. Anyway, I test drove Lexus IS 400, BMW 330i, Nissan spec V, Suburu WRX, and some others, and this was easily the most fun to drive, and some of those others were almost twice the price, HA! In fact, this is the most fun car I have ever driven (and my last two cars were a 1999 Ford Mustang Cobra and a 1997 BMW 540i) Anyway, just test drive it, youll see, its awesome!

• 

  My MDX - 2004 Acura MDX
  By PinakinDesai - August 16 - 2:00 am

  Excellent performance overall. The only thing that they could improve upon is the wind noise. I also wish they had not taken away the Sun glass holder. Other than that excellent car.

• 

  Love it! - 2005 Acura TL
  By B omilakin - August 15 - 11:02 am

  Contenporarily excellent! Sporty, agile, and fun to drive. Ultimate reliability!