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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  Best SUV in its class - 2009 Acura MDX
  By 2009MDXFAN - August 8 - 4:23 pm

  The 2009 MDX is a good mix of luxury and performance. Interior styling is visually pleasant but Acura should not have skimped on quality of material such as the plastic interior handles and plastic fake wood. The strengths of the MDX is definitely the handling quality compared to other SUVs.

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  Best Acura - 2003 Acura TL
  By tommy0guns - August 8 - 2:00 am

  i priced and drove the TL-S, Accord V6, and BMW 325. this is the best for the money. it kills the accord in driving and quality and is way cheaper and faster than the 325. doesnt get any classier for $30k

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  Put fun to your commute - 2005 Acura RSX
  By Pauolo - August 6 - 10:00 am

  Easy to drive, fun, and economical. All extras included. Good reliable car and an excelent dealer behind their product.

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  Not what it is cracked up to be! - 2005 Acura TL
  By jamrock66 - August 6 - 10:00 am

  Just bought the 2005 TL. Nice interior. Loaded with gadgets. The truth of the matter is...not impressed. I have only driven the car for 700 miles thus far, but have already formulated several strong opinions. Here are the facts. Averaging 23 MPG. Stereo system not as impressive as my previous Infiniti I30t. Voice command rarely responds appropriately (maybe I have an accent). Paint job appears flawed (Black car). Seats not as comfortable as most competing cars. In a nutshell, if given the opportunity to buy again, I would go with a Infiniti G35 in a heartbeat. Will update several months later.

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  We had a great run! - 2002 Acura CL
  By bkdice - August 5 - 12:09 pm

  I just parted with my 2002 CL. I bought it in Jan of 04 and put about 71K miles on it. This car was always fun to drive, reliable, inexpensive to maintain, and the gas mileage was great! 23 city / 33 hwy was my average. I did have my transmission go at 99,800 miles - but Acura replaced for free under warranty (there was a recall / warranty extension on these!). This car will be missed. Wish Acura had continued with the coupe.

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  Not good on gas - 2007 Acura TSX
  By langstonboy04 - August 3 - 12:42 pm

  I love the car but I hate the gas it use! 16.5 MPG In the city is not GOOD!! And that is with prem fuel. Car does drive well. I had a suv with a v8 to do better But i do love the way the car looks and drives. But be ready to pay a lot for gas and it will drink it up.

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  Good vehicle, but little problems add up - 2003 Acura MDX
  By Jon - August 2 - 12:52 pm

  Bought used with 30K miles - all was fine for 2.5 years. Now, with only 65K miles we have had a lot of minor issues...All A/C vents have fallen off seat molding on drivers side fell off, rain sensor doesnt work, DVD player stopped working. Like I said, relatively minor, but very frustrating. For a supposedly reliable, well built vehicle Id expect more. We only drive this about 10K miles per year and dont abuse it. Overall, a good vehicle, reliable and roomy enough for 2 kids in car seats.

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  Never again will I buy a brand new model - 2009 Acura TSX
  By BAG - August 2 - 10:46 am

  I have had so many problems with the interior quality sometimes I think I bought an American car... over the past year Ive had two blown audio speakers, loose defroster vent, two trunk rattles, Navi screen control unit failure, loose exterior windshield molding and a rattle coming from the dashboard that the dealer cant seem to locate/fix. The only thing keeping me sane is that the deal provides a loaner car every time I bring in my car for service (which is about once per month).

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  Have car # 639 - 2002 Acura RSX
  By One of the First - July 31 - 1:33 am

  I was one of the first to buy the car in AZ. Bought the car 7/2/01. First day on the market. My only problems have been a few rattles on the top of car somewhere. Biggest problem is the Oil Filter Location. The filter is so high on the engine when removed the oil runs down the side of the engine into a pan. After the oil change if you live close by the dealership, you leak oil all the way home and into you garage it goes. Poor eng. on the manufactor part.

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  awesome - 2005 Acura TL
  By chrsbigc - July 30 - 8:56 pm

  Fun to drive, lots of creature comforts, easy to maintain. Im a big guy and it has lots of room, not the best on gas but who cares.