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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  Great ride w/ not so great audio control - 2007 Acura TL
  By Romer - June 11 - 3:10 am

  I have had this vehicle for about a week now. It came w/ the technology package. The ride is rather sporty and bumpy a bit (comparing it to my wifes Lexus ES 300) but enjoyable. In the looks department, it gets 2 thumbs up and since I havent yet broken it in, I can talk about performance just yet. Everything is voice controlled which makes a great conversation piece but voice control and command is too buggy. With the windows up, no fan running and no one else in the car, I can not get the bluetooth to record the numbers correctly. I have tried over and over and it seems as for certain numbers, time after time, throws some extra digits in.

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  Who needs a Benz ? - 2004 Acura TL
  By Dave - June 10 - 12:59 pm

  I have been a Benz guy for a long time but my last one gave me alot of pain. so I said Ill try some else. little did I know that I would fall in love with a Acura TL, it is a little small but you get use to it. It handles like a dream.

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  Great Vehicle - 2005 Acura MDX
  By sklug - June 9 - 8:56 pm

  Great car after 18 months no complaints at all and no issues at all. Fuel Economy is much better than expected. 23.4 mpg on our last trip to OHIO running 75 mph. Gets 18.6 around town. Goes great in the snow on trips to the northwoods. entertainment system and is great. Nav is a little out of date. My wife will never drive a different suv.

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  Best SUV on the market - 2006 Acura MDX
  By Don - June 9 - 12:57 pm

  Great combination of power, handling, and comfort. Kids love the DVD system!

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  Great SUV - 2005 Acura MDX
  By WB - June 9 - 4:43 am

  Great handling on the highway, and the rural areas where I drive. Super Navigational system, it is easy to use. There is a lot of leg and shoulder room in this SUV. I have had Jeep Limiteds before, and this SUV is built solid.

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  Excellent car to own and drive - 2004 Acura RSX
  By MizouKev - June 9 - 2:00 am

  This is the best car I have ever owned. It is the perfect combo of a luxury and sports car. Great perfromance and handling. Very responsived steering.

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  3500 miles of pure driving pleasure - 2004 Acura TL
  By Dr. EB - June 9 - 2:00 am

  Ive had this car for almost 2 mths now and I can honestly say this car is the best car I have driven, (not to mention owned) ever, regardless of price. The performance, luxury, amenities and build quality in this car, especially when you factor the price just dont exist anyhwere else in the car market. I previously owned a 2002 TL type S, which was a nice car, and when I tested this car, surprisingly, I found it to be superior to it in every way. I bought it on the spot. If you are in the market to buy a vehicle in this price range and fail to test this car you will be very sorry indeed!

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  Love it - 2004 Acura TL
  By toflo - June 9 - 2:00 am

  Its been two months and I love this car. Im clearly not a true autosnob since the only difference between this car and the RWD vehicles I looked at (Infiniti G35, Cadillac CTS, BMW) is that this car is simply better. Its comfortable, drives well and has the best stereo anywhere. I love XM radio and all cars should have a bluetooth connection for cell phones. My only gripe is that the headlights should be fully automatic.

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  Very comfortable car. - 2006 Acura RL
  By AcctProf - June 8 - 4:42 pm

  You can tell it is a heavy car, but the 290hp V6 moves it along fairly well. It cruises effortlessly at 80. The Voice Recognition is the best of the ones I tried (Lexus & Infiniti). And, you can change or cancel destinations on the fly. The seats are very comfortable with plenty of leg room for me (511"). I love the XM radio. I keep it on most of the time. The car is very quiet. I guess that is a combination of the Active Noise Cancellation and the sound deadening materials. The Bose stereo sounds great. Around town my mileage is 15-16, but I have a lot of traffic lights. I drive a lot of back roads at 65-70 and consistenly get 28 mpg. I have about 1,500 miles on mine so far.

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  06 with Tech Package Excels 05 - 2006 Acura RL
  By klister - June 7 - 8:05 pm

  Recently traded my 05 Acura RL for the 06 with Tech Package. What a great upgrade -- virtually all the bugs worked out and great new technology. Ride and handling seem to be improved with the stiffer, larger PAX tires. Little nits like a warning when lights left on auto and a warning when key leaves the car are fixed. No rattles and no squeaks so build quality seems solid. Navigation appears to be a release later with better graphics and more accuracy.