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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  Acura MDX Review - 2013 Acura MDX
  By love2drive111 - February 8 - 9:54 pm

  I recently bought a brand new Acura MDX and I am a satisfied customer. The primary reason I purchased this car was that it was a gift for my mother and I believed it fit her style, a blend of luxury and accomplishment. Driving impressions of this vehicle were satisfying as the ride is very sleek, you can hardly feel a bump on the road. The ride is almost too relaxing as if you were on auto pilot in a commercial aircraft. The vehicle is extremely fun especially in the rain, as its suspension is highly tuned for safety. Seeing other MDX vehicles on the road is definitely an eye catcher because of limited ownership. If you have the means of 50k I highly recommend it.

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  Think b4 you buy your next Acura - 2005 Acura MDX
  By seahawks_fan - February 6 - 5:44 pm

  Think b4 you buy your next Acura. My 05 MDX slammed and locked its brakes while doing 40mph and almost killed my family. It happened three times in less than a month. Dealership wont fix the modulator that is most likely the cause because it would cost them $1600. The seat belt locked on my 9 month old pregnant wifes belly and cause my other kids head to whip lash. They have had my car for over a week now and waiting on Corporate to take responsibility. Its sad that saving $1600 is more important than the lives of 6 people. Come on Acura/Honda. Update: After having my $50,000 luxury car for a week, the decided they will only replace a $100 part called a brake switch. But they refused to replace the other problem, $1600 abs modulator. Their diagnostic computer told them both were failing parts. The service manager told me they are not wear and tear parts and should not have gone bad. So they sent me off with my family hoping they guessed right. So now the car sits on my drive way. I refuse to put my family in danger. Had I been on the freeway or crossing our states snowy mountains, my family might not be here right now. I wouldnt be here to share this with others. I told the claim manage than my family has bought 3 accords, two civics, Acura RL and the MDX the past 20 years, while spending over $100,000. Yet, he said that wasnt enough of loyalty.

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  Clunking noise from Rear Suspension - 2012 Acura TL
  By lex612 - February 6 - 12:40 pm

  Loud "CLUNKING NOISE" came from passenger side rear suspension. It got louder as the car getting more miles on it. Took it in four times at the local dealer: 1st Attempt: Local dealer changed the strut but noise still there, 2nd Attempt: acura agent came in to verify the problem and took the entire assembly rear suspension apart and found nothing wrong with it but the noise still present so they concluded that it is a normal noise on the TL (Which I dont agree because only one corner of the car is making the noise, left rear suspension is nice and quiet when ride over bump) 3rd attempt: Service manager refused service because he told me that Acura is will not fix the "clunking noise" because they think it is a normal sound. 4th attempt: I took the car to a small local shop which is not Acura and some mechanic friends to check out the noises that I am hear from the one corner of the car (passenger rear suspension). They all confirmed the noise is an irregularity of a suspension and suspected something is wrong with the strut and it assembly/bushing but inconclusive with the problem because it could be many things that can go wrong with it and recommended me to bring it back to Acura. Acura refused service again and said the same thing like the 3rd attempt. File a claim with BBB and the same Acura Claim representative that I dealt with earlier said the same thing again, that they will not fix anything regarding the clunking noise I hear because they think it is normal. My opinion: This is an Acura and it is over $40,000 dollars car so I expected a nice quiet and comfortable car but the "Clunking noise" really killed my excitement about owning this car. Just a headeache everytime I look or drive it. I am definately upset with Acura about how they handle this situation because they did not offer me any solution but they basically tell me live with the "clunking noise" from that one corner of the car. and if the noise was normal, Acura mechanic wouldnt have change the strut the 1st time I brought it in...Why is Acura doing this?? and How can I get them to fix the problem I am having now, can anyone help? my frustration with Acura is to the roof now and hope to get this handle the sooner the better.

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  2004 Dynamic - 2004 Acura TL
  By claire9 - February 4 - 6:37 pm

  I bought my TL new in early 2005 and it has been dealer serviced with 110,000 kms at the moment. I have had nothing to service of significance except a new battery and a front brake job. I have regularly treated the leather and it still looks like new. The best tires I have found for the vehicle are Continental Extreme Contacts. Unfortunately my in-dash cd player stopped working last year and I had Future Shop connect an ipod cable to the system for running my music in the car on trips. I have had 4 acuras in my family (2 TLs and 2 Integras) and they have all been trouble free. They are indeed well designed and well built vehicles.

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  Nice but nothing special. - 2000 Acura RL
  By albee213 - February 3 - 10:19 am

  I purchased it with 174k and everythign works and over all car is in good shape. Leather has greyed from tan color from sun bleaching but really for a car that is 14 years old its a looker. I really only have thee complaints about this car. Its the "TOP of the Line" Acura from 2000 and it lacks real power from its engine dos not have any cool gadgets that most cars in its class has, My Deville has mileage computer and many other options this car does not and it gets TERRIBLE GAS MILEAGE. My wife drives it 10 miles per day and it averages about 13 miles per gallon driving back streets. I get 17 in Cadi with a much larger and powerful engine.

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  Excellent car! - 2012 Acura TL
  By numberjack - February 2 - 7:02 pm

  Very happy with this car. Excellent luxury car for a regular car price. Paid $32.7K + tax for TL Tech. Ive had it for 8k miles now and its been great! Absolutely no problems at all. Plenty of power, smooth, quiet, handles well, very comfortable seats, Amazing stereo system!! Decent gas mileage for a mid sized luxury car, averaging 25 mpg overall in mixed driving 28+ on long road trips. This is an excellent car for this price range. I paid about what a fully loaded accord/camry/altima would have cost, but got a much nicer & sportier luxury car instead. No complaints whatsoever!

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  I love this car - 1998 Acura CL
  By nrajoppe - February 2 - 8:47 am

  This is my first car, drove it on my permit since the day I got it and now driving it on my license for 2 months. This car is pretty fun to drive as my first car with a 5 speed manual. Reliability? This car wrote the book on it. Which is what every Honda/Acura has come to know and love. It has 267k miles and runs like new, no major repairs on it ever. Every one of my friends says it runs like new as well. Its pretty quick, Ive beaten a few v6 mustangs, older maxima, and mitsubishi eclipse, so its not slow. Overall an amazing car for the value and an amazing first car. Its very luxurious, not like driving in a super light hatchback Civic.

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  An Excellent Car! - 2013 Acura ILX
  By geiim - January 28 - 4:22 pm

  I have had my ILX now for over a month and 1,500 miles. It is an excellent car. The complaints about the 2.0L engine being slow are not accurate. I find it to be very peppy and responsive. Plus I drive 64 miles back and forth from work 5 days a week and I have never gotten less than 30 MPG, with an average of 29 MPG city/hwy driving overall. The interior is of excellent quality and the ride is smooth and quiet. The electronics are excellent and the sound system is very good, I use the XM radio all the time and it never drops out. Im 6 ft tall, 250 lbs and I fit very comfortably in the car. Ive even ridden in the back seat and that was comfortable. It looks great and rides great!

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  Purchased RDX with Tech 2 weeks ago - 2013 Acura RDX
  By endoellen - January 25 - 4:53 pm

  Has great pick up and shifts smooth as I would have expected. My previous car was an Acura TL 2006 which I really liked. Voice commands for phone, navigation, audio, etc. is not real user friendly. Too many commands to be used. It was easier to use voice commands with the bluetooth in the TL without navigation. Disappointed in gas mileage. Sticker states estimated 20 city and 28 hwy. My first tank of premium fuel with combined 60 miles of hwy driving and the rest city only got 17.5 mpg. On my 2nd fill up I traveled to the dealer & back today approx. 120 miles hwy & it shows average of 23mpg. Not what I expected. My 2006 TL got 20 city & 28-30 Hwy consistently.

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  I miss this car a lot!! - 2004 Acura TSX
  By booth1986 - January 21 - 1:24 pm

  Fast, sporty, decent gas mileage for its intended performance, great build quality and interior! I loved this car... The only reaon we got rid of it was to get a bigger car, this car is not suited for car seats or passengers on a regular basis. I am 511" and with a baby car seat in the back, my seat had to be up almost all the way. After 120K miles, the only issue we had was the AC system dies, and the alignment was always off (Later found out it was in a wreck that nearly totaled it which caused this)