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 2.5TL Premium Sedan - 1996 Acura TL
  By Joannie621 - April 24 - 2:00 am

  If I could buy this car brand new, I would! I have driven and experienced just about any other car out there- and Im always happier and more comfortable in my Acura. The car is classy, sporty, and reliable. Mine has 125K miles and running amazingly. I have driven about 60 miles a day to college for the past 4 years and my car has never let me down. Now I can afford any other car but seriously dont want to give it up!

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  God what a great car! - 2002 Acura RSX
  By Lex - April 23 - 8:10 pm

  Everything just the way I wanted it!

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  Recently purchased - 2006 Acura TL
  By Montreal-man - April 23 - 4:56 am

  Just bought my ride on Friday after a one year search (including these testimonials). I compared g35,bmw, audi, nissan before decing on the TL. The car is awesome, fast, powerful, fun to drive with great tech features. The HandsFree link was really important as I am a salesman on the road all-the- time! The stereo rocks, the engine is way too much power performance for what I really need...but damm its fun to leter rip off the line! I opted for the performance package (No NAV system). The brembo brakes stick are a great feature to have. The car is so smooth, quiet that I honestly had a hard time keeping below the speed limit I had to engage the cruise control the 1st time on the highway.

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  Best Bang for the Buck! - 1996 Acura Integra
  By casper90651 - April 23 - 2:00 am

  This was my first car and I had researched it for a long time. This was the best value in 1996. It offered great performance, along with good styling, a great amount of space, and great amount of power coupled with a manual transmission in a SEDAN (4- DOOR) package!! What other car could beat that for under $25k in 1996?

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  best car on the planet - 2004 Acura NSX
  By samsoldit - April 23 - 2:00 am

  I will never sell this car! There is no better car in all of mankind!If you dont know, now you know!

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  Acura RL Special Edition - 1998 Acura RL
  By GTCC - April 22 - 2:00 am

  I bought the car new in 1998. This has to be one of the reliable cars ever built. Routine maintenance and one window motor replacement is all this car has ever needed. Its very comfortable on long trips and easy to maneuver in the city. Build quality is outstanding. Inside and out it looks like the day it bought it. Acura has earned my loyalty.

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  Amazin99TL - 1999 Acura TL
  By neal - April 22 - 2:00 am

  I got my TL in July 1999. It has 103,000 miles and still drives like a dream. Im thinking about getting a new car but finding it hard to part with my TL. The Bose stereo is amazing! The VTEC engine and TLs performance is amazing! The TL is unbelievably reliable, fast and sharp looking. My only complaint is the wind noise that occurs near the drivers window.

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  nice car - 2004 Acura RSX
  By Luca - April 19 - 2:00 am

  i-vtec engine is powerful spitting out 200 horses at 7400 rpms and is quite intelligent.

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  Excellent all around - 2002 Acura MDX
  By rroushdy - April 19 - 2:00 am

  Excellent handling, fun to drive, kids love it very comfortable and well disgnd interior.

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  First Class Sports Sedan - 2004 Acura TL
  By Shane Weast - April 19 - 2:00 am

  Outstanding smooth engine with no torque steer what so ever. Numerous full throttle accelerations(After 750 break-in miles)with no pull at all to the right. Very fast and smooth straight acceleration.