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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  I love this car!! - 1994 Acura Integra
  By zenozin - March 29 - 2:00 am

  There have only been a few complaints anout this car. Ive had to replace the A-pipe, which apparantly is common. The radiator sprung a leak at about 100,000 miles. Other than that, I have 216,000 miles and its still going strong. The paint is starting to deteriorate off the top and back, but thats from years in the hot Central Valley sun. I love my car!!

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  Still Kickin - 1990 Acura Integra
  By Psycobob - March 29 - 2:00 am

  Awesome car. Its a 90 RS automatic, and it has over 425,000 miles on it. Still kickin. Started smoking a little at startup this winter, but with warmer weather that has gone away. Fun do drive and cheap to maintain. I have had to do very little to keep this car running. If you are looking at getting an integra, you wont be disappointed.

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  3.2TL is a sure thing - 1998 Acura TL
  By wpit - March 29 - 2:00 am

  wonderful car, fast, affordable, and stylish.

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  2004 TSX - 2004 Acura TSX
  By moman - March 28 - 10:00 am

  Just purchased a new TSX and have already 400 miles on it.it is so much fun to drive specially with the new semi manual shift. the gas milage is great specially after gettin rid of a gas guzzler that did 12 milesper gallon. interior is neat wish it was a little roomier but still great.pick up speed is really good for a 200HP engine. in short,you will love the gas milage and the pick up speed and neat design.

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  270 Horsepower! - 2005 Acura TL
  By Xtine - March 28 - 10:00 am

  What I love most about this car is that from the outside you would never imagine this car had so many toys, or could do so many things. The navigation system has so many features including reverse phone number look- up, displays common places such as post office, gas stations, banks, has a calculator, calandar, etc. and is so easy to understand. At first I bought Navi for "looks" but I use it all the time. I also purchased XM radio which I use daily and when driving out of town. No need to buy any more CDs. This vehicle looks sharp on the inside and out. Not to mention all the power underneath the hood.

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  91 Integra RS Hatchback - 1991 Acura Integra
  By mdzorger - March 28 - 2:00 am

  Great car! It handles like a sports car and hauls like a wagon. Although a 1991 model which has been used hard, its been perfectly reliable since new, and continues to deliver excellent performance with over 150,000 miles on it.

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  Im in Love! - 2007 Acura RDX
  By J in AZ - March 27 - 6:13 am

  Ive had this vehicle for almost two months now and cant find anything yet that I do not like about it (2500 miles so far). Yes, it gets between 18-20 MPG, but considering the 15 MPG I was getting with my minivan, Im certainly not complaining. I dont know how others are driving that get less than 15 MPG, but Ive been pretty much right on the rating for the vehicle. Love it!

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  Never a problem for 96000 mi - 1992 Acura Vigor
  By markd1212 - March 27 - 2:00 am

  Had the car since day one. Used in mostly town driving so my car is not one of those 90% highway miles cars. I follow what Acura recommends for maintainance, faithfully. Oil is changes 2 or 3 times a year. Every 2 years I change all fluids, air & gas filter etc. I have never had any mechanical problems at all but this is normal for this model car. The Vigor has a following and even has a Yahoo club. The car rides great and is solid at 100 mph. At 55-75 mph it feels like its going 30. People tend to keep these cars so if one becomes available, give it a look. Only negative, small amount of leg room back seat,but huge trunk.

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  excellent - 2003 Acura RSX
  By fstrsx - March 25 - 2:00 am

  great all around car

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  best value - 2003 Acura MDX
  By njengineer - March 25 - 2:00 am

  After test dirven Mecedes M320, BMWX5 Luxes GX470 and Acura MDX, I feel this one is the best for the $$$. The MPG is also much better than his competitor.