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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  Do not BUY, all used are lemons - 2002 Acura CL
  By CL/TL Lemon - August 27 - 2:00 am

  This vehicle has had three transmissions, warped brakes, malfunction navigation, interior rattles, and cheap leather.Quality is a serious problem, and Acura is not helpful.It still has problems and Acura has stopped talking to me.Atty Swann and 4000.00 later I parked the car.Dealership even dropped it off the lift last time.Car has been torn apart so many times the car feels stretched.They know they have a problem, NTHSA did an investigation and found the transmissions faulty, oh and Acura discontinued the line, CL and TL.Honda isnt what it used to be.My 2000 Ram Air gave me no problems, American cars have indeed come a long way.

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  Car needs warranty repairs monthly - 2015 Acura TLX
  By Frustrated_Owner - June 16 - 8:35 pm

  I purchased a 2015 Acura TLX and the car cut off while driving on the Interstate twice. After many trips trying to get the Acura dealership where I purchase the car to help me and receiving replies they could not find any issues after a year I filed for the lemon law. After filing the lemon law Acura replace my transmission with a new transmission and said the issue was now fixed. This morning 11/21/2016 I had a transmission light come on and it stranded me long enough to call for road side assistance. The light eventually went off and the car allowed me to put it in gear so I could get to work. Hopes this helps!

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  2017 Acura RDX lemon - 2017 Acura RDX
  By Zohan - June 7 - 3:47 pm

  I have a 2017 Acura RDX and ever since 500-800 miles alignment issues, dash board noise , steering wheel noise , front brakes make noise. This is leased car and I dont have confidence that this is a great car with ongoing issues that dealer cant fix. Disappointed

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  God Awful Noises! - 2016 Acura MDX
  By Rita Kitchens - June 4 - 2:50 am

  You should not buy this car! It makes terrible noises that come from the rear end, possibly the suspension. My car has been the the service department in Omaha, NE 3 times and the first two times they quickly replaced parts and said they fixed the noise. The 3rd time, I rode with a service tech and service manager and they heard the noises but said they did not know how to fix it. When I returned to pick up my car the service invoice coveniently mentioned that they "could not duplicate the noise". I got no support from the dealership at all and called Acura Corporate hoping for some better service but no such luck. They will tell you this very loud noise is a characteristic of the vehicle and likely wont do anything to fix it! Do not buy an Acura MDX!

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  Traded in after 7 months for REAL luxury SUV - 2016 Acura RDX
  By Marcus - April 11 - 4:55 am

  What a waste of time and money for a "Honda". I purposely purchased a RDX w/ tech package for the navi and the so called premium audio system. I ended up using google maps on my phone for directions. The RDX navi couldnt find half the places I wanted directions to and worse neither the navi nor a live Acuralink representative could give me correct directions to the nearest ER. I ended up at dead end streets. I brought the car in to be checked and Acura couldnt find any problems. What made me trade it in after only putting 2,000 miles on the SUV was the day I almost collided head on with oncoming traffic due to the fact that I was using Google maps to find a local business. After that, all I wanted to do was get rid of the near cause of a death or two. Will NEVER buy a Acura again!!

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  Horrible car - 1990 Acura Integra
  By nycdarkness - March 10 - 2:00 am

  Where do I start, probably the worst car ever made from Honda/Acura. The inside feels cheap with all that plastic, the engine is loud, no cupholders, the heating system doesnt work, the defoggers dont work fast enough, and the worst is that the door locks freeze when it gets too cold. With me residing in upstate NY, I would not recommend this car to anyone that lives in a cold place. On really cold days, the car doesnt start. This car is hard to repair because the placement of the parts under the hood suck. The acceleration of this vehicle can be compared to that of a snail, I can probably run faster than this car. Makes a really good paper weight

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  Honda should stick to motorcycles - 2002 Acura MDX
  By sadmatt - January 29 - 10:00 am

  What a joke. Service, and all dealers just downright rude. So you wait four months to find out the thing starts sometimes and not others. I can see why Toyota is the largest and richest automobile producer in Japan. This overpriced mini Van (what was I on when I bought this?) is just that. Buy a RX300 and be done with it. If you need to haul anymore than that wait for the new bigger Lexus. The service and car is much better.

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  BAD Vibrations at highway speeds... - 2016 Acura TLX
  By GTorres - December 26 - 8:47 pm

  This car should not be sold as is! Acura does not know what the cause of the problem is, and after many trip back to the dealer, and talking to Acura Client Relations, I am not sure that they are even interested in addressing it. They made it be known to me that they do not consider the issue a defect, but more of an anomaly that unfortunately is very uncomfortable while driving the car over 60 MPH. If you do not have to go over 50 MPH, then this is the car for you...

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  Piece of you know what! - 2017 Acura ILX
  By Catrina - December 19 - 6:52 pm

  I have owned two previous Acuras and loved them. This vehicle is poorly made. I had 18 things wrong with it, and the dealership and Acura customer service were unwilling to assist me. What a way to treat a loyal customer! Do not waste your time or money!!! Traded it in for a Lexus!!!

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  New Transmission at 6,000 Miles!!!!!! - 2016 Acura MDX
  By Loren - May 27 - 4:07 am

  I began leasing this 2016 in December of 2015. After 5 months and about 6,000 miles I noticed a "clunk" sound only on the upshift between 20 and 30 MPH. Took it to the dealer and had a test drive with service manager. He hears the sound and says "I have never heard that sound before!" I actually let him drive the car so he could hear and feel what sound it was making. Sure enough they want to replace the whole transmission. I was told something about a seal allowing some fluid into the transmission. This is not what I would have anticipated for a car that costs this much! Very disappointed, this is going to be a very long lease period that cannot wait for it to end.