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:

• 

  Stupendous - 1991 Acura Legend
  By RBeighle - March 9 - 2:00 am

  Bought this car new and enjoy it as much today as the day I drove it off the lot. Power, comfort, styling, and economy. Driving it puts a positive spin on your day. Gas mileage consistently runs in the high 20s on regular unleaded, which is only a small sacrific in performance. I have been shopping for a new car only because of its high mileage, but so far nothing compares.

• 

  Great car - 2001 Acura CL
  By Jgrupp - March 9 - 2:00 am

  I love this car. It is fun to drive, is responsive, has a great passing gear, wish it had been available in six speed when I got the car... Great buy.

• 

  Better buy than a BMW - 2003 Acura TL
  By My first Acura - March 8 - 2:00 am

  This Acura TL has the horsepower and acceleration of the BMW 530. I am always the first away from the traffic lights. The best part is that it costs $20,000 less than the BMW 530 and the normal service is so much less than what BMW charges. No more BMWs for me!

• 

  GREAT CAR GREAT VALUE - 2004 Acura TL
  By CURTIS JONES - March 8 - 2:00 am

  THE 2004 TL IS A GREAT CAR, YOU GET MORE THAN YOUR MONEYS WORTH....EVERY OTHER CAR ON THE MARKET YOU HAVE TO PAY EXTRA FOR THINGS THAT SHOULD BE STANDARD...

• 

  Simply amazing vehicle - 1991 Acura Legend
  By professorbryce - March 7 - 2:00 am

  This car is great! The engine is very powerful and it is very luxurious. Hard to find any car this good without a 3 pointed star on the hood! 3 of my motor mounts went bad and it cost $700 to replace them, but the car is now running like new with 166000 miles. Also beware of cooling issues. The engine cooling system can act very weird sometimes. Parts are expensive but this car is worth every penny you put into it. Even with the problems ive had, its never left my stranded.

• 

  Acura 3.5 Review - 2004 Acura RL
  By MsJones - March 6 - 2:00 am

  I am very pleased with the performance and style of this vehicle. Edmunds keeps stating that it is outdated as far as style, but not everyone wants that cut off back European look. I think Honda did an excellent job with this automobile and as always they will always continue to build a quality vehicle.

• 

  excellent - 2002 Acura RSX
  By Keving - March 4 - 8:26 pm

  this car is sweet

• 

  MDX Has It All - 2003 Acura MDX
  By spain - March 4 - 2:00 am

  Buy this vehicle! It has been a pleasure to own. And the dealership is just great!

• 

  2003 NSX - 2004 Acura NSX
  By J. Brian - March 3 - 2:00 am

  This car is the best price for a car that is an exotic that you can drive every day and not have to worry about the high cost of maintenance.

• 

  n/a - 1994 Acura Integra
  By noisycrik - March 2 - 2:00 am

  it is a great car