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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  Underrated - 2000 Acura RL
  By gcmorse - December 27 - 2:00 am

  The RL has been exceptionally reliable and the support from the dealership has been excellent.

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  ccool - 2003 Acura MDX
  By okidoki4 - December 27 - 2:00 am

  Very well built, solid vehicle, lots of cargo room

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  What to expect from this car. - 1998 Acura Integra
  By ivanhoe - December 25 - 2:00 am

  Owned for 6 years, 135k miles. Never broke down, consistently gets 27 mpg city/32 hwy, manuevers well, and is a fun workhorse. The factory tires really cant handle the car. It is not great in the snow due to its weight, but with the right tires(I suggest B Potenza re730) wet weather and very mild snow conditions are no problem. The antenna motor has broke 2x for this car. No A/C, electrical issues, and the brakes have solid and steady stopping. The factory radio is bad. It is a pooru head unit and not as good as similar cars. The speaker system is worse. Overall, it is a well worth the value. But remember it is still a $20k car.

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  Great car - 2001 Acura Integra
  By Michael676 - December 24 - 2:00 am

  It a great driving car and very well made.

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  2005 Acura TSX - 2005 Acura TSX
  By Beach Lady - December 23 - 5:00 pm

  I had driven the TSX when my 97 Acura was in for service and I fell in love with it. It is appropriate for family, children and the trunk is extra large. You can fold the back seat down and transport large items. It is very sporty for a sedan.

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  A pretty good balance - 2009 Acura TSX
  By mshw777 - December 23 - 3:10 am

  I purchased the 09 TSX as a 2nd vehicle (keeping my Toyota truck because you always need a good truck around the house). The TSX is feature rich in interior technology, is well built, looks pretty good, and performs well enough, plus Im getting about 26 mpg combined. Its not the best entry level sport sedan out there, nor the most luxurious. However, this 09 TSX gives you a good little mix of everything at a decent price: cool technology, basic sportiness, touch of luxury, great build quality, nice redesigned looks, great gas mileage. When all combined together, its a pretty good balance. Happy with the purchase so far, especially when others around the same class cost more $$.

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  Acura 3.5 RL Assessment - 2004 Acura RL
  By torontodr - December 23 - 2:00 am

  Lexus 430-like without the expense. High residual makes this car affordable.

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  RDX - 2017 Acura RDX
  By Shabbir Moochalla - December 22 - 6:26 pm

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  Nicely finished great drive with confusing Tech IF - 2017 Acura RDX
  By Norm in Amish Country - December 20 - 5:57 pm

  Love the fit and finish throughout the exterior and interior of the RDX. I like that I can plug in my iPod and control it completely from the audio interface. The interface, however, is far from intuitive and Ive often had to pull over in order to work through several attempts to complete an action (One example: search for and play a single song then revert back to shuffle and play the entire collection). The front doors close with a nice solid "thunk". The rear doors seem very light and uninsulated. The gas tank could be larger -- its 16 gallons which, with an average 23 mpg around town, gets me through about 380-400 miles before needing a refill. Seems to come up way more quickly than my former car (a Buick Lacrosse that had a much larger tank and got slightly fewer mpgs). I appreciate the ease of entry, the controls and comfort of the drivers seat, and the get-up-and-go when you hit the gas. Love the car!

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  Legend...The best in its class - 1993 Acura Legend
  By Stir Boy - December 19 - 2:00 am

  I love my rare 5 speed w/o leather Legend. In my opinion it is the best car in its class. My mom and dad just bought a 2003 Toyota Camry and they want to sell it and buy a Legend like mine. I get 24-27 mpg with the 5 speed. Although I have had this car just over a month, I have put over 2.7k miles on it. I started out with 125k. I know that it is a reliable car. The Bose premium sound is essential in this car. It does have its little quirks, i.e. fan motor squeels when it runs a long time. But no major problems that I can see in the near future except a new clutch. It is extremely responsive and fun to drive. I love it too much to sell it.