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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  My Car - 2000 Acura Integra
  By GS - December 8 - 2:00 am

  I bought my gsr in september 2003. I love it. it so fun to drive. They sould have never stopped making these cars. The leather is so comfortable and the transmission is nice and tight. when the vtec kicks in the sound is awesome and you can feel the extra power that it gives you. Handles great on stock suspension and wheel and tire set up. Over all this car is great in my opinion

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  The goo and the bad - 2003 Acura CL
  By jbak - December 8 - 2:00 am

  I believe that the CL S-Type is the best value in its class. The car is really built very well. There is not another car out there that you get so much for so little. The S-Type comes completely loaded at a price of about $33,000. It blows every BMW away in terms of features, price, and horsepower. There is only the BMW M3 that has more horses and the M3 almost costs double. I traded in a 95 BMW 325is for the Acura and all I can say is the Acurua ROCKS!!

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  Best B-Day Present Ever! - 1998 Acura CL
  By Mike Z - December 7 - 2:00 am

  My parents got me this for my b-day with 54,300 miles on it. Today is my 16th, they gave it to me with a full tank of gas and I already put 330 miles on it with a quarter tank to go..my dads car would be drained by now. This car is excellent, it handles well.

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  Opus1s review - 2003 Acura CL
  By Opus1sk - December 7 - 2:00 am

  Fantstic car and a great price to boot. Super looks and performance that matches. Bose stereo is second to none. Automatic transmission that turns into a manual one with no clutch is awesome. So much fun to drive and if you get sick of shifting you can go back to the normal automatic. Steering wheel feels great along with the leather seats that are heated. Acura should be commended on their effort here.

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  2003 TL Type S - 2003 Acura TL
  By paeimay - December 7 - 2:00 am

  Very reliable. Plenty of power. Handles well - great suspension. Stylish with a nice mix of class and sport.

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  Super Great Integra - 1995 Acura Integra
  By integra85 - December 6 - 2:00 am

  Even with the stock 140hp engine, this car is loads and loads of fun to drive, a few aftermarket installs can get you the amount of power or more than the vtec motor. This is my second car, my first was a maxima, and this is easily my favorite, it handles nimbly, accelerates pretty decently, has a timeless design and even the redline on the stock motor is higher than ones found in other cars in this segment at 6900rpm. Great, great car!

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  Exotic thrill ride - 2004 Acura NSX
  By Pipster - December 6 - 2:00 am

  If you enjoy drving a Indy type race car on the street, which grabs more attention then a naked lady riding a horse. Then Acura has just the car for you, the NSX will cause severe neck injury to fellow motorist and pedestrians, while giving you the ultimate diriving experience for under 100K.

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  Sluggo says - 2003 Acura MDX
  By sluggo - December 6 - 2:00 am

  I traded from my 2002 TL sport to the 2003 MDX touring package. I love the car so far and I am especially enjoying the AWD since this is my first snow storm, two weeks after getting the car talk about timing! I expect the quality and relaibility to be similar to the TL. I did purchase a floor model leftover from the dealer and one disapointment is that the handel to the gas release did already come off, but thats a minor repair. Love the sound of the Bose stero system and especially like the way it handels the potholes of NYC.

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  The Best and Affordable Sport Car - 2002 Acura RSX
  By angusregina - December 5 - 10:00 am

  no comment

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  Lifesaver! - 2002 Acura MDX
  By JackieCar - December 5 - 10:00 am

  We bought this vehicle Saturday, May 25, Monday May 27th, a lady driving a 2002 PT CRuiser rammed into us. We had very small damage on our bumper, the PT Cruiser had to be towed (which gives you an idea of what happened to it). Nobody was hurt, our two small kids were in the 3rd row, and everybody was fine. This may be a pricey vehicle but well worth its price since our most prized possessions (our kids) were safe!