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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  120,000 miles - 2003 Acura TL
  By sandie09 - December 17 - 11:24 pm

  Bought the car in 06 with 20k on it! Flawless until 120,000. At 120k the coil went, 4 weeks later transmission dead. I drove it to the dealer and traded it in on an 09 MDX!

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  Good - with minor complaints - 2011 Acura MDX
  By bgf18 - December 10 - 7:48 pm

  2011 MDX - Tech Package. Decided to buy out our 2011 MDX lease...my wife loves it that much. This car is very comfortable on the road as it is reasonably quiet and seats have excellent support. Visisibility is good for an SUV. Room for luggage is minimal with all three rows being used, very good when only two rows. The SH-AWD works really well, but I would GLADLY give it up for a front-wheel drive version if GAS MILAGE would improve. Fit and finish is good, although I could live without the three square feet of PLASTIC wood on the dash. For a family of three, this is the perfect SUV. Fam of four would be ok, five would be tight. More than five is pointless unless going on short drives.

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  2005 Acura TL - 2005 Acura TL
  By bradyoung - December 10 - 6:58 pm

  I bought this car brand new back in 2005. Mechanically its worked great. Ive only had to do basic maintenance on the car such as batteries, belts, fluids, etc. I did have a power steering hose to begin leaking that I had repaired. 6 months later I get a recall notice from Acura and they reimburse me for the cost of the repairs and install a new power steering hose. This car now has 162,000 miles on it and its doing great. I just wish the newer TLs looked as good because I would buy another. The only down side has been tire wear. This car does like to go through some tires about every 25 to 30K miles. The tire wear is based upon normal driving.

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  Great car! - 2004 Acura RSX
  By anhdao - December 6 - 6:01 pm

  I loved everything about this car. I wish I still owned it.

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  If I ever leave BMW I would buy another Acura - 2006 Acura TSX
  By npalafax - December 6 - 12:31 am

  Bought my 2006 TSX in 2009, was pre-loved. Was a great upgrade from my Mazda6, the car was very reliable basically a Honda in a different skin all the way around. Nice car I would seriously have trusted it to go AT LEAST till 200k. But I took a friend to buy a new car.. a BMW... and ended up trading it in for one also. By far a great safe car. Love the standard bluetooth in a 2006! And all the standard features vs not so standard on bmw :(

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  One of the best - 2000 Acura TL
  By realtordl87 - December 3 - 11:04 pm

  One of the best cars Ive owned. I just purchased it this year 2012 and its a 2000. I traded in a 2009 Pontiac G5 GT with only 37,000 miles in on this car which had 122,000 miles at purcahse and I would do it over again. I absolutely love the way the car drives, the interior, and the outside. It drives smooth as a brand new car. The only thing that I have an issue with is the cup holders. They dont really do anything with a 20 oz water bottle or pop bottle, it more or less just topples front to back when driving. Im a realtor by trade and the car is more than spacious enough. I could have bought a newer car, but I really prefer Model years 1999-2001 for some reason.

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  Great Car - 1999 Acura TL
  By davidbrown1 - November 30 - 10:38 pm

  I am the second generation owner of this vehicle bought new by my parents. I was given ownership of this car at 90K miles, now at 150K, and I still love it. I drove this car very hard, across the country, through the country and into a few things. It has proven very durable, even among the the most adverse conditions. Always faithfully maintained, the car has had no major mechanical issues. The handling is not what it once was, but still above average. Excellent braking, impressive acceleration, and comfortable, quiet, confident at high speed. My only complaint is the Premium fuel requirement which drives the fuel cost up substantially.

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  Best Handling SUV I Have Ever Driven - 2008 Acura MDX
  By rfcn2 - November 30 - 1:45 pm

  We bought this car the first day of 2008. We owned at that time a 2003 MDX that we sold privately to the first person that came to see it. We now have 45,000 miles on the 2008 MDX. We drove most of the better SUVs that were available in 2008. IMHO this was the best one regardless of price. The only other one that drove about as well as the MDX and felt luxurious was the Buick Enclave. My wife mostly wanted a 3 row vehicle so Lexus was not really considered. The other finalist was the smaller Caddy. To me the MDX is a great handling SUV. It is really fun to drive. Not a Vette, but for a big car this is the cats meow. Repairs have been needed but better than average.

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  This is a fantastic automobile! - 2004 Acura TL
  By acurafan15 - November 28 - 12:03 pm

  Words cannot express how fond I am of this car I have been in love with my TL ever since I first drove it. It just surpassed 181,000 miles, and I have enjoyed every single moment. Soon this car will be 10 years old, but it still manages to fetch compliments and stares daily. I have friends, family, and co-workers who dont believe the mileage. It has held up perfectly (paint, interior, mechanically) and even mechanics/Acura service centers find the mileage hard to believe. There is a reason that so many of these cars are still on the road, they are perfect! I love whenever someone complains about the maintenace cost/price tag of their car (BMW, etc.) and I never have anything to say.

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  Serious safety defect - 2012 Acura TL
  By acuradefect - November 27 - 3:00 pm

  Whenever my wife 125# or son 200# sit in passenger seat the Air bag alarm sounds announcing thgere airbag is off Aftger 4 unsuccessful attmepts at fixing the dealer spoke with Acura and was told we were sitting wrong..Same reply at Acura central This suggests that cura is aware of defect cannot fix and is awaiting recall NB I have had the same acura model before without problem and ahve ridden in loaner model without this problem