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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  Love my RDX - 2008 Acura RDX
  By Mark - November 18 - 11:44 pm

  The handling, acceleration and look of this car is unmatched.. Love the interior and leather seats as well. The only negative is the turbo requires hi octane and the gas mileage is a little disappointing. However, with a turbo you cant have your cake and eat it too.. Overall, I believe its the best small SUV on the market..including the BMW..

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  acura1 - 1999 Acura Integra
  By nuer74 - November 18 - 2:00 am

  This is a great, fun car to drive. It accelearates quickly, corners well, and looks great. I have had no problems with the car since I bought it from the dealer.

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  great car...even 5 years later - 1998 Acura Integra
  By osumike - November 18 - 2:00 am

  I still enjoy driving this car everyday. In the snow, rain, or sunshine. Overall it just keeps on providing balanced performance mixed with very good highway cruising fuel economy. I would recomend this to anyone. Love it!

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  Best Touring Car Ever owned~! - 2000 Acura RL
  By ACB - November 17 - 2:00 am

  This is my first Honda and wont be the last. Luxury with a sport feel. My 16 and 19 year olds beg to drive it for dates! The power is just right and you cant beat it on long drives of over 500 miles, as well as in town.

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  Love This Car! - 2003 Acura RSX
  By Desert Silver - November 17 - 2:00 am

  Just bought 2 weeks ago, love my new car. ive been planning my car purchase for 10 months now. Looked at almost every car under 25K, and this was far and away the best car in its class. A comparably equipped Celica is thousands more, I dont like the exterior look of the WRX, and Mitsubishi Eclipses are more expensive and arent exactly known for reliability. I did my homework and got the car for 200 hundred over invoice (Base model). Unlike some others, I love the exterior styling of the car. The interior is awesome, made with high- quality materials. Auto-Climate Control is nice added touch. Highly recommended!

• 

  Excellent Value - 2003 Acura RSX
  By rezrsx - November 17 - 2:00 am

  Ive had this car for 4 months and I can honestly this car is a ball to drive and has amazing build quality. As a previous 99 Mustang owner I can honestly say this is own of the best coupes for the money on the market right now. The only real drawback is it uses premium gas and occasionaly I get a liitle bit of tranny grind going from 2nd to 3rd. If your looking for a 2 door of any kind at least test drive the RSX-Type-S.

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  Id buy it again - 2002 Acura RSX
  By greengopher - November 17 - 2:00 am

  I enjoy the handling, the interior is nice with the leather. I definitely like the auto with speed shift. I have not had one problem with it

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  Getcha One! - 2003 Acura MDX
  By American Tim - November 17 - 2:00 am

  I originally hail from the Detroit area and my family has always bought vehicles made by American manufacturers. After serious reliability problems with our 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee, we decided to look at foreign brands. We were pleasantly surprised to discover the Acura MDX. The build quality is far superior to any midsize SUV offered by GM, Ford, or Chrysler. And, Im hoping Acuras reputation for reliability will help me keep the MDX on the road and out of the dealerships garage. The list of standard features is quite lengthy. If you are looking for a luxury vehicle with a not-so-luxury price, then the MDX is for you! Getcha one!

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  fantastic - 2003 Acura TL
  By Reginurse - November 17 - 2:00 am

  Excellent car for the money. One really good thing about this car is that you only need to have the oil changed once every 7,000 miles! Gone are the "every 3,000" mile lube jobs! The car is fun to drive and very confortable, I should know I drove it from Chicago-Seattle-San Diego!

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  Type-S?Type Yes! - 2002 Acura RSX
  By christian gani - November 16 - 2:06 pm

  This car is a dream to drive. If there was ever a car that made you feel as one with it, this is it! Taking corners and accelration is breathtaking and for the money theres not a better car out there. If I have to beat another Celica from a stoplight I might go insane!