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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  Problems with tech pack/nav - 2009 Acura TSX
  By ben - May 10 - 12:12 am

  Bought the car 2009 tsx /tech pack and since the first week noticed problems with the rearview camera - would not turn on despite the car in reverse. Also having problems with the nav syst. Would not activate despite the car being driven. The bluetooth system is not very clear as BMW and has lots of static. The louder the road noise the louder the static gets when you increase the volume to listen while using the bluetooth. Also the nav syst. will not let you pair the phone and this is an ongoing problems. It took Acura regal dealer 5 visits and a call to Acura headquarters to confirm the above issues. They have stated they will replace the system and all should be back to normal. No guarantee.

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  Best CUV out there for the Money - 2007 Acura RDX
  By ever_green - May 8 - 9:24 pm

  This car is great. Oops I mean SUV. Well same thing real for this "CUV". Sometimes you forget its an SUV with its excellent acceleration and sport suspension. You feel the road unlike any other SUV out there. It feels more like my friends BMW 3s. Apart from performance Acura offers excellent interior design with everything you need, really. Comfortable heated leather seats, Dual zone AC & so on...The super handling AWD also helps on snow and offroad. even though this car is not designed for offroading I still do it and it feels just as good as my highlander on dirt and light muddy roads. Only thing Im unhappy about is the MPG in hwy. I get 21MPG.

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  Transmission problems - 2003 Acura MDX
  By Ron - May 5 - 8:58 pm

  I gave a poor reliability rating due to the fact that my transmission went out with only 73,000 mile on it. I cant believe that a SUV of this caliber would have this issue. Warranty ran out at 60,000 miles. Repair cost is $3,167.00. This is a regular problem with 2001 ,2002 and 2003 transmissions.

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  Long term review - 2009 Acura RDX
  By tom - May 5 - 12:34 pm

  Have owned the SUV for one year and 18k miles now. Fun to drive, good visibility, excellent handling and did real well in the New England winter. I am not a very aggressive driver and dont use the paddle shifters much. I do a mix of highway and city driving. I am averaging 21 mpg. The rear suspension is very firm which could be uncomfortable for rear adult passengers on longer trips. I owned another Acura five years ago. I was disappointed with the fit and finish of my SUV. Total of three trim pieces on the dashboard and passengers door panels were replaced under warranty because they became loose. Had to also take it back for rattling sound behind the glove box .

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  MPG could be improved - 2005 Acura TL
  By adhikun - May 4 - 12:40 pm

  I got the car used, at 27,500 mi. Not bad for a 2005 car. Handling is very sporty, suspension is more sporty than luxurious. MPG is pretty bad - mix driving only gets me between high teens and 21mpg.

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  ehhhh - 2003 Acura RSX
  By GokoolRSX - May 4 - 10:00 am

  After owning the car for a year, I am not as happy as when I first owned the car. First thing, the ride is harsh, noisy, its not a great car to drive on long trips. The leather is cracking especially on the driver seats even after taking care of the leather. The door panels have a cheap feel to it, reminds me of other makes. No arm rest, not impressive sound system, lack of mid-range power, major problem with blind spots, stiff steering, and notchy shift gates, uncomfortable seats, cheap feel leather, dashboard rattling, and just about the worst tires you can put on a high performance car

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  Grows on me like a good wine - 2009 Acura TL
  By Bob A - May 3 - 7:41 pm

  I purchased a pearl white 2009 TL with the Tech package. I owned 3 Audi A4s previously and loved them but felt the 2009 price for the A4 and BMW 335 was becoming an issue. This car is very well built and has very good road manners. It grows on me every day and I have no regrets about my decision to buy a TL. I was taken back by the size of the car at first, but now it is second nature and I appreciate the room. It may not be completely as crisp to drive as a BMW or Audi, but in many ways it feels better and is very solid. It is a pleasure to drive and to own! I upgraded to the stock SHAWD 18" wheels and highly suggest you do the same..really enhances road handling and appearance.

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  150K and still lovin it - 1991 Acura Legend
  By Craig - May 2 - 4:55 pm

  I bought this car brand new in 1991 and cant imagine replacing it. It was hard to find because I wanted a stick, but the performance difference is well worth it. I still love it after all these years. This model year was magic. Classic looks, stellar quality, sedan convenience with sports car handling (almost). Ive got 150K on it and my mechanic tells me I can expect to double that before Im through. They just dont make em like this anymore. The only thing that could make me sell it is if I start having trouble finding parts, which happened to me recently with a piece of rubber trim that just decomposed with age in the L.A. smog.

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  Great traveler - 2002 Acura TL
  By wenoh appy - May 2 - 1:08 pm

  We bought ours new, we own 4 other cars but drive the Acura when we travel, sometimes because of the gps system other times for the comfort and dependability it has given us, however we will not buy another acura because the dealer service was terrible, the car was in several times for a noise that they kept insisting it was brakes, it was transmission. When we picked up our car from the transmission exchange, the radio (BOSE system) showed an error code, they kept the car and reset the code then the CD player showed an error code and they wanted us to buy a new system, never having any prior stereo issues we took it to Bose - Acura didnt remove the cds prior setting code this JAMS the cd deck!!

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  Overall, a good car - 2009 Acura TL
  By carreviewman - May 2 - 12:09 pm

  I bought a new 2009 Acura TL w/Tech Package. We were either going buy the TL or a Mercedes Benz E350. We chose the TL because the Technology was way more advanced. However, it is not the perfect car. But out of all the cars I have owned, this the best so far.