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:

• 

  Best Value - 2003 Acura CL
  By George C - September 3 - 2:00 am

  My 3rd Cl coupe, does get better each time

• 

  Great little coupe - 2003 Acura RSX
  By Evil Nat - September 3 - 2:00 am

  Great Engine and transmission.This car likes to be droven hard and speed. It can stop --- great brakes. Very comfortable interior for two people with a good sound system and climate controls

• 

  Enjoying My Purchase - 2006 Acura TL
  By Jason Murray - September 2 - 10:36 pm

  Three things seem to stick out from others reviews at least the poor ones: interior rattling, poor fuel economy and torque steer. I live in El Paso with some rough roads and have no interior rattling at all. As far as the torque steer it is very evident with this vehicle and Acura should look towards a rear wheel drive (standard) and an optional AWD version in the coming years. Fuel economy is more of the driver as the model I have meets and exceeds the posted mileage. Something I have found is the ride height could be shortened a bit (possibly an inch) to improve performance (handling). I enjoy this vehicle very much and it is my daily driver now.

• 

  Best Value In its Class - 2002 Acura RSX
  By SailorMan - September 2 - 9:10 am

  After looking at, driving and researching Toyotas, Mazdas, Subarus and the Acura, the Acura won out. As a former owner of Honda/Acura products this car exemplifies the fun factor mixed with relatively frugal gas mileage and great dependability. The looks though controversial grow on you. Besides, this car has the best interior design and ergonomics in its class which is where as the driver Ill be spending all of my time.

• 

  The last car I will ever buy - 1995 Acura Legend
  By msmchele - September 2 - 2:00 am

  I just barely squeaked in my 3rd Legend at the end of the 1995 model year. Although I dont drive a lot, every one of the 39000 miles I have put on this car have been enjoyable. Even after 8 yrs, I still get comments on it where ever I go. The service managers at the Acura dealers want to buy it from me on the spot and they tell me NOT to ever trade it in on anything else,even a new Acura because the Legend is a legend in its own time and will never be duplicated. I love this car! No problems of any kind, I will never give it up!

• 

  Quite An Improvement - 2003 Acura RSX
  By henrypeck - September 2 - 2:00 am

  Acura has hit another home run. The RSX is built like a watch. Everything works as designed. The ride is a little stiff but thats the trade off for good handling.

• 

  Another great Acura package - 2005 Acura TL
  By Stooxie - September 1 - 7:00 pm

  Acura does it again with the perfect combination of features and price. I had a TSX before this. I loved the car but it needed a little more stop and a little more go. The TL serves that up nicely. FYI, if you are choosing between a TSX and a TL there are subtle performance advantages to both. The TSX is a little smaller and a little tighter and is still 100% Japanese. For me, the TL is what I really wanted.

• 

  almost perfect - 2004 Acura TL
  By roger brown - September 1 - 10:00 am

  this car is almost perfect . AWD and getting the max torque at 3000 instead of 5000 would make it perfect.

• 

  love this car...!! - 2004 Acura TL
  By dwldk - September 1 - 10:00 am

  I traded in a 99 BMW 528I for the TL and have to say I am confident I made the right decision. I previously owned 2 BMWs and thought I would be a bimmer lover for ever. After researching, comparing to the BMW 530I, and test driving, the TL for me was the far better choice. I find myself acting like some little kid with their favorite toy. I make excuses to go somewhere just to drive it!!

• 

  Excellent Value - 1999 Acura RL
  By MonsterSmash - September 1 - 2:00 am

  I have driven my 99RL for nearly 2 years. The primary reason I bought the car was for ride comfort as my commute is 85 miles a day. I bought the car with 67K miles on it and have 110K+ on it with only two minor problems during that time. I had one of the rear windows stop operating properly and found a plastic broken. Second problem was one of the O2 sensors had failed. The V6 has more than enough power to merge or pass and it does so quietly. Front and rear seats are extremely comfortable as is the total ride regardless of road surface. The AC cools the interior quickly and the heater waiting until the engine warms up is a nice touch.