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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  Nice Car - 2005 Acura TSX
  By TJ - September 4 - 2:23 pm

  Although I fell in love w/all the luxury that came standard in the car, I was not impressed with the body style. I added a spoiler and tint and was very impressed. The only problem is the handling. The steering is very hard to turn. I think it is very impressive for a 4-cyl lux car.

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  Expensive Parts - 1998 Acura SLX
  By NH SLX - September 4 - 10:53 am

  Until now, my SLX has held up very well and I planned to keep it for another five years. However, the crossover pipe from the head just went bad (small hole formed) and the cost of parts is too high, $3500 worse case if both pipes need to be replaced. Reason - limited supply/demand not many SLXs were made so parts are expensive. Ive never seen this pipe go bad on other cars I recommend against buying a used SLX spend your money on an MDX - I wish I had. I loved my SLX but it was a mistake made by Acura for which SLX owners will suffer.

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  Great power on demand - 2006 Acura TL
  By matthew everett - September 3 - 5:50 pm

  I really love my Acura, it has power to spare,and turns well. I am a little disappointed in the styling of the rear of the car. I think they need to address this isssue, and make a TL that looks a bit more intimidating

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  Great car when its not in the shop - 2006 Acura RSX
  By physast - September 3 - 2:49 pm

  I have had this car for less than a week and have put no more than 400 miles on the car and it has already had the transmission replaced and is in the shop again to fix the same problem. I realize this is an extreme case but it doesnt make things easier on me. I havent had time to drive the car for fun except back and forth to the dealer to be fixed. Acura is working with me but in a extreme case like this they could replace my car or authorize the dealer to buy it back since it is obviously a lemon. My opinion. Wait to buy the new 2006 RSX till Acura can prove to stand by the cars and recognize a lemon and replace it. Acura cant catch every lemon but I shouldnt be punished for it!

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  Great Decision - 2005 Acura MDX
  By left1 - September 3 - 12:01 pm

  Before deciding on the MDX we checked out a lot of SUVs. What sold us was the Honda/Acura quality and dependablity as well as the feel of this SUV. We have had 9 Honda/Acura products and this one is great! Handles better than a lot of cars and rides better than most as well. We took it on a 12 hour trip and were very pleased. We have not had any problems with the MDX. The longer we have this SUV the more we like it!

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  Luvin My Car - 2005 Acura RL
  By AcuraOwner - September 3 - 11:03 am

  This is one of the smoothest, most responsive vehicles I have ever driven.

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  Great car, great price - 2005 Acura RSX
  By Tom - September 3 - 8:59 am

  Definitely worth the money. Had it for about 2 months now and still cant wait to get in and drive. Im in love with the interior design and the handling. My car only has 850 or so miles on it so I havent taken it over 4000 revs yet. Havent seen what this baby can really do. Lovin it so far.

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  Great Car!! - 2002 Acura RSX
  By Dominic Alexander - September 3 - 4:52 am

  Love the car!!My first Honda product!! Good gas mileage w/ gas prices being so high. Love the leather interior, climate control, the sports shift is a lot of fun

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  Unreliable - 2005 Acura RL
  By Howard Kelley - September 2 - 7:16 pm

  This car has a computer glitch that discharges the battery when the car isnt driven for a few days. The car has been towed to the dealership twice and is currently sitting at the dealership waiting for a "fix" from Acura. This problem isnt peculiar to my car but is a significant problem that other Acura RL owners have encountered. I am currently going thru arbitration with the State of Ct to get a refund since Acura doesnt know when the fix will be available. The keyless feature to start the car can lead to problems if you let a valet park the car. Sometimes the ignition is left in the acces position. The GPS works better in the TL model. The transmission has a very long lag time.

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  Happy with MDX , But Not Mileage - 2005 Acura MDX
  By barry - September 2 - 11:06 am

  Overall I am quite happy with my MDX. More fun to drive than my other car, Audi A8. Incredibly roomy inside, especially the cargo area for an SUV that is not that big on the outide. Stereo sounds great. Have not had any big problem with the brakes, except a little slow/sloppy when fully loaded with 5 people and a load of cargo. Big disappointment is gas mileage. One of the reasons I bought the MDX is because I wanted better gas mileage than my previous guzzling LX470 - but mileage is way below advertised, and not much better than the much bigger and heavier V8 powered LX470. Nav system also disappointing. Interior quality also a bit chintzy for an expensive car.