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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  Too small and weak - 2010 Acura TSX
  By ultrarunner100 - August 20 - 11:34 pm

  Power doesnt come in until 4500rpm, usually shifts before that point. Manual mode ups the fun factor a bit. Steering is very light but precise. Handling is good overall. Definitely get the v6. Smaller car inside, especially if youre tall or plan to carry a few passengers. Takes premium gas.

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  Great Car - 2013 Acura RDX
  By mongomrp - August 19 - 6:51 pm

  I bought a 2013 Acura RDX about two months ago. This is a great vehicle. I have not seen much advertising or talk about the RDX so I thought Id speak up for it. My two most recent vehicles were a 2006 Nissan Murano (still in the family) and a 2011 Honda CRV (traded it in for the RDX). I like the RDX far better than either of those. It has a smooth quiet ride, good power and gets 22.5 mpg in mixed city street and city freeway driving. It looks great, it drives well and Id recommend it to anyone who asked.

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  GPS Prolems - 2012 Acura TL
  By rb1028 - August 18 - 3:09 pm

  I like this car but the GPS drives me nuts. The GPS keeps voicing Im on an unverified road. These streets have been here for over 30 years! This is so annoying especially if Im on my cell phone or enjoying music. The dealership, Ft. Wayne Acura, continues to tell me that Acura is aware of the problem and will fix it but they dont. For a car Ive paid over $40K to own I think it should have a GPS which functions properly. Additionally, it wants to route me in all sorts of crazy directions. Acura says its because I live in a city of 10,000 but all my other cars including my Camry have absolutely no GPS problem.

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  A Great Acura, and I have driven most - 2010 Acura TL
  By critter441 - August 15 - 12:03 am

  I love Honda and Acura. I have owned everything from the CR-X, CR-V, Civic, Accord, TSX, RDX, and MDX. Out of this long list of cars, the TL is right up there with the MDX as the Acura best of the best. In terms of performance, price and reliability nothing beats it. Strongly considered moving into a BMW 335 xDrive or C300 series MB and moving away from Acura after some boring experiences. However, the standard options, performance and cost of ownership cannot be beat by the Honda/Acura line up. If you want sport performance the MT is a must! Honda has the best clutch and throw feel shifter and can hands down blow you back into your drivers seat. The 19" wheels hug the road, smooth, fast!

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  A Keeper - 2001 Acura TL
  By coppet - August 13 - 7:21 pm

  Bought new fall of 2000. New Honda transmission at 23K miles (warranty). New wheel bearing (LR) at 24K miles (warranty). Kept it up by the book with Acura doing major work. Now it time to reap the rewards of buying a very good car and keeping up with upkeep. Its still solid, peppy, handles well (I prefer modest profile tires for quietness). Sound system rivals anything on the road. Nav system is a bit long in the tooth now, but still works just fine. DVD nav system is a bit outdated and takes up a bit of trunk space. Never get over 23-24 on the highway. Now using cheapest regular gas and its still purring along just fine.

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  Not worth the hype.. - 2011 Acura MDX
  By bala_71 - August 12 - 9:07 am

  First of all, I am surprised that why I am alone in finding lots of minute problems with this SUV. Are people insanely happy about owning a poorly designed SUV? These are not 20K Civics. Having said that, I am not going to argue that this should drive like a Ferrari or Aston Martin. But come on! With in the last 11 months, I had to visit the dealer for vibration issues many times. One issue they fixed by adjusting the suspension system. But now I have a vibration in steering wheel at above 70 mph. The dealer convinced me that thats how these cars drive. I think its due to the factory installed tires. But they wont accept it! I now have a vibration coming from the roof-top too!

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  Getting 43 Mpg on daily commute - 2013 Acura ILX
  By mahowald - August 11 - 2:19 pm

  I love this car. Gas mileage, suspension, and stereo are great. Bluetooth integration and Pandora integration work perfectly. Suspension and noise cancellation work amazingly well. Although it looks small, it has plenty of room and has always been big enough. Gas mileage has been from 42 to 45 without really trying.

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  Transmission Issues - 2004 Acura TL
  By darltk - August 11 - 11:13 am

  I have had my car since 2006 and have kept it under maintenance. It has treated me well for this period of time with occasional issues here and there. With 168,000 miles my transmission went and Motor mounts had to be replaced. Transmission was $5200 at the dealer. I opted to have it rebuilt elsewhere for $3300. I have also replaced the Motor Mounts. I guess certain things are to be expected but there were obvious issues with 2002-2003 and 2004s that were built earlier. I still believe these cars are reliable but some of these issues may be things that can be eventual problems with this model year. I also seem to be having some issues with the hands free freezing and dropping off.

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  Not Impressed - 2010 Acura MDX
  By jccai1 - August 9 - 5:03 pm

  Replaced a Volvo XC90 with the MDX in 2010. We were sold mostly on interior space, price (model year end) and perceived reliability. Two years later, I have to say Im not impressed. The car is just a chore to drive. The engine has very little low end torque. The ride is busy and floaty at the same time. The steering is loose and vague on center. A lot of road noise makes it into the cabin. And the transmission has slow and sloppy shifts, even after the software upgrade. After reading the horror stories about failed torque converters, now Im really worried. Since its the new 6-speed, I had thought Honda had fixed their transmission issues. I guess I was wrong!

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  Meh...its okay - 2012 Acura RDX
  By 1plusinfiniti - August 7 - 11:34 am

  I bought this after driving an 2008 Infiniti EX35, and I totally regret the purchase. The good thing is its a bit cheaper on the 36 month lease, but performance is unwieldy and Im not happy with the interior build quality.