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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  Runs Like a Champ - 2006 Acura TSX
  By John Stone - June 5 - 1:56 am

  I have had this car for a while now and I love it. I have had no problems with it. It is luxurious, gets great gas mileage, and is quick.

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  A Pleasure to Own - 1997 Acura Integra
  By Tim35 - June 4 - 2:00 am

  The cars reliability is incredible.. just keep changing the oil every 3000 miles and the car just keeps going. This is my second Integra, had my 90 for 7 years and only thing that went wrong was the timing belt at 70K.

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  First Car - 1995 Acura Integra
  By J-Boogz - June 4 - 2:00 am

  My Acura Integra is my first car and I have had it for 3 months. So far, I have had no mechanical problems with it. It is an 8 year old car, so there will be the normal wear and tear on the car, but other than that it is perfect. According to the history of the car, it has never had any major problems. Its the perfect car to own.

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  AcuraMDX - 2002 Acura MDX
  By nrstycz - June 3 - 2:00 am

  I live 100 miles from my nearest Acura dealer. As I had hoped, I have never had a need for service on my MDX except for oil, tire rotations, and wiper blades. My only significant complaint is the wind noise from interstate crosswinds are magnified by water channels on both sides of the windshield.

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  My Review of TL - 2002 Acura TL
  By skip65 - June 3 - 2:00 am

  Bought as a luxury family car -- turned out to be fun to drive. Love the interior layout and styling is a cut above the hum-drum of most.

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  Wanna go for a drive? - 2003 Acura CL
  By Aegean_Blue6 - June 2 - 2:00 am

  Ive had this car for ~6 months now, and its been a blast to drive! Theres enough low-end torque to get you around for normal driving, but punch the throttle and youll be pressed into your seat! Theres a bit more body roll than there should be, but a $300 set of Comptech sway bars fixes that problem without significanly hurting ride quality. The press hates the styling, but I like it, and Ive gotten many great compliments about its appearance. Its classy, and can handle both a long road trip in comfort and a session on twisty mountain roads with confidence, while holding 4 people comfortably and all their gear in a good-size trunk!

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  1996 gsr - 1996 Acura Integra
  By jlow125 - June 1 - 2:00 am

  great car fast and very reliable

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  comfortable commuter - 1999 Acura CL
  By STEF - June 1 - 2:00 am

  Bought my 3.0CL new and have loved the peformance, comfort, sound system and have had one problem with the drivers side window but acura fixed it FREE AFTER THE WARRANTY EXPIRED.

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  Great car - 2003 Acura CL
  By CL type S - June 1 - 2:00 am

  Just picked up cl-s 6 speed last week. No defects, fast and comfortable. Recommend it so far.

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  Acura RL w/ NAV - 2004 Acura RL
  By supt319 - May 31 - 2:00 am

  I find this a great car to drive. Its comfortable and afford many luxury features found on the higher priced automobiles.