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 Car I Ever Owned - 2005 Acura TL
  By Oatis Birdsong - May 25 - 10:26 am

  Performance and luxury and the chicks dig it too! Forget BMW. Forget Audi. Forget Lexus and Infinity too. Mercedes? Wait until youre an old man. By far the best bang for your buck is the Acura TL. I have no regrets.

• 

  1991 acura integra gs hatchback - 1991 Acura Integra
  By matt foley - May 25 - 2:00 am

  100 percent reliable. bad in snow, but easily fixed with studded tires. fantastic gas mileage, 28 in winter, 34 in summer. only thing missing is the cupholders.

• 

  Buy this car! - 2001 Acura TL
  By JoelCar - May 25 - 2:00 am

  This car has been awesome! I have been very impressed with the quality, ride comfort, and how quick this car is.

• 

  Its a Fun Car - 2003 Acura RSX
  By username/alias - May 25 - 2:00 am

  A comfortable car for the driver and front seat passenger. Back seat is for very small adults or kids. All the room you could ever want when seats are folded down. Very economical with fuel (91 octane or better) unless you are high reving. Very sure footed in rain. It stops on a dime in all conditions thus far no matter what you have read.

• 

  Love our MDX - 2002 Acura MDX
  By americare - May 25 - 2:00 am

  The MDX is nearly everything we expected it to be. It is very roomy, handles well and is comfortable to drive. We did however, expect better than 18.8 mpg considering the MDX requires premium gasoline. We would also like to have had a rear window that goes down. Otherwise it is a terrific vehicle and an excellent value!

• 

  LOOK AT EVERYTHING - 2003 Acura MDX
  By HIGHLAND - May 25 - 2:00 am

  WE TRIED TO TALK OUR WAY OUT OF THIS SUV, BUT THE MORE WE LOOKED THE BETTER IT LOOKED. WE HAVE NOT BEEN DISAPPOINTED WITH OUR CHIOCE. BY FAR THE BEST NEW VEHICLE WE HAVE EVER BOUGHT.

• 

  Great Vehicle - No Regrets - 2003 Acura MDX
  By Guitarmdx - May 25 - 2:00 am

  Very good SUV, I have no regrets about it. The *only* downside is that the gas mileage has not been all that great at low city speeds. If you are at all interested in getting one, you should check out available acura mdx forums. Tons of info!

• 

  Amazing - 2007 Acura TL
  By babygurl21 - May 24 - 11:56 am

  This car is like Heaven to me! It rides across bumps in the road very smooth. The interior is just so comfortable I could just sleep in my car!

• 

  wahahaha - 1991 Acura Integra
  By mike mccue - May 24 - 2:00 am

  this car is crazy with the cool air intake and exhaust kit i put on it. Mine has like one hudred and 85 horsepower.

• 

  Acura RL Premium - 1997 Acura RL
  By magnusdalen - May 24 - 2:00 am

  Bought this new, expecting to put a lot of miles on it. Had a new 1991 Acura Legend LS that I put 300,000 miles on and it still looked and ran like new when I sold it. This has been a great car out on the road. Very comfortable on long drives. Always feels safe. Great power and handling--always feel in control. Paint stays glossy. Low maintenance--easy car to own. Very well designed & luxurious feel.