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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  CL 6 speed after 6 months of driving - 2003 Acura CL
  By Jimmy Lee - February 28 - 2:00 am

  Overall, the 6 speed CL is an interesting car. The 6 speed adds a lot of fun to the car especially, the amount of power available during 3 and 4th gear. The feul economy is very good. It average gives me 310 miles/tank. The down side of the car is that the body is too high and the suspension is too soft. Comptech suspension kit is the rescue to the problem.

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  Excellent Car Value - 2003 Acura TL
  By billG - February 28 - 2:00 am

  First Acura Excellent Value Great Car wife now loves it

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  Winner with Style - 2003 Acura TL
  By Cam C - February 28 - 2:00 am

  Good gas mileage. Great performance. Good sound to engine at high revs. Others have criticized the interior - I prefer it to anything else in its class. No high-tech metal faces. Exterior is pleasing with nice chrome. Dont like the wheels. Now with 7000 miles on it I am still very pleased.

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  TL Type-S - 2003 Acura TL
  By duval1 - February 28 - 2:00 am

  Superb handling as good as rearwheel drive in my opinion. Firm suspension but thats why I got Type-S. It is Q U I C K !!! Styling works to your advantage in other words doesnt draw unneeded attention from law enforcement. Plenty of room for 4 full-size adults. Quality is first- rate. Has everything as standard which makes it a great value.

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  I love my RSX! - 2002 Acura RSX
  By fcory8 - February 27 - 2:00 am

  For me, this car is perfect. It gets great gas mileage, has a comfortable interior, and it flies!

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  Fun to Drive - 2002 Acura RSX
  By Jorma - February 26 - 11:26 am

  Fun to Drive Engine could use bit more torque Nice Bose Sound system

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  Bought 2 in one year - 2016 Acura ILX
  By Melissa - February 26 - 5:15 am

  Ok....so after driving my Mini Cooper hardtop and commuting 70 miles a day 6 days a week I decided it was time to trade in the stick shift and grow up. After looking at all the entry level luxury vehicles, I decided on the Acura ILX. My situation is, I wanted economical luxury. I wanted a car I could drive until the wheels fell off. I wanted a car that I didnt have to make difficult appointments for to get serviced or maintained. I didnt want to worry about what service needed to be done when the service due light came on....a burden I had driving the mini. For me, this car works great! I bought the premium package in black right around when they launched the 2016s... Drove it for a year and realized I had made a huge mistake. Black is a horrible color to keep clean when you commute and dont park in a garage! So when I took my car in today for its second ever service, I was somehow made an offer I couldnt refuse on a brand new white premium with ASPEC. There is a major difference between the two. I love the ASPEC seats and odometer and foot pedals. The front looks less like a beak! Im so glad I upgraded! Maintence is painless and affordable! No stress car for younger commuter! Im happy! ***update 1 year later. This car is a great commuter and is so easy for me to get serviced. No hassle ! Im so glad I got a white car because I think I only washed it 4 times in a year! Im driving the heck out of it and its great! Only complaint is the scraping if you exit a driveway or take a dip too fast.. you must be very very slow since the front end sits kind of low. Other than that, no complaints so far!

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  Love to Drive It. Hate to Sell It. - 1993 Acura Legend
  By Babo - February 26 - 2:00 am

  This car has been the best car I have ever owned. Id continue to drive it, but because of a new baby, I must get a 4 door car. I plan on staying with Acura because of my experience with this one. Sometimes I try to convince myself that placing and removing a baby from the back seat isnt that bad, just so I could continue to drive it! A+

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  an MB without star - 2002 Acura CL
  By yuya - February 26 - 2:00 am

  Excelent car for diary use, very strong quiet and without idiot bells, fast and very appreciated for the ticket hunters. Classic appearence but timeless. ...And very affordable price.

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  Great car, especially for the money - 2005 Acura TL
  By Wayne - February 25 - 2:46 pm

  The previous two cars I owned were an Audi A4 Quattro, and a Volvo S80 T6, and also currently own a Mercedes ML 320. My 05 TL is comparable to the Audi A4 in performance, and much more comfortable. The TL is not as comfortable as the Volvo S80, but much better looking and better performance. I like the fact that the TL comes standard fully loaded with just about everything you could want, there are basically no options except for navigation system, and the price is exceptionally good for an entry level luxary car. Both exterior and interior design are excellent, interior is very functional, and rear seating is surprisingly ample. I think its the best car for the money available today.