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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  amazing car - 2002 Acura RSX
  By anacc2nv - April 3 - 5:56 pm

  amazing car i love it more and more everyday..has paower torque and style

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  Sport and Luxury on a budget - 2004 Acura RSX
  By Wes G - April 3 - 2:12 pm

  I thought for a long time that this car was an overpriced Civic, but it appears that Acura put the money in all the right places. It takes an econobox, gives it a beautiful interior, and puts in Hondas best features- the high-rev VTEC 4-cylinder and the 6-speed manual. I have 8K miles on mine with no problems other than a loose piece of weatherstrip on the passenger door.The car would handle better with more aggressive rubber, and I find myself needing to get out to stretch my legs on trips longer than about 90 minutes, because I cant quite fully extend my leg while seated no matter how hard I try. Im 64".

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  Im in love with my car!! - 2005 Acura RSX
  By Nita - April 2 - 10:47 am

  When I drive by people, they dont stare. I guess to them the RSX looks plain or ordinary. Its hard for me to understand!! I think its a beautiful, classy, sports car!! Not only is it beautiful outside, but the inside is so comfortable, great quality, and it is fun to drive! I bought the base model, with leather interior and manual transmission. I think this model has more than enough power for me. I am not going to drive on a racetrack and I have a heavy foot as it is and dont want to get any speeding tickets!!! The automatic climate control works great and as long as your not going to always transport people in the back there is plenty of room in this car.I love it!!

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  almost perfect - 2004 Acura MDX
  By jehmd - April 2 - 2:00 am

  Everything is great with my 04 mdx except one annoying problem. Excessive muffler noise @ low RPM.

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  2004 Acura TL - 2004 Acura TL
  By lilpain - April 2 - 2:00 am

  This car looks like a bmw m3. It handles like a dream and it is a eyecatcher.

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  This car is Great! - 2004 Acura TL
  By TLGuy - April 2 - 2:00 am

  I traded in my 92 Accord and felt right at home in this car. Certainly everything was much much nicer and had alot more toys, more power, but it didnt lose its "honda-ness" that I just cant explain. You would have to own a honda/acura for 12 years like me to understand. Look forward to 12 more trouble free years!!!

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  What a ride! - 2007 Acura TL
  By Azeemdadream - April 2 - 1:33 am

  First and foremost, I have to say this car turns heads like no other Ive driven. It looks good and sounds even better. Ive had the car for less than 2 weeks and cant stop finding reasons to go outside and drive it. The quad exhaust has this deep thundering hum when dropping from 3rd to 2nd. On the flip side of this, with the windows closed on the highway, its like sitting in a serene park. You almost want to turn down the stereo just so you can here the pindrop silence. The back up camera is all you need to reverse and the auto flip mirrors are just an added bonus. This car has so many features that I dont even know where to start. Love the car and hands down wouldve bought this again

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  Pocket Rocket - 2005 Acura RSX
  By Alex - April 1 - 10:53 pm

  Just purchased my first car out of college and I decided on the RSX type S Magnessium Gray with Titanium interior. I recieved the car with only 2 miles and no one touched it or drove it I am picky with my cars. So far I am very happy with me purchase and look forward to many miles taken it to the redline. If you are in a budget and want a decent and fun car this is it the competition to this car is not worth mentioning since for me it is in its own class. Try one and really get on it and see what you think then drive the not so good contenders.

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  High marks for this car - 1994 Acura Legend
  By GS_TWO - April 1 - 10:24 pm

  This car is wonderful. Lots of character, style, and performance. I agree with another post on this site, that the brakes are a little too light-weight for this car.The six speed Legend is legendary on performance, though. Highway cruising, accelerating, this car does it effortlessly. If you own one, hang onto it. This car may become a prized collectors item in twenty years or so. Im not letting go of mine.

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  The worst Acura - 2018 Acura TLX
  By Dimitrios Rigas - April 1 - 7:35 am

  This is my fifth Acura. By far the worst ever. Not only as an Acura but as a car, in general. In more detail: handling is very good, road noise minimal. That is all the positives the negatives: the technology is archaic and extremely slow. It is head scratching how Acura or Honda allows this car to be sold. The software has locked three times in two months! It changes settings by itself and you never know whether it works because it is extremely slow in responding. AWFUL! This is supposed to be a "luxury" automobile. The transmission bugs have not all been fixed. The jerking takes place occasionally, nothing dangerous. And the worst part: it is always trembling! Yes, trembling! At any speed!! You cannot enjoy the driving experience, period. I do not now whether it is the transmission or the "four wheel steering". My 2007 and 2013 TLs were far superior as was the 2010, six cylinder TLX. Even the ELS radio is not as good as was in the 2013 Tl. My daughter just bought a top of the line MAZDA 3. Almost half the price and by far a better car. I truly do not comprehend how Acura allows this disaster to be sold. Totally regret getting this car.