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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  Terrible Car - 2008 Acura TL
  By Will - August 31 - 5:19 pm

  This car has so many rattles it is difficult to describe. Cheap interior parts and poor quality control at the plant. Car has been at the dealership at least 6 times and they havent fixed anything, actually made it worse. Now a window leaks when you go through a car wash or heavy rain. All on a 2 year old car with less than 30k.

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  Overpriced junk honda - 2010 Acura ZDX
  By boom - August 24 - 1:18 pm

  Bummer. Interior pieces falling out, center console cheap silver plastic easily scratches, after 2 months looks terrible. VERY SLOW for the looks and power.

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  Acura quality? Not in this car. - 2001 Acura TL
  By The Lark - August 24 - 11:43 am

  Its not a secret that Acura installed defective transmissions that blow anywhere from 50K to 100K miles. But weve had acid (yes, acid) leak from the electronic rear view mirror onto the shifter, melting the plastic overnight. Apart these unacceptable problems, you have a car that is underwhelming to drive. The engine has nice power, but its mated to a jerky, malfunctioning transmission (manual mode doesnt cooperated either), and insensitive accelerator feel. Body roll was mentioned in the review, but this car has an absolutely laughable turning radius. If you want to drive to the other gas pump youll end up back out in the street.

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  Never again - 2009 Acura TSX
  By Fred - July 1 - 8:12 pm

  Owned the TSX for a year and its been the very worst experience Ive ever had with a car. Within 5000 mile the car was in the shop for over a week with engine computer, sound system and break issues. Break issues never resolved and Acura refuses to solve the problem. Buyer beware!

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  "Shaken and Stirred Up" - 2010 Acura TL
  By Brewster - June 28 - 8:32 pm

  Two rules you should always follow! 1) Always test drive The Exact car you are going to buy and 2) Dont believe the salesman when he tells you that they are all the same. My 2010 Acura TL has experienced severe vibration since new which is felt at highway speeds throughout the entire cabin and through the steering wheel. Initially dismissed and finally admitted to, they are calling in an engineer since their mechanic(s) cant figure it out. The car has allegedly been through rotors, tire/rim changes and half- shafts. I couldnt be any more disappointed than I am with the vehicle and Acuras response.I would not recommend this car to anyone without test driving at highway speeds at length...

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  Everything broke - 1994 Acura Vigor
  By icon27 - May 18 - 7:10 pm

  We have owned this car for 7 years and I have had to replace almost every major part except the motor. Trany 128,000 miles, starter, alternator, axles, 02 sensors, seats are torn etc. This is the worst car that I have ever owned. if Acura is one of the best car lines in the world I would hate to see the worst. would never buy an Acura because this was such a lemon.

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  Poor Acura Quality - 2008 Acura MDX
  By babake - May 3 - 7:53 pm

  Been having problems with our MDX since the day we bought it. After 5 attempts, the windows still squeak, the wheels vibrate, the radio loses its memory, the seats power setting has problems. Amazing that consumer report keeps on reporting Acura MDX as a top SUV pick. We moved to the Acura from a lexus RX to get a little more sporty feel and have been regretting our decision since. The dealer service people are also very confrontational - do not recommend Hopkins Acura of Redwood City CA. We are going to go trade our MDX for a Lexus.

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  Hole in Piston - 2003 Acura TL
  By taxrefnd - April 3 - 3:29 pm

  Ive been a long time Honda believer and my immediate family currently own 6 Honda/Acura cars. With my recent experience with a 2003 Acura TL motor, I may never buy another Honda product. First had a CEL and needed a new timing belt tensioner, then 3 months later another CEl and this time it was revealed a hole in the piston. Only had 55K miles and a hole? Was too costly to repair so had a used motor installed. Honda refused to pay for anything siting "out of warranty" Some Honda motor. Now Im worried about the transmission which is slipping from 2nd to 3rd. Need to get rid of it soon to some poor sucker.

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  Worst that ever had - 2010 Acura TSX
  By CoolGuyNY - March 8 - 10:57 am

  My problem is that after 30-45 minutes of driving in cold, my tsx starts blowing cold air from side vents and hot air from the bottom ones. So my legs are sweating and upper body is cold. I tried all possible combination (auto, ac off, etc, etc) and the same result. If Im raising the temp, its just blowing harder but the same temp. Took it to a dealer and the saying that is how it suppose to work? Who knows a good lawyer? Cant believe that people arent talking about it on TV

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  Not pleased - 2010 Acura TSX
  By JoeS - February 5 - 12:12 pm

  I purchased this vehicle primarily based on Acuras much vaunted and advertised reliability. Since purchasing the car 6 months ago it has been back for service more often than my previous vehicle, a Saab 9-3, was in four years of use! All kinds of issues needed fixing: the rear suspension clunking noise and defect a faulty Navi screen replaced non functioning trunk release poor highway steering. If this is the best Acura can do they have lost their way!