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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  Bad Milano Red Paint, Acura Reluctant to Fix - 2005 Acura TSX
  By doug_g - November 6 - 7:20 pm

  Car drives great but Acura does not want to stand behind its very poor quality paint. Whatever you do, DO NOT BUY A RED ONE!!! Unless of course you like pink cars. The assistance they offered for a repaint job only covered 1/4 of the cost. Dont forget that it take premium fuel too. Costs much more than a Honda to own.

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  Certanty Not a Lexus - 2014 Acura RDX
  By rdxcali - September 29 - 9:09 pm

  - A/C does not work very well. -Transmission shifting is jerky,,, not smooth. - The new car smell was so strong it made me and my wife nauseous for several weeks. - Certainly feels like a step down from my Lexus in all areas!

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  Acura Cutomer Service is unacceptable - 2007 Acura TL
  By exacura1 - September 11 - 10:17 am

  We bought our 2007 Acura TL type S a year ago for $20,000. We paid that much for a used car because we thought we were getting a quality product from a great company. Boy were we wrong. This summer the dashboard started to crack in two places. I has gotten larger throughout the summer. We found online that this is a very common issue for Acura TLs from 04 to 08. We called Acura to try to resolve the issue. It is obviously a design flaw on their part but they were not willing to help out at all. They told us that there was nothing they could do because we are not a loyal acura customer. This is the 3rd Acura I have owned. I am not a loyal Acura customer. Dont buy an Acura!

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  Bad trans in 99 dont buy - 1999 Acura CL
  By dontuy22 - September 3 - 11:17 am

  I own a 99 CL 3.0, all of the transmissions go bad in this car, Ive talked to many people and eventually the trans will go bad way before it should. Do not buy one unless youre prepared to sink 3 grand into at any given time. Could have been a great car, I replaced my trans at 80k miles and now it works good. A friend of mine is an excelllent mechanic with a wealth of knowledge on all cars, and he says it should be good for another 100k miles, but it will definetely go out again eventually and theres nothing that can be done besides replacing it again.

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  Disappointment - 2013 Acura RDX
  By tinpyro - August 5 - 12:26 pm

  I have owned many luxury vehicles over the years, when I initially came across the 2013 RDX I thought that I had discovered a true bargain. This , however, was not the case. The reason TRUE luxury vehicles cost more is because they are worth it. The RDX has flaws that I can over look but the wind noise from the doors and b pillars is simply unforgivable in a vehicle in this range. The dealer has done what it can but they cannot redesign the vehicle. Acura must be aware of this issue and I believe is simply choosing to ignore it. Had I taken a more extensive test drive I would not have purchased the vehicle, so...shame on me. I will unload the vehicle asap and accept the loss and move on.

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  Lack Of Ride Comfort - 2013 Acura RDX
  By average_joe3 - July 23 - 9:27 pm

  They disregard the new car warranty. I bought a new RDX six months ago and it has 5,000 miles. This so called luxury vehicle bounces more than a Magic Mountain ride, even in flat surfaces. The service technician agreed that it has a rough ride, yet the dealer did not even put it in a hoist to check if the suspension is loose. I get a headache every tim I drive it. Acura customer service considers the rough ride to be normal.

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  Keep away from 2014 MDX - 2014 Acura MDX
  By sundragon3 - July 23 - 4:31 pm

  I purchased a 2014 MDX base on 07/04.. It was quiet on test drive and looked much better than 2013 model.. But build quality is too poor.. Fit and finish is much below the average.. The steering wheel is not position in the center.. Annoying sound from the glove box.. Took the car twice for repair.. The dealer fixed the sound problem.. but it stills goes to the right.. Have to take it again.. Keep away from this car.. Nothing but a problem..

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  Not worth the cost - 2013 Acura RDX
  By athenaspet - June 27 - 12:53 am

  The vehicle was great on a test drive - until it had to be used for everyday living. It is not built for drivers under 510" or maybe 58". The materials used for the interior are not of luxury vehicle quality. The excessive noise from the brakes and transmission are horrendous. After being looked at twice by the dealership, I was told that these are characteristics of the vehicle. Stay away!

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  Nice car bad torque steer - 2004 Acura TL
  By steve741 - May 10 - 12:50 pm

  The Acura TL is a nice car but with the 6 speed transmission the torque-steer can be annoying. The car felt uncomfortable in the wet due to this issue. I thought the interior was great and bluetooth worked well. Rust was a huge issue on the rear wheel well and just behind the door. This set in fairly early in the cars life. Even making efforts to keep this at bay failed... anywhere there was a spot weld in the fender lip.

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  Not Luxury Car Quality - 2012 Acura MDX
  By bayman48 - April 16 - 12:01 am

  Its an ok car, but maybe I set my standards too high, the quality and craftsmanship compared to the germans or to even lexus is sorely lacking. I am downright shocked, I can see carpet staples, the carpeting stops in odd places so it looks cheap, the fake wood is horrible...some hard to touch interior parts. The service is horrible, at two dealers, one makes excuses, I point out issues and he shows me new models that have the same issues...such as a sticking glove box handle, squeaking at the b-pillar, hood plastic cushions that fall off, etc. Outside of the relatively poor build quality and craftsmanship (clearly not built in japan mind you) its an ok car, but acura needs to improve. Update: Its been four years with the car...my initial review has not changed, as time wears on the car runs rougher...it revs higher and hold its too long...dealer says its normal. Cannot wait to move on to my next vehicle, this one has been a bust.