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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  Still A Great Drive - 2005 Acura NSX
  By Matt - February 23 - 9:17 pm

  Unless you are going to go to a racetrack and take on the new vette or vipers, you will not be disappointed by the horsepower. The car is still 5.0 sec to 60 and handles incredibly well. The NSX is very much improved from the 2002 model year forward. There are very few automotive reviews on the post-2002 NSX which is a shame because the driving experience is much imporved over the older car.

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  Great car for the Money - 2002 Acura TL
  By coolnincali - February 23 - 2:57 pm

  I have read the reviews and must say that I agree with those that say the car is great. Those of you that got a car that was sub-par....sorry to say, you got the ONE lemon. This car has been great in every aspect of performance, value, and quality. I bought my car used with 32,000 on it and it now has 56,000 on it and the only thing I have had to do is regular maintenence. The interior is great and extremely comfortable. I like the heated seats and the fact that it has memory seating. I like the sequential sportshift better than when its in automatic mode. I fee more in control and it seems to respond better. All in all Honda built a great car for the money with a small taste of luxury

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  2017 RDX - 2017 Acura RDX
  By Peter Fahlman - February 23 - 10:12 am

  Love the ride and comfort of the RDX

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  DO NOT BUY THIS CAR - 2015 Acura TLX
  By Steven Schwartz - February 23 - 7:26 am

  I am an attorney and have purchased four Acuras over the years. The first three were fine. However, this car, which has a dual clutch transmission, is terrible. It jerks and lunges when you brake at stop lights or stop signs. The transmission also shifts gears roughly when downshifting. I have brought the car back to where I purchased it, Acura Carland in Duluth, Georgia, several times. They admit there have been problems with these transmissions, but deny there is a problem with my car. Employee who went on test drive with me said he did not know why they switched to this transmission. Service tech said Acura is working on a computer program to "try to smooth out" transmissions in these cars. However, so far, no luck. I am going to arbitration about this in March, 2016. Based on thousands and thousands of reviews by subscribers, Consumer Reports found that this car is 92% less reliable than the average new car. There is also a federal class action lawsuit, Kornfein v American Honda Motor Co., Inc., 15-cv-1295, pending because of transmission problems in this car. My advice is, under no circumstances should you buy this car!

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  The Money Trap - 2016 Acura MDX
  By Karen - February 23 - 1:28 am

  I looked for a new car for months and decided on this nice MDX, only to be left on the side of the road when the transmission broke. We waited 3 hours for a tow truck to come. My 2016 MDX had just 3800 miles on it. I asked for a new transmission, but they said all it needed was a gasket. I ghad a BMW which I loved, but it had 190,000 miles on it and I wanted dependable transportation for traveling now this is what I am stuck with. I will say the people at the Acura dealer were very nice, but I did not get great end results. When you spend that kind of money and this happens they should make it right.

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  90 ls hatch - 1990 Acura Integra
  By russ - February 22 - 11:06 pm

  Ive got 176000 miles on my Integra LS. It has been a great car. Of course Ive "made it my own" by adding all of the bolt on tuner parts. I beat on this car everyday and never have a problem with it. It starts everytime and runs great. Plus, its fun to beat a new Civic with my "old" Integra.

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  AWESOME CAR - 2005 Acura TL
  By Jaybeezie - February 22 - 7:30 pm

  I bought this car in 2004 and am still madly in love with the car. It has everything that you could possibly want in a car and more. Highly recommended!

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  Power to Please - 2005 Acura TL
  By Doc - February 22 - 1:53 pm

  This was my first venture into an Acura and boy was I pleasantly surprised. The car handles real tight and has power to spare. No passing problems here! Love the navigation system which is integrated into the dash with a very easy to read large screen. Probably one of the best built cars that I own.

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  Sedan on steroids - 2004 Acura TL
  By Trace - February 21 - 11:20 pm

  The car comes fully loaded and is a must with the Nav system. I drove an automatic version and the 6 speed is much more fun to drive and more responsive. The 270 hp advertised is only at the high rpm range near red line. Only drawbacks: with its front wheel drive, the wheels torque up in a turn under high power and it pulls on the steering. The brembo brakes sometimes squeal when braking into a slow turn as in turning into the driveway. This is common and is not an issue for concern though the squeal can be bothersome at times.

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  MG - 2005 Acura RL
  By MG - February 20 - 10:33 pm

  A very quiet car to drive and the Bose Stereo system is something to be heard. Incredible sound and with the quiet ride it makes the experience even more enjoyable. The navigation system, sat radio and other voice activated features are very easy to use and interface with. Cornering capability is tight and holds the road very well. At night the road is well eluminated by the adaptive headlight system.