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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  Acura RDX - 2007 Acura RDX
  By Falloonrd1 - October 17 - 11:03 pm

  I am very impressed with this vehicle. I had an 04 TSX and wanted something a little bigger. The interior controls are well placed and easy to use. The Nav is a lot better. You can feel and hear the nice turbo engine. I havent had it long enough to comment on fuel ecomomy.

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  Love the MDX - 2003 Acura MDX
  By kellym - October 17 - 10:00 am

  The ride is just fantastic as is the handling. I went from a Sequoia to this and it is night and day in all areas. Much better in the snow also. I have put on 500 miles since buying it. I have driven it in the mountains, snow (heavy and wet) and then just the dry streets and do not have a complaint. I understand that it is NOT an off-road auto but a person should know that before the purchase. My wife and kids love it too. I can not say enough good things about this.

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  Love this car - 1992 Acura Integra
  By Spaghetti - October 17 - 2:00 am

  After 10 years and 100K miles its still fun to drive because it handles great and has lots of power. Sporty handling is strong, tight and clean. Still looks sexy and almost like new. Trunk carries plenty. Never any serious problems.

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  Awesome Buy! - 1990 Acura Integra
  By wendtd - October 17 - 2:00 am

  This car is outstanding still for a 1990! This car is sporty,small, fast, and has alot of space to put subs in the trunk! This car is overall a really nice car for a teen!

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  T.U.V. - 2003 Acura MDX
  By Mal - October 17 - 2:00 am

  The Acura MDX is "The Ultimate Vehicle". It seems to be designed for anyone and everyone with versatility that I have never seen in any other car, truck or hybrid. It performs flawlessly and is always up to any task, big or small. I recently traded in a GMC Envoy and after driving my new MDX; America has some serious catching up to do!

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  T.U.V. - 2003 Acura MDX
  By MAL - October 17 - 2:00 am

  The Acura MDX is "The Ultimate Vehicle". It seems to be designed for anyone and everyone with versatility that I have never seen in any other car, truck or hybrid. It performs flawlessly and is always up to any task, big or small. I recently traded in a GMC Envoy and after driving my new MDX; America has some serious catching up to do!

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  Lots of bang for your buck! - 2003 Acura TL
  By ledname - October 17 - 2:00 am

  Great power and handling. A couple of squeaks in the interior here and there...just havent had a chance to bring it in. One downfall is the climate control which is supposed to be automatic but really isnt. The temperature setting is there for show. If you want heat, you have to turn it up to 90 just to get it to 70 when it is cold out.

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  Best car ever built!!! - 1991 Acura NSX
  By stunts7 - October 16 - 2:00 am

  As it IS rated one of the best 10 cars ever produced, I had to have one. It has lived up to its ratings 100%!!!!!

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  Couldnt be happier - 2002 Acura NSX
  By rjk - October 16 - 2:00 am

  The more I researched this car, the more I thought Id like it, but I hadnt even begun to understand how much Id have liked it. Driving this car is as fun as driving it for the first time every time I get in it. Truly spectacular. Worth the extra 30 thousand dollars over the Corvette -- this thing has *soul*.

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  Former Corvette owner - 2002 Acura NSX
  By NSX Owner - October 16 - 2:00 am

  Advantage of driving a corvette: It goes fast Advantage of driving an NSX: Luxury Style Handling It turns heads feels solid at ANY speed a real gearbox STREETABLE TORQUE! (ever heard of TOO MUCH TORQUE? The Corvette was rediculous - had to start it like a grandma or risk standing still in a burnout) havent had a single reliability issue with it in 23,000 miles.