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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  Love my TL - 1999 Acura TL
  By Bott1263 - October 16 - 2:00 am

  We wanted a car that would be safe, fun and reliable. After testing the TL we knew this was the car. After one month and a 600 mile trip I know we made the right decision. This is a very easy car to drive.

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  Redrock Pearl - 2002 Acura MDX
  By jatharp - October 16 - 2:00 am

  This is by far the best SUV I have ever driven. There is absolutly nothing I can find wrong with it.

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  Ill buy another - 2002 Acura MDX
  By ReiverToo - October 15 - 2:00 am

  I love this car...er,truck...er,SUV. Ive owned it 2 yrs & have found nothing that I seriously dislike & a whole bunch thats great. I live in the So.Cal. mountains & spend a lot of driving time on curvy, up & down roads. The MDX handles super. It is fun & stable to drive. On ice & snow the AWD really comes through. It has an amazing amount of interior space considering the outside appearance. The biggest negative with the vehicle is the dealer network. Having owned two MBs and two Lexi, Ive become spoiled by excellent service. Acura dealerships(Ive been to three)are about on a par with Ford. Not what you expect of a supposed luxury nameplate.

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  Excellence - 2005 Acura TL
  By George - October 14 - 2:50 pm

  I recently leased the car thinking I wasnt going to drive it much and use it when its needed, but now I cant stop driving it and I use it when I dont really have to. The car outperforms on a laaaarge scale. I had an 03 Type S and it really doesnt even compare Acura listened to the people and added the little niks n nacs that are important to the consumer. It gained leg room in the rear, the stick shift is out of the world fun to drive, accents on the interior are awesome, the addition of brembos to the stick model was phenomenal the the only thing I dont like about it is that 1st gear is extremely short so you have to shift out quickly before you top out without realizing.

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  GS-R with upgrades :) ! - 1994 Acura Integra
  By Heckert - October 14 - 2:00 am

  Great car! I have done some tuning and it is a real head turner even with 130,000 miles.

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  Awesome! - 1995 Acura NSX
  By nsx - October 13 - 2:00 am

  A work of art!!!

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  Just My Opinion - 2001 Acura MDX
  By Joy K - October 13 - 2:00 am

  Real happy with the look and reliability of the MDX. Wish it didnt need premium fuel. Get lots of compliments on it wherever we go. I think it has too much interior noise, but I think that got improved in 2002.

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  Acura 3.2 TL :Gotta Love it ! - 2000 Acura TL
  By belle - October 13 - 2:00 am

  tHE ACURA TL3.2 IS A fABULOUS Car. beautiful,safe,dependable, totally trouble free,super quiet, bose sound system and a blast to drive.. There is literally no other car id rather drive except for my 88accura legend 5 speed.

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  The best car on the market - 2005 Acura RL
  By Dean Primavera - October 12 - 6:06 pm

  I personally cant find a thing wrong with it. I would say its the best car purchase I have ever made. everything from the handling to the keyless entry is phenomenal!

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  What a great car!! - 2007 Acura MDX
  By Barry - October 12 - 3:56 am

  After a couple of months, of trying to convince my wife to trade our 2004 Lexus GX 470, I finally wore her down and we (she) reluctantly bought the Acura. One of my concerns was moving "down" to an Acura from a Lexus. I was extremely wrong, this is one high tech machine, the navigation system offers more features, but is much more user friendly than the Lexus, The entertainment package gives the kids the option of listening to their choice through the headphones while the adults can listen to something different through the speakers & handling on this car is unbelievable. You can even set the doors to lock/unlock at the speed of your choice & the remote to open 1 or all doors w/ 1 touch.