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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  MDX is Best All-around SUV - 2002 Acura MDX
  By imbuer - October 12 - 2:00 am

  After shopping all the others for over 6 months, we decided on the Base MD-X (2002). We almost bought an X5 4.4, but it is too costly and no where near enough room, (and the 3.0 doesnt have enough power). After almost a year of ownership, we like it even more than we thought we would. Incredibly smooth and effortless power/torque, great gas mileage (up to 26 average on highway), pretty good handling (but not quite as good as X5), and plenty of room for hauling, tailgating, etc. The base sound system is more than adequate, and by buying the Base MD-X instead of Touring, you make up some for paying close to MSRP.

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  What a Car - 2002 Acura RL
  By jaru - October 10 - 2:00 am

  I still have my Legend that is now 10 years old. Not a dime on repairs. Now this new 3.5 RL seems even nicer. Less than a thousand miles, but already in love with the car. Its quiet, smooth, and very much a luxury car. The build is quality and the handling is quick and stable. Not one thing that I can find as yet a negative. And most of all a steal at $35.500.00. That is only 5600.00 more than I paid 10 years ago for my Legend. What else can I say, oh yeh who needs a V/8? Power galore. Hurry go get one, and youll love yourself forever.

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  Acura RL - 2005 Acura RL
  By jacks - October 9 - 9:50 pm

  A fun car to drive. Electronics great. Car handles very well with all wheel drive. Would not trade it for any other comparable car.

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  Great Schizophrenic! - 1996 Acura Integra
  By lynx racer - October 9 - 2:00 am

  What an amazing car! A high mileage daily driver and a weekend autocrosser capable of doing well. Good mileage, exceptional reliability, strong dealer and manufacturer support. My car has not been babied, but driven 108,000 miles and autocrossed 25 or more times a year over 4 years. The only reason I have found to part with it is locating a nearly new GS-R, the same car with more motor, a CD player and some other performance goodies.

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  Underrated... if anything. - 2006 Acura TL
  By PJ - October 8 - 3:06 am

  The car drives as if it were driving on air. THAT, is how smooth the drive is. The handling of the car is absolutely impeccable. Absolutely stunning suspension. The interior makes one feel like a king, with its 8" touchscreen navi along with the voice activated commands. The car itself is a very attractive looking car, especially with the A-spec bodykit. Overall, there really is NOTHING to complain about for such a car in its class...

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  92 Acura Integra GS - 1992 Acura Integra
  By AcuTom - October 8 - 2:00 am

  This has been very reliable vehicle. 10 years old and still looks stylish. Very nice highway ride, quiet. No major mechanical problems, very little rust.

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  My favorite vehicle - 2000 Acura TL
  By JBT - October 8 - 2:00 am

  Great performance, constant compliments, has NEVER been in for repairs (have owned since July 2000).

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  You wont regret the purchase! - 2007 Acura TL
  By ttone - October 7 - 7:06 pm

  Car comes loaded with all features. Handles well and looks great. Best value for the $$. Other similarly stocked cars will run at least 1-2k more. Im averaging about 24 mpg right now. I hope to see a little improvement after break in, but its not that bad. If you like having all the "gadgets" in a car, you will likely be pleased with the TL type-S. The ride is pretty quiet, but youll love cranking the dvd-audio disks anyway. True surround sound in the car is pretty cool. I fit my two kids in the back no problem. I wouldnt recommend more than two adults, youll be tight. The type S comes with rims that in my opinion dont really work with all colors.

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  Early Review - 2005 Acura MDX
  By dsp888 - October 7 - 1:56 pm

  Only a month old but a great first impression. I was afraid going to a 6 from a Jeep V8 but this MDX has plenty to torque in all ranges yet cruises at 1500 to 2000 RPM. Easy to drive with great handling and fantastic brakes. Sits a little highter than I am used to, and is larger overall - but the interior room is enormous and the rear camera on the Touring is to die for. While test driving I really spanked it in an empty parking lot and was impressed with the total stability. Lets see what the future brings.

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  3.2 TLS Navi - 5 month review - 2003 Acura TL
  By Trojan Horse - October 6 - 10:00 am

  Navi unit easy to learn - like the touch screen. Very pleased with the performance level (used to have Volvo 850T and while the turbo had a little more kick, the Acuras normally aspirated engine is significantly smoother through the power band and is quicker to 60 mph!) Seats quite comfortable. Gauge cluster looks like the classy high-end, but console controls definitely came from the Honda parts bin. Tires seem to be wearing okay - probably good for 25-28k miles. Dealer service level as expected from one of the high-end badges. Trunk room large enough to fit my hard-shell golf case. Fuel Tank size needs to be bigger.