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:

• 

  1995 Acura Legend Sedan - 1995 Acura Legend
  By MrSmitty - September 19 - 2:00 am

  Great car for the money! Change oil, new tires - thats it!

• 

  Experience with my 2001 Silver MDX - 2002 Acura MDX
  By newbie2001 - September 19 - 2:00 am

  Always gets a lot of glances, on and off the road. Several people comes up to me to compliment my choice of vehicle. Impressive vehicle, never regretted my purchase. Am also continually upgrading, just recently added new body side moulding to my 2001 silver MDX.

• 

  Type-S in Odessa - 2003 Acura CL
  By Hobbie - September 17 - 10:00 am

  Have a rattle coming from the rear passenger side speaker. Dealership has not been able to fix it.

• 

  Soo Money - 2002 Acura TL
  By lookin4money - September 17 - 10:00 am

  For the money, I think this is hands down the best deal on the road at any price! The car corners great! Is amazing on the highway. You can get into any slot you want in rush-hour traffic with its acceloration and braking. Maybe the only complaint is that the acceleration seems more responsive in Auto than in Sport shift mode (were it is a little slow to shift). I love the sound system!!! Anyone who wishes for more base isnt really a music lover anyway. You can have the base as loud as it gets, feel it, and yet still hear the music as you should. WHAT A BUY!

• 

  Acura - 2003 Acura MDX
  By Acura - September 17 - 10:00 am

  Build quality; Interior materials; Passenger and cargo room Climate controls; Fuel economy; Navigation system controls These are good things about the acura. It is a great suv and it handles well in the rain.

• 

  TL Type S vs. 328i - 2007 Acura TL
  By jodoan1 - September 16 - 9:30 pm

  If you believe an ultimate driving experience is more than just rubber on the road, then the TL Type S is sure to please. My daily commute is approximately 95% freeway in Northeast Ohio. I dont slalom or corner hard so the rear wheel drive experience is lost on me. The TL does exhibit torque steer but that is really only noticeable when using the "Manual Mode" and accelerating hard. I was surprised to experience torque steer shifting into 2nd, but with 286 HP, I should have guessed. This car is a dream to drive and the interior design, techno-features and build quality far out-delivers the BMW.

• 

  1996 3.2, get good comments all the time - 1996 Acura TL
  By TheBest - September 16 - 2:00 am

  Bought it in 98, now at 68k mile. Very responsive, nice interior, engine is very quite. Love the car.

• 

  Not a Truck! - 2002 Acura MDX
  By Andy M - September 16 - 2:00 am

  Excellent road performance, especially on mountain roads where it is fun! Was considering the Sequoia, but the Sequoia drives like a (well designed) truck and has the interior design feel of a lower level vehicle. The more I drive the Acura, the more pleased I am. The BMW would have been nice, but not at the price and with one less row of seats. The dealer we bought from was outstanding, but another we tried were like sharks.

• 

  Great crossover, a blast to drive. - 2007 Acura RDX
  By Josho - September 15 - 8:03 am

  This car is really fun to drive. Theres basically no turbo lag; hit the gas, and off you go. Its surprisingly quick. The real joy comes from the SH-AWD system, which helps you stick to the road in any conditions, but especially when things get slick. The gas mileage is a bit worse than advertised, but still better than most, if not all, SUVs. The standard RDX comes with so much standard, youre better off buying a 3rd party nav system, and saving a bunch on the sticker. With so much standard, why pay another $4K for bluetooth and a back-up camera? Overall, a great buy at the standard level!

• 

  Best SUV in its Class - 2002 Acura MDX
  By abdiver - September 15 - 2:00 am

  Exceeds expectations. Car is easy to drive, has good performance, and is versatile. Compare to competitors vehicles has very few problems for a first year car. Reliability has been excellant thus far. We looked at BMW (fun to drive but cargo area non existent ), Mercedes (3rd row seating doesnt cut it), Lexus RX 300 (nice but too small), and Chevrolet Tahoe (Reliability history). The MDX took all the features we wanted and liked, and integrated them in a seamless well designed, safe, and reliable vehicle.