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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  Great Car! - 2001 Acura CL
  By T - September 11 - 11:42 am

  Man I love this car. Ive had it going on 5 yrs, and currently have 218+k miles. This car just keeps going, Ive only had to do some reg. maintenance and 2 sets of tires, of course from the mileage ware. I have to say the comfort in the room and seats are great If I rent, or borrow another car, I cant wait to get back in mine. My only cons would be the exterior road noise, and the trans. is a bit sensitive and needs freq. monitoring, but thats any Honda.

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  Not so good - 2007 Acura MDX
  By bowie - September 10 - 3:13 pm

  Bought my 2007 MDX with/Tech pack in August 2007. Do not like it. The acceleration is sluggish, and the engine is noisy. The tech gadgets function well, but you have to take 20 hours to read the manual to learn how to use them. The navigation system comes with a very old map and POI database. You cannot find any place built after 2004. The navigation system also does not take latitude/longitude. The $3000 navigation system is not better than a $150 portable.

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  Consumer Best ??? - 2005 Acura TL
  By gomaiznblue - September 10 - 1:53 am

  After extensive research and driving, I agreed that TL was a best buy. Leather seating is impressive. However, after 5 months I am extremely disappointed in the build quality. So many rattles, I feel like I am riding with a rattle snake inside. Fun to drive, Looks great, but I cant overcome the interior noise. I didnt expect this when I bought an ACURA. EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED!!

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  MDX - 2004 Acura MDX
  By redwaller - September 9 - 2:00 am

  One year and 9000 miles have been reasonable, I find that there is more than usual hunting for gears(between 4th and 5th)even on mildly slopy roads. (2) Our dealership services are shameful they use recycled engine oil that too not the recommended SAE 5-20 but 5-30. For next simple oil change I will try DIY.

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  Good but not German - 2004 Acura TL
  By lindros2 - September 9 - 2:00 am

  After owning many German cars (of VW/Audi/BMW makes) I jumped to this American/Japanese blend. Great value for money, sprightly performance, and leap years beyond other Honda products (including the previous generation TL). Its just not up to European (or Infiniti G35) standards on fit and finish, performance and overall haptics.

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  Not bad, not great, just okay - 2003 Acura TL
  By Daniel - September 8 - 4:05 pm

  I purchased this Acura used after totaling a 2000 BMW 528iT with Sports and Premium packages. It was a good purchase but not of the same luxury features of the BMW so I have never completely bought into an Acura being an upscale car. The fact that mine has “Honda” stamped on the windows makes it difficult to consider it anything more than an expensive Accord. The sheet metal is thin and easily dents. I leaned against the car and left dents in the right rear panel. A small hail storm left minor dings all over the hood, roof and rear. It is not the quality that I expected from an Acura. I do enjoy the car but am constantly looking for my next car.

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  Great Car! - 1998 Acura CL
  By Rita - September 5 - 2:33 pm

  I purchased this car after owning a crappy VW Passat 2 years ago. This car has been great no problems in general. The gas mileage can be rough if you want to get moving fast, but otherwise, not bad for a V6. (I typically get about 25 mpg in city traffic.) I would definitely recommend this car to anyone looking to buy a car thats a lot of fun to drive.

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  Electronic safety systems reduce driving effort - 2016 Acura ILX
  By Bec703 - September 4 - 9:03 pm

  **NOTE** ILX not TLX -- I liked everything about this car except for a few items -. Hate the speech recognition system: doesnt recognize my commands, very inflexible command structure,. Cabin noise is to high with the premium tires, the navigation system is not compressive with current systems., even, no speed limit indication, messy to input destinations and 2nd waypoints. The good thing is Siri works well and does understand voice commands. Likes: snappy, 8 speed transmission is outstanding, Best reason to own are the electronic safety controls. These take about 50% of the effort out of long distance driving. Also getting 39 mpg on highway trips. Low roof for tall people

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  Excellent car with lots of wind noise - 2016 Acura RDX
  By wayne21 - September 3 - 6:21 pm

  Have had our 2016 RDX with Value package for about 500 miles. We dont use the Bluetooth (dont talk on the phone while driving), but all the electronics seem great. Phenomenal stereo system - easily the best weve ever had in a car. The only real shortcoming is wind noise. We test drove the vehicle twice and both times it was raining. Now that weve driven the car for 500 miles I can truly say the wind noise is nothing short of ridiculous. Yes, I know there is a three layer seal in the doors, but that doesnt stop the wind noise. I dont know that weve never owned a car with wind noise this bad. Its totally unacceptable for most cars, but for a car with a sticker price of roughly $43k it is shameful. Cranking up the stereo is the only way to avoid hearing it all.

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  Fun to Drive, but Expensive - 2002 Acura MDX
  By mattb - September 2 - 6:11 pm

  My first time with a luxury SUV, which I researched prior to buying. At 40K miles, the transmission needed to be replaced!!! But they did it thanks to buying it pre-owned, pre-certified - would have cost 7K. This car handles very well and has gotten me out of more than a few accidents. Power about right and handles extremely well, is extremely comfortable.