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 deals on these babies - 1999 Acura CL
  By ae5867t - May 9 - 2:00 am

  If you look you can find some 1997-1999 CLs cheap and they are a very under appreciated car. I got a 1999 with 24k miles for 17k these cars look great and are loaded, power is very good. I realize that the new type S is faster with the 6 speed but they are 31k. This 99 has plenty of power and handles great. If you are looking for a great coup that is priced right check some of these out . Interior is comfortable and loaded with all the extras. Just think I could have spent 1-3 more thousand and got a new civic or a lower line accord no comparison to this car.

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  Best Sedan For The Price - 2002 Acura RL
  By shark59 - May 9 - 2:00 am

  An excellent car for the money. Fun to drive, solid and reliable. Effective temperature controls, functional gauges and switches. Very happy all around except the gas milage should be better.

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  Great value - 1999 Acura TL
  By TheWev - May 9 - 2:00 am

  This is a great value. No other car can match the features of this one in this price range. A loaded Accord or Camry is almost the same price but doesnt match the luxury, BWM and Lexus are a lot more expensive.

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  1999 GS-R Coupe - 1999 Acura Integra
  By doc - May 8 - 2:00 am

  Wow, what a car. I took the gs-r out on a 3 hour road trip the other day and it was like riding in a hungry jungle cat. The integra seemed to devour the road and the cars in front of me. Mine is pretty much stock, and its a blast to drive. I cant wait to add a few "goodies" to it.

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  1999 GS-R Coupe - 1999 Acura Integra
  By Doc - May 8 - 2:00 am

  Wow, what a car. I took the gs-r out on a 3 hour road trip the other day and it was like riding in a hungry jungle cat. The integra seemed to devour the road and the cars in front of me. Mine is pretty much stock, and its a blast to drive. I cant wait to add a few "goodies" to it.

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  A fine instrument - 2002 Acura NSX
  By Kiwi - May 8 - 2:00 am

  Ill take hand-crafted aluminum over American plastic any day. As far as performance, too many muscle-heads are fixated on size. If you want cubes, get yourself a Caddy with an 8-liter V8. The NSX is a scalpel and the Corvette is an axe. To join the legions of macho men that have the world looking at your tail lights, buy the Vette. If you want every twist and turn in the road to be brought to life under your steering wheel and dont have the money for a Ferrarri, the NSX is for you.

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  A fine instrument - 2002 Acura NSX
  By kiwi - May 8 - 2:00 am

  Ill take hand-crafted aluminum over American plastic any day. As far as performance, too many muscle-heads are fixated on size. If you want cubes, get yourself a Caddy with an 8-liter V8. The NSX is a scalpel and the Corvette is an axe. To join the legions of macho men that have the world looking at your tail lights, buy the Vette. If you want every twist and turn in the road to be brought to life under your steering wheel and dont have the money for a Ferrarri, the NSX is for you.

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  Great Car... - 1997 Acura CL
  By JSF - May 8 - 2:00 am

  Ive owned this vehicle almost 5 years now, and Ive yet to have a problem with it. Id definitely would recommend this car to anyone looking for a fun reliable car.

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  Nicest driving car for just $30,000!! - 1999 Acura TL
  By Ryan Goldfarb - May 7 - 2:00 am

  Nice driving, not noisy, very dependable car!

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  I love this car - 2005 Acura TSX
  By Jess F - May 7 - 12:50 am

  The interior sells the car. A very pleasant experience to drive. Very responsive. Bad weather! No problem.