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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  Quality Ride - 2004 Acura RSX
  By T Lyles - August 1 - 2:00 am

  This model is surprisingly quiet. It doesnt have gobs of power, but it pulls to speed fairly quickly. Handling is precise and the quality of build is really nice.

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  TRANSMISSION FLAW - 2003 Acura MDX
  By HYMAXX - August 1 - 2:00 am

  After 9 months of fun hell broke loose with only 7,000 miles. The transmission makes an unusual loud slamming noise when I shift to reverse or drive. The dealer can not and did not fix the transmission problem. MDX is an affordable luxury SUV but the interior is made of cheap materials. After all the headache that my wife and I went through with ACURA I replaced the MDX with a BMW X5, I should have bought the X5 in the first place.

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  clems review - 2004 Acura MDX
  By BigClem - August 1 - 2:00 am

  Drives well...ammenities kina cheap feeling

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  Great Car! - 2003 Acura MDX
  By cheapflyfishingsob - July 31 - 10:00 am

  Looked at the Landcruiser, GX470 and Sequoia. I liked the GX because it was very luxurious and more of an SUV/off- road feel, but it really had nothing on the MDX. This drivetrain is awesome - Really quiet and effortless. I love all the features and the practicality. The only thing the $50K cars have on this are wooden steering wheels and air shocks.

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  LOVE THIS CAR - 1997 Acura CL
  By WING AND A 5 SPEED - July 31 - 2:00 am

  OWNING THIS CAR HAS BEEN A TREAT. THE MOST RELIABLE EVER. IT STILL LOOKS NEW! ONLY THING EVER NEEDED WAS NEW TIRES. AT 7 YRS. IT STILL TURNS HEADS. MAKES LOOKING FOR A REPLACEMENT VERY HARD.

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  RSX---fun,fast,fantastic - 2004 Acura RSX
  By plutonic_eclipse - July 31 - 2:00 am

  Extremely well designed interior, sharp and sleek exterior looks, quality comfort and very good reliability. This car received 5 out of 5 stars for front impact crash rating. Also equipped with side air bags too (SRS). Very good gas mileage 24-31. This car handles fabulously on the road, even in adverse weather conditions. Tight suspension, high rev. Ivtech engine. Acura really puts a good car together here. I compared this to Toyota Celica and Hyundai Tiburon, they did not rate "as high" in consumer satisfaction as this car did.

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  This car is awesome: Excellent Value - 2004 Acura RSX
  By JPChem - July 31 - 2:00 am

  This is one of the best cars I have ever driven. This car is impressive, it is fun to drive...I go out of my way to drive it. It has excellent pick up and seems to be very reliable. On top of all that none of its competitors are in the same price range. The leather and styling in this car are also excellent. I constantly get complemented on how stylish this car is. The folks at Acura have given me excellent service...I am very happy I bought this car! Check your insurance rates though...can be high for this car. This car has sufficient trunk space..but can be cramped with more than 2 people. Two 6 people will not fit in the back!

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  2003 Acura MDX - 2003 Acura MDX
  By jyork - July 31 - 2:00 am

  Had a Toyota Sequoia. Too big and ride too much like truck. This vehicle rides almost as good as my Lexus LS400. With 260 HP it has more power than V8 in Toyota and gave 23.77 MPG on trip from Atlanta to SW FL. Rides and handles like a luxury vehicle. Would not rec. for off road use except light duty.

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  A Vehicle Worth Owning! - 2004 Acura MDX
  By jade6207 - July 31 - 2:00 am

  I researched vehicles on Edmunds for 3 months before finally choosing the MDX. I was definitely not disappointed! It is fun to drive and very comfortable!

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  Try something else - 2004 Acura MDX
  By rowemowe - July 31 - 2:00 am

  Dont make the same mistake I did. Research this vehicle before you buy. Do a search on Google or Yahoo for "MDX Noise" and youll see that there is a cronic problem with brake and gas tank noise that is called "normal" by the manufacturer. When you test drive the vehicle, make sure you keep the radio off and have a nearly full tank of gas. Let the car idle forward and hit the brake. If you can live with the sounds of gas sloshing around and the back brake thud, then you wont mind spending 35K - 40K. Also, take a look at all of the Technical Service Bulletins issued by Acura on this vehicle. You can find them at the NHTSA website.