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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  Perfect combination - 2016 Acura TLX
  By Michael - January 21 - 6:49 am

  The perfect combination of German driving pleasure, and Honda bones.

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  Best car Ive ever owned - 2005 Acura TL
  By Ra - January 19 - 2:33 pm

  This car has a TON of standard features. Quality is first rate. Looks awesome everytime I park it and look back. By far, its the best car Ive ever known. Compared to the G35 coupe, its a little slower and doesnt shift as smooth, but thats about it. Other than that, this car is 10 times better than a G35 coupe, in my opinion. The quality, radio, seat memory, tilting mirrors, and financing are the top reasons why I got this car over the G35. Im telling you, this car is AWESOME!

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  Great modern features - 2005 Acura TL
  By jodi - January 19 - 1:03 am

  After a bunch of test drives of entry luxury sedans, the choice was not hard to get an Acura TL. In fact, I bought one for my husband as well. I have the metallic anthracite with ebony, he has the pearl green with camel. They are beautiful and we get many compliments. I also went for all the spoilers which make the car look very sporty. This is a great car for anyone who likes a quality environment. Check out the DVD-Audio, bluetooth, and navigation.

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  New 2009 Purchase - 2009 Acura TSX
  By jhigbie - January 18 - 6:36 am

  Have owned the new TSX for one week: 400 miles: very smooth, quiet ride. 3 inches added to the width makes the front seats spacious compared to previous model and BMW3. Armrest slides forward. Lots of drink storage. Monstrous DVD audio,10 speakers. Easy link with mp3 and iPod. Easy to learn nav, best for cities and highways. Bluetooth easy to link. Push back acceleration from 30 to 80, shift from 1st to 2nd hesitates at slow acceleration. Paddle shifting in manual mode. About town gas mileage 25, long distance trip 30 mpg. Soft ride yet still some jiggle. Steering tight yet isolated. Remains level on curves. Back seat raise above front seat. Trunk space good--pass through to back seat.

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  Great overall, minor issues - 2005 Acura MDX
  By edhryb - January 17 - 10:40 pm

  Still one of the best luxury SUV bargains out there. Great balance of performance, function, technology, safety and quality. Nice improvments for 2005. The one annoying problem that has been an issue for years is a brake "thud" when applying brakes backing up. Seems silly that Acura cant fix an embarrassing problem after years of feedback on this.

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  UNREAL - 2004 Acura TL
  By Kevin112 - January 17 - 10:00 am

  This is a dream car, for anyone who like fast, comfort, and increadible tech features,like Bluetooth wireless, Navi, and voice recognision

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  2004 Acura TL with Navigation - 2004 Acura TL
  By RLL_SB - January 17 - 10:00 am

  I just purchased a new Acura TL with the navigation and XM satellite radio system yesterday (October 2003). Try as I might, I couldnt get any discount at all. I paid full list price plus $100 for the mud flaps. I live in California, and tried several dealers, they were all asking full list price. I was going to wait to see if the prices would go down, but I decided to bite the bullet and get the green metallic one left on the lot. Its a very nice car. Overall, I am very happy with the car. Its a bit larger than I thought it was.

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  just got it - 2005 Acura TL
  By Broncos rule - January 15 - 12:00 pm

  I have just pased the break in period and have started to really enjoy this car. I have had no problems (800 miles so far) and am starting to test the limits of the car. The acceleration is very strong and sounds good all the way up to redline. I have noticed a small amount of torque steer but it is easily managed. The car handles great and i look forward to my commute everyday. A G35 handled better during my test drive but I thought the TL was a better overall (performance, features and design). I dont know about other TL owners but my time on a race track pushing the car to the limit does not happen very often. In the real world the TL kicks.

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  Best in it Class - 2007 Acura MDX
  By J Short - January 15 - 5:03 am

  Just picked it up on Wednesday traded in my 03 this is atotaly different vehicle. Power and luxury incredible, rides like a dream. I testeed everyhting on the market and nothing is as nice.

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  Better than most... - 2016 Acura RDX
  By Albert Luongo - January 11 - 1:48 pm