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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  Think what do you buy first... - 2012 Acura MDX
  By carguy1972 - February 18 - 1:19 pm

  People, if you had "germans" and think to buy this car - think first, this car do not have even close value to what it cost. I will go through it: Motor vs tranny - never mach torque to gear, so looks like you have 300hp for nothing. Make it to up/down hill you will see how hard it goes. ergonomics do not exist in this car at all, just start your search for clock, where it is? you will catch yourself - Im still looking ... while driving right? who is watching the road? SHAWD is a joke, torquevectoring more looks like rawing left/rigt, take it on freeway sport mode full gas - everytime gear change stearing wheel jerks. I can go and go about it. New car value ~ 30k top, just good quality buckt

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  Think b4 you buy your next Acura - 2005 Acura MDX
  By seahawks_fan - February 6 - 5:44 pm

  Think b4 you buy your next Acura. My 05 MDX slammed and locked its brakes while doing 40mph and almost killed my family. It happened three times in less than a month. Dealership wont fix the modulator that is most likely the cause because it would cost them $1600. The seat belt locked on my 9 month old pregnant wifes belly and cause my other kids head to whip lash. They have had my car for over a week now and waiting on Corporate to take responsibility. Its sad that saving $1600 is more important than the lives of 6 people. Come on Acura/Honda. Update: After having my $50,000 luxury car for a week, the decided they will only replace a $100 part called a brake switch. But they refused to replace the other problem, $1600 abs modulator. Their diagnostic computer told them both were failing parts. The service manager told me they are not wear and tear parts and should not have gone bad. So they sent me off with my family hoping they guessed right. So now the car sits on my drive way. I refuse to put my family in danger. Had I been on the freeway or crossing our states snowy mountains, my family might not be here right now. I wouldnt be here to share this with others. I told the claim manage than my family has bought 3 accords, two civics, Acura RL and the MDX the past 20 years, while spending over $100,000. Yet, he said that wasnt enough of loyalty.

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  Clunking noise from Rear Suspension - 2012 Acura TL
  By lex612 - February 6 - 12:40 pm

  Loud "CLUNKING NOISE" came from passenger side rear suspension. It got louder as the car getting more miles on it. Took it in four times at the local dealer: 1st Attempt: Local dealer changed the strut but noise still there, 2nd Attempt: acura agent came in to verify the problem and took the entire assembly rear suspension apart and found nothing wrong with it but the noise still present so they concluded that it is a normal noise on the TL (Which I dont agree because only one corner of the car is making the noise, left rear suspension is nice and quiet when ride over bump) 3rd attempt: Service manager refused service because he told me that Acura is will not fix the "clunking noise" because they think it is a normal sound. 4th attempt: I took the car to a small local shop which is not Acura and some mechanic friends to check out the noises that I am hear from the one corner of the car (passenger rear suspension). They all confirmed the noise is an irregularity of a suspension and suspected something is wrong with the strut and it assembly/bushing but inconclusive with the problem because it could be many things that can go wrong with it and recommended me to bring it back to Acura. Acura refused service again and said the same thing like the 3rd attempt. File a claim with BBB and the same Acura Claim representative that I dealt with earlier said the same thing again, that they will not fix anything regarding the clunking noise I hear because they think it is normal. My opinion: This is an Acura and it is over $40,000 dollars car so I expected a nice quiet and comfortable car but the "Clunking noise" really killed my excitement about owning this car. Just a headeache everytime I look or drive it. I am definately upset with Acura about how they handle this situation because they did not offer me any solution but they basically tell me live with the "clunking noise" from that one corner of the car. and if the noise was normal, Acura mechanic wouldnt have change the strut the 1st time I brought it in...Why is Acura doing this?? and How can I get them to fix the problem I am having now, can anyone help? my frustration with Acura is to the roof now and hope to get this handle the sooner the better.

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  What are they thinking? - 2012 Acura MDX
  By esw2 - January 11 - 2:50 pm

  Fuel efficiency poor. Why not use cylinder deactiv like on Pilot. Why not diesel? New Audi diesel sign better at motivating this much weight, efficiency about a third better. Voice tech terrible, useless, must learn the language. Blue tooth phone link also useless sound is so bad cant have a conversn. Rattles, lux Jpnese autos shouldt. Lots of rattles some almost seem to be designed into the car like the rattle that comes from the pssnger seat belt receptacle or the one that comes from the top of where the 2nd row seat splits. AC and fan direction hidden when you turn on HVAC. Why? Bttns are very hard to use.

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  Beware 2012 Acura TL- Deficient Handling - 2013 Acura TL
  By disillusione1 - January 9 - 12:54 pm

  Purchased a New Acura AWD Sport package 2012 TL. The purchasing process was exceptional. A Two hour drive home was a disaster. The new TL front end shimmied and pulled to the left. I took it to local Acura dealer because unsafe to drives. They balanced the tires, charged me $50. Brand new vehicle. Returned to original dealer to fix left drifting on interstate highways. They checked said all was in spec. Drove two hours back and it still drifted left. Took videos, took it back. They recommended different tires for over $900. Same problem. Requested to escalate with Acura. No response. Finally I elected to trade in 2012 AWD TL before I was seriously injured.

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  Great car, ruined by Honda bean counters. - 2002 Acura RSX
  By thr33wayclimax - December 30 - 6:36 pm

  Ive owned this car since I was 16, and am now 26. Bulletproof reliability, only the A/C compressor has failed, twice. RATTLES/RATTLES....and more rattles. Maybe I never noticed or cared when I was younger, but this thing rattles like no other, the Tweeters, dash, trunk, doors, glove compartment I could go on, they all rattle. I feel like the car is going to fall apart when I hit a pothole. 2002 stock seats are terrible, NO support Hard seat bottoms. Replaced with seats from a 2005, much better! With all these issues, I cannot get myself to let it go, I dont think Ill ever sell this car.

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  What a waste, Honda. - 2009 Acura TSX
  By thr33wayclimax - December 30 - 6:28 pm

  I dont exactly understand the difference between this car and the Accord, other than this one is more expensive and smaller. Read the magazine reviews, they are all correct, terrible steering, too much roadnoise, SLOW. 201 hp in with a 5 speed auto?? NOT A PREMIUM CAR. Cheap leather on the seats, plastic door handles. The best feature, SAFETY, I crashed mine at about 45 mph and it kept me safe, maybe it was the cars way of apologizing for the utter failure this car was? Totaled and it was the best thing I ever did, sad to say. Acura and Honda need to get it together. I was a loyal fan of them, not after this and my RSX.

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  When it works its great! - 2010 Acura TL
  By lankysean - December 26 - 6:10 pm

  So I bought this car as a certified pre-owned 3 months ago and it broke down on Friday. At first the car wouldnt start but then when I did get it going I had no power breaks, power windows, or power steering and to top it off the car wouldnt turn off once I got it going. The loaner car they gave me (another TL) also has it fair share of problems. The air bag warnings keep coming on and when I picked it up 3 tires where under 20psi, etc.. Anyway, besides the reliability issues the car is very comfy, has plenty of power and is visually appealing.

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  poor suspension - lacking standard features - 2013 Acura RDX
  By garrett10 - December 24 - 8:12 am

  I own a 2013 RDX . Ordered to get model and colors, have no need for navigation. If considering this car make sure to take an extended test drive and check to make sure the features you normally expect are there. I have owned over 50 autos and this is the worst mistake Ive made since the Oldsmobile diesel. Ride is fine on highway if you dont encounter pot holes, small bumps or rough pavement. Even crawling over a speed bump makes the front suspension sound as if its coming apart. Embarrassing if you have passengers as they will think something is broken. The front passenger seat has no "up" adjustment. My wife hates riding "in the hole". Uses cushion!, in Hondas premium brand?.

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  Drove 10 miles, warning lights came on - 2013 Acura RDX
  By grishabm - December 22 - 12:48 am

  Purchased brand new RDX 2013, 10 miles down the road check VSA, check AWD, check power steering, and other warning lights started flashing. After stopping and restarting car light went off. Came back on a week later, could not accelerate > 40 mph without car automatically braking. Dealer replaced left wheel sensor, no more problems yet, but have lost faith. Asked dealer for free all weather mats for my trouble / inconvience but they would do nothing for me.