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 without being overboard - 2001 Acura TL
  By sylvesr - February 7 - 2:00 am

  Vehicle is sound, comfortable, pleasant to drive, not too sporty. Great sound and navigation system. Had to replace rear wheel bearing at 20,000 miles! All repairs under excellent warranty. Some discoloration in airbag cover NOT handled well by dealership.

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  Acura Vigor, sporty sedan - 1994 Acura Vigor
  By RezzasVTEC - February 6 - 2:00 am

  I bought my Vigor because it was an Acura (Ive dealt with 4 honda/acuras in the past, and know that they are very reliable), it was a stylish design, and it was lady-owned with many reciepts. The g25a inline 5 cylinder is great! Its a little more of a high reving car (peak HP is at 6500 rpms), but the engine is soooo smooth. I added a RActive filter and I can feel more bottom end torque, better top speed, and the best part, a mean, deep throttle growl. DONT DOUBT THE I5, GET A VIGOR, IT WONT DO YOU WRONG!

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  Great Car - 1991 Acura Legend
  By wpman06 - February 6 - 2:00 am

  This car is amazing, for a 13 year old car it has pleanty of pep. The is smooth. For a 13 year old car inside has held up very well. Very comfordable seats. Gas mileage not so good about 15 mpg.

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  Acura CL - 2002 Acura CL
  By perantoni00 - February 6 - 2:00 am

  Best car Ive ever owned

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  Boy am I sorry I bought this lemon! - 2003 Acura MDX
  By MelMel - February 6 - 2:00 am

  Theres alot to love about this car- wonderful ride, its really comfortable, nimble, handles like a sports car & has TONS of space. I could quibble about little things like the faux wood trim or the miniscule cup holder, or that the heated seats can suddenly get REALLY hot but the real problem w/this car is that I had tons of problems in the first few months. The window up/down thingy has been replaced THREE times & still doesnt work. Theres a rattling problem that took the service dept a couple of trips to fix & another rattling thing they CANT fix. All this on a relatively new car-wish Id bought a Lexus or Infiniti!

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  Great but not without flaws - 1998 Acura TL
  By kwle04 - February 5 - 2:00 am

  Handling is precise and predictable, a sure mark of quality craftsmanship. Not like BMW, but has tight riding - you can feel the contour of road surface in a well tamed manner. Surprizingly reliable driving and traction in various inclement weather conditions - A+. If you make sure that air filter, spark plugs, and engine oil are clean, then you will be surprised with its mileage. Mine has 115,000 miles on it, and drives about 27 miles per gallon faithfully on highway with some inner city driving combined. Today it recorded 27.4miles/gallon on my trip to Richmond. Not too bad at all for such a heavy machine! Definitely a nice bang for the bucks.

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  Excellent Value - 2004 Acura RL
  By safety - February 5 - 2:00 am

  The Acura RL possesses an excellent trim and an almost perfect exterior finish. The car has been extremly reliable.

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  Best bang for the buck - 2006 Acura TSX
  By Justin - February 4 - 2:03 am

  Looked at A4, A3, Jetta 2.0T and IS250. This is the best one overall and best value. Oh, and yeah, do get the navigation.

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  The Best! - 1999 Acura CL
  By Alenkacz - February 4 - 2:00 am

  The best most reliable car I have ever owned! Went through several domestics, Chryslers, Fords and then tried German VW. Same story in and out of the shop on a monthly basis. Five years and only oil and filter changes. Fun to drive and plenty of power, had it up to 120 and rock solid all the way. I hate to pull up to a stop light and see one or two of "My cars" sitting there, this will not happen in a CL. I live in Charlotte NC a fairly large city and see just a few around but mine is the only Milano Red with a deck spoiler, stands out in a crowd and still turns heads even after five years.

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  Dissapointed in Acura - 2001 Acura MDX
  By Randall69 - February 4 - 2:00 am

  I must have a lemon. The transmission had to be completely replaced after six months. The brakes are extremely noisy and make a consistant clunking sound every time you shift. Acura claims this isnt a safety issue and I agree. It is,however, annoying and loud and makes the vehicle sound cheap, which at $40,000 dollars,itis not. These experiences have provided a very disappointing experience, especially since this is an Acura. I got more reliability from an Explorer.