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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  What a car! - 1994 Acura Integra
  By jfleck - October 10 - 2:00 am

  My Integra is the best car I have ever owned. I bought it 5 years ago and I have had no unscheduled repairs. I now have 103000 miles and it runs like the day I bought it. I plan on passing it on to my 16 year old daughter so she can enjoy it for many years to come.

• 

  Great Long-Term Car - 1990 Acura Legend
  By Homie-D - October 10 - 2:00 am

  2nd Acura Legend Owned. Bought at 100k. Great mechanical engine with only minor repairs till 200k. Car is 13 yrs old now - so things are finally needing repair - A/C / brakes / etc... BUT - no major engine or transmission troubles. Leather seats are severly cracked. Have know other Legends to run upwards of 300k miles. At 13 years old - can expect to have some repairs - but happy they are not huge $s.

• 

  good decision - 2003 Acura MDX
  By elcuban - October 10 - 2:00 am

  after been trying diferents SUVs that was the the best decision,looks a superfast vehicule ,i only have 300,its a lot of fun.the navigation sistem is great.all the instrument are excellent,comfort,stabiliy are excellent. thanks

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  First Acura - mixed feelings - 2016 Acura RDX
  By WSD - October 9 - 9:50 pm

  the good stuff - overall a very nice ride. Good safety tech, stereo, looks and power. Stable at speed and good mid range power. Lane departure warning and adaptive cruise control are a great feature. Looks are very good. Stereo sounds very good. Seats are excellent, heated and cooled. dual zone climate control. Several of the electronic features are very helpful. The not so great stuff - Transmission hunts a bit at low speeds on occasion, the nav system is a pain trying to use voice recognition to get a location. Still cant figure out how to just enter an address manually. Mileage is not as good as I had hoped but, mostly city driving so far so may improve. It came down to this and a Lincoln MKC with 2.3 turbo. the Lincoln was faster and more luxurious but, went with the Acura for better resale value.

• 

  I miss my CRV - 2016 Acura RDX
  By Prissy - October 9 - 5:25 am

  I like the base RDX, but I am gassing every week, when the CRV was every other week. Its an expensive car that requires expensive up keep. I drive the same miles everyday, actually I am driving 4 miles less since I bought the RDX. I told my husband I was keeping this car, but I think I am definitely going back to Honda CRV.

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  my first car - 1994 Acura Legend
  By JDM 808 - October 9 - 2:00 am

  this is my first car for me, i bought it with 128,000 miles on it. about 2 weeks later, the water pump wont out (common for that much miles). i tested it out 1/4 mile and it ran a 16.291 (btw: its an automatic) with one mod to it, the performance chip and the top speed ive reached was 120.

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  ACURA stands for AWESOME - 1999 Acura CL
  By Jarek - October 9 - 2:00 am

  I bought this car about 6 months ago and i just love it. i look forward to driving it every morning. i just cant get bored of it. excellent equipment (sound system and all leather standard) and lots and lots of power. the best part is i only paid $12k for a 1999 CL3.0 with 24,000 miles. also i have no problem with the turning radius.

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  2004 tl - 2004 Acura TL
  By tmh - October 8 - 10:00 am

  Fun to drive whether its local roads or interstate. Great stereo. Perfer driving TL over other car(2004 330XI). Acceleration is smooth and strong. Interior noise level is minimal at low and high speeds. Engine quiet until you run hard. During hard acceleration car has a nice rumble. Torque thrust is no big deal. Riders in back seat are pleased with comfort, leg room.

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  My TL is AWESOME - 2004 Acura TL
  By Sonnie - October 8 - 10:00 am

  Cant find anything wrong with my TL - Its the best car ...

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  MDX Touring with NAV - 2002 Acura MDX
  By RCTANNING - October 7 - 2:00 am

  We researched, and test drove them all. The MDX on our first trip was a dream to drive. The car type ride, performance ,luxury feel, full size, and egonomics sold us. 26 MPG freeway driving. I and friends strongly recommend it.