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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  Best SUV yet - 2003 Acura MDX
  By Bobkes - September 25 - 2:00 am

  This Acura is the third suv I have owned, after driving a 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee, and a 1997 Nissan Pathfinder. It is the best yet. Drives and handles like a car with no skittishness in the corners, with wide comfortable seats, good head room, and a comfortable driving position. Plenty of power when you need it, and great in snow. other than gravel trails. Feel it is the best Suv out there now, others are too small, too trucklike, or too expensive for what you get.Small peeve, picked up a couple of parking lot door dings because of no side moulding protection, metal dents easily. Good ride so far, will see how it does after some more miles.

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  MDX - good but not great - 2003 Acura MDX
  By amarlow - September 25 - 2:00 am

  Bought MDX about 6 weeks ago. Really like it except that I find the drivers seat very uncomfortable (too firm) and there is an annoying rattle that I need to take back to dealer to fix. Looked at many SUVs and thought this was the whole package.

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  My 2003 MDX SS/S Navi Review - 2003 Acura MDX
  By vcolangelo - September 24 - 10:00 am

  The good news is the MDX is built by Honda and its build quality, ride, quiet cabin and overall look and feel are well above anything experienced with any of my previous GM, Jeep and Ford SUVs . The bad news is the MDX is serviced by Honda. If Honda could learn how to service their their luxury Acura line like Toyota did with Lexus, it would be perfect. I love my MDX, but I love the service my wife gets with her less expensive Lexus GS more. Common Acura owner service complaints include: no free pick up and delivery service; no free loaner; and, no feeling that theres a service person at Acura who really takes an interest in your car.

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  great buy - 2003 Acura TL
  By ll - September 24 - 10:00 am

  the s no skid feature is awesome on snow,the car is fast and my teenage daughter thinks it is cool enough to drive. Great mileage 29 on the highway, city/highway 24mpg. Dont get the the gray interior molding looks sickly. Very happy with car, people think it is an 8 cyclinder, it moves.

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  Should have kept my old car!!!!! - 2002 Acura RSX
  By CARFREAK - September 24 - 2:00 am

  Great Looking Car, but thats it! If you do alot of driving dont consider this car. I had experience knee problems while driving this car for more than 2hrs, due to the sporty seats sitting too low inside the car, This car was only bulit for the DRAG STRIP. (short distance travel)

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  The best - 2003 Acura RSX
  By dadadada - September 23 - 2:00 am

  It is the coolest car ever.

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  Stitch - 2003 Acura MDX
  By vncjj - September 23 - 2:00 am

  Good Great Fuel Ecocomy To Buy

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  BetterthanBMWreliabilty - 2005 Acura TL
  By domingo Martine - September 22 - 2:10 pm

  This car is an absolute beauty. I test drove it 5 times (manual transmission) and simply could not it off my mind. My acura is reliable, a real beauty-> almost feels Italian, very fasssst and the 6spd is simply out of this world... so what if you have a bit of torque steer...Take this baby out for a spinnn, double clutch 5-> 3rd, not a single complaint.

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  Thumbs up for my MDX! - 2005 Acura MDX
  By DebO - September 22 - 1:53 pm

  I was deciding between the MDX and the Lexus RX 330. All the reviews, including Edmunds, seem to view the MDX as more utilitarian and less "desirable" than the RX. Well, thankfully I didnt listen--I bought the MDX and I absolutely love it. Im so glad I decided to test drive the MDX. Fuel economy is a little less than I expected in the summer, but a small price to pay for such an awesome SUV.

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  I think I got a steal - 2003 Acura CL
  By erich - September 22 - 2:00 am

  I had been eyeing the CLS for about 3 months so I checked out ebay for used 2001s. I put a bid on a 2003 for the hell of it and settled outside of ebay for 20k! The car has 18k on it and is in pristine condition inside and out. I was expecting something to be wrong with it when it got to my door, but wow, was I surprised. Im glad I didnt go for the 2001 and if this guy wants to sell any others at that price I will let you guys know!!