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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  Acura TL-S - 2002 Acura TL
  By L pelletier - September 19 - 2:00 am

  Have owned a multitude of cars. This is the best vehicle I have owned in 40 years.

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  Very satisfying - 2003 Acura MDX
  By TGrover - September 19 - 2:00 am

  Truly an all around pleasurable vehicle. It works well as an executive commuter, but surprisingly, comfortably holds six more people for family outings. Give it a curvey road and you can have a very good time, and not be punished by a stiff truck-like suspension. But when the roads get slippery, the grip is very confidence inspiring. Truly the best all around, good at everything vehicle I have ever driven.

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  best Suv we bought ever - 2003 Acura MDX
  By asmdpa - September 19 - 2:00 am

  we have only 3000 miles on our 2003 touring MDX and we already love it. This is our third SUV and we had best dealership experience so far. Mdx is powerful, reliable in bad weather and we give it a 10

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  Try it and You will buy it! - 2003 Acura MDX
  By Debi & Ira Weiss - September 19 - 2:00 am

  Previous to test driving this SUV my husband and I sat across from one at a red light and he said he did not like it, while test driving the BMW SUV (along with 8 other manufactures. The salesperson recommended this for our needs of our family, by that night my husband had a new love. Almost 1 year later and we feel that it was one of our best purchases. It has been a real pleasure.

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  Surprised... - 2003 Acura MDX
  By Michael Anderson - September 19 - 2:00 am

  Im a former RL owner, and was pleasently surprised that the MDX offeres all the creature comforts of the RL, with the Storage capacity of a truck. The ride is better than that of the RL in my opinion, probably due to the improved suspension system.

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  Buy it for quality and relibilty - 1999 Acura RL
  By Acura J - September 18 - 2:00 am

  I purchased the RL after researching all luxury Japanesse brands. Reliable, fun to drive, comfortable, and the price was right at $22 K with only 20 K mileage.

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  Fits like a glove - 2003 Acura NSX
  By NSX man - September 18 - 2:00 am

  This care feels like it was custom built for me. It is the most comfortable,responsive, and powerful car I have ever owned. The ergonomics are excellent and the controls are intuitive and accessible. The 6-speed is a delight, the Bose stereo is excellent, and driving topless is the ultimate thrill. If you are between 5- 6" and 5-9" tall, there is no other better street legal race car available.

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  This Car has no limits - 2000 Acura Integra
  By James Stewart - September 18 - 2:00 am

  I bought my gsr over my old civic ex, which was tuned well, and qiuckly found the Gsr Dohc Vtec could get the job done. The stock suspension is good but can become great. Ive done about 10 small performance improvement and this car is cranking 219 aftermarket HP.

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  Grown ups Integra - 2002 Acura RSX
  By trishlj - September 18 - 2:00 am

  Ive had two Integras and this car by far is the quietest as far as road noise goes. Better handling, killer brakes, short clutch. You cannot find a nicer car for 20K with the features and reliability.

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  Great Car - 2005 Acura TL
  By Brandt - September 17 - 6:56 pm

  Overall this is a great car. Fun to drive, powerful, plenty of standard features and excellent design inside and out. I fell in love with this car the first time I passed one on the road. After lusting 1 1/2 years I finally made my purchase. A pleasure to drive.