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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  1994 Acura Vigor - 1994 Acura Vigor
  By shriner - July 9 - 2:00 am

  This is the best car Ive owned. Not a single problem, and I now have over 87,000 miles. Extremely comfortable and very attractive.

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  Great Car! - 1997 Acura Integra
  By Nick Ayles - July 8 - 2:00 am

  Great car I would perfer nothing less. I have wanted one of these for quite sometime and funally I have gotten my baby!

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  Its a Perfect 10 - 2001 Acura MDX
  By Dinah - July 8 - 2:00 am

  Long or short trips, this car is so comfortable, whether driving or just riding. We like it so well, we are buying another new one.

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  No SUV for Me! - 2003 Acura CL
  By Dr.Citrus - July 8 - 2:00 am

  Time for a new car. I thought briefly of adding still another SUV to the roads. Then I remembered that I really did love to drive once upon a time. The Acura CL is a fast, fine handling car with excellent fit and finish. The styling is not exceptional, but the engineering definitely is. Convenience items like mirror defroster, seat heaters and plenty of concealed storage are welcome. My hockey sticks fit through the (unfortunately small opening from the trunk to the rear seats. Controls are logical and well placed. The AC is effective (though whiney at times).

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  Love this MDX - 2002 Acura MDX
  By sdf97215 - July 8 - 2:00 am

  I have been looking for a replacement vehicle for my 95 Subaru Legacy for 2 years. Nothing turned me on til I tried out the Acura MDX. It was comfortable for me right off the bat. I ended up purchasing a 8 month old MDX instead of a new one. It has the Navigation system which is neat but not a requirment. This vehicle is a great car but does lack some of the luxury refinements that you would find in upscale vehicles such as the Lexus, BMW, etc.

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  rsx - dream to drive - 2002 Acura RSX
  By ShadowRSX - July 8 - 1:26 am

  What can i say -- ive had mine since October -- and i still love to drive it around! Well worth the monthly payments ;-)

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  One Smooth Ride - 2007 Acura TL
  By stillhere153 - July 8 - 12:56 am

  So I picked up my Type S about 12 hours before writing this review, boy it is one thing of beauty, I got the Blackhawk with the taupe interior, a thing of beauty, the paddle shifters are way better than shifting manually and they are very precise. I went from a 2005 Nissan 350z to this sweet ride and it was well worth it. I am getting used to the luxury of having a backup camera and the navigation is a joy. Even though I live in New York City, I dont plan on getting lost much any longer. Well overall I give it a 9.99 out of 10. Hope this helps, ps. go for the 2 tone interior, it looks cool too.

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  Integras last long time - 1991 Acura Integra
  By hinomura - July 7 - 2:00 am

  This is the first car Ive owned and Ive been miserly with maintenance. Oil changes every 6K miles and timing belt changes every 75K miles. The only improvements I made were the K&N filters (air and oil) and this car runs like the day I bought it-- it scoots. It doesnt ask for much, but it delivers reliability and performance better than BMW or Mustang.

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  LOVE MY TEG! - 1991 Acura Integra
  By JOHN MAI - July 7 - 2:00 am

  I bought this car from my mom in 2000 after I talked her into buying a 2000 TL (great car). She had never had a single major problem with it and now Im enjoying the reliability of this wonderful machine. Ive done quite a few mods and am very impressed with the "unharnessed" power of this DOHC B18 engine. Im giving the car to my fiance because I dont have the heart to sell it. The best car Ive ever owned - hands down!

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  my 98 Teg - 1998 Acura Integra
  By spdracerchic - July 7 - 2:00 am

  i bought my 98 teg in dec. of 2000. i was in a total front in collsion, but the guy i got it from did a wonderful job redoing it. you cant even tell it was in a wreck. it does have a type R front bumper.the only thing about the car is the values starting ticking around 70k miles. and the insurance is high for a 20yr.old, but besides that it is a awesome car. i do race mine and it has alot of mods.