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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  One of my dream car - 1994 Acura Legend
  By KA7 GS - June 8 - 2:00 am

  This is my 5th used car i owned 1st-3rd was accord 1990,1991,1992 4th car was prelude VTEC 1993 now I drive Legend GS 1994 I bought it use this year at has 126000 on the odo but since the previous owner take care that car like a baby, it run smoothly from IL to NY in 13 hours. and doesnt give me any problem till now.

• 

  still satisfied - 1991 Acura Legend
  By mcw - June 8 - 2:00 am

  My car is now greater than 12 years old and i was curious about the newer cars. Well after shopping around nothing out there is tempting me to trade my car in.I guess that is a testiment to the quality of the car

• 

  Classy and reliable - 1998 Acura RL
  By Billacura - June 8 - 2:00 am

  This car has that quiet luxery and quality that makes it easy to live with year after year. Performance is more than sufficient and the transmission is flawless in it smooth shifts up or down. I have the navigator GPS system and will get it again in my next acura, which will be an RL or MDX. Drivers seat is the most confortable Ive ever used. And the seating in the back seat is very confortable as well. The guys at work are always wanting to go to lunch in this car, and remarking on how good this car look after 4 years. Its reliable and maintence is reasonable for a luxery car. The paint is superior to anything Ive seen.

• 

  2017 Acura RDX lemon - 2017 Acura RDX
  By Zohan - June 7 - 3:47 pm

  I have a 2017 Acura RDX and ever since 500-800 miles alignment issues, dash board noise , steering wheel noise , front brakes make noise. This is leased car and I dont have confidence that this is a great car with ongoing issues that dealer cant fix. Disappointed

• 

  Bad Transmission - 2003 Acura CL
  By BadTransmission - June 7 - 2:00 am

  All 3.2s have bad transmissions. When ours went bad they had the car for 30 days. So many transmissions were bad on the car throughout the country that there were no parts in the states to repair the car. The problem with the transmission has never been resolved. When your transmission goes bad (and it is a matter of when not if) you receive a rebuilt transmission that has already gone bad and been "repaired". Rather than recall the car and remedy the problem, Acura extended the warranty on the transmission to 7 years/70,000 miles. This warranty extensions hide the real problem. THIS CAR HAS A BAD TRANSMISSION AND IS NOT SAFE TO DRIVE.

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  I Want My Integra - 2002 Acura RSX
  By BelieveMeIveLooked - June 6 - 10:00 am

  Ive driven Integras for 13 years so I was excited when the RSX came out. On paper, I liked everything about it: gas mileage, features, etc. But, in person, the car is smaller than my 91 Integra--I felt like I was getting in a coffin. Im only 5-10 and 160 so dont think its my size. Good performance, but I just couldnt get over how much I longed for my Integra.

• 

  ok - 2003 Acura TL
  By vjgvdj - June 6 - 10:00 am

  this was only okay for 31k. i wish i got the avolon by toyota. overall it is okay.

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  Nice for Price - 2001 Acura CL
  By Kobe - June 6 - 2:00 am

  Really like the performance of this vehicle and the styling is far superior to earlier CLs. I am coming up on end of 3 year lease and may actually buy it. Only issue is minor quality issues such as sunroof, radio and faulty indicator lights.

• 

  Love the Integra! - 1997 Acura Integra
  By MaryAlice - June 5 - 2:00 am

  If you are looking for an extremely reliable sedan, look no further than this car. Ive owned my car for 4 years & have never had to service it other than normal maintenance & new tires. This car is fun to drive and is fairly quiet on the highway (when the sunroof is closed) Open the sunroof & its a differant story. Other than that I give this car Highest Ratings!!!

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  After 7 years, an excellent car - 1996 Acura Integra
  By Madrid - June 5 - 2:00 am

  After 7 years Im about to sell my Integra and will definately miss it. This car is rather spartan in the interior (a disappointment when I bought it), but the engineering (engine, manual transmission and brakes, especially) are the best of any car, hands down. In the first few months we had to replace the drivers airbag and the sun roof got stuck, but since then its been near perfect. At 105,000 miles I recently had to replace the radiator (they use a cheaper plastic top as an original) and, incredibly, Im still on the original brake pads!! Unfortunately, Ive gotten too many tickets with this car and its time to move on.