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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  Great Value - 2003 Acura CL
  By frankie-z - May 16 - 2:00 am

  Excellent horsepower. Fun to drive. Great value for 30K. Low maintenance cost. Hadnt had problems with rattling or transmission in 3 years.

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  With a lot of Vigor! - 1994 Acura Vigor
  By UStifosi - May 15 - 2:00 am

  Excellent value. 6 cylinder performance with the economy and maint of a 4 cylinder. Very reliable. Dealer parts are expensive. The auto trans is as smooth as anything on the planet.

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  Love my X - 2002 Acura MDX
  By Caroline - May 15 - 2:00 am

  I have fallen in love with a car/ suv. So far I have driven through 3 snowstorms with out any fear, and driven to Florida twice. And, if someone wants to go somewhere, I volunteer to drive them. Handles like a dream, has great pickup, there is a great feeling of safety and control.

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  Love my X - 2002 Acura MDX
  By caroline - May 15 - 2:00 am

  I have fallen in love with a car/ suv. So far I have driven through 3 snowstorms with out any fear, and driven to Florida twice. And, if someone wants to go somewhere, I volunteer to drive them. Handles like a dream, has great pickup, there is a great feeling of safety and control.

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  my integra - 1995 Acura Integra
  By freazer - May 14 - 2:00 am

  good engine, and good handling, but also a little bit oversteering.

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  Best Car Ive ever owned - 1994 Acura Legend
  By DMB5403 - May 14 - 2:00 am

  When I purchased my Legend, new in 1994, I never thought Id still own it in 2003. I love this car! It has never had any problems, and is still fun to drive. I started looking at new cars in 2000, just because Ive always gotten a new car every 5-6 years, but I have yet to find a car that drives and looks as good as my ( now old) Legend Coupe. I may drive this car forever--- it sure seems like it will run forever.

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  DREAM CAR - 1991 Acura Legend
  By Therdsak - May 14 - 2:00 am

  One of the cars that was ahead of its time. Even today the car looks great and still looks better than most cars today. Has everything a person could possibly want. Mine even has a center console cupholder.

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  Mixed emotions - 2007 Acura TL
  By Paul P - May 13 - 9:36 pm

  Fun to drive but does not go well in snow. Great looking interior and very comfortable. The Bluetooth is very inaccurate and extremely frustrating. Any noise in the car (i.e. fan or highway) throws off the voice activation of the Bluetooth. No dummy light for washer fluid. Cigarette lighter too close to the transmission stick. DVD stereo is nice but only DVD music works and there are very few of those and they wont work on regular CD players. Tire pressure indicator goes on in cold weather. I had planned to keep this three years, but Im going to trade it in before hand. Even though I am a Honda fan, our Toyota Sienna handles the detail much better than my Acura TL. I wont buy another.

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  2.3 CL 1998 - 1998 Acura CL
  By docmaller - May 13 - 2:00 am

  Great combination of elegance, comfort, sporty performance and economy. Extremely reliable. Gets over 400 miles on a tank of gas on the open road, and honest 31 mpg, and at least 23 in the city.

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  Not happy - 2003 Acura CL
  By nolec5 - May 13 - 2:00 am

  Have had the car since October of 2001 and have had the transmission replaced twice. Plenty of rattles. If I knew the car rattled this bad, I would have kept my Pontiac GTP. Looking to trade in very soon.