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:

• 

  10 years and kicking! - 1994 Acura Integra
  By Acura Lover - March 28 - 2:00 am

  Ive had mine for 10 years this September and it has been the best car. It has never failed to crank up the first time and has only been in the shop for scheduled maintenance and oil changes. I highly recommend this reliable and fun car.

• 

  True Sport/Luxury - 1992 Acura Legend
  By Kalistrat - March 28 - 2:00 am

  When you drive this car it is difficult to believe that it was actually made eleven years ago. This how quality should be tested. After 11 years the car has not had any major repairs and we saved thousands on unnecessary maintenance. When you sit in this car you feel that you are in a german luxury sedan. The handling is perfect, and at the stop light this car beats many of the new sports vehicles. When you accelerate you always feel like there is some reserve power left.

• 

  The Best Luxury Sedan!!!! - 1999 Acura TL
  By TL4life - March 27 - 2:00 am

  I bought mine used with 70K miles on it, but it still look NEW!!! It runs great with all the luxury features and conveniences without the luxury prices of those German counterparts! You cant go wrong with Acura quality and built!!!

• 

  RSX is Fun to drive! - 2002 Acura RSX
  By Kurisu - March 26 - 11:03 am

  RSX is Fun to drive!

• 

  Perfect SUV - 2004 Acura MDX
  By Zoeyleigh - March 26 - 2:00 am

  Love this car! Great to drive, hugs the road well. Roomy enough inside for kids,dogs and luggage. Fun to drive and sporty looking.

• 

  Great Car - 2004 Acura TL
  By bj jones - March 26 - 2:00 am

  Quick and quiet and very comfortable. After many hours of research over two months, I determined that the two best cars for the money by far in the $32k-40k range were the G35 and the Acura TL. The Acura is loaded with standard features and I prefer the FWD for slick roads. I drove both of them & bought the TL because Acura depreciates less, has lower maintenance costs, and has a better safety rating than Infiniti

• 

  Fun! - 1998 Acura Integra
  By Gilmour93 - March 25 - 2:00 am

  I got my GS-R new in 98 and drove it happily for 4 years. So much fun to drive. My only real complaint is that it was starting to fall apart when I ditched it. Manifold was rattling, master power window switch broke, rear washer fluid dispenser broken. Also, job 1 is to scrap the factory tires.

• 

  2000 ACURA RL REVIEW-W/ NAG SYS - 2001 Acura RL
  By MIKER - March 24 - 2:00 am

  To make this short this is one sweet auto. The refined ride, controls access, view of the road, adaptable seat position, and fit and finish are better than cars costing much more. I bought this one used but it feels, smells, and acts like new. The navigations system is pretty good but all computer programs have there inherent weaknesses unless you design it yourself for your own likes. My home street address is not in the database yet I still got good computer tracking one street away

• 

  Excellent Value & Car - 2005 Acura TSX
  By kim, philly - March 21 - 5:33 am

  I previously had a 3.2 TL, 6 cylinder w/NAVI. Well, I didnt think I would be able to go from a 6 cylinder to a 4 cylinder. There is really not much difference at all...a few seconds to reach 60 mph. But, dont know about you, but I really dont need to get to 60 mph or above in record time. So, for a great car with lots of goodies, digital displays, luxurious interior and extremely fun to drive, its definitely worth a test run! Good luck and happy (safe) driving!

• 

  Big - 1996 Acura SLX
  By Kristeen Fitts - March 21 - 2:00 am

  I love the size of this SUV. Lots of storage space in the back and lots of headroom. The back seat is large enough for three carseats!