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:

• 

  excellent vehicle - 2003 Acura MDX
  By vinnie - January 16 - 2:00 am

  SLAM DUNK FOR ACURA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

• 

  Another great car!! - 2005 Acura TSX
  By charlesKC0319 - January 15 - 7:06 pm

  Our ownership of Honda products started back in 1988. After three Accords later, I must say this is one of the best from Honda. Interior, fit and finish, handling, the exterior design is all there plus some more. Cant wait to drive it in the morning everyday to work.

• 

  2017 RDX with technology pkg - 2017 Acura RDX
  By Sharat Patro - January 15 - 2:00 pm

  It turned out to be just an OK SUV. The fit and finish is not in par with other luxury vehicles of the same category. There seems to be some rattling and squeak issues. So far I have put about 2500 miles mostly highway. Gives decent mileage for a V6 engine.

• 

  First Acura purchase - 2005 Acura MDX
  By dan - January 15 - 1:36 pm

  Traded a 2003 LS 430 for this vehicle in order to secure the third row of seating. Ride not up to Lexus standards; however, all other features measure up and the value in relation to the SUVs from Lexus provided the decision to go with this vehicle.

• 

  Not quite the quality I expected... - 2004 Acura TL
  By kruseman - January 15 - 12:30 pm

  Ive had my TL for 8 months and have had it in twice for front end vibration at speeds over 45mph (still not resolved, plan a 3rd try at 15k miles). Other problems: CD player replaced (ate CD) and engine hesitates on quick acceleration. Liked the features and power but in addition to above, had a number of interior rattles and leather seats are wearing quickly. Lacking the quality of the Lexus ES300 I traded in.

• 

  Luxury Sedan Under 35K - 2005 Acura TL
  By Louie - January 15 - 8:56 am

  I purchased my 2005 Acura TL three days ago. It took me a month to do research, comparison and test drive and I came to my final conclusion. This car has all the standard features you wanted in a Luxury sedan. The Acura TL was very stable on high speed an has an endless list of standard features.

• 

  Faulty trans.... - 2001 Acura TL
  By Somewhere in TX - January 15 - 2:00 am

  After two replacements, they should get it right. They havent. Im sad to say that I wont buy another. Im also sad b/c I love EVERYTHING else about this car. But, I also like it when my transmission doesnt drop when Im getting on freeways.

• 

  Close to Excellent - 2002 Acura RSX
  By Scott RSX - January 15 - 2:00 am

  +fuel economy-I really am getting 33mpg on the highways@70mph +fun to drive-excellent pick up for a four cylinder +multi click drivers side window to go all the way up or all the way down-very handy for paying tolls and for parking lots -The turning radius seems large, so getting out a parking spot requires alot of steering wheel movement -bucket seats are not that well padded Minor defects: The drivers side map light was sticking, my dealership replaced it for free, and then noticed that after a month of driving, the bucket seat cloth was being pulled from its seams. They fixed that too without any cost.

• 

  Great machine - 2005 Acura TL
  By Byron - January 14 - 9:06 am

  This car is competitive against BMW 325 and 525. The car looks better than both of them, is quicker than both of them and at top end faster than both. This car is much more responsive in acceleration than either BMWs and a hell of lot more comfortable. The TL is also a better deal for your money coming in a lot cheaper than the 525. During the summer, I live in WV and the mountain roads I drive on are easily taken on by this car.

• 

  Comfortable Ride with Tech Pkg to Make Geeks Happy - 2016 Acura RDX
  By Ralph Smith - January 14 - 8:58 am

  I bought this car because the ride is quiet, the acceleration is excellent, the ride is comfortable, it has a very good safety rating and safety technology is state of the art. I also liked the Acuras reputation for reliability. I enjoy a good sound system and the RDX with the Advance package is among the best I have heard in a car. We drive a lot of miles each year on long vacation driving trips. Since the car is also used around town, the smaller size of this SUV is convenient as it rides well on a trip but also easy to park in a city. There have been a couple of surprises. While I knew the car had great safety features, I had not really experienced the changes introduced to my life by this car until taking it on a trip shortly after buying the car. The surprise is that it requires changing how to drive in many respects and requires a new driver for this car to adjust to the technology. Specifically, the ability of the car to adjust its speed with the traffic. Dont misinterpret: I like the changes but on a busy interstate, one needs to pay attention to adjust to the changes. Cars and trucks pull in front of a car unexpectedly. The first time this happened, the Acura RDX slowed dramatically and automatically. I did not have to apply the brakes. Several days into this driving trip, I had adjusted and found myself becoming almost lackadaisical about this feature as the car almost adjusts itself. Driving is more relaxing. On a busy highway, I disabled the system though as the distance between my car and the next vehicle was long, even with the lowest setting, and occasionally a large number of cars would continually pull in front and constantly slow down our pace of driving. I did not like the feature of adjusting the steering when changing lanes or moving in traffic. I turned this feature off quickly. No doubt, I will try it again but doubt it will be useful or one that I will use with any regularity. I prefer to drive the car and change lanes as necessary without objection from the computer in the car. My biggest complaint in an otherwise excellent vehicle is the navigation system. I dont like it or how in integrates with the other system technology. The navigation systems in previous cars are much better. The Acura system is not intuitive or designed with the driver or consumer in mind. It works with the voice control but the list of possible commands is long and ignores some of the most common features available on other vehicles. I still do not know if I can send instructions to the car to follow a route I have created on the computer. The Acura site indicates I can do this. The salesman who sold us the car said he had never heard of that feature. A system like this works well on a Mercedes that I own. The manual is silent on on how to do it. The website offers no advice. I do not mind making a call with Acuralink to enter the destination but would prefer to map it out myself to select my own routes. The ability to use the smartphone with the Acuras system is an excellent innovation. I also like being able to stream a podcast or Pandora through the stereo system. Sirius XM generally works well with the Acura although the traffic and weather features do not integrate with the RDX. We used those features extensively with a 2012 Murano and this lack of integration is a significant failing of a luxury SUV. There is weather and traffic information on the RDX, it is not up to Sirius. Unfortunately, the navigation system operates in its own universe. The voice system giving directions cannot be heard clearly while sound is coming through these other systems. Instead, the systems yammers away incessantly with turns and directions while leaving the stereo system as a higher volume. Moreover, attempts to turn down the navigation system with the voice controls apparently cannot be done. At least I have not found a way to do this or to find in the documentation how it can be done. In my older Murano, I was able to know when the next rest area was coming up as well as when the next exit was coming up. Not so in the Acura. Asking for rest areas results in a list of rest areas, some of which may be behind on the route being traveled or may be many miles ahead. The information is useless. One friend who bought an Acura said he gave up and bought a Garmin navigation system to use instead of the built in system. I now know how he felt and I am inclined to agree. The nav system in the RDX is a major disappointment. As a person who uses a system like this extensively on trips, I have already found using Google maps or Waze on my IPhone to be much more useful and easier to use. With an MSRP of $45,000 for this luxury SUV, I expected much better. Moreover, the Acura salesman was not well versed in how to use the system so learning how to use it has been largely trial and error and stopping occasionally to check the manual to see if we missed something that would make it more useful.