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, but you get what you pay 4 - 2001 Acura CL
  By BrianV - January 7 - 2:00 am

  Bought this car new with navigation. Front seats are sporty but get uncomfortable after long trips. Back seat has lots of legroom but the seats arent comfortable at all. Exhaust note is nice. Bose stereo is pretty bad for a Bose (no highs, no lows, it must be Bose really is true here). 5spd gearing is good, but the actual transmission is quite bad. It doesnt shift smootly at all, and there is major lags on the manumatic mode. Interior build quality needs attention, this thing rattles and it wasnt even a year old.

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  Fair rating - 2002 Acura RSX
  By n8236 - January 6 - 3:40 pm

  Being 01 as its first production year, its got a few bugs. But it is nothing to lose sleep over. Most of these are just minor little complaints you would have. Honda = reliablity. Overall this car is great. If youre a perfectionist when buying a car, buy the 2nd or 3rd production year ones.

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  mdx is the best suv on the planet!!!11 - 2003 Acura MDX
  By mdxlover - January 6 - 10:00 am

  this is the best allround suv ever produced, it has refinement, comfort, luxury, power, a great sound system, four wheel drive system, and is great in almost every category imaginable.

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  Acura MDX Performance Review - 2003 Acura MDX
  By StarItalian - January 6 - 10:00 am

  With the exception of the low gas mileage (14.6 mpg), I have only favorable comments about this vehicle.

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  great suv - 2003 Acura MDX
  By michele malik - January 6 - 10:00 am

  the acura mdx is a very good car. it has only been with me for about two months, but i am very pleased with this vehicle. it is a great buy for suv lovers.

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  Lots of bang for your buck... - 2003 Acura TL
  By roymccoy - January 6 - 10:00 am

  We have had our 2003 TL-SType w/navigation for about a month and we love the car. Fast, fuel efficient and more technology inside then our airplane. (Im not kidding) Pros: Snappy, fuel efficient, technology loaded, comfy seats, big trunk, lots of storage places, could never own a car without the navigation system again! Lots for your money, nicer than my BMW 328i. Cons: Never really liked the Acura body styling, too much wind noise at freeway speeds, why cant a $35,000 car have automatic headlights? Bose sound system is just okay, air-conditioner is hard to get set just right...not enough vents in the front.

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  Best in show! - 2005 Acura TL
  By nclaw - January 5 - 11:26 pm

  fantastic car! I like it more today than the day that I bought it.

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  GREAT CAR!!!!! - 1999 Acura CL
  By XCLUSIVE - January 5 - 2:00 am

  This car is great and fun to drive.

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  RSX Rocks - 2002 Acura RSX
  By BriRSX - January 4 - 10:53 pm

  Great car cant say more about it

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  93 NSX review - 1993 Acura NSX
  By Dale Peterson - January 4 - 2:00 am

  Bought vehicle used with 112000 miles on it. Car was like new in every respect. Everything works perfectly. Driving is really fun and comfortable.This car gets lots of attention. Corvettes are too common.As a bonus it is very reliable and gets good gas milage. Dale