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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  The Compromise - 2003 Acura TL
  By Jim6090 - December 10 - 2:00 am

  What a compromise. I love VW Passats, but my wife wanted smooth and RELIABLE!! This baby is smooth and powerful. I bought the car as a compromise with my wife. SHE was right, I did not admit this to her. This is a GREAT car. So much car for a reasonable price. I have driven them all and this is the best!!!!!

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  wow - 1994 Acura Integra
  By weggie - December 9 - 2:00 am

  this car has it all nothing more

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  Keeps Going and Going! - 1991 Acura Integra
  By gbb - December 9 - 2:00 am

  When my wife approached me in 1993 about purchasing a used 91 GS, I told her why waste money on an overpriced honda.....9 years and 223K miles later she cannot keep me out of it...In the family, we still have the 91 as well as a 98 3.0 CL and a 99 GSR..smile smile smile

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  Little Rock - 2005 Acura TL
  By Lee - December 8 - 6:13 am

  very reliable, comfortable and fun to drive

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  Great car! - 1990 Acura Integra
  By db88 - December 8 - 2:00 am

  I had my Integra for 8 years and when I sold it it was just as good as when the I bought it. I put over 170,000 miles on my Itegra it ran great to the day I sold it. It only broke down on me once. After I sold the Integra I bought a 1993 Honda Prelude also a wonderful car. Sadly thought I only had it for about 3 Months and somebody ran into the passenger side and bent the frame and toltaled the car.

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  Best car I have ever owned - 2003 Acura RL
  By Mike in Jacksonville - December 8 - 2:00 am

  This is by far the best car that I have ever owned. I love it and look forward to driving to work every morning.

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  Great car to drive - 2004 Acura TSX
  By Aka - December 7 - 10:00 am

  I bought this car less than 2 weeks ago,ever since the moment I drove it away from the dealership, it has been performing very well. Everything is easy to use and pretty much self explanatory. I love both exterior and interior. Its definitely one sharp car.

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  Acura TL - 2005 Acura TL
  By Dan - December 7 - 3:23 am

  A lot of car for the money. Sporty and comfortable at the same time. Only had to do oil changes the first 6 months. The dealership was a joy to work with.

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  Pretty good car - 2001 Acura CL
  By dfettner@sbcglobal.n - December 7 - 2:00 am

  Its a very good car. Fuel economy is not great. But the quality is very good. The engine is smooth and powerful. The ride is very smooth. The features are great.

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  I love my new 2016 Acura ILX - 2016 Acura ILX
  By Steven Rosengren - December 6 - 2:57 pm

  I ended up trading in my 2016 Acura ILX after owning it for only 3 months. There was a brake defect where the brakes kept squeaking and after the rotors were replaced once and pads twice, the issue came back. I think a recall will come at some point, but I was not going to wait because I was very disappointed. The other Acuras I have owned have been great, I was very surprised that this car was released with this issue. I traded it for a Mazda CX-3 and it is more fun to drive and and feels more powerful then the Acura. The other issue with the Acura I noticed was the engine hum, it actually bothered my ears when I had the windows open. The 2014 Acura ILX I had I liked better overall after owning this one for 3 months. Before purchasing ask the dealership to give you one of their loaner cars that has a few miles on it and make sure you like driving it in everyday driving. I would recommend buying a used 2013-2015 ILX instead. Or a Mazda 3, I think the Mazda 3 GT would be more fun to drive everyday than the Acura.