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:

• 

  my acura - 1990 Acura Integra
  By Espino - November 5 - 2:00 am

  fuel economy not good,horsepower not good.Interior needs to improve,needs better value of radio,paint is not of good quality.

• 

  Still Getting Asked How I Like It - 2001 Acura MDX
  By 2MINPINS - November 5 - 2:00 am

  I have owned many Honda cars and am so glad I returned to the Honda family. The solid build quality of the MDX makes it a comfortable pleasure to drive whether to and from work or on long trips. The vehicles performance many times lets me forget I am driving an SUV and not a sportscar.

• 

  be aware - 2000 Acura TL
  By johno - November 5 - 2:00 am

  my 3.2TL is 2 yrs, 9 mo. old with 63,000 miles - out of warranty... my transmission was fried... acura chaged me $800 and supplied a tranny free... have heard it said that acuras are having tranny problems - I know mine did... also, have a piece of paint flake off the front of the roof... finally, while under warranty I complained about the CD player not playing CDs I burned at home they said it must be the PCs fault... after the warraty ran out, it stopped playing at all - I had to get it repaired on my own - they said the laser was malfunctioning...

• 

  Poor quality control - 2004 Acura TL
  By fmahler2 - November 5 - 2:00 am

  When braking the car still down shifts hard. The poor quality control refers to the interior. We have owned many cars and this one had more rattles and noises coming from the headliner, and the center column, than all the cars we have ever owned. When taken in for service to try and fix the problem, we were always told they couldnt hear for find any problem. Needless to say we only kept the car for 5 months.

• 

  im a big fan! - 2004 Acura TL
  By goodkarma - November 5 - 2:00 am

  Went looking for a FWD car with a blend of luxury and sport and found it in the TL. Closest comparison for me was the G35x, but the interior (and features) of the TL was far superior and cost about $3k less. All the standard features (sunroof, leather, high end sound system, heated seats, hands free voice activated dialing, etc.) make buying this car a breeze.

• 

  I love this car - 2004 Acura TL
  By gtb - November 5 - 2:00 am

  Ive never had a car I loved, until now. The car for the price is the best deal you can get. (over LS 330 or BMW) I priced out an Audi A4 and to get the same options, youd have to pay over $5k more. No question, the nicest car Ive ever driven and that includes, the 745i, and a Mercedes 300 coupe. The front wheel drive hurts it against the competition, but living in the northest, I wont doing a lot of autobahn driving.

• 

  Plain Old TL? - 2005 Acura TL
  By Goldfinger - November 4 - 4:40 pm

  Absolutely Not.. This cars got enough fun power to make you feel 18 again. And you do... if you use the manual shift. Only improvement needed: Stiffer shock absorbers to handle high speeds.

• 

  Very Fun Car - 2002 Acura RSX
  By Dewboy - November 4 - 10:00 am

  Great Car, so nice in so many different categories. The interior is layed out beautifully, and at night the red lights are awesome. Some may not like them, but I LOVE them. Very Fast, defiantly get the Type S if you can afford the insurance, and want to have fun in it. The leather seats are A+++!

• 

  Practical Sports Car - 2002 Acura RSX
  By Two Dog - November 4 - 10:00 am

  Ride, handling, and performance close to that of the S2000, but in a package that allows you to carry four people. Incredible scoot kicks in at 5800 rpm and gets better up to (and willingly past) redline. Aggressively bolstered (and comfy) leather seats hold you snugly through the twisties that this car loves. Excellent touring for two with ample luggage space. Tightly screwed together with a reputation for top-ranked dependability!

• 

  mdx to others - 2002 Acura MDX
  By rawman - November 4 - 10:00 am

  When I purchased my MDX, I tried all the other competitors cars before making my final decision. The RX300, though quiet, was too soft and felt very small inside, even though outside it was very little different from the MDX. The BMW was quick, but again, very small inside and very stiff in normal driving. The Mercedes was a joke. We bought it at Hopkins Acura in Redwood City. They were great. No markup and no pre-accessorizing. I only had to wait 4 months to get my car. Cant recommend them highly enough.