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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  dissapointed - 1997 Acura CL
  By ALJABR - August 15 - 2:00 am

  We bought this car used in 2000 (45,000 mi)and weve put about 32,000 miles on it since then. So far weve had a check engine problem-$250+ , a window motor failing- $300+, a bad alternator, $300+. This is not my idea of reliable. During the same time period Ive spent less than $300 fixing my 1989 Honda Accord (186,000 mi.) The tires are awfully expensive to buy for this car and hard to find. About $150-200 EACH. This car is definitely overrated.

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  Impressed on TSX - 2005 Acura TSX
  By mrjohn - August 14 - 7:46 pm

  The wife and I stopped by our Acura dealer, mainly because I wanted to test drive a TL. But after driving the TSX, I was convinced the TSX was a much better value, as I didnt feel the TL delivered enough for the extra $6,000. Bottom line: the TSXs 4 cyl really surprised me. It can ride somewhat rough on bumpy surfaces, but thats to be expected with sporty cars. About 30 mpg on highway, which is decent.

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  Switched from Muscle Car - 2009 Acura TSX
  By Gmdavis5 - August 14 - 4:00 am

  Switched from a 2005 Cadillac CTS-V with 400hp to the new 2009 Acura TSX due to increasing gas prices. The Acura is half the price and exceeds the Cadi performance.

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  Pretty Sweet Ride - 2005 Acura TL
  By Joe - August 14 - 2:43 am

  A really nice car. Quiet, solid feel, great acceleration. Very stylish, inside and out. Far more attractive interior than BMW3, Infinity G35, Mercedes C and all other comparably priced competitors. Much more bang for the buck, especially in the engine compartment. A big fan of DVD Audio. Great to listen to them in the car. Its my wifes car. The Nav is great and saves me from being her "mapquest" on-call. And, the Bluetooth makes it much safer for her to use her Blackberry (which is virtually all the time shes in the car). Not quite the luxury name plate as some of the others...but who cares? When I get a chance to drive it, Im the one who needs to be impressed. And I am.

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  Love it but... - 1998 Acura CL
  By Honda4life - August 14 - 2:00 am

  Ive had the car for almost 2 yrs now, and I do truely love it. Only a couple problems, I have this annoying rattle noise in the dashboard, in happens when I go over rough road and I cant for the life of me find it. I also have an annoying metallic chatter from under the front-end when the car revs threw 1800rpm, sounds like it could be the heat shield, but I have checked it and its tight. And lastly it has developed a exhaust leak in the S-pipe, rusted out from what I can see. The car is only 4 yrs old. I am very disappointed at this, seeing as my previous car, a 93 Acura Integra GS went over 8 yrs and 100k miles before needing exhaust work.

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  Great Car! - 2001 Acura Integra
  By steady_boy - August 14 - 2:00 am

  This is truly a fun car to drive. Excellent handling, well laid out interior and elegant exterior. The build quality is excellent. Definitely fantastic value for money.

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  Not Luxury Quality - 2005 Acura MDX
  By Frank Barton - August 13 - 2:50 pm

  Purchased new two months ago, we have put 5000 miles on the MDX. At about 1500 miles the LCD display locked up (froze) causing loss of the ability to use the nav or to control the heating and air conditioning (a real bummer when youre lost in a strange city). After turning the car off for approx. 1/2 hr. it appeared that the electronics cooled off enough to start working again. The thermostat on the heater/air conditioner has never worked properly and the interior fogs up easily on humid days. Several other things, like loose retaining screws on some of the external body parts,etc. indicate a general lack of concern for quality.

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  If you buy one, get the GS!!! - 1994 Acura Legend
  By nickikingcobra - August 13 - 2:00 am

  This is the finest automobile I have ever owned. I bought an automatic equipted sedan (only because the 6 speed is so hard to come by) and though I miss the smooth shifts that I experience in my Accord coupe, the 230 horsepower type II 3.2L V6 more than makes up for it. I love pulling up to stop lights and leaving unsuspecting sport-compacts in the dust! The car pulls hard and sounds great doing it. I much prefer the Legend to its replacement, the Acura 3.5 RL. The Legend GS feels much sportier.

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  Life or Death! - 2000 Acura RL
  By Alive! - August 13 - 2:00 am

  After reading the other reviews, I thought it important to discuss features other than power and cup holders...like safety. I just totaled my 2000 RL. I hit the cement dividing wall of an interstate...head on at 60 mph. I walked away from the accident. If you saw the vehicle, you would not believe what I just told you.

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  Reliable luxury car! - 2006 Acura TL
  By John Callan - August 12 - 8:36 am

  My car is 10 years old and I have had relatively few repairs. I would definitely recommend the Acura line of cars!