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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  STAY AWAY IF YOU LIVE IN A WARM CLIMATE - 2016 Acura TLX
  By DK in Florida - August 11 - 3:51 pm

  If you purchase this car in white, the interior options are only dark colors. My car has the white exterior with the gray leather seats. However, the interior gets so hot because of the cheap black plastic dashboard and black plastic door trim which consumes a large portion of the interior cabin. The air conditioner cant compensate for the intense heat buildup when the car is parked outside in the hot Florida sun. This car has the seats that are supposed to cool and this function really does not help much. My 2009 Acura had a BEAUTIFUL tan interior and a really good air conditioner that cooled the car so well. I am so disappointed in the 2016 TLX, that I wish I would have kept my 2009. The 2016 TLX was purchased for the safety features which are superb, but the car is so uncomfortably hot, that we will consider another brand the next time we purchase. I do not know why Acura does not offer lighter color LEATHER INTERIOR SEATS anymore. Plastic seats in Florida are like sitting in a plastic bag. If the interior options dont change, we will no longer be ACURA customers.

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  Not a luxury SUV - 2008 Acura MDX
  By pink panther - July 29 - 9:20 pm

  Even after a few days there were problems with this SUV. Nothing really big but things detaching, safety belt not working (twice). This SUV is characterized by poor quality built and an overall blunt drive. The cargo space is quite big and the third row sat functional for kids. Burt for the price tag you should get better drive quality and certainly better build quality. The bluetooth function is very poor and does not synchronize with most phones. The dvd system does have some problems too. Poor fuel economy. Acura compares itself to BMW but they have a long, long way to go

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  costs money to play - 2006 Acura TL
  By Jay Waseem - July 26 - 2:38 pm

  I purchased this 2006 base model TL after I sold my 04 545i. I wanted something reliable, yet sporty so I purchased this TL. I bought it with 97k miles. It had an extensive service record, 50+ times serviced at a local acura dealer. One day check engine light popped up, and maybe 3 miles after that, my transmission was GONEE. Rebuild cost 4800 at a local mechanic shop. IT ALSO EATS THROUGH TIRES AND BRAKES. I put Michelin Primacy MXM4, and after just 15k miles, my tires are halfway gone. ( Alignment is within specs, as well as other suspension components). Its definitely the best bang for your buck, but I certainly dont see the infamous Acura reliability anywhere close to this model. Rattles and squeaks only when going over speed bumps, weird!! A lot of road noise as well. Accelerates & corners well, but torque steer is there. Make sure to use leather wipes on your seats, or theyll crack up in no time. No height adjustment for the passenger seat either. No aux, but who needs that when you have a cassette player (sarcasm). Dont spend anymore than 5k for this car & dont buy it from a dealer.

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  2002 Acura MDX - 2002 Acura MDX
  By Mad in Big D - July 16 - 11:23 am

  I just bought an MDX. The transmission died within 30 days! 4500.00 to fix! NO MORE ACURAS for me. And, it is the SECOND time! First replacement was in 2004

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  Dont Buy It! - 2008 Acura MDX
  By houston - July 13 - 8:39 pm

  I purchased this car in March. I previously owned a Honda with well over 100,000 miles and loved it. So you think you are getting high quality for the money? Wrong! I have had problems since the beginning. There was extreme wind noise which they attributed to a bent windshield. The car started making clicking and grinding noises. That was the defective bushings. I have driven it exactly 16 days and the bushings have evidently gone bad again (bulletin on these). The entire dash is squeaking and they said they will have to tear out the dash to figure it out. There is some metal fluttering and continued noise like the door is open also. Buy anything else on the market and you will be happier.

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  Horrid Reliability - 2008 Acura MDX
  By John Vaughn - July 5 - 2:42 pm

  Just too many issues to list here. The main ones are the suspension defects for both front and rear of vehicle. The front lower control arms busted twice on mine just from every day normal city/high-way driving - no offroad use at all! No aggressive driving either. The rear suspension sounds as something is going to break off - Also "repaired" twice... so they say. Problems still exist. This vehicle has a lot of problems and Acura refuses to work with the customer.

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  Expected better! - 2008 Acura TL
  By Bae - July 3 - 11:23 am

  I drove 1993 Honda Accord LX Coupe for 15 years, 400,000 miles. and I traded in for this 08 Acura TL. I really liked the accord and it gave me no pain. But this TL has been proven to be a Rattle box. It makes rattling sound almost everywhere. I went in to the dealer about 4 times in one month starting 2 days after purchasing the car and stayed at the dealer for 2 weeks total in the first month. The first, sunroof problems and engine check light on and drive light blinking not shifting from 3rd to 4th gear, etc. It wasted a lot of my time and gave me so much stress. And all they gave me was the extended warranty. After the first month, I had to keep going back to dealer

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  Design Defect- Do not Buy - 2017 Acura RDX
  By Richard Meltz - June 28 - 9:21 am

  We leased a fully loaded Acura RDX and are very disappointed. There is a clear design defect that Acura dealers deny even knowing about. When driving the side view mirrors show a glare from the air conditioning vents. This is because the vents contain a silver metal design and the sun shows the glare on the side view window. It is more than annoying and is a distraction. When we called the dealers, they claim not to know about it. We even spent money to tint windows, but this failed to help. In calling around to other dealers, we contacted one out of state who acknowledged it was an issue. This dealer said they were changing the vents by inserting a black rim in place of the silver one. Thus, you can now enjoy a far lower priced Honda instead of an Acura!!! Calls to Acura customer service have not been returned as promised. Also, my wifes foot cramps when driving because the pedals are too high. Others have complained about it according to another dealer I spoke with. The Navigation is cumbersome, difficult and voice recognition is terrible. It is hit and miss unless you always want the date. Any other info? forget it. I do not recommend this vehicle to anyone and am surprised that Acura hides these issues. I will try to get out of my lease because of these issues.

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  Shamefull quality of Acura - 2008 Acura MDX
  By wj - June 24 - 3:44 pm

  Bought the "best" end of MDX and end up with worst nightmare. The quality of the car is a shame. Been back to the dealer 9 or 10 times for repairs and repairs. Defective mirror, roof molding, gas door assembly, steering wheel, front suspension defects. Customer services are horrible both with the dealer and especially the Acura reps. Their attitudes are that you bought the car and you have the problem. Gas mileage is terrible, remember that with current gas price.

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  Piece of junk falling apart - 2003 Acura MDX
  By gwen - June 4 - 10:46 am

  I bought a 2003 MDX a few months ago, a mistake. It had only a little over 60000 miles and is very poorly built. The transmission has problems. The headliner was cut too short and is falling out in the back. The rear window washer is about to fall off. And the right door has a part loose inside that makes a lot of noise when you close it. I would not buy another Acura. This company used to turn out good cars. What happened?