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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  01 MDX Touring & Nav - 2001 Acura MDX
  By Carl Lam - March 14 - 7:15 pm

  Solid build and performance. I drive it pretty much like driving a sports sedan. Fuel economy is good for a vehicle this size. HUGE interior space. A little bit noisier than expected at this price level. Navigation system is a delight.

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  Golden Bullet - 1999 Acura CL
  By Suzie - March 14 - 7:10 pm

  Its great

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  Awesome - 2002 Acura RL
  By Craig Sanborn - March 13 - 10:49 am

  I have test driven lots od cars and the RL is a dream that came true. Smoth ride, comfortable seats, awesome road manners makes this a no-brainer. PLease keep to front rear drive.

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  pdxmdx - 2001 Acura MDX
  By bigir - March 13 - 9:27 am

  Great all around performance for an SUV. Great road handling and Road Manners. Appointed nicely.

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  Fair ride - 2001 Acura TL
  By miamicarfreak - March 12 - 11:14 pm

  From 0 to 60 it drives like a $60000 car, from 60 to 80 it drives like $20000, at more than 80 it drives like a $10000 car.

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  Overall, this SUV is a good compromise - 2016 Acura MDX
  By Steve Chang - March 12 - 9:48 pm

  After driving this vehicle for 12k mile, I think this vehicle is a good compromise. Its not as sporty as a BMW X5, not as big/bold as a Chevy Tahoe, not as pretty/sexy as an Audi Q5, but its (fully loaded) price is most likely the lowest in this group, its fuel efficiency is good (I averaged almost 21 mpg with mostly city driving, and about 28 mpg on highway), has very large cargo area (if you fold down the 3rd row), a quiet/comfortable ride, handles impresively on snow, and it comes with almost all the safety features that you can imagine. A few major gripes: 1) Watch out for the middle seats seatbelt (a real safety hazard, and a major design flaw) - since the seatbelt automatically retracts to the roof where it is anchored, my mom was hit hard on her face (by the seat belt buckle) as the middle passenger released his seatbelt. 2) On a two-lane windy road, the auto collision sensor can mistaken an oncoming vehicle (in the other lane) as an obsticle and suddenly hit the brake for you (which can be very scarely to anyone in the vehicle) 3) Unimpressive accleration for a 3.5L VTECH engine. 4) So-so brake performance 5) Lacks a "360 degree camera" which I believe is an option for other countries (since the owners manual talks about it) 6) No way to program the vehicle to "remember" the heated seat settings, which can be very annoying in cold climates 7) Interia material is OK, but not in the same league with the Germans 8) Why an SUV requires premium fuel??

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  Acura TL 2005 avec Navigation - 2005 Acura TL
  By Richard Silver - March 12 - 9:20 pm

  Best car in its class. At or near the top in the luxury sedan group regarding performance, sportiness, reliability, economy and overall quality. This car grades an A- in nearly all respects, and it will be tough to beat for a few years as long as Acura remains competitive on price.

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  Excellent vehicle - 2005 Acura MDX
  By cperry - March 12 - 6:26 pm

  This vehicle drives great and comfort is unbelievable. We have had over 2 feet of snow and we havent had any problems getting around

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  More than Camry, less than Lexsus - 2001 Acura TL
  By Andrey - March 12 - 5:07 pm

  Very nice and comfortable car. There is pretty much everything one could need, and most of the stuff one could desire. It lacks the excitement of a Lexus - and its WAY cheaper.

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  High quality luxury great in snow! - 2002 Acura RL
  By MountainAcura - March 12 - 4:20 pm

  Living in the Colorado mountains eliminated many cars when we decided to purchase a luxury sedan. Front-wheel drive is mandatory. The RL performs great with its front wheel drive, traction control, agility and power. The construction is high quality built to last. In fact, we are so pleased with this Acura we are thinking of adding the RLs sibling, the MDX to our automotive family.