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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  Disappointment - 2003 Acura CL
  By John4evr - February 3 - 2:00 am

  The car is a mixture of pluses and minuses, however, listening to the dash board creak and groan with all the rattles is a good reason not to purchase this vehicle.

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  So much fun to drive!!! - 2003 Acura CL
  By TypeSRocks - February 3 - 2:00 am

  Traded in my boring 2002 A4 for this 03 Type-S, sportshift. It is so much fun to drive this car, incredible sounding VTEC V6 (deep, throaty, muscular sound). Lightning quick acceleration. Excellent leather seats, 8way power seat for driver is amazing. Smooth leather.

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  Fun Vehicle - 2003 Acura MDX
  By Jed - February 3 - 2:00 am

  Decided on the MDX after driving a BMW 330CI for 1.5 year and needed a family car. Father has an X5 and the MDX, I feel, had most of the same qualities. A little less power, but hey its half the price of the 4.4 X5. Good car for the money. Used to own a 4-Runner and the power of the MDX blows it away.

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  Great mix of utility and fun - 2007 Acura MDX
  By Bob Crowe - January 31 - 7:43 pm

  Great handling for SUV, plus plenty of room for this class vehicle. The electronics are pretty intense, but learnable and the car is full of amenities. Engine doesnt sound as sweet as most acura/hondas but it has plenty of power. The cabin is very quiet even at speed. Leather seating is quite comfortable.

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  Type-S 12k miles - 2003 Acura RSX
  By Tollu - January 29 - 10:00 am

  Very very fun car to drive. Very positive reaction from the ladies.

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  Issues with infotainment - 2016 Acura ILX
  By Donald Bassett - January 26 - 2:06 pm

  This is my first Acura and generally I am very happy. I havent had it in for the first service yet but wanted to know if anyone is having issues with the infotainment system. About once a week when I start the car the radio stations will come up with all the programmed numbers wrong. The stations are correct if you select them but the numbers displayed are wrong. Sometimes it will correct itself after a while and sometimes it wont. Twice the backup camera has not gone off when I shift out of reverse and the upper display stays on the back up camera the entire time I am driving. Next time I start it will go back to normal.

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  Complains when pushed - 2009 Acura TSX
  By Neil - January 25 - 9:50 pm

  I bought my new TSX over labor day, trading in both a leased 05 RL and a Mazda 3 wagon. I was a hairs breadth away from buying a V6 Accord, but decided to go for the extra bells and whistles of the TSX. Someone told me Id just bought a $32,000 iPod accessory (which may have a grain of truth). While I think the car has plenty of power, and I love the gas mileage, the poor little engine thrashes and complains under even moderate load. I took it to the dealer complaining that the engine was knocking (it was really that bad!), but they said to just use Shell or Chevron premium. That didnt really help. I expected better from Honda.

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  Excellent value - 2003 Acura TL
  By asantrosyan - January 24 - 10:00 am

  I always wanted to buy a GS300, but this car beats the Lexus by all measurable parameters and is about 15K cheaper. Its a perfect family sedan that combines utility with reasonable amount fun to drive. 100% recommended.

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  Perfect combination - 2016 Acura TLX
  By Michael - January 21 - 6:49 am

  The perfect combination of German driving pleasure, and Honda bones.

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  Best car Ive ever owned - 2005 Acura TL
  By Ra - January 19 - 2:33 pm

  This car has a TON of standard features. Quality is first rate. Looks awesome everytime I park it and look back. By far, its the best car Ive ever known. Compared to the G35 coupe, its a little slower and doesnt shift as smooth, but thats about it. Other than that, this car is 10 times better than a G35 coupe, in my opinion. The quality, radio, seat memory, tilting mirrors, and financing are the top reasons why I got this car over the G35. Im telling you, this car is AWESOME!