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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  Dont understand the poor reviews on this car? - 2016 Acura TLX
  By Will Hudson - August 7 - 7:06 pm

  This car is a dream to drive and if "your are alive" really fun too! With the 8 speed, it can be a real "hot rod". Once the cam and ignition advance at 5,000 RPM, it is hard to believe it is a four cylinder!!! It can hit 100 mph on on-ramps. . . how much more do you need? The "engine matching" rpm works great and always smooth at RPMs above 3,000. Extremely quite inside, great sound system, and a very luxurious feeling with the high quality leather seats. The drivers seat retract each time you enter. . make it so easy! The four wheel steering really makes cornering very stable and faster than normal, with confidence that you will stay there! For $28,000.(April 2016) I think it was the best buy out there!!!! I just put 315,000 "hard miles"(full acceleration most of the time") on a 97 Accord and am looking for this one to do 350,00 to 400,000 miles!!!(their advertisement said it is fun to drive a 4 cylinder that red lines @ 6,800 rpms and it is!!!)

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  Nice Ride - 2003 Acura RSX
  By RJ Canuk - August 6 - 10:00 am

  Great car to drive, its a ride. Many freinds have tried the car and all have one response, they cant believe how fast and with how little effort they catch up with the car in front of them. Or haw fast the car behinf is lost in te rear view mirror. And thats not even pushing the car.

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  All around great car - 2003 Acura RSX
  By khuang - August 6 - 10:00 am

  I love this car. Had it for more then 2 months now. I did a lot of research and its the best car in its class. I could have chosen Celica or WRX but the best car for me was definitely RSX Type- S. I think Celica GT-S looks better but cost more with same options as RSX. WRX is more practical and faster but i dont like the styling, and dont need the added complications of AWD and a Turbo. I ended up with RSX because its fun to drive, handles great, relatively luxurious, gets good gas mileage, and has a very reasonable price.

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  Shifting issues. - 2016 Acura MDX
  By Vincent Cerbo - August 4 - 8:20 pm

  Ive only owned it for three weeks. The nine speed transmission has issues when shifting into second and third. Rough shifting from idle into first and second. Engine revs up then will often jump from first to third. Very pronounced action.

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  very good car - 2007 Acura TL
  By gils review - August 4 - 11:20 am

  I am in love with this new car. It has very exhilarating performance. I think that the fuel economy is marginal. The transmission shifts quick and smooth.The TL Type-S is the perfect blend of performance and luxury comfort.The STANDARD rearview camera is very convenient. The nav system is very easy to use and to understand. Love the STANDARD bluetooth.

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  Love at first sight but faded after the honeymoon. - 2006 Acura TL
  By Joe - July 31 - 9:09 pm

  This car had everything I wanted but came at a price. Performance, technology, and looked amazing. There are many known problems with this particular generation of the TL. Bluetooth stopped working and the replacement was pretty costly. Cassette adapter for ipod/iphone music got stuck in tape deck. Went through 2 batteries within 3 weeks and Dealership couldnt figure out the problem. Once I was able to pry the cassette adapter out the problem went away. Another known problem is the nav system. The unit in the trunk doesnt last and the replacement is about $300 now from Alpine. Once the trunk unit stops working you lose all the touchscreen capabilities on the display (ie AC control, radio control, settings, etc). You also lose the voice control for the radio unit. Voice control for making phone calls still functions as it is not tied to the trunk unit. Lastly, the dashboard problem. AcuraZines website lists many people that have reported a cracked dashboard. Mine 1st cracked around the airbag border on the passenger side. At first I thought it was an airbag failure mode but upon research discovered I was seeing what many people were reporting. Shortly after this initial crack I started getting multiple cracks across my whole dashboard. Looks horrible. Exterior paint is still holding up but some of the plastic coating around the window edge is peeling. With all that being said I still enjoy the car but havent got to utilize a lot of the technology for about 5 years now. Im looking to get rid of it soon and most likely will not buy another Acura.

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  future lemon??? - 2003 Acura MDX
  By KBarker - July 30 - 10:00 am

  smooth engine and drive train. for the money it should have power lumbar seats. fuel economy on the sticker is a wishful dream!! taken back to dealer twice the first two weeks!! had to replace parts on the a/c due to loosing all the freon. they say thats a first for them. hope this is not a trend!! easy to drive and great turning radius. regret spending so much for an suv though. at least with a tahoe you know the milage is bad and more power!!

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  GREAT CAR!!!!!!! - 2003 Acura TL
  By Raland - July 30 - 10:00 am

  This car is great on the road. For the money it cant be beat. So far has been fabulous car.

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  the best car ever - 2003 Acura TL
  By lawaltz - July 30 - 10:00 am

  I traded in my 95 legend on this car, down sizing actually It was the best move I ever made The bose stereo is excellent. the control and handling is excellent the comfort for five people on long trips is great I love everthing about this car I will definitely buy another one

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  Amazing! - 2002 Acura RSX
  By Avi Flax - July 29 - 11:43 am

  I just picked up the car last night and Ive already put almost 200 miles on it! Its just SUCH a BLAST to drive, and its so TIGHT, and it fits me like a GLOVE and I could go on and on and on, but I have to go for a drive!