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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  Great Car Test Drive It and see why - 2004 Acura TSX
  By pinkfloyd - May 20 - 10:00 am

  This Is My first new car and I am Happy with my TSX, Its fast and The quality is unmatched for the price. Love the car. So will you.. Test drive it but also take alook at the TL..(Nice). Took my time and looked at lots of rewiews and acura and toyota had the best reviews of all. but toyota is bland and has no style.

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  Fantastic car, just wish it was RWD - 2004 Acura TL
  By xmen94 - May 20 - 10:00 am

  I have had this car for about ten months now and really have enjoyed it quite a bit. I used to have an old (1986) Porsche 911, and while this car is competely different in almost every way, its a lot of fun to drive and anyhing but utilitarian. I have only had to bring the car in for scheduled maintenance so far and I have nearly 14K miles on the car. Total maintenance bill so far...~$130. Not bad considering that was less than a months maintenance on the Porsche. Overall this is an excellent car and an excellent value. BMW and Audi simply cannot compete with the value this car offers. They may be slightly nicer cars...but not $8K-$10K nicer.

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  So far so good - 2006 Acura TL
  By animalsrush - May 19 - 3:36 am

  Good looking car with healthy dose of comfort and performance. I love the ride quality and performace is quite good. However i am still getting used to jerky pick ups

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  A Vigor review (preceeds the TL) - 2003 Acura TL
  By Scott Packard - May 17 - 2:00 am

  My wife owns a 92 Acura Vigor, the predecessor of the TL. 5cyl 2.5L engine. Weve turned 180k miles last week. She had committed to buying a new car two years ago, but went back on her promise, mostly because this car is still too reliable. I do most of the repairs myself, but on most weekends I have nothing to do. Even the accessories have all held up (something which I know to break on Merkin cars). The alternator has never been rebuilt, the power steering pump finally gave out at 176k, and Ive put on the 2nd timing belt (90k change intervals). Who would think Id be on my third belt!?

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  Best 4 on market - 2005 Acura TSX
  By Henshaw - May 14 - 7:23 am

  The TSX handles well and has a great 4 engine which does best at high RPMs. This makes it fun to drive particularly in the manual shift mode. The interior is well laid out with everything you would want standard.

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  Love It! - 2003 Acura RSX
  By robbiefresno - May 12 - 10:00 am

  Love the car. Looks great. Drives Great. Nice and tight ride with a very responsive engine. Friends are impressed. I take Mulholland Drive home from work now just so I can drive the curves. The stereo does need to be played loud to get the bass but hey, this car is for sporty people with sporty tastes.

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  MDX is better than you think! - 2003 Acura MDX
  By cbsimike - May 12 - 10:00 am

  Traded my 3.5RL for SUV. Looked at several but the MDX looked clean and different than most. The ride is more comfortable than my 3.5RL. Mileage clocks around 24 on highway. This car handles well and turns tight. Discount from dealer non-existant but the vehicle is worth every penny.

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  2003 Acura TL - 2003 Acura TL
  By cmdvorak - May 12 - 10:00 am

  I purchased my 03 TL July 02. Since I have only had a safety recall. It has been a great car to have due to previous cars i owned that were in the shop on a monthly basis. The value, style, and status symbol the car gives for the money is the greatest thing.

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  Great Car - 2003 Acura TL
  By cljw - May 12 - 10:00 am

  I just purchased my TL-type S and love it. After looking at other cars in the class I found nothing that has as much as this car does for the price. I test drove both the base and Type-S and I must say there is a supstaintial difference in proformance. The Nav system is easy to use, with a little practice.

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  Better than I expected - 2006 Acura TSX
  By Sportsfanattic - May 10 - 5:10 pm

  I looked at the TSX after it won the Car of the Year from Car and Driver. I was impressed witht he attention to detail, size, looks and safety features. I also loved that there were no options, everything was included for under 30K.