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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  A WINNER - 2004 Acura TL
  By BUNES - January 12 - 10:00 am

  ITS A WINNER--STLYE, PERFORMANCE, COMFORT, FUN, AND A GOOD SOLID VALUE. THE THINGS THAT ARE MISSING ARE OF LITTLE CONSEQUENCE IN DAY TO DAY USE-- FOLD DOWN REAR SEAT, LIGHT IN THE SMALL GLOVE BOX, DAYTIME RUNNING LIGHTS. YOUR MISSING OUT IF YOU DONT AT LEAST GIVE A TEST DRIVE.

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  Perfect Car under $35k - 2004 Acura TL
  By JoganJani - January 12 - 10:00 am

  This is a kindda car I always wanted. With all options, with all toys, with a good performance, with good styling and still good price. The only car I could justify for the price. Best value for $$. Id compared G35, CTS, base 530i, ES300 and TL was not a difficult decision.

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  BMW Eater - 2004 Acura TL
  By Plapo - January 12 - 10:00 am

  The TL is a great sports sedan and an even better value. There is nothing like having BMW 3 and 5 series for lunch at stop lights, not to mention the superior finish, reliability, and value of the Acura. The design is fresh and not often seen on the road. The engine is excellent, a lot of torque with the reliability and engineering you expect from Acura. The suspension is tight, but not uncomfortably so. 0-60 performance/ highway driving excellent. The understeer from the front wheel drive is something to be aware of and the rear end is a tad light at high speed cornering. The growl of this car alone in the $50K+ like interior is worth it!

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  Awesome - 2008 Acura MDX
  By Ali Samara - January 12 - 7:53 am

  This is a great car. Ive had it for about three weeks and it is just so fun to drive. I added the 19" chrome wheels and it just looks great. The 300 hp engine is powerful and the nav system is the best on the market. Dont know how I ever lived without it. Best cross over suv on the market.

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  Disappointing - 2016 Acura RDX
  By N. M. P. - January 12 - 5:44 am

  The technology package is all the sales people talk about, but so much has been removed from the luxury of previous models. The chrome-look has been removed from most of interior, the navigation box is too small and the touch screen is difficult to operate. The luxury is gone, interior looks and feels smaller, doors even feel lighter. The front of the vehicle has been redesigned and looks great, but everything else was too significantly flawed to hold my interest. By comparison, very disappointing compared to the 2014 model I previously owned and way overpriced. I chose not to purchase.

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  Funnest Car Ive ever driven! - 2002 Acura RSX
  By Barbie - January 11 - 2:06 pm

  I LOVE this car! At first I was nervous about spending $25K on a car, but man it was worth every penny. The type S has such a "rich" feeling about it and the driving experience is unbeatable. I love having so much speed and power. I recommend this car to everyone I know looking for a new car!

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  fun to drive but needs improvements - 2003 Acura RSX
  By peter - January 9 - 2:00 am

  With all the luxurious basics, RSX seems to have improved the previous integra.

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  It is a great car - 2003 Acura TL
  By tony lee - January 9 - 2:00 am

  I like this car!

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  Love My RL - 2005 Acura RL
  By FredPhiPsi - January 8 - 11:06 am

  I am a car buff and an Audi junkie. My last 7 cars have been Audi A6s or its equivalent (i.e. 100, 5000). When I decided to buy the RL I was hoping I would not suffer Audi separation distress. No problem. The RL is a joy to drive. It is geared so well, I never use the auto stick which I used 100% of the time when driving the A6. The radio is the best I have ever heard in an automobile. The ride is a perfect blend between sporty responsiveness and comfort. Steering is awesome with good feedback from the road and great on-center control. Seating is extremely comfortable. I am a Realtor and the NAV system is the best I have ever used. The all wheel drive is the best out there.

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  Awsome car!! - 2016 Acura MDX
  By Raghu - January 7 - 1:06 pm

  2016 Acura MDX SH-AWD with Technology and Entertainment package has been very good so far: My overall experience with Autonation, Stevens Creek has also been very good, very friendly staff. The salesman Mr Allen Kim was very helpful so does the finance person Mr Christian. If you happen to decide to buy Acura buy it from Autonation, Stevens Creek and ask for Allen Kim. The car itself is very spacious, nice / plush interiors and I like the push-button gear shift once I got used to this. +Good Performance +Overall comfort +Excellent safety +120V AC supply in the rear console is very good and handy on the go. Cons: -Cruise control is not as smooth and speed is not constant when the roads have elevation. -Navigation is slow/un-intuitive. -Glove box illumination works only when the engine is ON -Third row leg space is okay for kids and bit jammed for adults but for the price/size, I guess this is okay. I was also considering Audi Q7 but I think I made a good decision to stick with Acura MDX due to its looks and features. Few things Acura could improve further, given that this is the "Entertainment package" trim: 1. USB port could also have supported the rear video playback (ex: AVI/MP4) 2. Similarly, instead of decade old audio/video jack ports in the rear video in/out, they could have included the HDMI port or maybe another USB port. 3. Could have included the BluRay disk drive instead of the previous/old generation DVD optical drive for the rear video playback 4. I hope / expect to see if Acura could fix or improve any of these and also consider adding "Car Play" integration in forthcoming firmware upgrade.