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:

• 

  Best Acura/Honda that Ive ever owned - 2016 Acura TLX
  By Zoomn - November 30 - 8:07 pm

  This new TLX replaces my 2013 TSX SE. The TSX was a nice enough car with a great interior (tu-tone suede on the SE trim) and a very sporty demeanor. Its negatives outweighed is positives, though, in that it had too choppy of a ride and too much road noise to be truly enjoyable over the long haul. Those shortcomings have long been Acura and Honda traits, but no more! The TLX has a truly quiet and comfortable ride that is well controlled and never truly harsh in any way. The rear steering, or PAW-S, allows compensation for the softer ride in giving back a sharpness to the handling that is equally appreciated. The only weak link in the handling is the stock 17" touring tires that are stock on the 2.4L models. The V6 that I also drove handled slightly better with its 18s without any appreciable difference in ride, so Ill likely swap up when the stock tires are worn. Other than that and in spite of some weak areas in design, this car is proving to be everything that I could ever want in a sporty daily driver. The 2.4L has a nice snarl under hard acceleration, the 8 speed DCT is responsive and generally very smooth and decisive in its shifts. Again, the balance in ride and handling is superb and tech features like standard lane keep assist, blind spot monitoring and cross traffic alert is all above par and works quite well. The same can be said for the Tech packages ELS sound system that delivers crisp, clear sound. Lastly, the LED headlamps are truly impressive they are to headlights what Halogens were to sealed beams and Xenons were Halogens as they deliver brilliant light for good clarity and increased visibility. The only glaring shortcomings come down to Hondas tech packaging. The dual screen setup doesnt bother me so much as the number of steps needed to complete even simple tasks. Case in point is the seat heaters. You touch the screen and then a second tab pops up to select the level heat that you want. It would be much simpler to touch the screen, default to highest setting and reduce levels and to off by repeating that touch. This repetitive nature is similar for just about everything that youll do including audio, nav and bluetooth related functions. Lastly, I have noticed a pretty bad lag in responsiveness to inputs at times especially with bluetooth. Honda really needs to address this issue as having driven a number of cars before buying the TLX their system was truly the least user friendly that we encountered. Not a deal breaker, mind you, but still a glaring issue on an otherwise really nice car. So, in closing, the TLX is a great sporty sedan for those that desire a middle of the road approach in a car that delivers equal parts of comfort and handling in a truly impressive package.

• 

  Best car I have ever owned. - 2004 Acura TL
  By drcane - November 30 - 10:00 am

  Great car, fun to drive, and fast. The blue tooth phone is a great feature to have on a manual car so I do not have to fumble with silly headsets. I wish more music would come out on DVD-A, however sound system is very nice. I enjoy this car every day I drive it.

• 

  looking good in georgia - 2005 Acura TL
  By David Hamby - November 29 - 5:50 pm

  Rides and drives like a dream. Ive got 18" rims this car does turn heads.It really helps thought when its very shiny.I also put window shade vents on to help bring out the beauty.

• 

  Loving it so far - 2016 Acura TLX
  By Rick Heffernan - November 28 - 12:38 pm

  The ride is smooth and quiet. The styling is classic contemporary. The cost relative to other cars in the class couldnt be matched. The only thing I dont love is the touch screen controls for radio and the voice command system is hard to figure out and frustrating. Other than that I am loving my new car.

• 

  WOW! - 2005 Acura TL
  By moneyfool - November 27 - 5:23 pm

  Compared this with BMW 3 series and new Audi and this car stands out. Excellent mechanically and fun to drive. You can get it at invoice if you shop around. Drive is smooth and has better response than other cars. Audio system is amazing and NAV is very accurate. If you dont need NAV test drive without one as you will love it.

• 

  Just one thing... - 2004 Acura TL
  By yuli - November 23 - 11:03 pm

  If this car had less assisted steering it would have been one of the funnest to drive sport sedan. It has all the other elements such as roadholding ability, firm suspension, the looks, build quality, and all the convenience package. Over assisted power steering simply spoiled it. Too bad.

• 

  Great Car - 2006 Acura TSX
  By A Step Up - November 23 - 6:06 am

  This car drives very nice. It is a step up from my past two Honda Accords. I like everything about it. It is very smooth and likes to rev when driving in higher speeds. My fuel economy is getting better everyday. I have only had the car for a week and a half but it has been fun. I recommend it for a first time near luxury buyer. It offers so many things as standard features that its great. I am a honda owner for life now.

• 

  Acura keeps doint its job - 2003 Acura RSX
  By Malafama - November 21 - 2:00 am

  I laugh when i see people in here talking about "performance" Thinking that when they buy a Type-S they are getting a Viper! This is a car to enjoy and feel not a drag racing car, but if you wanna try it lets do it on the streets where we have to corner and lets see what happen to those "Muscle" which i do respect but they are a different category. Acura did a great Job on this coupe, it is nice in and outside, nice power and for those who likes to hook cars up, this is just perfect. Excellent handling and cornering. IF you have one enjoy it, if you dont run and get one, u wont be disappointed if you are looking for a car to enjoy the ride.

• 

  Not that impressed - 2006 Acura TL
  By Its just OK - November 18 - 1:26 pm

  I was not impressed with this vehicle. The seats were uncomfortable and the ride is too rough. I know its suppose to be kind of sporty, but I also expected a more comfotable ride. It was an automatic but switched gears (on its own) like a stick. It would sometimes idle high when I wasnt pressing on the gas. I traded it in, in 6 months. Wasnt for me.

• 

  Must Have - 2008 Acura MDX
  By paulv - November 17 - 3:26 am

  I have had the car for a month now. I must admit this is more of a great crossover SUV than I expected. The base model has all the things you need for your life. I got 17.4 miles per gallon in city drive. Not bad at all.