For anyone who has dealt with home renovation, Honda's interest in creating the upscale line of Acura cars and SUVs made perfect sense. As any realtor worth her salt will tell you, there's a limit to the amount you can invest in a house before surpassing what any prospective buyer will pay. The same holds true in the car market, meaning regardless of how much leather or technology gets packed in, shoppers will only shell out so much for a model wearing a Honda badge (or Toyota, Nissan, Chevrolet, etc.).     

Positioned as the smaller and less expensive of 1986's original duo, the Acura Integra was available in hatchback and sedan configurations. Though its 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine generated only 113 horsepower and a measly 99 lb.-ft. of torque, this front-wheel-drive Acura drew its share of praise, and thanks to a bounty of aftermarket parts, continues to be a popular choice for enthusiasts on a budget. Over the years, more powerful engines and new trim levels were introduced, but it was the 1992 Acura Integra GS-R that impressed with its raw capability. In 2002 the Integra was replaced by the Acura RSX hatchback, available in base and Type-S guises until its demise in 2006. Other coupes and hatchback offerings included the Acura CL from 1997 through 2003 and the nameplate's bona fide super car, the Acura NSX, which drew broad acclaim during its run between 1991 and 2005. Heck, even Jack Nicholson reportedly owned one.

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Acura - consider it the luxurious side of Honda. As respected as models like the Honda Civic have been over the decades, they aren't viewed as coveted vehicles befitting a genuine luxury marquee. To address that void, Acura was born in 1986 with the launch of the Integra and Legend.

Despite building a following that took root during the Reagan era, critics continue to bemoan the notion that to qualify as a true luxury brand, a rear-wheel-drive, V8-powered model needs be included among the lineup of Acura cars. Those cries were partially muted in 2007, when Acura unveiled the Advanced Sports Car Concept, or in layman's terms, the successor to the NSX. The sexy two-door sports car featured a stout V10 under the hood and, as one might've guessed, SH-AWD. News of an upcoming V8-powered Acura sedan served to silence any remaining holdouts. Unfortunately, economic volatility forced Acura, like most other major brands, to curtail spending on such significant projects, at least temporarily.

Almost since its inception, Acura has been involved in American motorsports, specifically in Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) and IMSA GT Championship series. Starting in 1991, Acura reached an agreement with the Comptech Racing to use the V6 motor of the all-new Acura NSX in Comptech's Camel Lights Spice prototype. Acura would go on to take the Lights championship in its initial year, including a class win at the 24 Hours of Daytona. Acura and Comptech would take the Lights championships again in 1992 and 1993, as well as another Daytona class win in 1992 and a class win at the 12 Hours of Sebring for 1993.

However a change in the IMSA rules would lead to the demise of the Camel Lights, and so Acura moved to touring car racing, joining Realtime Racing in the SCCA World Challenge with the NSX in 1996, winning the final two races of the season. In 1997, Acura added Acura Integras to the lower classes, and were successful in taking the championship in both of these classes. Realtime took the touring championship with the Integra again in 1998, and came within a few points of winning it again in 1999 only to lose it in the final race, then coming back to retake the title in 2000.