Are Acuras Expensive to Maintain? (Cost Calculation)
Acura is the luxury car production division of Japanese automaker Honda. Since its birth, it has maintained a strong presence in inexpensive car markets worldwide. In America, it has solidified its footprint by selling approximately 1 million units over the last 5 years.
Acura cars are an amazing combination of style, comfort, luxury, reliability, and affordability. Since Acuras are expensive cars, so people often include these questions in their research that are Acuras expensive to maintain, what is their fuel cost, parts cost, service, and replacement cost?
In this article, we’ll cover all these questions and calculate the maintenance cost of Acuras for a month, a year, and so on.
Are Acuras Expensive to Maintain?
Acuras are among the cheapest luxury cars to maintain. The average maintenance cost of an Acura is $501. Though this is more than Honda that costs around $428 in maintenance. Still, it is cheaper than a BMW or Audi that costs in the neighborhood $1,000 per year for maintenance.
The regular oil and filter change of Acura and Honda cost almost the same. You’ll have to pay somewhere between $30 and $60 for an oil change in both brands. Though the make and model of the car might change these costs a bit.
The average maintenance cost of an Acura comes below $50 a month. But the annual cost of ownership of Acura is below $300 for the first three years. This is a testament to its higher build quality and reliability.
Also read: Are Acuras Good Cars? ALL Pros and Cons
Is it Expensive to Buy an Acura?
Acuras are high-end luxury cars and like any other car of this segment, their initial costs of ownership are high. The average cost of purchasing an Acura is more than $48,000. On the other hand, the average selling price of its sister company Honda is less than $25,000. So, there is a huge difference.
The reasons why Acuras are so expensive to buy are due to the cutting-edge tech and latest features that are included in these cars. Coming from Japan they also provide an extra sense of reliability. We can say that Acuras are the most reliable luxury vehicles around.
The most expensive Acura on the market right now is the top-of-the-line variant of NSX that is priced at over $160,000. However, the cheapest model available in the US market is the Acura ILX. Which is priced just below $28,000.
Some of the latest models of Acuras you can purchase in the market right now are:
- Acura NSX – $159,495
- Acura MDX – $48,245
- Acura RDX – $39,445
- Acura TLX – $38,545
- Acura ILX – $27,545
How Much Do You Have to Pay for Acura Insurance?
This might come as a surprise, but Acura is the cheapest luxury brand to insure. The average insurance cost of an Acura is around $2,000 per annum. This price is fairly competitive if you look at the insurance rates of Honda. The average insurance premium of Honda is $1,934 per year.
Even the insurance premium of cars with higher base prices isn’t that unreasonable. The most expensive model of Acura is NSX with a base price of $160,000. Its insurance cost for a year is $2,292. Which is far below the market average for luxury cars.
The insurance rates are slightly higher than cheaper Japanese brands like Toyota or Nissan. But the comparison is not justified as they are for regular use and Acura is known for producing business segment cars.
For a single year, the average insurance cost of Acura comes to $2,000. For 3 years it’ll reach $5,500 and for 5 years it will cost $8,900 in total.
Also read: Is Acura a Luxury Brand? (5 Reasons Why it is)
Are Acura Parts Expensive?
If you compare with other luxury brands, then you will find that Acura parts are actually cheaper and easier to find. But these parts are slightly expensive in comparison to Honda. An Acura alternator will cost somewhere between $400 and $600. However, you can find an alternator for your Honda for $300 or less.
Acura car parts are affordable as opposed to some other high-end luxury cars. The reason for this is that they are produced in the same facilities where Honda parts are manufactured. Due to this, operational and indirect expenses are divided. Moreover, the factor of mass production comes into play, ensuring cheaper prices of Acura parts.
Is it Expensive to Repair Acura?
Repair of Acura isn’t that expensive. The well-established service centers network of Honda is utilized by Acura cars as well. The average maintenance cost of Acura for the first three years is below $300. This low cost is maintained throughout the car’s life due to the availability of cheap skilled labor.
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Like other expensive cars, you don’t have to worry about finding a mechanic. All you have to do to fix Acura is to find a Honda service center. Parts of Acura might be expensive, but the labor cost for all replacements of Honda and Acura are the same. As the mechanic who fixes Honda can repair Acura as well.
How Much is Acura Servicing?
The average servicing cost of an Acura is less than $100 per annum. It is similar to the service cost of Honda. The reason is that servicing facility of Acura is also available under the same roof as Honda. You need to render some of these services once a year, or once in 3 or 5 years.
If the service cost of years 1 & 2 is $40 then for year 3 it’ll be $200. The service cost will not remain steady in all years. In the years in which a major service like power steering service or brake fluid service has required, the costs will be higher in those years.
The rates of common servicing jobs for Acuras are given below:
- Semi-Synthetic Oil Change – $65
- Tire Rotation – $30
- Balance Tires – $80
- Power Steering Service – $140
- Brake Fluid Service – $130
Also read: Are Audis Expensive to Maintain? Here are the Facts
Do You Have to Pay a Lot for Acura Fuel?
Fuel prices reaching new highs every year have forced car owners to think about the fuel costs. Acuras are quite frugal when it comes to fuel consumption. They are known to be the most efficient ones among luxury segment cars. Their monthly, yearly and 3-yearly fuel costs are $134, $1613, and $4838 respectively.
| Period | Car Driven (miles) | Fuel Price (per gallon) | Fuel Consumed (gallons) | Fuel Cost (USD) |
| Monthly | 1,000 | 3.763 | 36 | 134 |
| Yearly | 12,000 | 3.763 | 429 | 1,613 |
| 3 Years | 36,000 | 3.763 | 1,286 | 4,838 |
| 5 Years | 60,000 | 3.763 | 2,143 | 8,064 |
Notes:
Following assumptions have been made while doing these calculations.
- Initially, the average fuel consumption of Acura is 28 mpg. However, it drops to 26 mpg after 5 years.
- The fuel prices are according to the US and subject to change with time and country.
- Car is driven 1,000 miles per month.
- Fuel average of similar segment Hondas like civic is considered in the comparison.
The graph below has been derived from the above calculation. In this graph, a comparison between the fuel costs of Acura and Honda has been made.
Which Acuras are Cheapest to Maintain?
ILX, RDX, and MDX are among the cheapest models of Acura to maintain. The average annual maintenance cost of these cars are $401, $466, and $597 respectively. These low figures are courtesy of the low problem frequency and high reliability of Acura cars.
According to a survey, Acura has been ranked as the 2nd most reliable car brand among 32. It has been given a 4 out of 5 score for reliability. An Acura car visits the repair shop 0.4 times a year on average. This is below the overall average of 0.6 visits per year across all brands.
Also read: Do Acuras Hold Their Value? Which Model to Buy?
Overall, How Much Does it Cost to Maintain an Acura?
Following are the maintenance costs of Acura for different periods.
Maintenance Cost of Acura for 1 month: $41.75
Maintenance Cost of Acura for 1 year: $501
Maintenance Cost of Acura for 3 years: $1,740
Maintenance Cost of Acura for 5 years: $2,955
Is Acura Expensive to Maintain Compared to Other Car Brands?
We cannot declare that either one brand is cheap to maintain or not without putting it to the test of comparison. Although, a unidirectional comparison is not fair because if one brand is expensive to maintain it might be better in other aspects. Still following is the comparison between the maintenance cost of Acura and other renowned car brands.
- Acura Vs Honda
The average maintenance cost of Honda is about $428. This is below the industrial average of $650. It is also slightly below the average maintenance cost of Acura that is $501. But considering that Acura is a luxury segment car and its class is unmatched by Honda. These higher prices are well justified.
- Acura Vs Lexus
Lexus is the luxury automobile unit of Toyota. The average maintenance cost of Lexus is just below $550. Lexus cars are parallel to the Acuras in terms of reliability and comfort. Some people even rank them above Acuras for safety. However, the market share of Lexus is way bigger as it is a better brand as compared to Acura.
- Acura Vs Infiniti
The average maintenance cost of Infiniti is $665. This makes Infiniti another entrant from Japan that is cheaper to maintain but still, it is unable to beat Acura. Although some Infiniti cars might be cheaper to maintain individually. Yet if we consider the average across all models it is somewhat expensive to maintain in comparison to Acura.
- Acura Vs Audi
The comparison between Acura and Audi is interesting. These cars might belong to the same category, but they belong to different leagues. Where Acura offers luxury that you can afford, Audi offers an absolute class that is unlike any Japanese car. However, their maintenance cost is way higher than Acura. It cost about $987 to maintain an Audi every year.
- Acura Vs BMW
Luxury and comfort are not alien things in German cars. BMW is another extravagant brand to come out of Germany. The average maintenance cost of BMW is about $968. This is almost twice as much as compared to Acura. But again here you will have to prioritize, whether you want a reliable and affordable car or a jam-packed, feature-studded driving experience.
References:
truecar.com, finder.com, motortrend.com, ebay.com, amazon.com, acurapartswarehouse.com, motorcarsacura.com, motor1.com, autoguide.com, automoblog.net, goodcarbadcar.net, mullerswoodfieldacura.com, courtesyacuralittleton.com, verneideacura.com, repairpal.com, acurabymcgrath.com, help.pohankaacura.com, getjerry.com, carcareportal.com
