GMC Acadia Denali is a high-class, high-end SUV
I was overcome by the most powerful sense of deja vu during my first half-hour in the 2017 GMC Acadia AWD Denali. I knew I’d never driven one — I hadn’t driven any GMC product since a Jimmy pickup I owned in the 1970s — but it felt eerily familiar.
Then I remembered: It’s basically a rebadged, rebranded version of parent company General Motors’ Cadillac XT5 sport utility vehicle, which I had reviewed here a few weeks earlier.
I liked the XT5, and I like the Acadia. These are both able, big-bodied road cars with some off-road capacity, too.
Like the XT5, the Acadia is powered by a 3.6-liter V-6 engine that makes 310 horsepower and 271 pound-feet of torque and is reported to go from zero to 60 miles per hour in 6.6 seconds and hit a top speed of 130 mph.
It’s encased in a quiet, comfortable cabin. Visibility is excellent from the driver’s seat. Head space and legroom are good in the front row and back. (The vehicle can be had in a three-row format, for a total of seven seats, but those far back seats are for small people with short legs.)
The second-row seats are adjustable and have their own climate control settings. They don’t fold flat, but the third-row seats do. The power-assist lift gate opens to reveal a big cargo area.
To encourage including the U in SUV, the Acadia is fitted with a tow mount and has transmission settings for two-wheel drive, fourwheel drive, towing a trailer and more. (The vehicle also comes in a front-wheel drive version.) It is said to have a trailering capacity of 4,000 pounds.
The Acadia line — which includes many trim levels, with different drivetrains and engines — starts at $30,920 for the base model. The Denali versions start at $46,870, with the fully dressed AWD unit I drove — which included a special sunroof, an adaptive cruise-control package and an upgraded suspension setup — going for $52,285.