GMC’s first crossover vehicle, the Acadia, has been on the market since 2007 when General Motors introduced it along with similar clone products from Chevrolet, Buick, and Saturn all built on the lambda platform.
Now, as more buyers move away from truck-based SUVs and into crossover vehicles, GMC is hitting the market with an upscale Acadia Denali model that debuted at last year’s North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
Denali is the fourth trim level added to the Acadia line, which includes the base SL, mid-grade SLE, and upscale SLT, and is available in either front-wheel or all-wheel drive. The Denali AWD base price of $46,045 is $4,000 more than the Acadia SLT package.
The Denali package adds loads of glitz to the SLT, including lower ground effects to the front and rear fascia, chrome wheels, and the over-the-top too-much chrome grille. The Denali look reminds us of mid-80s GM, when Buicks and Cadillacs were adorned with faux convertible vinyl tops on four-door sedans, gold packages and continental tire kits. While styling is certainly subjective, we prefer the cleaner look of the SLT.
Thankfully the Denali package left the interior relatively untouched, where black plastic and unconvincing black stained faux wood dominates much of the cabin. The leather seats — ventilated up front and heated in both front and second rows — were exceptionally comfortable and supportive, although we could have used a bit less lumbar support.
As with all Acadia models and Lambda-based products, the cabin is especially roomy with stretch-out legroom in our test vehicles’ front- and two second-row captain’s chairs. They fold easy for access to a third row that actually has decent room, and fold and tumble away into the load floor for additional cargo space with the touch of a button.
Two sunroofs, one each over the front and second rows, come with a mesh shade that retracts but really doesn’t screen harsh sun from heating the cabin.
Our Denali is powered by GM’s ubiquitous 3.6-liter V6 with 288 horsepower and is mated to a 6-speed automatic transmission. Our all-wheel drive tester is rated at 16-mpg city and 23-mpg highway, however during our weeklong driving we averaged just over 18 mpg in a combined mix of urban and highway driving.
Our actual on-road driving experience could be summed up as excellent with an exceptionally smooth and quiet ride even over the most uneven pavement. While we didn’t take the all-wheel drive Denali off road, and we can’t imagine many will, we expect it will perform admirably on snowy and icy road conditions.
Standard features on the Denali include remote keyless entry, remote start, heated and cooled front seats, a review camera and Bose surround-sound audio system including XM radio service, USB port, head-up display for vehicle speed and tri-zone climate control.
Options on our test Denali included a touch screen navigation system ($1,890), rear seat DVD entertainment system ($1,445), and diamond white metallic exterior paint ($795), bringing the total MSRP to $50,125.
Standard safety gear includes antilock brakes, Stabilitrak-stability control system with traction control, and dual front, head and side curtain airbags. Acadia received the highest “good” rating for frontal offset and side impact crash test results by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. It was not crash tested by the U.S. Government.
Overall the Acadia Denali seems to try too hard to show up as a “premium luxury” vehicle by adding unnecessary and tacky-looking glitz to an otherwise handsome SLT offering. Buick’s Enclave gets the nod for the best looking of the GM bunch.
