It’s a fact that crossovers are getting larger, more expensive and more truck-like in their appearance, and no model exemplifies that more than the third-generation GMC Acadia. Inside, outside and underneath, GMC has completely redone the Acadia for 2024. It’s a whole lot bigger than the outgoing car, costs more, and it borrows a ton of styling cues from other GMC mainstays like the Yukon and Sierra.
The 2024 Acadia is able to pack a lot of tech, features and space into its new, brawnier appearance, and it has a new engine and transmission too. Because of that, it’s a three-row crossover that can pretty much hang with the best Korea, Japan and the rest of the U.S. have to offer if you’re OK with your family car looking more aggressive than its soft-roader underpinnings would suggest.
Full Disclosure: GMC flew me down to Savannah, Georgia, put me up in my own cabin in a very lovely resort and fed me all sorts of food and drinks just so I could drive the 2024 Acadia.
GMC simplified the lineup to just three Acadia models: the base-model Elevation ($44,640 including $1,395 for destination), the off-road-focused AT4 ($51,395) and the top-of-the-line Denali ($55,695), as is GMC tradition. Regardless of trim, every Acadia comes with a turbocharged 2.5-liter inline-4 that pumps out 328 horsepower and 326 pound-feet of torque through an eight-speed automatic transmission to either the front or all four wheels. All-wheel-drive can be added to the Elevation or Denali trims for $2,000, and it comes as standard on the off-roady AT4.
The powertrain works pretty effortlessly and — as it should in all crossovers — mostly fades to the background as a nonentity. It does what it needs to do and little more. My only gripe is that the powerplant doesn’t sound particularly nice and a bit more engine noise gets into the cabin than I’d like, but it’s not that bad. The AWD system also works pretty well. I drove both the Denali and AT4 (on and off-road) and the system was more than up to the task for most base-level off-roading that Acadia owners will do. It’s not a rock crawler by any means, but it’ll get the job done down a rutted, muddy road just fine. The AT4 gets a more serious AWD setup that comes with twin clutches for engaging and disengaging the system. GMC says the AT4 can send up to 70 percent of its power to the rear wheels, while the Denali and Elevation are capped at 50 percent.
On the road, it’s not exactly exciting to drive, but it was never supposed to be. This is a car for hauling your kids and your shit around town and down the highway on a long trip, and for that, it works really well. Sporty driving isn’t really a thing in the Acadia. Sure, there’s a Sport mode, but it doesn’t do much other than remap the throttle and make the steering a bit heavier. There’s nothing GMC can do that’ll make a 6,200-pound crossover with a turbo four-cylinder motor exciting to drive. That isn’t the point.
The real point of the Acadia is being a comfortable cruiser, and that’s what it does through a really nice interior and class-leading technology. Like the exterior, GMC has completely redone the crossover’s interior with a new focal point: a 15-inch vertical touchscreen.
I’ve used dozens of infotainment systems, and this is certainly among the best. Everything is easy to read, easy to use and easy to configure. There are even hard button toggle switches along the bottom for your core HVAC controls. You can tell GMC’s designers really took their time in developing the screen. Sure, the headlight controls are still in it, and I hate that, but it’s just one gripe in an otherwise good system. Google Maps is used for navigation and the system gives you the rest of Google’s in-car suite. It’s a similarly positive story in the gauge cluster, which is also very customizable. You can put whatever you want in there, from a full-screen map to a tachometer, your current media, nav directions and a trip odometer. It all works rather intuitively.
On the subject of tech, I should bring up one of the Acadia’s best features: Super Cruise (an option that costs between $2,950 and $3,490, depending on trim level). Finally, GM’s excellent Level 2 hands-free driving system is making its way to more products. Like in other GM vehicles, Super Cruise works wonderfully in the Acadia. If you get on a good bit of mapped road, you can go a very long time without touching the wheel. It’ll even initiate passes for you, which is a bit unnerving at first, but you get used to it.
Something else the Acadia gets you is a shit-ton of space. Now that it’s a lot longer, every seat has a lot of room. I’m not going to say the third row is super spacious, but it’s good enough for 6-foot-1-inch me at on a shorter trip. GMC emphasized that the rear cargo area is a lot bigger than the old car with the third row up. The automaker says the new Acadia has 23 cubic feet of room behind the third row, up big from the 12.8 cubic feet of the old car. In the second row, depending on trim level, you can either have a three-seat bench or two captain chairs. I didn’t get a chance to check out the bench, but the two captain’s chairs were ultra-comfy, and I’m sure your kids won’t mind sitting in them for a long trip, unable to touch the other one.
Materials and execution are, in typical GM fashion, a little bit of a mixed bag, but they’re better than I was first expecting. There isn’t too much cheap-feeling plastic, but there could be more padding where you rest your elbow on the door, and the steering wheel buttons and gear selector and turn signal column stalks feel a bit cheap. I also encountered a strange thing with the gauge cluster where it seemed either pixelated or out of focus. It could have just been my eyes, I suppose. Regardless, it’s still a very nice place to be in both the top-of-the-line Denali and off-roady AT4.
For better or worse, GMC has found its corporate front facia, and because of that the new Acadia looks an awful lot like its bigger brother, the Yukon. The whole thing has a much beefier, truckish appearance with a big chrome grille that dominates the front end — on the Denali anyway; the AT4 gets a blacked-out grille. It has narrow headlights flanked with fairly large daytime running lights that double as turn signals, also very similar to the Yukon and Sierra.
These brawny looks continue on the side of the car with a clean and muscular design, a high beltline and 18- to 22-inch wheels depending on the model. Out back, the new Acadia comes — again — with a high beltline, C-shaped taillights and quad exhaust tips. (One per cylinder!) Overall, it has a much more upright look than its predecessor, and the new Acadia is a fairly nice piece of design that is very clearly following the trends that dominate the crossover space today. Everything’s gotta be bigger, tougher, manlier. Together, these minivan replacements can defeat WOKE.
Regardless of how you think it looks, there’s just a lot more to look at — this thing is bigger in every dimension. The third-generation Acadia is now 10.6 inches longer than its predecessor. That is a huge jump in size and a massive reversal in course from where the Acadia was heading. The first-gen car was 200.7 inches long. Then, for gen two, it shrunk to 193.4 inches in size. GMC tells me people complained about this change, so for 2024 the Acadia is 204 inches long, seven inches longer than the class-champion Kia Telluride. To put that in perspective, the Yukon is now only six inches longer than the Acadia, and the two three-row SUVs have identical wheelbases. On top of the overall length, it’s also 4.2 inches wider and 3.2 inches taller than the old car.
GMC didn’t provide window stickers for the cars I drove, but I spec’d them up pretty similarly online. The AT4 I drove would probably cost about $56,530, and the loaded-up Denali would come in at $65,810. That’s a lot of money, and it represents a pretty sizable jump in pricing over the old car. A base 2023 Acadia, while not nearly as nice a car, started at $38,195, which means the new generation is nearly $6,500 more expensive. The AT4 starts at $6,600 more than the outgoing model, and the Denali is about $6,200 pricier. I suppose you are getting a lot more, though.
The 2024 GMC Acadia is overall a very good car, and it’s certainly the most American-feeling mid-size SUV you can buy between its immense size, bold style and high price. If that’s what you’re into, then more power to you. In Denali form it’s certainly the most luxurious of the mid-size crossover offerings.
I like the 2024 Acadia. You just need to decide if the crossover that took a little bit too much Viagra is right for you. If you’ve got the space and the cash, it probably is.
