The 2024 GMC Acadia begins the third generation of the premium brand’s three-row SUV. It’s longer, wider and taller with more room for people and their stuff. GMC also extended the third row for more space for the occasional extra child and booster seat, or just cargo.
All trims of the Acadia come with a new turbocharged four-cylinder with an eight-speed automatic. All-wheel drive is available on the off-road focused Acadia AT4 and the luxury-focused Denali. When pressed, it can tow 5,000 pounds.
I didn’t do any towing during the week but I did tote kids and people to and from the suburbs to the city and up north and back for a good sense of what this vehicle is like to live with on a daily basis.
What we tested: Newsweek test drove a 2024 GMC Acadia in Ebony Twilight Metallic for this review. The car had a sticker price of $44,600 with an included destination charge of $1,395.
KEEP: Super Cruise
GM’s Super Cruise is still the best hands-off, eyes-up assisted driving system on the market. There are now three-quarters of a million miles of road that it can be used on. The main highways in Michigan are covered allowing a good 45 minutes of hands-off driving up I-75 for another drive event. It also works on the north-south divided highways of mid Michigan.
The new automatic lane change system was nearly flawless. Only once did it switch over to a lane that slowed instantly. It flashes an icon on the center screen when getting ready to change, and vibrates the seat on the side that it’s changing too. It can thankfully be set above the speed limit.
General Motors
CHANGE: Powertrain
The 2025 Acadia has a new turbocharged powertrain with an acceptable 328 horsepower, but for some reason it feels like it’s working hard in this application when loaded with adults. The four-cylinder also delivers 326 pound-feet of torque but gets buzzy in the cabin when the revs get high. In a GMC we’d expect more sound deadening technology or materials (or both).
It’s also supposed to return 21 miles per gallon (mpg) combined in city and highway driving, though it was mostly be in the high teens over a hundred miles or so during its week in our possession.
KEEP: The comfortable ride
Despite the engine, the ride on the new Acadia is excellent with all small and medium bumps absorbed and with the large ones mostly muted. The SUV does a great job staying true in turn, even when bouncing over that pockmarked blacktop.
Even on bouncy dirt road it stayed straight. I selected all-wheel drive via the button on the dashboard and let the system divvy power back and forth and from side to side on the slippery surface.
CHANGE: Screen features
The portrait-style screen looked great, but the icons are tiny and mostly one color. Google News is easy to see out of the corner of your eye but everything else needs to be hunted for. And the Super Cruise driver-facing camera noticed and scolded me for looking away from the windshield.
Apple CarPlay made it a little easier, mostly because of the easy-to-read, colored icons that we’re all so used to, but they too are small. I don’t mind when the CarPlay doesn’t take over the whole screen–I like to have access to some of the native functions—but those Apple icons should also be huge. And maybe my eyes aren’t what they used to be
GMC
KEEP: GMC interior
The 2025 Acadia does look and feel like a GMC from the driver’s seat. The stitching is impeccable, and the three-row does a good job of bringing GM’s industrial feel with a luxury accent. The controls are robust, and all have good engagement sounds. There’s no confusion when a switch is thrown, or a button is pressed.
The seats are beautiful too with patterns and panels and perforations for the heating and cooling. They’re comfortable and adjustable for a perfect driving position. Most of the common touchpoints are cushy and the storage spaces are smart for a family of four with lots of stuff to travel with.
