Sleek elegance

The GMC Acadia has a modern styling and is one of the roomiest crossover utility vehicles in its class, says Paolo Rossetti

Finally we have an SUV that doesn't pretend to be an SUV - it's a car, people, a wonderfully smooth 8-seating car with SUV styling and poise; not an SUV.

General Motors is in fact known for the opposite: creating heavy-duty trucks, so for them it makes no sense to "pretend" to be tougher than what they are - it's a car chassis, it's car luxury, and it's car handling, and even car consumption - and it's brilliant!

I found this honest approach very refreshing - consumers are no fools, just a drive around the block and you'll immediately know that the Acadia is as smooth as any sedan.

On the outside the styling is modern, and SUV lines stand out strong and firm in creating character, but once you open the doors and slide in, you are clearly in luxury sedan land.

The Acadia is low and sleek, so no stepping up into this beast. The interior is a living room on wheels - very elegant, refined and perfectly finished. A real pleasure.

The Acadia can come with an assortment of VIP features, such as tri-zone climate control, rear audio controls, a leather-wrapped steering wheel with audio controls, and heated, leather-covered power front seats, rear park assist, a power rear liftgate, remote start, DVD entertainment system, a touch-screen navigation system, and a head-up system that projects information onto the windshield - take a deep breath - and more!

The GMC Acadia is also one of the roomiest crossover utility vehicles in its class, with seating for up to eight passengers.

The model I drove had two captain's chairs in the second row, and they received a lot of praise from my passengers, both youngsters and adults. I had to try them out myself,
and I can vouch that's the configuration you want, unless, perhaps you have three children.

There's still comfortable room for adults in the third row, plus good cargo area as well. It's a long car that Acadia!
With around 120-inch wheelbase and a 67-inch track, the interior room is actually more than the Acadia's larger siblings.

But the quality of the drive on tarmac is far superior. The vehicle has independent suspension front and rear, with struts, lower control arms and an anti-roll bar at the front, and an H-arm and coil spring rear layout which gives superb handling characteristics for a car so big.

At high speeds on the highway, the Acadia hunkers down and is surprisingly stable, cutting through air resistance like a missile; and on fast curves it provides good tracking and minimal side-roll - nothing like other fake SUVs that pitch like a boat caught in a swell!

For anyone used to the sloppy road manners of full-size truck-based SUVs, the Acadia is a revelation. The steering is precise and accurate, the handling is poised, body control is excellent, and the ride is well controlled and supple.

The brakes have a firm pedal feel, and are able to stop the 5,000-pound Acadia smoothly and confidently.

I'm so glad that GM took the path of building a crossover from the car side of things, instead of dummying down a 4x4 vehicle.

I believe the Acadia is one of the best urban SUV vehicles I've driven, and an excellent choice for motorists who want the SUV look but actually don't go off-road - which is the vast majority of drivers.

So why buy into off-road features you really don't want or need when you can now instead settle for a car designed to fit your needs?

Plus there's safety. A big mean-looking SUV does command respect on our roads, there's no doubt about that.

And besides the strong presence in the rear mirror, the GMC Acadia comes with a full complement of airbags: dual front airbags for both driver and passenger, seat side-mounted front-row airbags, and full-length curtain airbags for all three rows of passengers.

Before you get yourself into a situation where the airbags come to the rescue, GMC places a lot of emphasis on the Acadia's dynamic safety features, such as handling that's more car-like than a traditional SUV, its four-wheel anti-lock disc brakes, and the standard StabiliTrak stability-control system that includes automatic roll-over mitigation.

On the power side of things, the news is also good. A 3.6-litre, dual-overhead cam, 24-valve V-6 engine that employs variable valve timing, mated to a six-speed automatic transmission, produces 275 horsepower at 6,600 rpm and 251 pound feet of torque at 3,200 rpm.

I did feel the transmission downshift a little too aggressively for my liking at, say, 80 kph preparing to swing into the overtaking lane, but maybe that's just because I was totally absorbed in the plush comfort of the overall essence of the luxurious ride so the unexpected growl of the engine pushing up to the red line felt out of place.

I also had to try a little off-roading... hey, it looks like an SUV, it's all wheel drive, you'll have to forgive me for wanting to satisfy my curiosity!

Well, the power is definitely sufficient, and more. The suspension on hard tracks was adequate at careful, low speeds; so any sort of wadi tracks or dirt roads are certainly accessible - the Achillles' heel, and on the flip side the very same reason the Acadia is so great on tarmac, is the ground clearance.

The Acadia is in fact very low to the ground and that makes off-roading a little difficult - but it is perhaps unfair of me to have even tried.

GMC makes no claim that the Acadia will take you over boulders, or up sand dunes, and just like with any sedan, that should not really be a consideration.

The GMC Acadia struck me as an honest, hard-working but luxury family vehicle. It is one of the best crossovers I've tried and I believe should be on the shortlist of any person considering an SUV, who knows realistically that serious off-roading is not part of the game they want to play.