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2011 GMC Acadia Denali Review

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Mathieu St-Pierre
Un-Denali-bly good
The GMC Acadia was one of the original members of General Motors official foray into the large crossover utility vehicle segment. With it, the General was making the Buick Enclave and Saturn Outlook available to its then multitude of brands. Nowadays, we all know what happened to Saturn, but in the interim Chevy got its own version called the Traverse.

The GMC Acadia was one of the original members of General Motors official foray into the large crossover utility vehicle segment. (Photo: Sébastien D'Amour/Auto123.com)

The year was 2006 and the 2007 GMC Acadia arrived with much anticipation. I clearly remember being at the Chicago Auto Show that year as a guest of GM and being shuttled around in an Acadia. I recall staring first at the sheet metal and thinking that a more attractive, full-size family vehicle there was not. As I climbed aboard, I could not help but be in awe of the well laid-out controls and the overall presentation.

Nothing much has changed since then -- but that's a good thing.

The most notable modification to the Acadia's model line is the addition of the ultimate version: the Denali. For those not in the know, Denali is tops in GMC-speak, like “Limited” for many other brands. It therefore makes sense that the Denali be clad in unique trim including specific brightwork up front, extra cladding on the side, body-colour front and rear bumpers and some solid 20” wheels.

The total package had many staff members wanting to take a closer look at my ride of the week. Admittedly, the Acadia is very masculine to begin with, but decked out this way it's practically a head-turner. I would have preferred Summit White or White Diamond tricoat over Carbon Black metallic, but then again I'm a tough cookie to please...

The only negative comment pertaining to the Acadia's exterior revolved around the smallish and oddly shaped wing mirrors. A period of adjustment is required in order to maximize the limited efficiency.

What we wanted to find out with our recent comparo test of these big family movers had mostly to do with interior accommodations. In the end, the Acadia scored very highly. It sports some comfortable seats in all three rows; yes, including the third one. Trunk space is huge and still acceptable with the 3rd row up. To get to that final row, the 2nd row buckets only require a few moves before they slide out of the way.

The Acadia sports some comfortable seats in all three rows; yes, including the third one. (Photo: Sébastien D'Amour/Auto123.com)
Mathieu St-Pierre
Mathieu St-Pierre
Automotive expert
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