2019 Holden Acadia

By Alex Forrest

The Holden Acadia seven-seat SUV is built in a factory 57km south of Nashville, Tennessee, and it carries more than a little hint of its USA origins.

It’s a right-hand drive version of the GMC Acadia, which is built in the same factory and sold in the USA. Both are built by Holden’s parent company, General Motors.

Some of the Holden Acadia’s American traits are good, such as the vehicle’s interior space, its price, safety features and depending on your tastes, its looks.

However, some aspects of the Acadia aren’t great, such as the interior’s hard plastics, it’s ponderous handling and the tendency for the front tyres to break traction, especially in the front wheel drive models.      

Most of the time, the nine-speed automatic transmission is silky smooth. It makes for both good acceleration and relaxed cruising, and on the Mitchell Freeway at 100km/h, the engine is turning over at just 1500rpm.

The 3.6-litre V6 is derived from the engine used in the current ZB Commodore, but it’s more refined in the Acadia thanks to revised intake and exhaust systems. 

Also, there’s no hesitation in getting torque to the wheels after you put your foot down. That’s useful sometimes, but you need to move your foot quite carefully to avoid any wheelspin.

Standard features across the range include auto braking with pedestrian and bicycle detection, rear cross traffic alert and a rear seat passenger reminder, which is designed to help avoid children or animals being left in the car.

We averaged 11.2L/100km around town. With 231kW and 367Nm, its engine makes more power and torque than the Toyota Kluger and Nissan Pathfinder while using less fuel.     

However, the Acadia is nowhere near segment leaders such as the Mazda CX-9 in terms of its handling poise and fuel consumption.

Its steering is vague and the interior fit and finish is average. These may not be top priorities in this segment, but nowadays we do know it’s possible with large SUVs.

The Acadia is a lot of vehicle for the money and one of the best for space outside of a people mover. Just make sure you’re ok with the pitfalls.

2019 Holden Acadia Specifications