Holden Acadia 2018 Review

It’s not so much that Holden has been late to the SUV party, it’s just that the Captiva has been its mainstay for well over a decade. That’s way too long without generational change.

Now, finally, the SUV reinforcements are on their way from parent General Motors, including the all-new US-developed Acadia. The Toyota Kluger rival doesn’t go on-sale until mid-2018 but Holden gave us a brief drive of a development mule at its Lang Lang test track this week.

What’s it all about?
Holden has touted the Acadia as one of the advantages of the decision to cease building cars in Australia. The suggestion is that shorn of the huge financial cost of developing and building local cars locally, parent General Motors is allowing at least some of that money to be spent on developing a wider, deeper range of imports.

That includes a right-hand drive version of Acadia developed exclusively (at least for now) for Australia and New Zealand.

Acadia is almost 5.0m long, has seats seven and is pitched straight at the Toyota Kluger, Mazda CX-9, Nissan Pathfinder, Kia Sorento and Hyundai Santa Fe.

Based on a brand-new highly flexible monocoque architecture, it is currently being tested and tuned in Australia ahead of a mid-2018 on-sale date.

Here we’re having a brief drive of what’s called an integration verification vehicle (or IVER) at Holden’s Lang Lang proving ground. That means it’s about 80 per cent representative of the final production vehicle.

Holden’s also revealed a little of the local specification we can expect when the Acadia goes on-sale.

Technically speaking
Already on sale in North America, the new Acadia is based on GM’s new C1 architecture. It can accommodate petrol, diesel and hybrid powertrains, offer front- or all-wheel drive and be left- or right-hand drive…

Which is where we come in… Holden is declaring drivetrain discussion off limit for now, but in the USA Acadia comes with a 231kW/373Nm 3.6-litre petrol V6 that features direct injection, cylinder deactivation and idle start-stop. By the way, those outputs significantly top the 218kW/350Nm 3.5-litre V6 in Kluger.

Holden isn’t talking transmissions either, but the all Acadias have six-speed autos in the USA.

A diesel hasn’t appeared in Acadia yet and looks unlikely – even for Australia. A 2.5-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol sold in the USA is not coming here either. Aussie-spec Acadia’s will offer the choice of front (FWD) and on-demand all-wheel drive (AWD).

Localisation of Acadia is still a work in progress. Holden’s tuning efforts have included stiffening the Mac strut/five-link suspension, retuning the electric-assist power steering and powertrain calibrations.

Acadia marks a new achievement for Holden, as it is the first import to be tuned with active dampers, which are fitted to the top-spec models. Holden also has to dial in two settings for passive dampers for FWD and AWD Acadias, as well as match the car to summer tyres, rather than the all-weather rubber fitted in North America.

The Acadia will have Hill Descent Control and a claimed 2000kg braked towing capability (up from 1800kg in the USA), assisted by trailer sway control.

How much; what does it get?
By the tape the Acadia is 27mm longer than a Kluger at 4917mm, but it 10mm narrower (1915mm) and 54mm lower (1676mm). It has a 68mm longer wheelbase at 2858mm.

GM is proud of the weight saving for this vehicle and claims a kerb weight as light as 1794kg. The Kluger’s best effort is 1980kg. GM claims 1181 litres of luggage space with row three folded.

The Acadia is built in the Spring Hill, Tennessee.

Pricing’s not part of the official discussion right now, but $40,000-$60,000 in current dollars for a multi-grade line-up is a reasonable guesstimate, depending how sharp Holden’s pencil is and how much forex help it’s negotiated from its parent.

Plenty remains held back in terms of equipment specifics for now but in terms of the Acadia’s safety suite, Holden has confirmed autonomous emergency braking, forward collision alert with head-up warning, following distance indicator, lane departure warning with lane keep assist, blind spot alert, rear cross traffic alert and even an alert via vibrating seats. There’s also reverse and 360-degree camera views and park assist.

On the convenience/comfort front, Acadia will feature Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility, push-button and remote start, wireless phone charging, hands-free powered tailgate, ventilated and heated front seats, sliding second row seats and folding third row seats, a two-panel panoramic sunroof, five USB ports and tri-zone air-conditioning.

What’s it like to drive?
Our first local steer of the Acadia was limited to two laps of the Lang Lang high-speed bowl at speeds up to 140km/h; a 20km/h trundle through a water splash and a test of the light-duty all-wheel-drive system’s smarts with a take-off on a 25 per cent grade with two wheels on wet grass and two on bitumen.

Take-outs? In their standard setting, the adaptive dampers deliver decent comfort for passengers, but switch to the incongruously named ‘competition’ mode and there is a significant stiffening that delivers jolts into the cabin -- even on the speed bowl’s relatively smooth surfaces. Weighting of the steering also increases.

Holden says the chassis is at about 65 per cent of where it expects to get to, with an 80 per cent validation being tested by the time you read this.

The mysterious drivetrain is strong and smooth, picking up quickly without becoming noisy when accelerating from 60km/h and up. Wind noise also seemed well contained, even when Holden vehicle development manager Jeremy Tassone jumped in the seat and took us for a high-speed run in the top lane at more than 200km/h!

The hill-start proved fuss-free for the AWD system (which comprises an electronically controlled twin-clutch working through open diffs and individually braked wheels).

An Acadia plus is interior room. Thanks to the sliding centre seat, there is room for adults in all three rows -- although really the rearmost pews are for kids. But exit was achievable for a full-size adult, without breaking a hip or suffering concussion. Seats seemed supportive and comfortable.

Some stuff was pre-production, especially around the dashboard, where the new-generation Mylink infotainment touch screen was taped up.

So, what do we think?
It’s no surprise to find the Acadia is a quantum leap ahead of the Captiva7. It has to be if Holden is to be taken remotely seriously against the high-quality opposition it will face.

At first taste the Acadia offers space, pace and still to be fine-tuned grace. It’s also got a masculine look that will give it a degree of styling separation from the rest of the SUV crowd. Whether that’s a good or bad thing, we won’t know for 12 months or more.

Then there’s the whole price and marketing thing.

This has not been Holden’s strength of late. Acadia will ultimately stand or fall depending on whether Holden’s marketers can attract buyers into the showroom.

2018 Holden Acadia pricing and specifications
Price: $40,000-$60,000 (plus on-road costs - estimate)
Powertrain (see text): 3.6-litre petrol V6 and six-speed automatic
Fuel: 13L/100km (city)-9.4L/100km (highway) EPA rating (USA)
CO2: 301g/km (city)-218g/km
Safety Rating: Five-star (NHTSA – USA)

Related reading:
Holden Acadia International drive