Goodness, GMC Acadia, you’ve grown quite a bit

The new GMC Acadia is a reset of sorts. The second-generation Acadia shrank quite a bit from its predecessor, in an effort to better differentiate this SUV from its Chevrolet Traverse platform-mate. But now, the Acadia’s going big again. Like, really big. Like, 10 inches longer and 4 inches taller big. Sheesh.

Will this drastically shake up the Acadia’s positioning in the US market? Not really. This just makes GMC’s midsizer (yep, that’s still midsize) better compete with three-row vehicles like the Ford Explorer, Jeep Grand Cherokee L, Toyota Highlander, Volkswagen Atlas, and a million others. Compared to the current Acadia, the new SUV has 36 per cent more space behind the second row of seats and 80 per cent more room behind the third row. That’s huge. Literally.

Like its Traverse twin, the new Acadia has a 2.5-liter turbocharged I4 engine as its only powertrain offering, but the GMC is a bit more powerful than its Chevy sibling, making 328hp and 326lb ft of torque. All-wheel drive is optional, and there’s a rugged-ish Acadia AT4 with a 1-inch chassis lift, unique suspension tuning, a torque-vectoring rear differential, and the requisite red tow hooks and other butch visual giveaways that show you’re a real go-anywhere go-getter.

On the other end of the spectrum, GMC will continue to sell the fancy-pants Acadia Denali, with 22-inch chrome wheels, a Bose audio system, and opulent-sounding “laser-etched wood décor", though it’s still a GM product, so… we’ll see.

Several Acadia trims can be had with General Motors’ fantastic Super Cruise hands-free driving tech, which is one of the best driver-assistance systems in the world. There’s a bunch of new cabin tech on offer, too, including a 15-inch multimedia screen and 11-inch digital gauge cluster.

Following its debut at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit this week, the bigger and better GMC Acadia will go on sale in early 2024.