Work Rides: GMC Acadia

My employer switches travel agencies this summer. To most people, that's not a big deal - but for someone like me who is out of town most weeks, that can lead to big changes. One casualty of the change is that we switches from Avis to National for car rentals.

I had gotten used to the free upgrades as one of Avis' top tier of renters, so it was a welcome change when my regular use of National's fleet allowed me to start getting upgrades in their frequent user program as well. The nice thing about National is that you can pick your vehicle and go - no worries about getting stuck with a make/model you don't like, and they give you a whole aisle to select from (all at the same price). Frequent users like myself get access to the "Executive Collection" aisle, and there are always a couple good choices.

With this setting in mind, I decided to take advantage of National's fleet to take somewhat of a test drive of a vehicle I have some interest in purchasing somewhere down the road when my current lease is up. Enter the GMC Acadia (and is nameplate cousins the Saturn Outlook and Buick Enclave).

I did a joint sales call with a client that had one of these, and liked it. It's slightly larger than my Nissan Pathfinder, but offers a couple nice differences

• Seating configuration: The Acadia has 3 rows and can seat up to 8. The thing I like is that the second row can be configured with 2 captain's chairs instead of a bench seat. With 4 kids, this makes it a lot easier to get the kids into the back row since we have larger car seats for the younger kids in the 2nd row.
• Handling: while the Acadia is a fairly large vehicle, it handles well. Overall feel is more like a car than a truck. My model had a rear sonar - which was a nice touch for such a large vehicle.
• Sound. Engine noise was less pronounced than on my Pathfinder. Again, this seems to be attributed to the Acadia being designed more as a car than a truck.
• Amenities. These were great. On top of Sonar and XM Satellite Radio, my Acadia also had a rear DVD system. While this served no purpose or benefit whatsover, it's a nice touch nonetheless.

While my impressions overall were good. (So much that I rented the same vehicle two weeks in a row...) There are a few drawbacks:

• Cargo area: There isn't much storage area behind the 3rd row. While several bags/suitcases could easily fit there, there's no way this vehicle could accommodate our family of 6 + luggage/gear for any vacation or even a weekend of camping. Bummer. Only the Suburban or a 16-passenger van seem to be our options...
• Price: Starts a ~$30k. Steep.
• Intangibles: I've had great success with Japanese cars (namely Nissans and Hondas) and minimal success with American ones (Chrysler, Ford) I've never owned a GM car, but I do have concerns about their reliability. This could ultimately be a deciding factor...