There she is, our new 2009 GMC Acadia. A few people have been asking about what it looks like, partially because the Acadia is only in its third year, so I thought I’d post a pictures of it. We did a huge amount of research before selecting this vehicle, so at some point I’ll do a write-up about that process. Our short list consisted of the Subaru Tribeca, the Mazda CX-9, and the GMC Acadia. We purchased it from Northland Pontiac Buick GMC, and our salesperson – who was excellent to deal with – was Dave Sommerfeld. It was a near-perfect buying experience, one that I’ll write about later. The Acadia was our final selection from the three vehicles, and here she is…
Ruby red – isn’t she pretty?
Keiko had to come check out the new car – she’ll be travelling in it of course…
I never saw myself owning a GMC vehicle, or an SUV for that matter, but here we are…
We’ll be keeping the Mazda Protege 5 – and selling the Mini Cooper – but I thought it was funny to see how much bigger the Acadia is than the Protege…and the Protege is our “big” car compared to the Mini Cooper.
We took the mid-level package and did almost every upgrade. This car had every option we wanted on it except for the 110 volt power – the car with that feature was in Saskatchewan, and the dealer there refused to send it our way unless our dealer here would send them a truck…and with the GMC truck factory not churning out any new trucks until August, that wasn’t going to happen. So we ended up getting one from Edmonton that lacked the 110 volt power, but had a trailer tow package (which we didn’t care about very much, but the next owner might).
We got the all-wheel drive version. Dig the quad-exhaust…I think that looks cool!
She’s a big beast! I call her the Land Tank. We’re breaking form and not getting a vanity plate.
The inside is furnished nicely. Not quite as high-end as the twin model from Buick, but who wants wood paneling anyway? Not us. Definitely a technologically advanced vehicle – and pairing the audio system to my smartphone over Bluetooth was shocking easy to do. Yes, something involving Bluetooth that was easy. Who knew such a thing was possible!
That’s my Zune 120 connected to the auxillary audio input – the only Zune big enough to hold our entire music collection at once. I’m glad it has that input, but I’m very disappointed with GMC for putting it in such a stupid place – having it inside the console, and having the cigarette lighter inside the console to provide power, or better yet a USB port, is the right way to do it. As it stands now, I’m looking for a Zune cigarette power adaptor that will charge the Zune and hold it aloft…I’ve seen one for the iPod like that, but I have to find one for the Zune.
Hey Jason,
Good choice. Heather and I have been looking at Acadia’s for about 2 years now. The only reason we haven’t fully bit the bullet is we wanted just a tad more towing power than they offer. Our ultimate goal was/is a 7-passenger sport utility such as this. We also recently looked at the Chevrolet Traverse (sister vehicle to the Acadia) which was very nice and just marginally different.
All in all, they’re beautiful vehicles, with some really cool options/features. I think you’ll be suitably impressed, and with the baby on the way, you’ll appreciate the extra room and storage capacity this will offer you. Plus they rate fairly high on safety tests and the all wheel drive will be wonderful with our *cough* lovely winters *cough*.
Jeremy
PS: Oh, and my gripe was also where they placed that stupid audio input. One of these days car manufacturer’s or at least the companies who make the factory stereos will realize that it’s a pain in the butt having a cable dangle down across half of your dash, interfering with various things, etc… Check this company out. Though they don’t appear to have a Zune specific mount, you might be able to find a device with similar size specifications and adapt it slightly. I know their mounts to be among the best in the industry (if not the best) : http://www.ram-mount.com/Home/tabid/37/Default.aspx
Ahh… my bad.
Ram Mount is good, but I meant these guys though: http://www.proclipusa.com/
Pro Clip USA is amazing. Device specific AND vehicle specific mounts. They have a few choices for your Zune 120.
Cheers,
Jeremy
PS: Seriously take a look through this site. I think you’ll end up being mad at me for directing you to them as you’re going to have clips EVERYWHERE in both of your vehicles. =)
Nice lookin’ vee-hickle, Jason…Welcome to ‘family’ travel….I’ll be looking forward to when you and Ashley join the rest of us Parent-Taxi’s when you get your minivan for taking the kids to various practices, rally’s, games, etc., etc., etc.
Have fun!!!
/drt
Haha, Don, don’t you get it? 😉 This IS our minivan – it carries about the same number of people, is about the same size, etc. Ashley has always said she’d never drive a minivan, so this is what we bought instead. 🙂
Cold Flame,
Thanks for the input – it’s not so much the clip/mount that matters…it’s powering it. I’m envisioning something that plugs into the cigarette lighter, them comes out of that with a semi-stiff flexible arm that would allow me to position it where I wanted. I know they exist for the iPod, I just need to find one for my Zune. 🙂
I realize that, but I figured if you could mount it in a location close to the aux input, then hopefully there is a cigarette lighter somewhere near there. It’s been a year or so since I last looked at the Acadia, so I don’t recall their placement of the 12v outlets off the top of my head.
At any rate, nice choice on a vehicle. Far cry from our previous discussions many months ago about two-door coupes, etc… =) They really are a very nice compromise between a true SUV and a mini-van. I like the crossover idea. It makes sense!
Cold Flame,
Ah, OK, I see. Getting a mount isn’t a bad idea, but having a mount and two cables isn’t ideal…I might have no choice, but I’d LOVE to have only one cable involved with this setup. We’ll see…
And you’re right, it was quite the journey – going from considering an Infinity G37 to buying an Acadia is kind of crazy. 😉
Hi Jason… yeah, yeah, I get it… FOR NOW, it’s your mini-van… just wait… you may find in a few years (kid #3?) that you may need a bit more cargo room…:-)
Looks like a gorgeous vehicle tho, and lots of nifty gadgets. I have to agree about the power/audio input jack tho. We have the same problem with the Toyota Sienna (although it IS the 2006 model…)
Two things I want, which I couldn’t even get in a 2008 Prius are:
a) USB jack for audio & power
b) BT that works for the car’s stereo as well as the phone. (i.e. play my phone’s music through the car’s stereo while the car also picks up the phone through its audio system).
Don,
Well, we’re only planning on having two kids, but I guess anything is possible. 🙂 Regarding Bluetooth, I’m really impressed with how well it works pairing and working with our mobile phones. No audio though – that would be neat, though killer on the battery life of the device in question. I already have to recharge my Zune because somebody didn’t remember to turn it off. 😉
Hey GMC rules the commercial vehicle regime. But with its model Acadia it is sure that it can make manufacturer superb SUV’s too. I liked its design. It can surely give a tough competition to FORD and CHEVROLET.
http://www.dynamictrucksonline.com/