2023 GMC Acadia SLT 2.0T POV Test Drive & Review

Here we have a new 2023 GMC Acadia. This one comes in the SLT trim level. This color is going to be Summit White and then we have Jet Black perforated leather interior and our powertrain consists of a 2 liter turbocharged 4-cylinder engine mated to a 9-speed automatic transmission. Coming around to the front end here we do get LED headlamps along with LED daytime running lights and LED fog lights. Nice fresh look even though it's been around for a few years. And down here we have 18-inch wheels. We get passive keyless entry on all four doors and over here the door panel we have our memory seat functions here power door lock controls and then we have one touch automatic up and down windows for the front regular power windows for the back and then we have our rear window lock there power mirror controls here and then our power folding mirrors there blind spot monitors are in those and then down here we have our power lift gate we can set it to three-fourths max or turn it off and we can hit this button to open and close it we have a bottle holder here little storage in the back there premium bow sound system electronic parking brake press to engage hit the brake press down to disengage and then gauge cluster lighting here and then we do get a power tilt and telescoping steering wheel and then we have our power driver's seat with power lumbar support here but I have that seat up front adjusted for someone of my size being 6'3 longer legs let's go ahead and check out the rear seat room I like how they put this here actually the door panel in the back is more usable in the front I'm not used to seeing that but plenty of leg space from the second row and I do like that we have seat back pockets on both sides they are a little smaller than I'm used to but still great to have it on both sides and we have our rear AC controls here fan speed can be controlled temperature and then mode you can toggle where the air circulation is coming from then you have three stage heated seats for the back then our auto mode there and we can turn that off by adjusting temperature or our fan speed and then if you have it set on the auto mode where it blows from the front and at your feet you can turn that off by hitting the mode there then we have a 120 volt three-prong household plug-in USB-C USB-A charge port cup holders down here additional storage tray and there's a view of the front from back here and then third row I'm gonna go ahead and squeeze my way back to the third row and check out the leg room here but very usable because I can't necessarily sit my legs behind there but you saw how much space I had so if I scoot this seat up a little bit I'll have additional room so you might be able to fit two large adults one behind the other if you adjust the seats right and then I love this pocket here you kind of put a phone here and it slides kind of in there and it won't fall out and then you have a bottle holder here USB port there and then you just have the bottle holder on the right side here and if you want to pull this up and then you can slide the seat up that way if you need to get out and don't want to go through the middle here because it is a tight squeeze but I do like that we have armrests on both sides as well and then premium led dome lights grab bar here you can fit one or two hangers here on this hook but you can hit this and then actually fold the seat flat and you can fold that third row and I'll show you how to do that here shortly but I want to give a huge shout out to Chevrolet Buick GMC of Murfreesboro for allowing me to review the Cicadia today let's take a look at the window sticker now for me this is one of the best buys you can get specifically in a GMC Acadia because you get so many standard features now and then on top of that this one has what's called the preferred package and it's only $9.95 but you get the heated steering wheel the power 8-way passenger seat and most importantly you get the cooled seats for the front the sticker price for this is only $43.490 which is pretty good and the only thing this is missing is the v6 but if you see my other reviews I love the two liter turbo that is offered in the Cicadia so led taillights for the back as well and they don't flash like that just as you can see as I adjust my camera it goes away it's just how the leds are picked up so taking a look back here okay storage behind the third row I do like that we have this nice area to put objects that we don't want to roll around in the back but we want to keep them back here and then you can just hit this latch here and you can fold the back seats from the front or if you want to fold the third row you just pull up here and then fold that flat and you can see all the additional space you get when the seats are folded but taking a look underneath the vehicle you have that dual exhaust there and just a quick look from the front passenger side if you want to just lift the seat up you can just do that I'm actually going to go around this way because I didn't show the fuel filler so there's the capless fuel there and then we'll go ahead and pop the hood and there's that two liter turbocharged four cylinder and for me the SLT this one in particular with that preferred package is the best buy because I don't need a sunroof I love having the captain's chairs six passenger seating and all the tech that comes on here along with all the additional features so leather wrapped steering wheel again with that preferred package we can heat that there over to the radio here we get am fm xml with bluetooth audio and then we also get wireless apple carplay and then wired android auto compatibility and we do have the built-in navigation here and type in your points of interest go to recents fuel and then I love this because I like going to just shell and exxon I don't like mapgo marathon so I can just go to my favorite fuel brands and I can see the prices so I feel like going to the one up the street for three dollars don't want to go to the one that's a little further for 285 things like that that's a big plus for me and you can also kind of keep track of the traffic situation as well and you get a wi-fi hotspot there go into your settings and you can go through your phone connections wi-fi then you have apps you can go through as well and actual vehicle settings so if you want to turn the exit lighting on after 30 seconds or you want to have the reverse tilt mirror on you can do that valet mode as well and then we do get dual zone automatic climate controls and then we have well it's actually tri-zone because the rear ac controls are automatic I showed you earlier but you can control that from up here and you can even lock it as well from the screen and it's really easy to do and the screen is very intuitive then you can control where the airflow is coming there if you know your kid's gonna play with it or whatever you can just have it aiming at your feet where they can't get to it and then auto mode for that as well and then up here we have touch screen or buttons and knobs down below so we can toggle the ac the fan and then fan speed there your directions each have a button and then you can sync there but to unsync you have to change the temperature and then auto mode same thing you have to go ahead and change the fan speed to turn that off and there are your apps here if you want to download additional ones you can do that now for the shifter it is a nine speed but it's all push buttons so pull up here for reverse press here for neutral pull up here for drive presses l for low gear you can manually shift there press p for park and there's our backup camera there which is high def and the guidelines follow you as you turn the steering wheel we have a 12 volt down here sd card reader for the navigation a usb-c and a usb-a input if you want to use that apple carplay android auto wired I like the storage space here then we have auto stop toggle here traction control hazards parking sensors and then down here we have several drive modes just a tour and we have a snow and ice mode and then we have a sport mode there sport mode is pretty nice with this two liter turbo and then three stage heated cooled seats for the front center console cubby space decent size for the segment nothing else going on in there it's just storage and here's a view of the back from up here and then glove compartment owners manuals in here good size sunglass holders here universal garage door transmitter there premium dome lights up front on star and then going back to the steering wheel behind the stock turn signal auto high beam toggle there headlamp controls are here and you turn your auto mode off by pulling up there and then fog light controls are here and then to the right side of the steering wheel we have our windshield wiper control so one time pull down and then pull up for intermittent low high you can adjust your intermittent here and then you can turn your rear wiper on the intermittent or on and then pull back for rear wiper fluid push up for front wiper fluid and then over here I love how the windshield wiper fluid by the way it smells like listerine I just love that but cruise controls are here and then we can adjust all of that here and then cancel there forward collision alert gap adjust heat the steering wheel again and then voice recognition and this serves the mute button and you can go through your gauge cluster using these four arrows and this check mark here depending on what you're wanting to do and if you ever want to change your info page options you can go through here and it actually gives you a lot of choices that aren't necessarily already clicked so follow distance driver assistance battery voltage all that's there but this one's actually set up how I like it surprisingly so I had to keep mine either there or there so I'm gonna keep it here so I can see the instantaneous fuel info behind the steering wheel on the left side you can control your track list or radio station presets you'll see where it says favorites there in the background and then over here to the right you control your volume up and down there push button start finally here is our key fob with remote start and now we're going to take this two liter turbocharged 2023 GMC Acadia SLT out on the road for a quick test drive so I have the vehicle in tour mode now just to show how it drives and as we get on the interstate we're going to put it back into sport mode and see the difference so I'm going to give it a little throttle coming out of this corner here and then I'm going to put my foot down a bit in sport mode so pretty peppy now we're going to put it into sport and we're going to hop on the interstate here so very nice acceleration and even though it was in sport mode and it was quite a bit I didn't feel like the engine was straining I didn't feel like the vehicle was straining in terms of just how hard it was to control just a nice linear power curve there so fuel economy in this you're supposed to get 29 miles per gallon highway I wouldn't be surprised if you get a little better because I'm actually holding around 30 even after a slight incline and then as I'm coasting here I'm getting pretty good fuel economy and this is in sport mode so the revs are actually hotter so as I turn it back down to tour it's a little less jumpy so pretty impressed with fuel economy all in all and the ride I've said this before very nice in the Acadia XT6 duo there and the Enclave and Traverse are extremely nice as well it was just a tad bigger but I just love the ride of these Acadias so if you're in the market for a vehicle like let's say the Ford Explorer Nissan Pathfinder and you just want something a bit more on the luxurious side I definitely recommend going with this SLT Acadia because the two liter four cylinder it's just a great engine in terms of power output and it's all it's really more than enough for what most people need everybody's kind of going to those engines anyway I think Nissan sells a 3.5 V6 in the Pathfinders but you can get the 2.3 EcoBoost in the Explorer I don't even know if they have a V6 option anymore other one that isn't turboed at least and then I mean you could get maybe a Lincoln Aviator or something like that but that's gonna cost you 20 grand more at least compared to this and then the only other thing would be maybe a Telluride Hyundai Palisade or a Hyundai Santa Fe something along those lines all the lines are blurred these days because it's all about what you can do with the space you have in the vehicles but for me this is one of the best buys out there because it is a sub 50 grand car I mean it's $44,000 so quite a bit sub $50,000 and you get so many features that you're not used to having on GM products but let alone just SUVs in general for the price range usually cooled seats you have to have a Denali you got to be paying 55-60 grand for what you're getting and it's nice to have this $44,000 Acadia now you don't have the sunroof but you get the bows you get the nav you get the heated cooled seats the heated steering wheel and you don't have adaptive cruise but you get the lane keep assist system so just a really really nice setup here love how it's configured and like I said the two liter four cylinder is my favorite as opposed to the v6 because it doesn't have as much power but it has enough and you're getting so much better fuel economy so this is definitely my favorite Acadia that I've seen specced out but this will bring me to the end of my review of this 2023 GMC Acadia SLT with a two liter turbo