Holden Acadia LTZ-V 2018 Review

It's a familiar yet disconcerting thing to be on a Holden launch listening to an Aussie engineer explain what his local team has done to the new model – in this case, the new 2019 Holden Acadia. Local manufacturing may have left the building, but the engineers stayed. In fact, even more have been recruited.

While it's by no means the first imported Holden to have an engineering pull-though to better suit Aussie conditions, the new Holden Acadia would have to be one of the more expensive. The GMC Acadia development train was already two years down the track when Holden jumped on, leading to a $100 million bill GM had to pay for engineering Holden's version – about 60 per cent more than if Holden was with the programme from the start.

In the metal the Holden Acadia looks more square-jawed than many of its more rounded competitors. While many car-makers are now admitting that women are the driving force behind family vehicle purchase decisions – and so that's who they try to appeal to – Holden marketing boss Kristian Aquillina said the Acadia's "more masculine than feminine" styling would also help it appeal to blokes.

Blokes who might've once owned a local Commodore wagon or even entertained owning a Ford Territory – if either were still available – to lug the family around.

It's the inside story that makes or breaks a family SUV. The 2019 Holden Acadia doesn't knock your socks off with fancy interior presentation; it's more subtle than that.

It's not like North America is the home of exquisite, beautifully crafted mass-production automotive interiors, but the Acadia was by no means awful. There were a few minor rough edges to some of the plastics, and the quality of some of it left a bit to be desired. Most of it lined up well and none of it rattled or squeaked.

Yet for a near-$70K SUV, you'd hope for a little more polish.

The controls were easy to use and the menus on the large, clear instrument cluster and centre infotainment screen were logical and simple.

The right-hand-drive Acadia programme couldn't remove every left-hand-drive-centric component. The driver's exterior mirror has a convex outer section that suggests it was meant to be the passenger mirror on a LHD vehicle and the mode switch set back on the left rear of the centre console is much easier to use from the left side of the cabin.

With both front rows fore-aft adjustable, a happy compromise for leg room should be easy to meet, and there's plenty enough head and shoulder room on the comfortable front and middle-row seats.

It's only in the third row where adults will find the knees-up seating position a bit tough – not that they are likely to be there often. Getting into the third row is not difficult – even for adults – but it's here that you see another area where the RHD engineering didn't reach.

The 60:40 second-row seat split has the narrower section on the offside (traffic side) of the vehicle. That means that to get kids into the back you have to slide forward the wider section of the second row – unfortunate if occupied by a couple of littlies already, especially if in child or baby seats.

You simply cannot have enough places to wedge stuff inside a family vehicle, and here the Acadia doesn't impress with anything innovative. That said, it has the basics covered off with long and fairly deep door pockets, a deep centre console bin (and a couple of cup holders and a tray) and a medium-size glovebox up front, and cup holders, door pockets (and a long storage tray) in the second row. The third row gets a cup holder and small storage tray on each side.

With USB charging a must for everyone's devices, the Acadia has that well covered off with two at the front and in the second row and one in the third row. There are also two 12-volt accessory ports, one in the front centre console and one in the cargo area.

Accessing the cargo area is easy with a wide and deep electric-opening tailgate. There's even a setting for 3/4 opening height for low-ceiling garages and the like. There are four tie-down rings in the back that look substantial enough to lash down luggage.

The space-saver spare is not in an obvious position – it is literally buried under the cargo floor. To get to it, you have to unscrew the retaining strap for the rearmost false floor section, unscrew the left cubby and then remove the polystyrene moulded tray under the false floor.

It's not easy to access and if you didn't know it was there, you'd never find it. It is better than no spare or run-flat tyres, though.

The 3.6-litre V6 is smooth and delivers sharp performance. In 2WD mode with a full-throttle launch, the Acadia's front end lifts, the front tyres emit a squeal off the line and there's a moment of torque steer. Beyond that, the engine offers seamless, effortless acceleration to its 6700rpm redline.

With the trip computers being reset regularly on the 350km launch drive, it was hard to get a meaningful average fuel consumption figure. For what it's worth, we saw between 8.9L/100km for an easy highway cruise to about 12.8L/100km after a leg that included the winding Reefton Spur.

The transmission is an able co-conspirator, rarely putting a foot wrong. I noticed a clunk when rolling onto the throttle at low speeds a couple times but that's the only (minor) criticism of what appears to be a very good transmission. It always seemed to pick the right gear at the right time, and it had plenty to choose from.

At 100km/h the V6 was spinning at about 1400rpm in ninth gear – although it didn't take much of an incline for the transmission to slip back a gear or two. Seventh gear is 1:1, with the 0.75:1 ratio eighth gear and 0.62:1 ratio ninth gear being overdrives.

The nine-speed has two available modes: sport mode, and 'L' mode. Sport mode sharpens shifts and through an algorithm predicts, for example, a need to downshift before entering a corner if you're working the Acadia hard. By moving into 'L' from Drive, you can then toggle a +/- switch on top of the gear lever to lock out upper gears. The Acadia will not upshift from the chosen maximum gear ratio.

The relatively firm active suspension – tuned by Holden locally for our conditions – appeared to work well, keeping ride from becoming brittle over low-amplitude bumps while still managing to absorb the big stuff well.

The Acadia's steering wasn't bad but it wasn't as direct as you might want and it lacked feel – it was a bit light in normal mode and while it firmed up in Sport mode, it also felt more remote.

A heavy, tall SUV is not the basis for an involving, fast drive across your favourite mountain pass but the Acadia is more enjoyable than you might think. It is composed through fast corners and offers a pretty decent level of grip.

It's hard to assess some of the Acadia's phalanx of electronic safety features without driving provocatively, but it's good to know that if you did make a mistake, the safety net is there.

While you can't give it the thumbs up after just one day's driving, one feature that seemed to work well was Traffic Sign Recognition, which accurately read even temporary roadworks signs.

The Acadia does, however, have a couple blind spots thanks to its thick A-pillars and large side mirrors.

The Acadia looks good, has great performance and rides and handles well. Combine that with its spacious interior, high level of equipment (especially safety gear) and some pretty sharp pricing, and Holden might be onto a winner.

How much does the 2018 Holden Acadia LTZ-V AWD cost?
Price: $67,990 (drive-away)
Engine: 3.6-litre V6 petrol
Output: 231kW/367Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Fuel: 9.3L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 219g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: Not tested