I’ve seen both the Enclave & Acadia in person and I test drove an Enclave last weekend.
I had a chance to test drive the Acadia right after but I chose not to as I figured it would be the same except perhaps not as quiet.
We like both vehicles and have gone back and forth as far as which we like better.
At first, my wife really liked the Acadia the best but she is a person that needs to see something in person and at that time all we could see in person was the Acadia.
Then we had a chance to see the Enclave in person and she was very impressed with it.
A few days after that she was leaning towards the Enclave. The following weekend we got to drive it.
My impressions:
Exterior:
My favorite view of the Enclave is the front end. It is what makes it look distinct. It really stands out so if you’re looking for a more conventional look you should check out the Acadia or Outlook since they have a more standard SUV look. The Enclave truly looks like a unique crossover vehicle.
At first I was leaning towards the Acadia because I wondered if the Enclave was a little too “sexy” for my personality. Also, from the side I wondered if it looked a little too mini-van’ish for my taste because it looks long from the side. However, the Acadia also looks long when looking directly from the side. Overall, these vehicles do a nice job of hiding their size but I guess it’s unreasonable to expect the size to not be noticeable from at least some angles.
However now I too am leaning towards the Enclave. I personally think that if I’m going to spend nearly 40K on a car then it better look like 40K. The Acadia looks great with its nice curves and more traditional suv-like shell, but in all honesty, if I just saw the exterior and you told me it cost 25K, I would be just as inclined to believe you than if you told me it was 40K. That means that I would also believe it if you told me it was 40K because it does look good. Just that I wouldn’t be shocked if you told me it was 25K either.
By contrast, based on exterior sight alone, I would question you if you told me that the Enclave was only 25K.
Interior:
The interior of the Acadia fits it well. I’ve seen some complaints about the “plood” inside the Enclave and how it missed the mark of luxury. I agree that the fake wood on the dash is a bit too fake looking. They used some hard, smooth plastics and some soft, textured plastics. There’s some of both but it just makes you wonder then why use any hard, smooth plastics at all as it brings the material quality down a notch. The Acadia has the same amount of hard plastics but it is more tolerable due to the more traditional SUV look it is striving for. However, just because it fits better, you could still just as easily complain about the Acadia’s interior since it costs the same if not a bit more. I cut the Enclave some slack here because of this. I understand that the price is the same or even a bit less than an equally equipped Acadia. However, the claim could be legitimately made that perhaps they should’ve not bothered with the “plood” at all and should’ve come up with something else that looks somewhat luxurious but less fake. The wood steering wheel looks and feels good though.
Overall I think the dash looks much better than the Acadia. The clock in the curved center dash really looks nice. Even the air vents are nicely curved into the dash. Also, I like the blue backlighting better than red as it gives a more elegant and relaxing ambiance to the entire dash. I can live with the overly shiny fake wood and the use of some hard plastics as they don’t detract from the look enough to be a deal breaker.
My wife preferred the interior of the Acadia a bit better just because it seemed to fit the vehicle a little better and the colors blended together nicer. However, she still likes the Enclave more overall.
Performance:
The Enclave is the quietest vehicle I’ve ever driven. I guess that’s not saying too much as most of the cars I’ve driven have just been normal cars like Honda Accords. But Accords are fairly quiet and the Enclave is much quieter than that. My wife was also impressed by the silence in comparison to our current SUV.
I did experience what others refer to as the “transmission lag”. Basically unless you really stomp it, the vehicle takes its own sweet time in shifting gears. You just can’t get that initial “punch” of acceleration no matter what you do. Maybe if you really stomp on it or something, but otherwise it’s going to go through its gear progression at it’s own pace regardless of whether you press a little harder or not. It wasn’t horrible but I think I would be worried about whether or not I could get the punch of power I need to merge into traffic around where I live. Someone on the Acadia forum referred to the Acadia’s acceleration as “gutless”. I don’t know if I would use such harsh terms but I can understand that comment somewhat. I’m not planning on racing these things so a smoother, quieter ride is more important to me in this kind of vehicle. However, they should still do something about the hesitation while accelerating. I hear there is a transmission software update that is supposed to help alleviate this “lag” somewhat so hopefully the one I drove did not have the update applied yet. However, despite this “lag” the ride still felt quite smooth.
Due to the quietness of the vehicle and the smoothness of the ride, its speed is deceptive. You can be up to 60MPH before you know it so I think I would really need to keep an eye on the speedometer until I got more of a feel for the car.
Lastly, the Acadia may look sportier, but I don’t think it would feel any sportier. The Lambda series are true cross-overs. They’re going to feel like a cross between an SUV and a mini-van regardless of what shell you put around them.
Conclusion:
So to sum up, I’m still not 100% sold on the Enclave. The nice curves on the Acadia is normally about as much “sexy” as I would want. However, I’m 90% sold on it because I just think the look & feel of the Enclave is a tad bit more upscale and thus more befitting such a price tag. The smooth, ultra-quiet ride adds to that feel as well as standard amenities such as nice looking HID headlights and 19” wheels.
In general the Lambda series vehicles are pretty much the same. The difference is in the details and the outer shell. We like the way both the Enclave and the Acadia look from the outside so if we purchase a Lambda series vehicle, we'll probably go with the one that has the details that fit us.
I had a chance to test drive the Acadia right after but I chose not to as I figured it would be the same except perhaps not as quiet.
We like both vehicles and have gone back and forth as far as which we like better.
At first, my wife really liked the Acadia the best but she is a person that needs to see something in person and at that time all we could see in person was the Acadia.
Then we had a chance to see the Enclave in person and she was very impressed with it.
A few days after that she was leaning towards the Enclave. The following weekend we got to drive it.
My impressions:
Exterior:
My favorite view of the Enclave is the front end. It is what makes it look distinct. It really stands out so if you’re looking for a more conventional look you should check out the Acadia or Outlook since they have a more standard SUV look. The Enclave truly looks like a unique crossover vehicle.
At first I was leaning towards the Acadia because I wondered if the Enclave was a little too “sexy” for my personality. Also, from the side I wondered if it looked a little too mini-van’ish for my taste because it looks long from the side. However, the Acadia also looks long when looking directly from the side. Overall, these vehicles do a nice job of hiding their size but I guess it’s unreasonable to expect the size to not be noticeable from at least some angles.
However now I too am leaning towards the Enclave. I personally think that if I’m going to spend nearly 40K on a car then it better look like 40K. The Acadia looks great with its nice curves and more traditional suv-like shell, but in all honesty, if I just saw the exterior and you told me it cost 25K, I would be just as inclined to believe you than if you told me it was 40K. That means that I would also believe it if you told me it was 40K because it does look good. Just that I wouldn’t be shocked if you told me it was 25K either.
By contrast, based on exterior sight alone, I would question you if you told me that the Enclave was only 25K.
Interior:
The interior of the Acadia fits it well. I’ve seen some complaints about the “plood” inside the Enclave and how it missed the mark of luxury. I agree that the fake wood on the dash is a bit too fake looking. They used some hard, smooth plastics and some soft, textured plastics. There’s some of both but it just makes you wonder then why use any hard, smooth plastics at all as it brings the material quality down a notch. The Acadia has the same amount of hard plastics but it is more tolerable due to the more traditional SUV look it is striving for. However, just because it fits better, you could still just as easily complain about the Acadia’s interior since it costs the same if not a bit more. I cut the Enclave some slack here because of this. I understand that the price is the same or even a bit less than an equally equipped Acadia. However, the claim could be legitimately made that perhaps they should’ve not bothered with the “plood” at all and should’ve come up with something else that looks somewhat luxurious but less fake. The wood steering wheel looks and feels good though.
Overall I think the dash looks much better than the Acadia. The clock in the curved center dash really looks nice. Even the air vents are nicely curved into the dash. Also, I like the blue backlighting better than red as it gives a more elegant and relaxing ambiance to the entire dash. I can live with the overly shiny fake wood and the use of some hard plastics as they don’t detract from the look enough to be a deal breaker.
My wife preferred the interior of the Acadia a bit better just because it seemed to fit the vehicle a little better and the colors blended together nicer. However, she still likes the Enclave more overall.
Performance:
The Enclave is the quietest vehicle I’ve ever driven. I guess that’s not saying too much as most of the cars I’ve driven have just been normal cars like Honda Accords. But Accords are fairly quiet and the Enclave is much quieter than that. My wife was also impressed by the silence in comparison to our current SUV.
I did experience what others refer to as the “transmission lag”. Basically unless you really stomp it, the vehicle takes its own sweet time in shifting gears. You just can’t get that initial “punch” of acceleration no matter what you do. Maybe if you really stomp on it or something, but otherwise it’s going to go through its gear progression at it’s own pace regardless of whether you press a little harder or not. It wasn’t horrible but I think I would be worried about whether or not I could get the punch of power I need to merge into traffic around where I live. Someone on the Acadia forum referred to the Acadia’s acceleration as “gutless”. I don’t know if I would use such harsh terms but I can understand that comment somewhat. I’m not planning on racing these things so a smoother, quieter ride is more important to me in this kind of vehicle. However, they should still do something about the hesitation while accelerating. I hear there is a transmission software update that is supposed to help alleviate this “lag” somewhat so hopefully the one I drove did not have the update applied yet. However, despite this “lag” the ride still felt quite smooth.
Due to the quietness of the vehicle and the smoothness of the ride, its speed is deceptive. You can be up to 60MPH before you know it so I think I would really need to keep an eye on the speedometer until I got more of a feel for the car.
Lastly, the Acadia may look sportier, but I don’t think it would feel any sportier. The Lambda series are true cross-overs. They’re going to feel like a cross between an SUV and a mini-van regardless of what shell you put around them.
Conclusion:
So to sum up, I’m still not 100% sold on the Enclave. The nice curves on the Acadia is normally about as much “sexy” as I would want. However, I’m 90% sold on it because I just think the look & feel of the Enclave is a tad bit more upscale and thus more befitting such a price tag. The smooth, ultra-quiet ride adds to that feel as well as standard amenities such as nice looking HID headlights and 19” wheels.
In general the Lambda series vehicles are pretty much the same. The difference is in the details and the outer shell. We like the way both the Enclave and the Acadia look from the outside so if we purchase a Lambda series vehicle, we'll probably go with the one that has the details that fit us.
