Holden Acadia

Like the exterior design, the Holden Acadia’s cabin too exudes a subtle and premium feel, instead of making it too flashy to the eyes. The large dimensions play a major role here too, with the long length giving it enough space for all the three rows and big windows giving it an airy feel on the inside.

The driver’s cockpit looks sober with a four-spoke steering wheel, however, the instrument console behind it lacks the appeal which one expects in an SUV of this size. The centre console looks big with the large trapezoidal casing which houses the large touchscreen infotainment system. The housing near gear level looks chunky and is heightened a bit to give the cabin a bulky appeal.

Given its flagship positioning, the Holden Acadia is equipped with all the rich features like jet black leather upholstery, 10-way power-adjustable, heated and ventilated front seats, tri-zone automatic climate control, BOSE 8-speaker audio system with subwoofer and amplifier, active noise cancellation and wireless phone charging, and many more.

The Holden Acadia might not be as glitzy and sharply designed as the new generation SUVs and has got a sense of old school appeal in its design. But then, this very brash attitude in its design gives it an unmistakable road presence, which does garner respect from other passer-byes.

The front profile of the Holden Acadia has got a wide appeal, thanks to the open mouth shaped and wide octagonal grille with chrome accents. The block-shaped headlamps do have a kink at their upper corners, which indeed is a nice touch to prevent it from looking too functional.

The side profile of the Holden Acadia is the one which makes it look humongous and gives it the stance which we are talking about. The Acadia looks large from every dimension, be it its height or long length. And adding to its large appeal is the big sized windows, 20-inch alloy wheels, and high ground clearance.

At the rear, Holden has kept the design of the Acadia quite simple, with large chrome bar joining the tail lamps and rectangular number plate recess below it.

Built on a ladder on frame chassis, the Holden Acadia is fitted with Macpherson struts at the front and independent 5-link at the rear. Being a bully and large SUV, the Holden Acadia has a slight hint of body roll at higher speeds, however, it is well controlled. The suspension is slightly stiff, while the steering is light and precise too, which gives it an agile feel.

The Holden Acadia shares its 3.6-litre V6 petrol engine with the Commodore sedan. Here too, the engine is mated to a 9-speed automatic gearbox and produces 320 PS of power and 367 Nm of torque. All the three variants of Holden Acadia are being offered with both the options of two-wheel drive as well as four-wheel drive.

Apart from the basics like ABS and airbags all around, the Holden Acadia is also blessed with several other safety features like autonomous emergency braking, lane keep assist with lane departure warning, side blind zone alert, rear cross-traffic alert, lateral impact avoidance, pedestrian and cyclist detection, traffic sign recognition with intelligent speed assist and forward collision alert with head-up warning.

The Holden Acadia holds its candle right against all other full-size SUVs as far as road presence and luxury appeal is concerned. Though the Acadia might not feel or look as flashy and sharp as the new age SUVs, it still has got all the ingredients at right places.