Holden Acadia vs Subaru Outback

What's the difference?

The Holden Acadia is a proper seven-seater SUV in that it will fit adults in the third row without turning your friends into enemies. It’s also practical and well fitted out with storage places and utilities such as USB ports.

I was particularly impressed with the advanced safety equipment on-board even at this entry LT level. Yes, it’s a V6 petrol and it’s not the most fuel-efficient SUV, but our time with it showed that with cylinder deactivation and the stop-start system it might not be as thirsty as you’d think.

The Subaru Outback AWD Sport XT has been a great car for my family this week. It was popular with everyone and for good reason. It has loads of space, it's easy to handle and now has the grunt under the bonnet to satisfy me as a driver. However, you are paying for that grunt with the thirsty engine and that could become tiresome with the rising costs of fuel. At this price point, I also didn't love the weird-feeling material on the seats but it still impressed with its practicality and the safety features.

My son enjoyed being in this and loved the green accents and cool 'army' green colour. It was also a great height for him to get in and out of unassisted.

To fully understand the look of the Acadia, take a peek at the GMC website - but make sure you shield your eyes in the same way you would during a solar eclipse, or when welding, or in an atomic blast.

You’ll understand when you get there but suffice it to say contained within the site are some pretty confronting trucks and SUVs. Once you’ve recovered, you’ll realise the Acadia is the supermodel of the GMC family.

Yep, it has a big, blocky, truck-like look but it’s a refreshingly tough styling alternative to more elegant looking SUVs such as the Mazda CX-9.

The Acadia is also one of the smallest members of the GMC family, yet its dimensions position it as a large SUV in Australia. Even then it’s not huge compared to other large SUVs here, so you won’t have an issue piloting it in Aussie car parks or fitting into spaces.

The Acadia measures 4979mm end-to-end, 2139mm across (with the mirrors out) and 1762mm tall.

Along with the Mazda CX-9 the Acadia would also consider the Kia Sorento and Nissan Pathfinder to be among its rivals.

Inside, the Acadia is a modern and stylish looking place, although it’s a bit unrefined. Still, as one YouTube commenter reminded me parents will like the wipe clean surfaces.

Well her comment wasn’t written that politely but being a parent, I concur that the hard plastics have that advantage.

The interior is not all unrefined. The seats, even in the entry grade LT we tested, while cloth (and only available in Jet Black) are sculptured with bolsters and finished with a textured pattern that looks and feels great.

Subaru has been pushing for sharper robust shapes lately and this is no different. It's a large car being 4870mm long and 1875mm wide but it still feels like a station wagon with that 1670mm height!

Everything is proportional and well sculpted with a long nose being complemented by sharper accents, like the rear tail-lights that jut out.

There are some areas of interest, like the green accents on the roof rails and black plastic body moulding, that tie in nicely with the contrasting green stitching of the interior trim.

The interior is pleasing to look at with the two-tone synthetic leather trim throughout, tapered cutaways in the dash and doors, plus stacks of soft touchpoints.

The only thing I don't really like is the 'water-resistant' material in the middle of the seats. It feels very synthetic and I wonder how it will wear over time.

Overall, it's a very handsome car, inside and out.

The Acadia’s practicality game is strong. It boasts seven seats with third row positions actually able to fit adults, five USB ports sprinkled through the cabin, and a cargo capacity of 1042 litres with the third-row seats folded flat and 292 litres with them in place. If you have three kids, even teenagers, the Acadia could be the perfect family personnel carrier for you.

All three rows are spacious and even at 191cm tall I had good shoulder and elbow room up front, and in the second and third rows I had enough legroom to sit in each seat behind my seating position without feeling cramped.

Feeling a bit down because you might not be able to stretch the budget to get the LTZ-V? Well, cheer up – the LT has more headroom and that’s because it doesn’t get the sunroof which eats into the ceiling height.

Cabin storage is excellent. There’s a wide and deep centre console bin, a hidey hole in front of the shifter, a tray for second row passengers, six cup holders (two in each row) and decent-sized door pockets.

Directional air vents for everybody on board, three-zone climate control, two 12-volt power outlets, privacy glass and proximity unlocking complete a great practicality package.

I love how roomy the interior is. Taller occupants will be singing its praises (from both rows).

The 213mm ground clearance also makes this the perfect height to get in and out of, for my six-year old all the way to my 72-year old father. No grunts or complaints were heard this week!

Individual storage is great with a large glove box, middle console with a shallow shelf, two cupholders and drink bottle holders in the first and second rows plus double-sleeved map pockets in the second row.

Boot storage is good with 522L of capacity and a level load space – perfect for sliding in a pram or luggage.

There's no underfloor storage because of the full-size spare tyre but there are little pockets on the side of the wheel arches for smaller items. You can bump up the storage to 1783L when the back row is folded flat.

Considering Subaru's sponsorship of the ski fields, I was surprised that the back row only has a 60/40 split fold configuration and not a 40/20/40, which would allow for internal stowage of longer gear… like skis. However, you do get strengthened roof racks with anchor points for bigger gear.

The amenities in each row are pretty good, too. The rear seats enjoy directional air vents, USB ports, reading lights and heated outboard seats.

I enjoyed using the tech this week, it's easy to use and looks good. My favourite combo.

The 11.6-inch touchscreen multimedia system has built-in satellite navigation and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. It was ridiculously easy to connect my iPhone and I like the Bluetooth connectivity, too.

There is a USB-A and USB-C port and (unusually) an 'aux' port in the front row, but backseat passengers can also stay charged up with two USB-A ports. There are two 12-volt sockets for other charging options but basically, you're sorted with outlets.

The Sport XT will cost you $52,190, before on road costs, but you get a lot of features fitted as standard, which makes it feel like you're getting your money's worth.

Some of those features include, electric heated front seats, heated rear outboard seats, powered tailgate, dual-zone climate control, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, satellite navigation, Bluetooth connectivity, 18-inch alloy wheels, a full-size spare tyre and a large 11.6-inch touchscreen multimedia system.

And that's just a 'few' of the features! Even the entry-grade has great specs, if you didn't want the extra power from the turbo-engine.

All Acadias come with a 3.6-litre V6 petrol engine which makes big dollops of power and torque or 231kW (at 6600rpm) and 367Nm (at 5000rpm).

A nine-speed automatic swaps gears, and in the case of our two-wheel drive LT test car the drive went to the front wheels only.

The V6 gets the thumbs up for its stop-start fuel saving system and cylinder deactivation, plus good acceleration and the smooth power delivery you’d associate with a naturally aspirated engine, but a thumbs down for needing to rev hard to make that mumbo.

Our model has the new 2.4-litre, four-cylinder, turbo-petrol 'boxer' engine with a maximum output of 183 kilowatts and 350 Newton metres of torque. That's a big step up in power from the previous non-turbo engine.

The continuously variable auto transmission is relatively smooth and the combo means this handles open-road and urban conditions well.

We were surprised by the Acadia’s fuel efficiency. After filling up the tank I drove for 136.9km on a combination of hilly country roads and peak hour evening city traffic and then filled up again – only 13.98 litres were used. That’s a mileage of 10.2L/100km. The official combined consumption figure is 8.9L/100km.

So, while the engine is big and not particularly new (it’s an evolution of the V6 built by Holden in Australia for the Commodore) it does have fuel-saving tech like cylinder deactivation and a stop-start system – which you can’t switch off.

Still, not the most fuel-efficient seven-seater – those with turbos and smaller capacity engines such as Mazda CX-9 are truly amazing in the way they can deliver grunt without getting thirsty.

The official combined fuel cycle figure is 9.0L/100km. Real world testing saw my figure at 9.6L/100km but that was after heavy open-road driving this week.

Unfortunately, it's thirsty and urban-dwellers will feel that the most at the bowser, but the upside is getting the extra grunt from the turbo.

The Outback has a relatively small 63L fuel tank for its size and only takes premium fuel (95 or higher).

I drove the Holden Acadia back-to-back with the Nissan Pathfinder – you can watch the model comparison in the video above, but the upshot of that experience was important.

See, while I wasn’t a major fan of the Acadia driving experience when I first met the SUV at its Australian launch in 2018, when I drove it straight after the Pathfinder the difference was like night and day.

The Acadia is comfortable, from the big seats to the smooth ride. If you’re covering a stack of territory the Acadia makes a great highways cruiser and will chomp up big distances  effortlessly.

That V6 does need to rev hard, but it’s powerful and acceleration is swift, while the nine-speed automatic shifts pretty seamlessly. Noise cancelling tech keeps the cabin fairly serene, too.

Look, it’s not the most dynamic of SUVs and there was a bit of tyre chirp in the corners when pushed, but this isn’t a performance car and nor is it trying to be.

Small windows mean a cooler, tough look, but the downside is a dark cabin and occasionally visibility is limited by the A-pillars or out the rear windows.

A 2000kg braked towing capacity will rule the Acadia out for many thinking of pulling a large caravan or big boat. The Pathfinder’s 2700kg braked towing capacity is a strength of that SUV.

Do you need all-wheel drive? Nope, but it’s handy for dirt and gravel roads. Still the 198mm ground clearance with only front-wheel drive should see you get down bumpy roads that regular sedans couldn’t handle.

I thoroughly enjoyed driving this. The engine is powerful enough to easily handle winding mountain roads, always a plus in a big family car, but the pick up is also good and you can zip across traffic or overtake when needed.

The cabin is delightfully quiet and the suspension creates a smooth ride without being floaty.

The tight 11m turning circle and accurate steering means cornering feels concise and controlled.

It's pretty easy to manoeuvre this around but you'll miss having front parking sensors in a tight car park because the nose is deceptively long.

I like how crisp the image is from the reversing camera but it's disappointing that it doesn't have a 360-degree view camera for where this Sport XT sits in the model range.

The safety features are well-stocked in this and it has items I always like to see on a family car, like LED daytime running lights, automatic emergency braking, rear emergency braking, lane departure alert, lane keeping aid, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, a reversing camera and rear parking sensors, but not front parking sensors, which you'll miss.

A highlight is the 'Driver Monitoring System' which is a fantastic feature.

The system literally watches you and scans your face for signs of drowsiness and distraction. If it detects them, it will sound an alert and a pop up comes on in the instrument panel.

I tested the sensitivity a lot this week and couldn't stump it. Thumbs up.

The Outback has seven airbags, but it is missing the newer front centre airbag, which is a shame.

It's been awarded a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating from testing done recently in 2021.

There are ISOFIX child seat mounts on the outboard rear seats and three top tether child seat anchors.

The back seat is wide enough that, with the right seats, you should be able to fit three side-by-side.

There is enough room for front occupants when a 0-4 rearward facing child seat is installed.

The Acadia is covered by Holden’s five year/unlimited kilometre warranty.

Servicing is recommended every 12 months or 12,000km. Expect to pay $259 for the first service, $299 for the second, $259 for the third, $359 for the fourth and $359 again for the fifth.

On-going costs are always something to consider and the Outback comes with a five-year/unlimited km warranty, which is standard for the market.

You can choose either a three- or five-year capped-priced servicing plan, the services average on the more expensive side at $515 annually on the five-year plan.

Servicing intervals are pretty good at every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever comes first.