We’ve talked about it quite a bit in the past year or so, but there has been a big movement towards family SUVs with big space. One of the biggest offerings in the class has long been the Chevy Traverse, which is completely new this year. But the Traverse also has a sibling from GMC which is fully redesigned as well, the Acadia. It has grown massively and is now the same size as the Traverse. So, who wins in a 2024 GMC Acadia vs. 2024 Chevy Traverse battle? Well let’s go ahead and find out!
Pricing and Equipment
Now we have a ton to cover in this General Motor’s SUV smackdown, but first let’s quickly establish the pricing and trim levels right from the start.
Beginning with the all-new Traverse, all that space is not coming cheap, since this fully loaded RS trim rings in at $58,090.
Traverse RS AWD: $56,200 | Options: +$495 | Destination: $1,395 | Total: $58,090
Even still, that is going to be a deal more affordable than the GMC. Even though the Denali starts at almost the same price as the RS Traverse, in order to get all the features equal to the Chevy, we have to add a couple pricey packages. Overall, it presses further into the luxury space with a price tag of $65,410.
Acadia Denali AWD: $56,300 | Options: +$7,715 | Destination: $1,395 | Total: $65,410
By the way, if you want to get the best price from local dealerships and access to invoice pricing info for these two models or any vehicle, we have a tool on our website to do just that. Click here for more information!
Exterior Design
Starting here with the exteriors, even though they are siblings, you wouldn’t be able to tell that from the exterior designs. For the new Traverse, Chevy has gone with a sporty look, especially on the RS trim with its large black grille. On the flip side, Acadia Denali is all about that bling-factor, with its signature satin and chrome mesh grille. Both models are boxier than the previous generations and come with standard premium LED lighting. They also have animations and dynamic turn signals, but only the Acadia has fog lamps.
Moving to the sides, you can begin to get a sense of just how big these two are. The Acadia is nearly 11 inches longer than last year’s model, and at 204-inches long, both these two are starting to nip at the heels of the full-size Tahoe and Yukon. Our interior space breakdown is coming later in the comparison, but for now, you can see the large 22-inch alloy wheels that both models have.
Length: 204.5-inches (Traverse) | 204.0-inches (Acadia)
As we move around to the rear, you’ll notice the interesting C-pillar design on the Chevy, as well as its sporty appearance. Both models have added black accents between the taillights, which are fully-LED units with animations. Other elements include exposed wipers, spoilers and quad-tip exhaust outlets.
Additional Features
Now checking out some of the individual features, both of their mirrors have heating, blind spot monitoring, auto-dimming and power-folding.
Speaking of blind spot monitoring, the other active safety features are very important for family SUV’s. These two have you covered with all 4 included as standard equipment on all trims, and both also come equipped with the SuperCruise hands-free driving assist. This is a very impressive system that has auto lane changes and even works on some secondary roads now.
Acadia: Warranties: Basic Warranty: 3yr/36k mi | Powertrain: 5yr/60k mi | Complimentary Maintenance: 1st Visit
Traverse: Warranties: Basic Warranty: 3yr/36k mi | Powertrain: 5yr/60k mi | Complimentary Maintenance: 1st Visit
Towing-wise, both models can handle up to 5,000 lbs, and warranty-wise, they are exactly the same.
Towing (max): Grand Highlander: 5,000 lbs | Traverse: 5,000 lbs
But the features, luxury and comfort of the cabins are the things that are of foremost importance.
Interior Design
As we walk toward the interiors, both models have smart entry systems, as you would expect, and they also have the same key fobs with remote start. There are not sensors behind their door handles, so you must press the buttons to unlock.
Once we open the doors, the interiors are completely different from one another, even more so than the exteriors. Even though they are siblings, this is certainly not the badge engineering of the 90’s, and many elements are significantly elevated on the Denali, such as the seats. While the number of adjustments is the same, as well as heating and ventilation, you can see that the GMC is using a premium quilted leather.
Both have memory functions, but one thing worth noting is the Traverse RS is only available in this black and red color combo, while the Acadia gives you an additional lighter color choice.
Once we fully climb inside, we can get into the major point category of overall material quality. This shouldn’t surprise you, but the new Denali Acadia really elevates the interior over the last gen and the Traverse with lots of leather trim, stitching details, real open-pore wood and aluminum accents. These materials are all included even without the option packages we have, so aka the same price as the Traverse RS. While certainly not bad, the Chevy comes across as much more utilitarian.
After startup, you’ll see 11-inch digital gauge clusters on both, with fully customizable graphics. But if you don’t want to divert you gaze to look down, only the Acadia offers a head-up display.
Moving back to the leather-wrapped steering wheels, both have nice feels in the hand to go along with heating and power tilt and telescoping.
Storage and Technology
Now let’s talk about overall interior storage, which is a huge area that both SUVs are literally huge in. The main center consoles are massive, fitting 17 and 16 donuts in the Traverse and Acadia respectively. They also have extra cubbies up front, with wireless chargers, and center pass-through space as well. Overall, we will call this area even-steven.
Donuts:
- Acadia: 16
- Traverse: 17
Moving on to the shifters, this is one of only places where they are the same with their new column-mounted electronic ones. And when you use the shifters to engage reverse, there is something cool to note here: ALL trims of BOTH SUV’s get the 360-degree cameras, even the base models.
Moving on, while both two have climate controls integrated into the bottom rows of the screens, they also both have redundant physical controls to make operation easier. They are 3-zone automatic systems.
We also have physical volume knobs embedded into the screens themselves. Let’s go ahead and give the audio systems a sample. As you would expect, the Acadia’s available Bose Performance Series audio with 6 extra speakers is the more well-rounded audio system.
TR: 10-speaker Bose Premium Audio
AC: 16-speaker Bose Performance Series Audio
So thus far this interior comparison has been pretty one-sided in favor of the GMC, but that changes right now with the screens. It’s actually the Chevy that has the larger screen, at 17.7 inches vs. 15.0 in the GMC.
Obviously, they are oriented oppositely, and the integrated look vs the floating design debate will come down to personal preference.
Size aside, they have the same software foundationally, meaning both models have wireless AA and ACP, integrated navigation, and Google apps built-in, like Maps and Assistant. Yes, ACP and AA are still supported on these models since they are not EV’s
Last but certainly not least for the front of the interiors, both models have digital camera rearview mirrors and large panoramic sunroofs.
Rear Seats and Cargo
But now let’s move into the rear spaces because this is probably the reason you are interested in SUVs of this size in the first place. As platform-mates, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that they have the same excellent space measures, at 41.5-inches of legroom and 40-inches of headroom.
- AC: Legroom: 41.5-inches | Headroom: 40.0-inches
- TR: Legroom: 41.5-inches | Headroom: 39.9-inches
The features list is also largely the same. There are rear climate controls, vents, 2 USB ports, household power outlets and heated rear seats. Both have the captain chair seating arrangement on these trims and neither offer ventilation.
Let’s head to the next row of seats. As far as access to the third row, both have sliding mechanisms to make that simple, and the seats tilt forward so that car seats can remain installed.
As far as space and comfort are concerned, they are the same and very impressive. We have enough legroom even when the second row is all the way slide back, and there is also very good thy support as well. There are 3 third row seats and we have vents and USB connections.
- AC: Legroom: 32.1-in | Headroom: 38.2-in
- TR: Legroom: 32.2-in | Headroom: 38.2-in
After popping open the hands-free power tailgates, we have class leading capacity on both. These two are huge compared to even already-large models like the Honda Pilot. Technically, Traverse has 0.1 cu. ft more maximum space, but you will be more than satisfied either way.
The third and second rows power fold from the rear.
AC: Behind 3rd row: 23.0 cu. ft | Behind 2nd row: 57.3 cu. ft | MAX: 97.5 cu. ft
TR: Behind 3rd Row: 22.9-cu. ft | 2nd Row: 56.6-cu. ft | MAX: 97.6-cu. ft
Alright, that’s it for the interiors, so now let’s take this fight to the streets!
Powertrains
Outside of space figures, these two are very different from each other in the things you can see, but under the hoods, they are the same. Both have traded their V-6’s from last year to 2.5L Turbocharged 4-cylinder engines, with 328 hp and 326 lb. ft of torque. They have more power than those old V-6’s and they accelerate the same in both models.
- BOTH: 2.5L Turbo I-4: 328 hp | 326 lb. ft
Part of the punchy feel you get on these two comes from the transmissions. As you’d expect, they are also the same, using a smooth-shifting 8-speed automatic. We have the regular AWD systems for these two, but twin-clutch AWD is offered on the Z71 and AT4 trims respectively.
Test Drive and Fuel Economy
But it’s definitely not all about speed since comfort is extremely important for family crossovers. You might be wondering if the 22’s impact the ride quality, and while they do, both SUVs are still reasonably pleasant despite them. The big consideration here is that Acadia with the Denali Reserve package gets frequency-based dampers which help things feel better than the Traverse RS.
On the flip side of things, it’s the Traverse that handles better when cornering, although neither of them are sporty by any stretch of the imagination.
In addition to having comfy rides, let’s talk about the noise levels in the cabins. Here at Car Confections, we take sound level readings for all the vehicles we review, and we did for these two as well, but in other states on the press drive instead of at home in Kentucky. Because of this, these are unofficial and unscorable figures, but we will include the figures for reference anyways.
Acadia: 51.7 dB @ 55 MPH
Traverse: 57.7 dB @ 55 MPH
And the last on-the-road item to discuss is fuel economy. It’s important to note that neither model offers a hybrid or plug-in hybrid variant, meaning that 21 MPG combined is the best you expect from their turbo 4-cylinders.
- Acadia AWD: 19/24/21 MPG
- Traverse AWD: 19/24/21 MPG
Resale and Reliability
In our reviews and comparisons, we are also adding in reliability and resale information to give you a better picture of the overall value beyond just the original MSRP.
Beginning with reliability, we developed the Combined Reliability Index, which considers several studies from trustworthy sources, and combines them in a way that gives a more realistic picture. In this respect, both Chevy and GMC are rated well above the industry average: GMC 9 slots above average, and Chevy as the second highest brand 15 slots above average.
We also put Mason’s economics degree to work to develop a detailed Predicted Resale Value tool. After 5 years and 60,000 miles, the advantage flips in favor of the GMC, although just slightly. GMC has a predicted resale value of 55.81% after 5 years and Chevy is close behind with 54.71% expected to be retained.
Resale is obviously important because it determines how much money you get back, but we can’t forget about the price difference at the original purchase. This Acadia cost a lot more than the Traverse, $7,320 to be exact.
I want to emphasize that if money, reliability or resale value matter less to you personally, feel free to disregard these points. And if you’d like to check out all our data about reliability and resale values, as well as learn about our methodology, make sure to head to www.carconfections.com/resale and www.carconfections.com/reliability. Buying a car is a big decision, and this is a great place to compare all the makes you might be cross-shopping.
2024 GMC Acadia vs. 2024 Chevy Traverse winner!
So that’s it for another exciting comparison, this time between two of the newest and biggest options your family could buy! Let’s quickly recap here and discuss who should be “your” personal winner.
Traverse:
- MOSTLY the same features for less money
- Sportier design
Acadia:
- That luxury experience
- Sophisticated design
- The few exclusive features like HUD
Now we want to know your opinions, so make sure to head to the comment section and let us know which one you would pick!
Thanks for joining us for another Car Confections Comparison! We’ll catch you next time as we sample the latest automotive delicacies!
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