Compare the2018 GMC AcadiaVS 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe

The Acadia Denali’s optional pre-crash front seatbelts will tighten automatically in the event the vehicle detects an impending crash, improving protection against injury significantly. The Santa Fe doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.

For enhanced safety, the GMC Acadia’s middle seat shoulder belts have child comfort guides to move the belt to properly fit children. A better fit can prevent injuries and the increased comfort also encourages children to buckle up. The Hyundai Santa Fe doesn’t offer comfort guides on its middle seat belts.

In the past twenty years hundreds of infants and young children have died after being left in vehicles, usually by accident. When turning the vehicle off, drivers of the Acadia are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Santa Fe doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.

The Acadia has a standard front seat center airbag, which deploys between the driver and front passenger, protecting them from injuries caused by striking each other in serious side impacts. The Santa Fe doesn’t offer front seat center airbags.

Both the Acadia and the Santa Fe have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, front wheel drive, plastic fuel tanks, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, daytime running lights, rearview cameras, available all wheel drive, crash mitigating brakes, lane departure warning systems, blind spot warning systems, around view monitors and rear cross-path warning.

GMC pays for scheduled maintenance on the Acadia for 2 years and 24,000 miles. GMC will pay for oil changes, lubrication and any other required maintenance (up to 2 oil changes). Hyundai doesn’t pay scheduled maintenance for the Santa Fe.

There are over 2 times as many GMC dealers as there are Hyundai dealers, which makes it much easier should you ever need service under the Acadia’s warranty.

J.D. Power and Associates’ 2016 survey of the owners of three-year-old vehicles provides the long-term dependability statistics that show that GMC vehicles are more reliable than Hyundai vehicles. J.D. Power ranks GMC fifth in reliability, above the industry average. With 38 more problems per 100 vehicles, Hyundai is ranked 19th.

The Acadia’s optional 3.6 DOHC V6 produces 20 more horsepower (310 vs. 290) and 19 lbs.-ft. more torque (271 vs. 252) than the Santa Fe’s 3.3 DOHC V6.

As tested in Motor Trend the GMC Acadia V6 is faster than the Hyundai Santa Fe:

On the EPA test cycle the Acadia gets better fuel mileage than the Santa Fe:

In heavy traffic or at stoplights the Acadia 4 cyl.’s engine automatically turns off when the vehicle is stopped, saving fuel and reducing pollution. The engine is automatically restarted when the driver gets ready to move again. (Start/Stop isn’t accounted in present EPA fuel mileage tests.) The Santa Fe doesn’t offer an automatic engine start/stop system.

The Acadia AWD’s standard fuel tank has 2.9 gallons more fuel capacity than the Santa Fe (21.7 vs. 18.8 gallons).

The Acadia has a standard cap-less fueling system. The fuel filler is automatically opened when the fuel nozzle is inserted and automatically closed when it’s removed. This eliminates the need to unscrew and replace the cap and it reduces fuel evaporation, which causes pollution. The Santa Fe doesn’t offer a cap-less fueling system.

The Acadia’s standard front and rear disc brakes are vented to help dissipate heat for shorter stops with less fading. The rear discs on the Santa Fe are solid, not vented.

For better traction, the Acadia’s tires are larger than the largest tires available on the Santa Fe (245/65R17 vs. 235/60R18).

For better ride, handling and brake cooling the Acadia offers optional 20-inch wheels. The Santa Fe’s largest wheels are only 19-inches.

The GMC Acadia’s wheels have 6 lugs for longer wheel bearing life, less chance of rotor warping and greater strength. The Hyundai Santa Fe only has 5 wheel lugs per wheel.

The Acadia has a standard easy tire fill system. When inflating the tires, the vehicle’s integrated tire pressure sensors keep track of the pressure as the tires fill and tell the driver when the tires are inflated to the proper pressure. The Santa Fe doesn’t offer vehicle monitored tire inflation.

The Acadia offers an available driver-adjustable suspension system. It allows the driver to choose between an extra-supple ride, reducing fatigue on long trips, or a sport setting, which allows maximum control for tricky roads or off-road. The Santa Fe’s suspension doesn’t offer adjustable shock absorbers.

For a smoother ride and more stable handling, the Acadia’s wheelbase is 2.3 inches longer than on the Santa Fe (112.5 inches vs. 110.2 inches).

The Acadia SLT AWD handles at .82 G’s, while the Santa Fe AWD pulls only .74 G’s of cornering force in a Motor Trend skidpad test.

The Acadia SLT AWD executes Motor Trend’s “Figure Eight” maneuver 1.5 seconds quicker than the Santa Fe AWD (26.9 seconds @ .67 average G’s vs. 28.4 seconds @ .59 average G’s).

The front grille of the Acadia FWD 4 cyl. uses electronically controlled shutters to close off airflow and reduce drag when less engine cooling is needed. This helps improve highway fuel economy. The Santa Fe doesn’t offer active grille shutters.

The Acadia uses computer-generated active noise cancellation to help remove annoying noise and vibration from the passenger compartment, especially at low frequencies. The Santa Fe doesn’t offer active noise cancellation.

The Acadia has .4 inches more front headroom, .2 inches more rear headroom, .4 inches more rear shoulder room, 1.5 inches more third row headroom, .2 inches more third row legroom and .4 inches more third row shoulder room than the Santa Fe.

The Acadia’s cargo area provides more volume than the Santa Fe.

Pressing a switch automatically lowers the Acadia’s second row seats, to make changing between passengers and cargo easier. The Santa Fe doesn’t offer automatic folding seats.

The Acadia offers a remote vehicle starting system, so the vehicle can be started from inside the driver's house. This allows the driver to comfortably warm up the engine before going out to the vehicle. The climate system will also automatically heat or cool the interior. The Santa Fe doesn’t offer a remote starting system.

The Acadia’s optional front and rear power windows all lower with one touch of the switches. The Santa Fe’s rear power window switches have to be held the entire time to lower them fully.

The Acadia’s speed-sensitive wipers speed up when the vehicle does, so that the driver doesn’t have to continually adjust the speed of the wipers. The Santa Fe’s manually variable intermittent wipers have to be constantly adjusted.

When the Acadia with available tilt-down mirrors is put in reverse, both rearview mirrors tilt from their original position. This gives the driver a better view of the curb during parallel parking maneuvers. Shifting out of reverse puts the mirrors into their original positions. The Santa Fe’s mirrors don’t automatically adjust for backing.

The Acadia SLT/Denali has standard automatic dimming rear and side view mirrors which automatically darken quickly when headlights shine on them, keeping following vehicles from blinding or distracting the driver. The Santa Fe offers an automatic rear view mirror, but its side mirrors don’t dim.

According to The Car Book by Jack Gillis, the Acadia is less expensive to operate than the Santa Fe because typical repairs cost less on the Acadia than the Santa Fe, including $84 less for front struts.