Compare the2018 GMC AcadiaVS 2018 Honda Odyssey

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 Odyssey 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 Honda Odyssey 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 Odyssey 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 Odyssey doesn’t offer front seat center airbags.

The Acadia offers all-wheel drive to maximize traction under poor conditions, especially in ice and snow. The Odyssey doesn’t offer all-wheel drive.

The Acadia Denali offers an optional Surround Vision System to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Odyssey only offers a rear monitor and front and rear parking sensors that beep or flash a light. That doesn’t help with obstacles to the sides.

Both the Acadia and the Odyssey 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 crash mitigating brakes, lane departure warning systems, blind spot warning systems and rear cross-path warning.

For its top level performance in all IIHS frontal, side, rear impact and roof-crush tests, and with its optional front crash prevention system, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the Acadia the rating of “Top Pick” for 2017, a rating granted to only 110 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Odyssey has not been tested, yet.

The Acadia’s corrosion warranty is 1 year longer than the Odyssey’s (6 vs. 5 years).

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). Honda doesn’t pay scheduled maintenance for the Odyssey.

There are over 64 percent more GMC dealers than there are Honda dealers, which makes it much easier should you ever need service under the Acadia’s warranty.

The camshafts in the Acadia’s engine are driven by a hardened steel chain, with no maintenance needs. The Odyssey’s camshafts are driven by a rubber belt that needs periodic replacement. If the Odyssey’s cam drive belt breaks the engine could be severely damaged when the pistons hit the opened valves.

J.D. Power and Associates’ 2017 Initial Quality Study of new car owners surveyed provide the statistics that show that GMC vehicles are better in initial quality than Honda vehicles. J.D. Power ranks GMC 16th in initial quality. With 6 more problems per 100 vehicles, Honda is ranked 20th.

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 Honda vehicles. J.D. Power ranks GMC fifth in reliability, above the industry average. With 6 more problems per 100 vehicles, Honda is ranked 7th.

The Acadia’s optional 3.6 DOHC V6 produces 30 more horsepower (310 vs. 280) and 9 lbs.-ft. more torque (271 vs. 262) than the Odyssey’s 3.5 SOHC V6.

As tested in Car and Driver the GMC Acadia V6 is faster than the Honda Odyssey:

The Acadia AWD’s standard fuel tank has 2.2 gallons more fuel capacity than the Odyssey (21.7 vs. 19.5 gallons).

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 Odyssey are solid, not vented.

The Acadia stops much shorter than the Odyssey:

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

For better ride, handling and brake cooling the Acadia offers optional 20-inch wheels. The Odyssey’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 Honda Odyssey only has 5 wheel lugs per wheel.

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 Odyssey’s suspension doesn’t offer adjustable shock absorbers.

The Acadia has variable-assist power steering, for low-effort parking, better control at highway speeds and during hard cornering, and a better feel of the road. The Odyssey doesn’t offer variable-assist power steering.

For better maneuverability, the Acadia’s turning circle is .9 feet tighter than the Odyssey’s (38.7 feet vs. 39.6 feet).

The GMC Acadia may be more efficient, handle and accelerate better because it weighs about 200 to 400 pounds less than the Honda Odyssey.

The Acadia is 9.6 inches shorter than the Odyssey, making the Acadia easier to handle, maneuver and park in tight spaces.

The Acadia has .1 inches more front legroom and .1 inches more rear headroom than the Odyssey.

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

Maximum trailer towing in the Honda Odyssey is limited to 3500 pounds. The Acadia offers up to a 4000 lbs. towing capacity.

The Acadia uses gas struts to support the hood for easier service access. The Odyssey uses a prop rod to support its heavy hood. It takes two hands to open the hood and set the prop rod, the prop rod gets in the way during maintenance and service, and the prop rod could be knocked out, causing the heavy hood to fall on the person maintaining or servicing the car.

The power windows standard on both the Acadia and the Odyssey have locks to prevent small children from operating them. When the lock on the Acadia is engaged the driver can still operate all of the windows, for instance to close one opened by a child. The Odyssey prevents the driver from operating the other windows just as it does the other passengers.

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 Odyssey’s standard manually variable intermittent wipers have to be constantly adjusted.

The Acadia has a standard automatic headlight on/off feature. When the ignition is on, the headlights automatically turn on at dusk and off after dawn. The Odyssey has an automatic headlight on/off feature standard only on the EX/EX-L/Touring/Elite.

The Acadia’s standard outside mirrors include heating elements to clear off the mirrors for better visibility. Honda only offers heated mirrors on the Odyssey EX/EX-L/Touring/Elite.

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 Odyssey offers an automatic rear view mirror, but its side mirrors don’t dim.

Both the Acadia and the Odyssey offer available heated front seats. The Acadia also offers optional heated second row seats to keep those passengers extremely comfortable in the winter. Heated second row seats aren’t available in the Odyssey.

The Acadia has a standard dual zone air conditioning allows the driver and front passenger to choose two completely different temperatures so people with different temperature preferences won’t have to compromise. This makes both the driver and front passenger as comfortable as possible. Dual zone air conditioning is only available on the Odyssey EX/EX-L/Touring/Elite.