Compare the2023 GMC AcadiaVS 2023 Chevrolet Equinox

Safety
Reliability
Engine
Fuel Economy and Range
Transmission
Brakes and Stopping
Tires and Wheels
Suspension and Handling
Passenger Space
Cargo Capacity
Towing
Servicing Ease
Ergonomics
Economic Advantages
Recommendations

Safety

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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 Equinox doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.

For enhanced safety, the front and middle seat shoulder belts of the GMC Acadia are height-adjustable to accommodate a wide variety of driver and passenger heights. A better fit can prevent injuries and the increased comfort also encourages passengers to buckle up. The Chevrolet Equinox doesn’t offer height-adjustable seat belts.

The GMC Acadia has a standard driver’s side knee airbag mounted low on the dashboard. The knee airbag helps prevent the driver from sliding under the seatbelts or the main frontal airbag; this keeps the driver better positioned during a collision for maximum protection. A knee airbag also helps keep the legs from striking the dashboard, preventing knee and leg injuries in the case of a serious frontal collision. The Equinox doesn’t offer knee airbags.

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 Equinox doesn’t offer front seat center airbags.

When descending a steep, off-road slope, the Acadia AT4’s standard Hill Descent Control allows you to creep down safely. The Equinox doesn’t offer Hill Descent Control.

The Acadia has a standard blind spot warning system which uses sensors to alert the driver to objects in the vehicle’s blind spots where the side view mirrors don’t reveal them. A system to reveal vehicles in the Equinox’s blind spot costs extra.

To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Acadia has a standard rear cross-path warning system, which uses sensors in the rear bumper to alert the driver to vehicles approaching from the side, helping the driver avoid collisions. Rear cross-path warning costs extra on the Equinox.

Both the Acadia and the Equinox have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact 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, crash mitigating brakes, lane departure warning systems, rearview cameras, available all wheel drive and around view monitors.

The GMC Acadia weighs 643 to 1251 pounds more than the Chevrolet Equinox. The NHTSA advises that heavier vehicles are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the GMC Acadia is safer than the Chevrolet Equinox:

	Acadia	Equinox
	Driver
STARS	5 Stars	5 Stars
Leg Forces (l/r)	129/383 lbs.	363/349 lbs.

New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does side impact tests on new vehicles. In this test, which crashes the vehicle into a flat barrier at 38.5 MPH and into a post at 20 MPH, results indicate that the GMC Acadia is safer than the Chevrolet Equinox:

	Acadia	Equinox
	Front Seat
STARS	5 Stars	5 Stars
Chest Movement	.9 inches	1.1 inches
Abdominal Force	156 lbs.	195 lbs.
Hip Force	243 lbs.	357 lbs.
	Rear Seat
STARS	5 Stars	5 Stars
HIC	276	288
Spine Acceleration	51 G’s	55 G’s
	Into Pole
STARS	5 Stars	5 Stars
Spine Acceleration	36 G’s	40 G’s

New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.

Instrumented handling tests conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and analysis of its dimensions indicate that the Acadia is 1.3% to 2.1% less likely to roll over than the Equinox.

Reliability

From surveys of all its subscribers, Consumer Reports’ January 2021 Auto Issue reports that GMC vehicles are more reliable than Chevrolet vehicles. Consumer Reports ranks GMC 1 place higher in reliability than Chevrolet.

Engine

The Acadia’s standard 2.0 turbo 4-cylinder produces 53 more horsepower (228 vs. 175) and 55 lbs.-ft. more torque (258 vs. 203) than the Equinox’s 1.5 turbo 4-cylinder. The Acadia’s optional 3.6 DOHC V6 produces 135 more horsepower (310 vs. 175) and 68 lbs.-ft. more torque (271 vs. 203) than the Equinox’s 1.5 turbo 4-cylinder.

Fuel Economy and Range

An engine control system that can shut down some of the engine’s cylinders helps improve the Acadia’s fuel efficiency. The Equinox doesn’t offer a system that can shut down part of the engine.

Regenerative brakes improve the Acadia 2.0 Turbo’s fuel efficiency by converting inertia back into energy instead of wasting it. The Equinox doesn’t offer a regenerative braking system.

The Acadia FWD’s standard fuel tank has 4.5 gallons more fuel capacity than the Equinox FWD’s standard fuel tank (19.4 vs. 14.9 gallons), for longer range between fill-ups. The Acadia AWD’s standard fuel tank has 6.1 gallons more fuel capacity than the Equinox AWD’s standard fuel tank (21.7 vs. 15.6 gallons).

Transmission

A nine-speed automatic is standard on the GMC Acadia, for better acceleration and lower engine speed on the highway. Only a six-speed automatic is available for the Equinox.

Brakes and Stopping

For better stopping power the Acadia’s brake rotors are larger than those on the Equinox:

	Acadia	Equinox
Front Rotors	12.6 inches	11.8 inches
Rear Rotors	12.4 inches	11.3 inches

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 Equinox are solid, not vented.

The Acadia stops shorter than the Equinox:

	Acadia	Equinox
70 to 0 MPH	173 feet	182 feet	Car and Driver

Tires and Wheels

For better traction, the Acadia has larger standard tires than the Equinox (235/65R18 vs. 225/65R17). The Acadia AT4’s tires are larger than the largest tires available on the Equinox (255/65R17 vs. 235/50R19).

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

Suspension and Handling

The Acadia has standard front and rear stabilizer bars, which help keep the Acadia flat and controlled during cornering. The Equinox’s suspension doesn’t offer a rear stabilizer bar.

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 Equinox’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 Equinox doesn’t offer variable-assist power steering.

For a smoother ride and more stable handling, the Acadia’s wheelbase is 5.2 inches longer than on the Equinox (112.5 inches vs. 107.3 inches).

For better handling and stability, the track (width between the wheels) on the Acadia is 2.3 inches wider in the front and 2.3 inches wider in the rear than on the Equinox.

The Acadia Denali AWD handles at .85 G’s, while the Equinox LT AWD pulls only .77 G’s of cornering force in a Car and Driver skidpad test.

The Acadia SLT AWD executes Motor Trend’s “Figure Eight” maneuver 1.2 seconds quicker than the Equinox LT AWD (26.9 seconds @ .67 average G’s vs. 28.1 seconds @ .59 average G’s).

Passenger Space

The Acadia offers optional seating for 7 passengers; the Equinox can only carry 5.

The Acadia has 40.6 cubic feet more passenger volume than the Equinox (143.8 vs. 103.2).

The Acadia has .1 inches more front legroom, 1.5 inches more front hip room, 2.2 inches more front shoulder room, 1.1 inches more rear headroom, 1.6 inches more rear hip room and 3.2 inches more rear shoulder room than the Equinox.

Cargo Capacity

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

	Acadia	Equinox
Third Seat Folded	41.7 cubic feet	n/a
Third Seat Removed	n/a	29.9 cubic feet
Second Seat Folded	79 cubic feet	63.9 cubic feet

The Acadia’s cargo area is larger than the Equinox’s in almost every dimension:

	Acadia	Equinox
Length to seat (3rd/2nd/1st)	18.5”/48”/83”	n.a./34.9”/67.4”
Max Width	50”	53.7”
Min Width	42.5”	40.7”
Height	33”	31”

Towing

Maximum trailer towing in the Chevrolet Equinox is limited to 1500 pounds. The Acadia offers up to a 4000 lbs. towing capacity.

Servicing Ease

The Acadia uses gas struts to support the hood for easier service access. The Equinox 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.

Ergonomics

The Acadia (except SLE) offers an available heads-up display that projects speed in front of the driver’s line of sight, allowing drivers to view information without diverting their eyes from the road. The Equinox doesn’t offer a heads-up display.

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

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 costs extra on the Equinox and isn’t available on the Equinox LS.

The Acadia’s standard automatic temperature control maintains the temperature you set, automatically controlling fan speed, vents and temperature to maintain a consistent, comfortable environment. The Equinox LS doesn’t offer automatic air conditioning.

Economic Advantages

The Acadia will cost the buyer less in the long run because of its superior resale value. The IntelliChoice estimates that the Acadia will retain 47.29% to 50.03% of its original price after five years, while the Equinox only retains 44.91% to 45.97%.

According to The Car Book by Jack Gillis, the Acadia is less expensive to operate than the Equinox because it costs $73 less to do the manufacturer’s suggested maintenance for 50,000 miles. Typical repairs cost much less on the Acadia than the Equinox, including $423 less for a muffler, $35 less for front brake pads, $68 less for a starter, $163 less for fuel injection and $232 less for a fuel pump.

Recommendations

Consumer Reports® recommends both the GMC Acadia and the Chevrolet Equinox, based on reliability, safety and performance.