Compare the2023 GMC AcadiaVS 2023 Volkswagen Atlas

Safety
Warranty
Reliability
Engine
Fuel Economy and Range
Environmental Friendliness
Transmission
Brakes and Stopping
Tires and Wheels
Suspension and Handling
Chassis
Cargo Capacity
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 Atlas doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.

For enhanced safety, the front shoulder belts of the GMC Acadia are height-adjustable, and the 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 Volkswagen Atlas 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 Atlas doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.

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 Atlas 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 Atlas doesn’t offer front seat center airbags.

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

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 Volkswagen Atlas:

	Acadia	Atlas
OVERALL STARS	5 Stars	4 Stars
	Driver
STARS	5 Stars	4 Stars
HIC	285	307
Neck Injury Risk	21%	30%
Neck Stress	191 lbs.	412 lbs.
Neck Compression	29 lbs.	59 lbs.
	Passenger
STARS	4 Stars	4 Stars
Chest Compression	.6 inches	.7 inches
Neck Compression	99 lbs.	117 lbs.
Leg Forces (l/r)	210/60 lbs.	297/97 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 Volkswagen Atlas:

	Acadia	Atlas
	Front Seat
STARS	5 Stars	5 Stars
Hip Force	243 lbs.	345 lbs.
	Into Pole
STARS	5 Stars	5 Stars
Spine Acceleration	36 G’s	51 G’s
Hip Force	760 lbs.	800 lbs.

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

Warranty

GMC’s powertrain warranty covers the Acadia 1 year and 10,000 miles longer than Volkswagen covers the Atlas. Any repair needed on the engine, transmission, axles, joints or driveshafts is fully covered for 5 years or 60,000 miles. Coverage on the Atlas ends after only 4 years or 50,000 miles.

There are almost 3 times as many GMC dealers as there are Volkswagen dealers, which makes it much easier should you ever need service under the Acadia’s warranty.

Reliability

J.D. Power and Associates rated the Acadia third among upper midsize suvs in their 2022 Initial Quality Study. The Atlas isn’t in the top three in its category.

J.D. Power and Associates’ 2022 Initial Quality Study of new car owners surveyed provide the statistics that show that GMC vehicles are better in initial quality than Volkswagen vehicles. J.D. Power ranks GMC above average in initial quality. With 68 more problems per 100 vehicles, Volkswagen is rated below average.

J.D. Power and Associates’ 2022 survey of the owners of three-year-old vehicles provides the long-term dependability statistics that show that GMC vehicles are more reliable than Volkswagen With 25 fewer problems per 100 vehicles in the first three years of ownership, J.D. Power ranks GMC higher than Volkswagen.

From surveys of all its subscribers, Consumer Reports’ January 2021 Auto Issue reports that GMC vehicles are more reliable than Volkswagen vehicles. Consumer Reports ranks GMC 8 places higher in reliability than Volkswagen.

Engine

The Acadia’s optional 3.6 DOHC V6 produces 34 more horsepower (310 vs. 276) and 5 lbs.-ft. more torque (271 vs. 266) than the Atlas’ optional 3.6 DOHC V6.

Fuel Economy and Range

On the EPA test cycle the Acadia gets better mileage than the Atlas:

			MPG
Acadia
	FWD	3.6 DOHC V6	19 city/27 hwy
		2.0 turbo 4-cyl.	22 city/29 hwy
	AWD	3.6 DOHC V6	19 city/26 hwy
		2.0 turbo 4-cyl.	22 city/27 hwy
Atlas
	FWD	2.0 turbo 4-cyl.	21 city/25 hwy
		3.6 DOHC V6	18 city/24 hwy
	AWD	3.6 DOHC V6	18 city/23 hwy
		2.0 turbo 4-cyl.	20 city/24 hwy

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

The Acadia AWD’s standard fuel tank has 3.1 gallons more fuel capacity than the Atlas (21.7 vs. 18.6 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 Atlas doesn’t offer a cap-less fueling system.

Environmental Friendliness

In its Green Vehicle Guide, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rates the GMC Acadia higher (6 to 7 out of 10) than the Volkswagen Atlas (3 to 5). This means the Acadia produces up to 24.5 pounds less smog-producing pollutants than the Atlas every 15,000 miles.

Transmission

A nine-speed automatic is standard on the GMC Acadia, for better acceleration and lower engine speed on the highway. Only an eight-speed automatic is available for the Atlas.

Brakes and Stopping

The Acadia stops much shorter than the Atlas:

	Acadia	Atlas
70 to 0 MPH	173 feet	174 feet	Car and Driver
60 to 0 MPH	126 feet	139 feet	Motor Trend

Tires and Wheels

The GMC Acadia’s wheels have 6 lugs for longer wheel bearing life, less chance of rotor warping and greater strength. The Volkswagen Atlas 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 Atlas doesn’t offer vehicle monitored tire inflation.

Suspension and Handling

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 Atlas’ suspension doesn’t offer adjustable shock absorbers.

The Acadia Denali AWD handles at .85 G’s, while the Atlas SEL R-Line Black 4Motion pulls only .84 G’s of cornering force in a Car and Driver skidpad test.

The Acadia SLT AWD executes Motor Trend’s “Figure Eight” maneuver 1 seconds quicker than the Atlas SEL 4Motion (26.9 seconds @ .67 average G’s vs. 27.9 seconds @ .61 average G’s).

For better maneuverability, the Acadia’s turning circle is 1.8 feet tighter than the Atlas’ (38.7 feet vs. 40.5 feet).

For greater off-road capability the Acadia has a greater minimum ground clearance than the Atlas 2.0T (7.2 vs. 7.1 inches), allowing the Acadia to travel over rougher terrain without being stopped or damaged.

Chassis

The Acadia is 7.3 inches shorter than the Atlas, making the Acadia easier to handle, maneuver and park in tight spaces.

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 Atlas 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 Atlas doesn’t offer active noise cancellation.

Cargo Capacity

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

Ergonomics

The Acadia (except SLE)’s optional easy entry system glides the driver’s seat back when the door is unlocked or the ignition is switched off, making it easier for the driver to get in and out. The Atlas doesn’t offer an easy entry system.

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 Atlas doesn’t offer a heads-up display.

In case you lock your keys in your vehicle, or don’t have them with you, you can let yourself in using the Acadia’s available exterior PIN entry system. The Atlas doesn’t offer an exterior PIN entry system, and its Car-Net can’t unlock the doors if the vehicle doesn’t have cell phone reception or the driver can’t contact the service.

To improve rear visibility by keeping the rear window clear, the Acadia has a standard rear fixed intermittent wiper with a full on position. The rear wiper standard on the Atlas only has an intermittent setting, so in a hard rain visibility isn’t as good.

The Acadia SLT/AT4/Denali’s standard rear view mirror and optional side view mirrors have an automatic dimming feature. These mirrors can be set to automatically darken quickly when headlights shine on them, keeping following vehicles from blinding or distracting the driver. The Atlas has an automatic rear view mirror, but its side mirrors don’t dim.

Economic Advantages

According to The Car Book by Jack Gillis, the Acadia is less expensive to operate than the Atlas because typical repairs cost much less on the Acadia than the Atlas, including $298 less for a water pump, $312 less for a muffler, $358 less for a starter, $220 less for fuel injection, $304 less for front struts, $239 less for a timing belt/chain and $28 less for a power steering pump.

Recommendations

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