Compare the2023 GMC AcadiaVS 2023 Honda Passport

Safety
Warranty
Reliability
Engine
Fuel Economy and Range
Environmental Friendliness
Brakes and Stopping
Tires and Wheels
Suspension and Handling
Chassis
Passenger Space
Cargo Capacity
Servicing Ease
Ergonomics
Model Availability
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 Passport 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 Honda Passport has only front 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 Passport 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 Passport 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 Passport doesn’t offer Hill Descent Control.

The Acadia SLT/AT4/Denali offers an optional Surround Vision System to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Passport 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 Passport have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, 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, lane departure warning systems, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning and available all wheel drive.

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 Honda Passport:

	Acadia	Passport
OVERALL STARS	5 Stars	4 Stars
	Driver
STARS	5 Stars	5 Stars
Neck Injury Risk	21%	28%
Neck Compression	29 lbs.	36 lbs.
	Passenger
STARS	4 Stars	4 Stars
Chest Compression	.6 inches	.6 inches
Leg Forces (l/r)	210/60 lbs.	478/436 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 Honda Passport:

	Acadia	Passport
	Front Seat
STARS	5 Stars	5 Stars
Hip Force	243 lbs.	269 lbs.
	Into Pole
STARS	5 Stars	5 Stars
Max Damage Depth	14 inches	15 inches
HIC	381	406
Spine Acceleration	36 G’s	45 G’s
Hip Force	760 lbs.	838 lbs.

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

Warranty

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

There are over 56 percent more GMC dealers than there are Honda dealers, which makes it much easier should you ever need service under the Acadia’s warranty.

Reliability

A hardened steel chain, with no maintenance needs, drives the camshafts in the Acadia’s engine. A rubber cam drive belt that needs periodic replacement drives the Passport’s camshafts. If the Passport’s belt breaks, the engine could be severely damaged when the pistons hit the opened valves.

To reliably power the ignition and other systems and to recharge the battery, the Acadia has a standard 220-amp alternator (155-amp - Acadia V6 and 170 V6). The Passport’s 130-amp alternator isn’t as powerful.

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 Honda vehicles. J.D. Power ranks GMC above average in initial quality. With 21 more problems per 100 vehicles, Honda 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 Honda With 38 fewer problems per 100 vehicles in the first three years of ownership, J.D. Power ranks GMC higher than Honda.

Engine

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 Passport’s 3.5 SOHC V6.

Fuel Economy and Range

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

			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
Passport
	AWD	3.5 SOHC V6	19 city/24 hwy

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

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

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 Honda Passport (3). This means the Acadia produces up to 24.5 pounds less smog-producing pollutants than the Passport every 15,000 miles.

Brakes and Stopping

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 Passport are solid, not vented.

The Acadia stops shorter than the Passport:

	Acadia	Passport
70 to 0 MPH	173 feet	181 feet	Car and Driver
60 to 0 MPH	126 feet	135 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 Honda Passport only has 5 wheel lugs per wheel.

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

For a smoother ride and more stable handling, the Acadia’s wheelbase is 1.6 inches longer than on the Passport (112.5 inches vs. 110.9 inches).

The Acadia’s front to rear weight distribution is more even (56.5% to 43.5%) than the Passport’s (58.5% to 41.5%). This gives the Acadia more stable handling and braking.

The Acadia Denali AWD handles at .85 G’s, while the Passport Elite pulls only .78 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 Passport Elite (26.9 seconds @ .67 average G’s vs. 28.1 seconds @ .62 average G’s).

For better maneuverability, the Acadia’s turning circle is .6 feet tighter than the Passport AWD’s (38.7 feet vs. 39.3 feet).

Chassis

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 Passport doesn’t offer active grille shutters.

Passenger Space

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

The Acadia has 28.9 cubic feet more passenger volume than the Passport (143.8 vs. 114.9).

The Acadia has .5 inches more front headroom, .1 inches more front legroom and .1 inches more rear legroom than the Passport.

Cargo Capacity

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

	Acadia	Passport
Third Seat Folded	41.7 cubic feet	n/a
Third Seat Removed	n/a	41.2 cubic feet
Second Seat Folded	79 cubic feet	77.7 cubic feet

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

	Acadia	Passport
Length to seat (3rd/2nd/1st)	18.5”/48”/83”	n.a./42.5”/76”
Max Width	50”	52”
Min Width	42.5”	45.5”
Height	33”	30”

Servicing Ease

The Acadia uses gas struts to support the hood for easier service access. The Passport 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 Passport doesn’t offer a heads-up display.

The Acadia’s power parking brake sets with one touch and releases with one touch or automatically. The Passport’s parking brake has to be released manually.

The power windows standard on both the Acadia and the Passport 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 Passport prevents the driver from operating the other windows just as it does the other passengers.

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 Passport doesn’t offer an exterior PIN entry system, and its HondaLink Assist can’t unlock the doors if the vehicle doesn’t have cell phone reception or the driver can’t contact the service.

The Acadia’s power mirror controls are mounted on the armrest for easy access. The Passport’s power mirror controls are on the dash where they are possibly hidden by the steering wheel and are awkward to manipulate.

Model Availability

The Acadia is available in both front-wheel drive and four-wheel drive configurations. The Passport doesn’t offer a two-wheel drive configuration.

Recommendations

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

The GMC Acadia outsold the Honda Passport by 28% during 2022.