Compare the2025 GMC AcadiaVS 2025 Dodge Durango

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 Durango 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 Durango 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 Durango doesn’t offer Hill Descent Control.

The Acadia’s standard lane departure warning system alerts a temporarily inattentive driver when the vehicle begins to leave its lane and gently nudges the vehicle back towards its lane. A lane departure warning system costs extra on the Durango.

The Acadia has a standard HD Surround Vision to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Durango 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 Durango have rear cross-traffic warning, but the Acadia has Rear Cross Traffic Braking (automatically applies the brakes) to better prevent a collision when backing near traffic. The Durango’s Rear Cross Path Detection doesn’t automatically brake.

The Acadia’s optional driver alert monitor detects an inattentive driver then sounds a warning and suggests a break. According to the NHTSA, drivers who fall asleep cause about 100,000 crashes and 1500 deaths a year. The Durango doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.

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

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

For smoother operation, better efficiency and fewer moving parts, the Acadia has an overhead cam design, rather than the old pushrod design of the 5.7 V8 in the Durango.

To reliably power the ignition and other systems and to recharge the battery, the Acadia has a 220-amp alternator. The Durango’s standard 160-amp alternator isn’t as powerful.

J.D. Power and Associates’ 2024 Initial Quality Study of new car owners surveyed provide the statistics that show that GMC vehicles are better in initial quality than Dodge vehicles. With 100 fewer problems per 100 vehicles, JD Power ranks GMC higher than Dodge.

The Acadia’s 2.5 turbo 4-cylinder produces 33 more horsepower (328 vs. 295) and 66 lbs.-ft. more torque (326 vs. 260) than the Durango’s standard 3.6 DOHC V6.

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

To lower fuel costs and make buying fuel easier, the GMC Acadia uses regular unleaded gasoline. The Durango with the 5.7 V8 engine requires mid-grade for maximum efficiency, which can cost on average about 49.8 cents more per gallon.

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 Durango doesn’t offer a cap-less fueling system.

For better ride, handling and brake cooling the Acadia Denali offers optional 22-inch wheels. The Durango’s largest wheels are only 20-inches.

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

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

For a smoother ride and more stable handling, the Acadia’s wheelbase is 1.1 inches longer than on the Durango (120.9 inches vs. 119.8 inches).

For better handling and stability, the average track (width between the wheels) on the Acadia is 3.9 inches wider in the front and 3.6 inches wider in the rear than the track on the Durango.

For better maneuverability, the Acadia Elevation’s turning circle is 2.2 feet tighter than the Durango’s (38.8 feet vs. 41 feet). The Acadia Denali Reserve’s turning circle is .9 feet tighter than the Durango’s (40.1 feet vs. 41 feet).

The GMC Acadia may be more efficient, handle and accelerate better because it weighs about 350 to 600 pounds less than the Dodge Durango.

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

The Acadia offers optional seating for 8 passengers; the Durango can only carry 7.

The Acadia has 2.7 inches more front headroom, 4 inches more front legroom, 2.2 inches more front hip room, 3.5 inches more front shoulder room, .2 inches more rear headroom, 2.9 inches more rear legroom, 2.9 inches more rear hip room, 4.3 inches more rear shoulder room, .4 inches more third row headroom, 6.2 inches more third row hip room and 7.5 inches more third row shoulder room than the Durango.

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

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

To make loading groceries and cargo easier when your hands are full, the Acadia’s liftgate can be opened just by waiting momentarily behind the back bumper, leaving your hands completely free. The Durango doesn’t offer a hands-free gesture to open its liftgate, forcing you to put cargo down if your hands are full.

The Acadia offers an optional heads-up display that projects speed, tachometer, navigation instruction, infotainment and driver assistance information readouts in front of the driver’s line of sight, allowing drivers to view information without diverting their eyes from the road. The Durango 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 Durango’s parking brake has to be released manually.

The Acadia’s front and rear power windows all lower with one touch of the switches, making it more convenient at drive-up windows and toll booths, or when talking with someone outside of the car. The Durango’s rear power window switches have to be held the entire time to open them fully.

If the windows are left open on the Acadia the driver can close them all from a distance using the remote. On a hot day the driver can also lower the windows the same way. The driver of the Durango can only close the windows from inside the vehicle, with the ignition on.

To quickly and conveniently keep personal devices charged without cables tangling and wearing out, the GMC Acadia has a standard wireless phone charging system (Qi) in the center console. Wireless charging costs extra on the Durango.

The Acadia’s optional Enhanced Automatic Parking Assist can parallel park or back into a parking spot by itself, stopping and changing direction automatically. The Durango doesn’t offer an automated parking system.