I made the difficult decision to part with my '09 Acadia SLT. I had the car three years and 42K miles. The driving factor was that I was not comfortable keeping this car w/out a bumper to bumper warranty. This was our 2nd Acadia and was a hard decision to make. In 2009 I bought the car outright and anticipated keeping it for many years. I still love the style of the car and the size but the problems have been too much. This was a well equipped SLT1 with navigation and DVD. I added chrome steps & 19" wheels. The list of problems have been long. It had to get towed twice, once about 100 miles from home and I was stuck in NJ. It also had to get the steering rack fixed, replace head unit for stereo, replace struts for hatch plus a number of minor issues. It got to the point I was always waiting for the next shoe to drop. I had a '07 when they 1st came out and had no issues. I don't know of another car that has gotten worse the longer it has been out. I am a buy American type but I made the difficult decision to get an MDX and go back to leasing. Honestly I prefer the Acadia but the problems have been too much. The leases Ford offer on the Explorer are too expensive for what the car is & I would not trust the reliability of a Durango just yet.
Good luck to the rest of you. Hopefully you have a better experience.

We're sorry to lose you as an Acadia owner, droptopron, but wish you all the best in your MDX.

Kindest regards,
Sarah (Assisting Michelle)
GMC Customer Service

 

Sorry to see you go. I would think that once you start having problems with your MDX you will wish you kept your Acadia. Pricing on Acura parts is always more than American parts!!! But, enjoy your new ride!!

 

Sorry to see you go. I would think that once you start having problems with your MDX you will wish you kept your Acadia. Pricing on Acura parts is always more than American parts!!! But, enjoy your new ride!!

You are assuming we will have problems with the Acura. If we do, I can't believe it will be as bad as my '09 was. Generally speaking water pumps last more than 25K and steering racks more than 40K.
Plus, we went back to a lease. Get rid of it before stuff starts going bad.

 

You are assuming we will have problems with the Acura. If we do, I can't believe it will be as bad as my '09 was. Generally speaking water pumps last more than 25K and steering racks more than 40K.
Plus, we went back to a lease. Get rid of it before stuff starts going bad.

All cars have gremlins, just some more than others is all. I'd hate to be making car payments again but, if you can write them off as a business cost or something like that more power to yah. Enjoy!

 

I understand your situation -- we loved the Acadia's look, packaging (size, 2nd row captain's chairs), ride on our 2011 Acadia SLT1 -- had no mechanical issues with the car in 1 1/2 years and 25,000 miles......except it never got anywhere near the stated gas mileage MPG of 16 / 23 for the AWD model.

We got between 10 -12 mpg around town, 15 -16 on the highway (driving 65-70 mph best ever was 17.6 mpg), and live in relatively flat area (NJ). Numerous trips to the dealer resulted in "your wife must drive this thing pretty hard" and "no cars ever get what is stated on the window sticker". At 40+ years old it is comical to imagine my wife and 3 kids drag racing from stoplight to stoplight with 2 baby seats in the middle row and a booster seat in the back. :cheers:

In summary we re-assessed our needs and got a Honda Odyssey (18 / 27 mpg, delivering as advertised) and a Toyota Land Cruiser (13 / 18 mpg, delivering 15 / 19 thus far). The lackluster service experience with the Acadia led us away from GMC and GM, despite liking the car's design and features. Wife refused to go back given indifferent and insulting service responses -- I could not disagree, hence Land Cruiser and not Yukon Denali for our full-size SUV.

 

All cars have gremlins, just some more than others is all. I'd hate to be making car payments again but, if you can write them off as a business cost or something like that more power to yah. Enjoy!

Gremlins I can understand but a car of this age already being on the flat bed twice does not meet my expectations. My wife has to drive this car when I'm an hour and a half a way at work. I can't write off payments but it is worth it for my peace of mind.
I look at this car differently than most of you here. I don't have passion for it. Its nice but to me its just an appliance to do a job. Just like if my dish washer kept breaking down I'd replace that, this car had too many problems so I got rid of it. I have two other GM's in my household ('10 CTS and '70 Cutlass) so I am not one to go around bashing American cars or bashing GM, but I have to keep it real and call this car a fail.

 

'70 Cutlass? pic please?

 

'70 Cutlass? pic please?

Here you go. Its got a '69 400, turbo 400 & 3.23 posi.

 

Omugod! That's a beauty!

 

SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!!!!!!!!!

You're a lucky guy! :thumb:

 

SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!!!!!!!!!

You're a lucky guy! :thumb:

Thanks. This car I don't mind fixing and it always needs something.

One thing with a car like this - I bought it 90% done. The other 10% cost me 50% of what I paid for the car.

 

Well I agree with your decision, I'd drop mine for a Toyota or Honda in a heart beat.
I don't care how much some owners justify the Acadia's "gremlins".
Toyota and Honda are just more reliable....period.

 

Well I agree with your decision, I'd drop mine for a Toyota or Honda in a heart beat.
I don't care how much some owners justify the Acadia's "gremlins".
Toyota and Honda are just more reliable....period.

I would agree somewhat with Toyota and Honda being more reliable but they've had their own problems in the last few years. My 2010 Acadia, with only 19,000 miles on it, already has a seriously loud whining sound when I turn the wheel whether the vehicle is moving or not and that's just irritating. I't goes into the dealership next week for an oil change so I need them to look at the whining sound and fix the problem. With the low miles I'm just real dissapointed that it's already having problems that were more prevelant in the model years before 2010.

 

The timing chain issue, short life on water pumps & steering racks can't be dismissed as gremlins. Maybe the leaking sunroofs.
I will say that the dealer did what they could to make things right but the problems were too much. If i was driving it maybe but i couldn't chance my wife & kids getting stuck.

 

Thanks. This car I don't mind fixing and it always needs something.
One thing with a car like this - I bought it 90% done. The other 10% cost me 50% of what I paid for the car.

:hilarious: Your story is the same as all my friends with old cars, but SO worth it when you drive them!

 

So far my 2010 Acadia SLT 2 has been better than my 2007 version, which was a incureable roof leaker, but that is mostly due to no ordering a sunroof on the 2010. I have kept mileage down to 22K as we bought it only for long distance family driving now that we are retired. Without question I will purchase GM bumper to bumper plan before the 3 year cutoff kicks in in January, it is financial suicide not to, as we plan to run the Acadia out. We have enough vehicles around to juggle use.
All the posts here on continuning excessive maintenance on this site are shocking and only promote more concerns. I do like the Acadia design overall, vehicle though just was a specific example of Bob Lutz' book graphic description of extremely poor GM product planning committees pre Crash losing sight of their customer interests.
All that being said, my 2008 Lincoln MKZ (100K now) has not been a rousing success either (after years of 150,000 miles plus on brutally reliable Crown Victorias I used for business travel), with $1600 worth of air conditioning rebuilds at 75,000 miles and misc. parts (trunk struts) failing prematurely (dealer blamed on Mexican sourcing by Lincoln). Main running gear has been excellent to date, but US supplied.
Only cure for Acadia vehicle group will be complete platform replacment if done right and totally next time including all the running gear.

 

Knock on wood but so far I am really happy with my CTS. It is stil low miles but zero issues so far. I will get an extended warranty on it.

 

So far my 2010 Acadia SLT 2 has been better than my 2007 version, which was a incureable roof leaker, but that is mostly due to no ordering a sunroof on the 2010. I have kept mileage down to 22K as we bought it only for long distance family driving now that we are retired. Without question I will purchase GM bumper to bumper plan before the 3 year cutoff kicks in in January, it is financial suicide not to, as we plan to run the Acadia out. We have enough vehicles around to juggle use.
All the posts here on continuning excessive maintenance on this site are shocking and only promote more concerns. I do like the Acadia design overall, vehicle though just was a specific example of Bob Lutz' book graphic description of extremely poor GM product planning committees pre Crash losing sight of their customer interests.
All that being said, my 2008 Lincoln MKZ (100K now) has not been a rousing success either (after years of 150,000 miles plus on brutally reliable Crown Victorias I used for business travel), with $1600 worth of air conditioning rebuilds at 75,000 miles and misc. parts (trunk struts) failing prematurely (dealer blamed on Mexican sourcing by Lincoln). Main running gear has been excellent to date, but US supplied.
Only cure for Acadia vehicle group will be complete platform replacment if done right and totally next time including all the running gear.

pic of the cobra vert please....

 

pic of the cobra vert please....

Pics of the 'Cuda please

 

pic of the cobra vert please....

A good friend of mine has a 98 Cobra convertible he just upgraded the supercharger to a new Paxton SC and new 20" wheels matched to look stock. Eurethane bushings throughout and lowered with KYB gas struts and Eibach springs. It is making just over 550 at the rear wheels now.

 

Pics of the 'Cuda please

Oh if I had a 'cuda I'd be washing it with my tongue right now. SOMEDAY!!! :thumb:

My icon is my Power Ball 'cuda. If I hit pb, that car is coming to Cape Cod. Otherwise,
a restomod someday....

 

Toyota and Honda are just more reliable....period.

Not my last Honda!

But I had a lemon, I still feel Honda produces some of the most reliable products on the planet.

 

I would agree somewhat with Toyota and Honda being more reliable but they've had their own problems in the last few years. My 2010 Acadia, with only 19,000 miles on it, already has a seriously loud whining sound when I turn the wheel whether the vehicle is moving or not and that's just irritating. I't goes into the dealership next week for an oil change so I need them to look at the whining sound and fix the problem. With the low miles I'm just real dissapointed that it's already having problems that were more prevelant in the model years before 2010.

My 2010 was the only one of the three with that problem. It got fixed at 60,000 km with a new steering rack.

 

I'm still wondering how I've escaped any mechanical problems (engine, trans, drivetrain) with my 2009 Enclave. I've had it 4 years, and 26,800 miles and have none of the issues that seem to be discussed regularly. I do, however, have some issues with the interior....mainly being seatbelt related, but nothing engine wise. I got the letter in the mail for my timing chain to be covered for 10 years/120K miles so I'm very happy about that, I think GM stepped up and realized that was an issue and are taking care of it's customers. Now...there's also been talk about wave plates in the transmission breaking, mainly 08's...but it appears that my 09 would fall into the time frame of that as well. Some are not breaking till over 50K miles, so that is a thing that's kind of on the back of my mind, but I still have my Onstar subscription active, so that's all I can do for now. Perhaps they will have another warranty on the wave plates come out later.

I hear the above posts about service departments, and how people think they are not treated well. This is hard to read, because you would think GM would want to really take care of their customers. On the other hand, I have a hard time believing the other brands are much different. After all, it's still people working there....how are those people any different than the rest? I think customer service in general is just bad everywhere. There are so many "rules" for what can be said and can't, that customer service people, whether in person or on the phone are like robots.

 

I felt I was always treated fairly by my service department and am very pleased with the Cadillac service dept for my CTS. With regard to no issues with your Enclave, I think any car manufacturer is capable of building a bad car & a good car. In my case with my Acadia I clearly got a bad one. Think about that all car makers are really car assemblers with the amount of content that comes from suppliers.