Make Way for the GMC Canyon

The GMC Canyon is a compact pickup. This vehicle shares its basic design and powertrain with the Chevrolet Colorado. Offered in three body styles, the GMC Canyon is a pickup to consider. This vehicle looks impressive. It also brags about a lot of power as well as a spacious interior. The cargo space is also very accommodating.

The body styles comprise of the regular cab body style, the extended cab body style, and the Crew cab body style. For regular cabs, the maximum capacity of passengers it can take in its cabin is three. The extended cab has a rear hinged back door and has the capacity to take in a maximum passenger capacity of five due to two rear jump seats. As per the Crew cab, this body style holds four doors and has a maximum capacity of welcoming in six people because of its folding rear bench. The GMC Canyon is very much suited for personal use as well as light duty use. Even if it is a pickup it probably would not be able to work well for commercial use, heavy hauling, as well as for towing functions.

The GMC Canyon has a couple of engine choices for interested parties. There is the standard 2.9 liter Vortec inline engine which has four cylinders. This engine can produce some 175 horsepower and 185 pound feet of torque. The optional 3.5 liter Vortec engine has five cylinders and it can make 200 units of horsepower and 225 pound feet of torque. Both of these engines come with an electronic throttle control, variable valve timing, and coil on plug ignition. The vehicle also comes with an all new five speed manual transmission system.

The interior of the GMC Canyon holds 60/40 bench seats in cloth of vinyl. Made available for this vehicle are reclining bucket seats. The other features also include two forward facing rear seats with under-seat storage and a flat-load floor. There also is a driver information center with system readouts, an electrochromic rearview mirror with compass and outside temperature gauge, heated leather bucket seats, an AM/FM stereo with an optional in-dash six CD changer, the OnStar system, and the XM satellite radio. The GMC Canyon also has a six foot cargo box, a two tier loading, as well as a locking tailgate. For safety, the GMC Canyon has dual stage front air bags, optional head curtain side air bags, a reinforced safety cage and side guard door beams, high intensity halogen headlamps, fog lamps, an all-steel body, three point lap shoulder belts, and the LATCH system.

By Joe Thompson.

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In-Depth Automotive Review - 2008 GMC Acadia - Test Drive & Pricing

In this review, we take a close look at GMC's newest SUV choice on the market. The 2008 GMC Acadia joins a small list of other models that share most of the internal platform engineering including the Saturn Outlook, Buick Enclave, and soon the Chevrolet Traverse. Upon closer inspection, the Acadia seemed like a logical choice in a market that has revolved around gasoline management. By no means does this new GMC make economical benchmarks in its class, but makes a valid argument that it is a great alternative to the "big" sport utility vehicle. In the following, I will discuss fit and finish, ease of use, and take into account some pricing ideas to further educate the consumer.

First and foremost, the new Acadia looks right good size. I would personally like to think it is Suburban like in size compared to other mid-sizers. The body was clean, very effective use of materials and was free of any enormous quality issues. GMC implemented some great use of automotive safety technology, GMC upfitted the Acadia with bright projector beam headlights, led taillights, an engineered low center of gravity (for ease of ingress/egress and less body roll), and ultra-sonic rear park assist. Also coming to the party, this new suv was available in front wheel drive or on-demand AWD for the snow/rain travelers. In turn, the Acadia achieved it's mission in keeping with the tough "professional grade" look while keeping a revolutionary modern look.

The Acadia is "three rows of seats" business, so getting to the third row might take some smart ingenuity to win over a lot of families. So, the second row on either side, collapses forward into a very ingenious way so that the seat takes up very little room possible. My 6' tall self got back there very easy, and the seats were polite on the body, the floor was flat, no knee into chest action here too. The "Black Tie Audio" instrument stack was clean, and very well easy to get the hang of. The front captains chairs were great, no problem on those long trips with lots of support for the back and thighs. My test subject also had a couple of smart devices, like MP3 audio jack for ipods, XM Radio, Bose Primo Sound, and Touch Screen Navigation. Resulting in a mobile swiss army knife of fun and functionality, it was lacking very little.

My 2008 Acadia was a fully loaded SLT AWD with all the cake and cookies. So finding all the potential warts was easy knowing that had the prime trim. The standard six speed transmission is wonderful, does the job without having all the long high revving action normally a trait of the four speed. On the other hand, the only available V6 powertrain was all turkey and chickens, very sluggish for such a big SUV. I believe a V8 is on the way, but it should have already been an option, to further appeal to the power hungry. I also didn't care for the front wheel drive action, making the u-turns were somewhat of a bear, three lanes was the minimum roundabout. Hence, the GMC could of improved on a couple areas to make it more of a sell to the Suburban/Expedition EL crowd pleaser.

So what does the new Acadia price at, and what additions do you receive for the money? Base 2wd SLE models come in at just a tad over $30k, while the high end SLT's strike as high as $45,000. And expect anywhere from $2,000-3,500 between invoice and MSRP (depends on trim) when you do some negotiating. What protects you in addition? Well, standard is a 5yr/100k mi powertrain warranty, a year of Onstar telematics, and a 100k mi tuneup interval all inclusive to make a higher price justifiable. And so at this price bracket, the Acadia is market competitive. But, I would first look at models like the Mazda CX-9 or maybe even the Honda Pilot to save some cash. Each of those vehicles offer three rows of seating as well. In conclusion, the GMC Acadia is an obvious improvement from the aged Envoy, it should will have no problem finding a niche in its class.

By Shaun Patrick Davidson.