The front seats are wide and comfortable.   The steering wheel tilts and telescopes, making it easy for drivers tall and short to get comfortable.   As with any SUV, the driver sits high, with a good view down the road.   But visibility to the rear isn't great, requiring care when backing up.   We recommend opting for ultrasonic rear park assist, which can detect objects out of the driver's line of sight.   We further recommend getting the rearview camera, which projects its image on the navigation screen or the rearview mirror.   The smaller image on the rearview mirror is right in your line of sight when looking at the rearview mirror to back up.   However, in a messy Chicago winter, the camera lens became speckled with dirt and salt, making the small image on the rearview mirror hard to see.   A larger image on a navigation screen would have been easier to see and more helpful.  

Eight-passenger seating comes standard, with a 60/40 split bench in the second row that can accommodate three people.   The up-level models have second-row captain's chairs, which cut passenger capacity to seven but are more comfortable.   Either model can be ordered with the other seating arrangement.   This is an important choice that deserves careful consideration: Models with second-row captain's chairs are less functional for hauling cargo.  

The specifications list second-row legroom as 36.9 inches.   To provide a little more flexibility, the Acadia's second row slides fore and aft a total of four inches.   According to GM, those 36.9 inches are measured with the seat roughly in the middle of that range.   We found that with the second row in the rearmost position a six-foot adult can be comfortable in the driver's seat while another six-footer can be seated directly behind without being cramped.  

Getting to the third row involves using what GM calls its Smart Slide feature.   A handle moves the second row up and out of the way.   It didn't work particularly well for us on an early model Acadia we tested, but we found it to be easy to use on other GM models.   Give it a try yourself at the dealership; it shouldn't take too long to figure out.  

As in most vehicles, the Acadia's third row is best suited for small children.   But here is the fine print when GMC says the Acadia is a seven- or eight-passenger vehicle: GM assumes three people are sitting in the third row, which has about nine inches less hip room than the second row.   Putting three children back there will be possible, but three adults won't fit.   Two adults will fit, though, with good head room and adequate leg room.   Just don't plan to keep them back there on long trips because the low seat bottoms lack thigh support.  

Cargo capacity is generous, with 24.1 cubic feet of cargo space behind the third row.   That's more than the trunk space of a mid-size sedan and measurably more than what's offered by the Honda Pilot or Ford Explorer.   A small plastic-lined bin below the floor of the Acadia's cargo compartment is perfect for carrying messy stuff.  

More cargo capacity is revealed by folding down the back seats.   The third row folds down easily, and a strap is used to pull it back up.   It is not an upper-body workout but does require effort.   With the third row folded down the Acadia's cargo-carrying advantage continues with nearly 69 cubic feet of space.   One nice feature is that lowering the second or third rows on the Acadia does not require removing the head restraints.   When the second and third rows are folded the cargo area is almost flat, and there is a cavernous 115.9 cubic feet of cargo volume.   In all cargo dimensions, the Acadia offers ample and generous capacity and outstrips many competitors, including the Pilot and the Explorer.