When you need an extra row of seats, there’s an SUV for that. Want technology to keep your kids busy? There’s an SUV for that, too. Need a roomy, comfortable interior? Yes, there’s also an SUV for that. In fact, there are lots of SUVs with these and many more features. However, if you’re shopping for a three-row SUV for your family, the options can get dizzying fast. Few buyers are choosing to be loyal to brands in today’s market, and are instead preferring to buy according to ratings to find the best vehicle. For practical features and roomy seating, two contenders come standard with generous conveniences and safety technology: the 2022 GMC Acadia and the 2022 Honda Pilot.
Honda has made a name for itself as a reliable brand, but there is more to life than a vehicle that lasts a long time. Most vehicles today will run at least ten years—especially if you follow the maintenance guidelines in the owner’s manual—and can rack up to at least 200,000 miles on the odometer before you have to retire them. When reliability isn’t really an issue, you can focus more on features that provide convenience in your daily life. If you’re looking for a capable family SUV that offers user-friendly technology, parent-friendly features like a second-row seat that slides with child seats in place, and comforts like tri-zone climate control…look no further. Let’s compare the 2022 Acadia to the 2022 Pilot to see how they stack up for family travel.
Technology to Take Anywhere
Why not start where the fun begins? If you have already done some research, you know that features like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are typically considered standard equipment for most vehicles. This is true for both the 2022 Acadia and 2022 Pilot, though the Acadia makes them wireless across all trims. Honda doesn’t offer this option, though it does have a rear-seat entertainment system available. But the Pilot has a lot of technology available if you want to spend a lot of money on the two uppermost trims. With most families supporting multiple smartphones on set data plans, wifi is rapidly becoming a necessity for vehicles. Any trim of the Acadia can have wifi service, but it’s only the most expensive of the Pilot trims that make this service available.
Connected services are another feature buyers are increasingly excited to have, with options like remote starting, remote locking and unlocking, vehicle location, and emergency assistance as part of the numerous conveniences to be had. Again, the 2022 Acadia offers connected service across all trims, but Pilot buyers have to pony up the cash for the Touring or Elite trims, both of which range over $40,000 without added packages or options. When you look at the other technologies available, the GMC definitely stands out. Features like a rearview camera mirror, HD Surround Vision, and a head-up display are all available within the trims of the 2022 Acadia, but none of them are found in the 2022 Pilot.
Interior Conveniences and Storage
When you have kids, you have messes. It’s impossible to avoid, but having leather seats is certainly a step up from having to scrub cloth seats clean after anything has been ground into the material. Fortunately, both the 2022 Acadia and 2022 Pilot offer leather seats, and they both make them standard in the second trim level. Tri-zone climate control is standard for all trims so you can keep everyone comfortable, and front-row seats in both SUVs can come heated and ventilated. Second-row seats are even available with heat for both the GMC and the Honda.
Access to the third row will be easy for both SUVs, each making standard their own type of sliding second-row seat that folds forward even with a child safety seat in place. The second and third rows can fold flat for more cargo space when needed, and pass-through storage is available under the center console. GMC provides a handy drawer in the center console for rear-seat passengers to stow small items like phones or wallets, which is a feature not found in the Honda. And just for fun, if you love the idea of a sunroof you can have not one, but two. Both the Acadia and Pilot have dual sunroof panels to let in the light. But this feature is available across all trims in the Acadia but only for the uppermost trim in the Pilot.
Safety to Save the Day
Driver-assist safety features are part of life on the road today, and when you drive with your little ones it can help avoid or lessen the effects of a potential collision. For the 2022 Acadia, the driver-assist suite has nine standard features, including Lane Change Alert with Side Blind Zone Alert, Front Pedestrian Braking, and Rear Cross-Traffic Alert. Also included in the suite is the convenience of Auto Highbeams, which dim in oncoming traffic so you don’t have to worry about remembering to turn them down. Honda has its own set of features which are excellent, though it limits the suite to four features.
It’s fair to say that some of the driver-assist features for the 2022 Pilot are more like a bundle than single features, such as the Collision Mitigation System that includes Front Pedestrian Braking and Automatic Emergency Braking, but the Lane Keeping Assist System only keeps the Pilot centered in its lane and nothing more. You will get a Road Departure Mitigation System, but nothing for watching blind spots, nothing for rear cross-traffic, and nothing to alert you if you’re driving too close to other vehicles.
All of these features are included in the GMC Pro Safety Plus suite, and there are additional features like a Rear Seat Reminder that can be a parent’s saving grace when you’re exhausted and forget you have a sleeping baby in the back. Another included safety feature for the 2022 Acadia is the Teen Driver feature that allows parents to set limitations on speed and stereo volume, and you can look up how your teen drove while they took the Acadia out without you. It can put your mind at ease to know you have extra features looking out for your young driver as well as your sleeping babies, and none of these features are available at all for the Honda Pilot.
Features Parents Need at a Price You Can Afford
Everyone wants a hands-free liftgate, but parents need a feature like this when their hands are always full. Being able to wave your foot under the back bumper is one of the best inventions for opening the cargo bay. Whether you go with the 2022 Acadia or the 2022 Pilot, you can have this available feature. Once again, GMC makes this available for less money by making it standard in the second trim. Honda places this feature in the third trim level. Wireless charging should be a feature that comes with every trim level, since parents are lucky to remember the diaper bag, never mind the phone charger. In the Acadia, you can have that feature in any trim, but the Pilot doesn’t offer it until the third trim level.
A theme seems to be emerging with the comparison: If you buy the 2022 Acadia, you get a lot of features in lower trim levels that can’t be had until you spend more for the 2022 Pilot. Whether you start with the entry-level pricing or go for the uppermost trim level, you spend less for three rows of seats with more available features in the Acadia than the Pilot. Pricing for the 2022 Acadia starts at $34,800, and the 2022 Pilot begins at a much steeper $37,580. Save your money for the kids and go for the comfort of the Acadia. Not only do you get parent-friendly safety and convenience features, but you also get more standard features for less when you buy the 2022 GMC Acadia.
