Haaha, fully understand. Happy wife happy life. Which vehicle do you like better? Do the Acadia denalis run around 10K more then the explorer?
Well, the Denali comes standard with (I think) every option except all wheel drive. Ours was pretty much loaded to the gills. Sticker was $48,600. We ended up at $42,500 before TT&L.
Things I liked:
- The ****pit - I'm 6'1 and 170#, so narrow. I could lower the steering wheel to where I wanted it, and rest my elbows on the console and the door for long drives. Steering wheel controls were nice and intuitive.
- OnStar - seriously. All you do is push the button and say "hey, this is where I want to go" and they update your nav. You know, since it's against the law to allow the passenger to change destinations while you're moving. The OnStar app is nice as well. You can remote start when out of range, check fuel, oil, tire pressure etc.
- Design - The new LED accent lights on the front and square-er proportions make it look a little more masculine.
- 2nd Row buckets - they really do slide way back. Further than compared with the EX. Although, in both vehicles, this makes the 3rd row useless.
- The technology package - Whatever GMC calls it, works. I can push the button and say "play _____" or "navigate ______" and I get results. We didn't see this in our 2011 XLT, and granted, there were lots of problems with MFT in the early revisions. Hopefully that's resolved.
- The fit and finish of the interior was nice, but we didn't have it long enough to get any rattles or bugs.
Things I didn't like -
Mileage - I couldn't crack 20mpg coasting downhill. It was nowhere near advertised. The engine is essentially the same displacement / power output of the 3.5 in the Explorer. The vehicle is essentially the same weight. Should have enjoyed better results.
Transmission / Engine- This probably answers the above question, but the programming of the shift points is horrible. If you step out to pass, or even want to mildly accelerate off the line, be ready to kiss the red line. It also sounded raspy when pushed.
Moonroof - No power shade?? NO SHADE? The dual moonroofs have manual mesh screens (similar to the Flex). How the hell is this allowed in this expensive of a vehicle? Caused a sunburn on all of us on our drive down to Corpus. Just poor quality.
That's it.
The wife likes the handling, power, mileage, sync, etc. etc. turning radius...don't want this anymore...blah blah. So. There.
