Golfblogger

Ok, I know this is out of place, but I want to put in a good word for the new car my wife and I bought in April.  I think if you often take golf buddies either on a short trip across town or actually on a road trip, you should look at the GMC Acadia or Buick Enclave (or Saturn Outlook).

We absolutely love this car.  It is the first GM for my wife or I for about 20 years when she had an old-Chevette in college and I had a 72 Skylark in college.  Since then she has been a Honda girl, although when we got married and started thinking kid we bought a 04 Grand Cherokee which she loved.  I have always preferred domestics, having a few Fords and a couple Jeeps.

Anyhow, the Acadia.  this car is huge inside (as much as a Yukon), and all 3 rows are comfortable, but it drives very carlike with FWD.  When golfing, you can fold the 3rd row down completely, or just 40% or 60%.  If you don’t fold it down, you can probably still fit 3 or so sets of clubs behind the 3rd row.  My wife will put a weeks worth of groceries behind the 3rd row, there is that much room.  And, if you are taking 3 guys on a road trip, the 2nd row slides forward and back, and makes for a lot of leg room. 

I am trying to avoid sounding like a car commercial, but we really do love this car.  My wife and I often talk about this is the happiest we have been with a purchase since the first TiVo.

I think that GM has been very quietly making some outstanding products over the last several years. The problem now is going to be getting people to try them.There are so many bad feelings—some rightly deserved—about the poor quality and design in the 1970s and 1980s. There also seems to be quite a bit of anti-American snobbery involved. I have a friend, for example, who tells me that he would never buy an American car. I asked him once if he would buy American if it could be proven that it was a better car."No"

The car I’m lusting after now is the Cadillac SRX Crossover.

I would suspect within a year or two that the SRX will move to the GM Lambda platform which holds the Enclave, Acadia, Outlook, and perhaps upcoming Chevy and Saab models. 

We chose the Acadia partly because of availability (the Enclave was not made for 2007, and we ordered in February). We likeed the Acadia over the Outlook for the interior “professional grade” over the Saturn’s nice but somewhat lacking woodgrain.  The Enclave is really nice inside now.  The Acadia also is a little more agressive in appearance than the other two.

If you haven’t seen those two, go check them out.  They are probably each $15-20k less than the Caddy.  (and my dream right now would be the Caddy Escalade truck, but I have to win the lotto first)