Enclave vs Acadia (2010/2011)

I friend is looking to buy a family vehicle. They have narrowed it down to these two vehicles and ask my opinion for safety/ ease of use, etc. People around me "get" my car seat craziness. They are ttc now and want to buy soon, and the 2011's will be out in a month or so.

Tell me anything you know? I am busy these days and haven't had a bunch of time to look on the internet. :thumbsup:

They're essentially the same GM crossover model with GMC vs. Buick badging. The Chevy Traverse and discontinued Saturn Outlook models are also GM corporate siblings to the Buick Enclave and GMC Acadia. IIHS crash tests earned Good ratings for frontal and side impact tests for these models: http://www.iihs.org/ratings/rating.aspx?id=977 and http://www.iihs.org/ratings/rating.aspx?id=1021 I can't get NHTSA's site at safercar.gov to load to try to pull up NHTSA's crash scores, but you can also look at informedforlife.org to see a composite safety score that pulls from the IIHS and NHSTA crash tests.

I know we have several members with these GM crossovers who can chime in on carseat friendliness and you can probably get some ideas from the 3 across thread or the Radian install thread. Testing carseat installations during a test drive is also highly recommended before any vehicle purchase. I believe the second row's headrests can pose a compatibility challenge for some forward facing installations, but seem to remember workarounds by reclining the vehicle seat a notch or two or maybe a way of removing the headrest? These models have dedicated sets of LATCH outboard in the second row. GM doesn't allow borrowing to do a center LATCH installation in versions equipped with the second row bench seating (some versions have second row captain's chairs, and some have second row benches with 3 seating positions). There are top tether anchors for every second row seating position and for the third row center seating position.

Between the two they've narrowed down the choice to, go with whichever model meets their budget and preferences the most I'd say. I'm not sure which version is more spendy between the GMC and Buick versions, but I believe the Chevy Traverse has a lower starting MSRP. I also don't know if there are any changes in store for the 2011 models, and 2010 models are probably much more negotiable price wise as they're reaching the close of the 2010 model year now. :twocents:

Everything that Jeanum said One thing that swayed me away from these vehicles is no head rest in the middle of the second and third rows. Just something they may want to be aware of.

I don't believe the Buick has an 8 seat option.

It's also the only one that's siginificantly pricier than the others. The Acadia, Traverse, and Outlook were fairly similar in price.

We're considering one of these as well. We have a baby on the way and hope to have another in the future, so we're only looking for something that can easily accomodate two seats. I see someone mentioned no headrests in the center being a possible issue. I'm sure it's mentioned elsewhere in this forum somewhere but can you tell me why no headrest is a problem?

Lack of a center head restraint means there potentially won't be adequate protection against whiplash type injuries to the head and neck depending on the size of the passenger, and this could affect both adults and children riding in the vehicle. An adult or tall/older boostered child who has outgrown highback booster seat options by height and whose ears are above the top of the vehicle seatback wouldn't be adequately protected from whiplash injuries in that center seating position. Alternatives would be to ride in another seating position in the vehicle with adequate head/neck support or to use a highback booster seat or other forward facing harnessed carseat capable of providing that head and neck protection in the center. With one baby or possibly two in your future who are going to be rear facing for some time, barring the need to transport additional older kiddos or additional adult sized passengers, you'll have some flexibility and time before the lack of a center head restraint becomes an issue. To minimize the likelihood of it becoming an issue for your family, you could also seek out vehicles with center rear head restraints now when test driving vehicles before purchasing. :twocents: