General Motors’ Australian outpost looks to America for salvation.

Base price: $71,990.
Powertrain and performance: 3.6-litre petrol V6, 231kW/367Nm, nine-speed automatic, AWD, Combined economy 9.3 litres per 100km, 0-100kmh N/A.
Vital statistics: 4979mm long, 1762mm high, 2857mm wheelbase, luggage capacity 292-2102 litres, 20-inch alloy wheels.
We like: Ride and handling, comfort, high level of safety aides, infotainment. We don't like: Second-row split on traffic side, blind spots, no diesel or petrol-electric option.

AROUND 92,000 first year registrations would seem a dream run for Holden’s latest big hope, right?

It’s happened. The 2018 North American sales count for the Acadia large sports utility suggests this model has potential. 

GM’s Aussie outpost is keen to see its first American-made product gain acceptance. Holden needs a break. Logic suggests SUVs can pull it out of the mire.

A seven-chair wagon designed primarily to deliver a swish sealed road experience, Acadia is a $100 million gamble. The cost of rejigging a US domestic GMC into a right-hooker is 60 percent higher than it might have been had Holden involved from the start, instead of two years in.

Acadia comes in three trims, all in two and four-wheel-drive, all running a Commodore-shared 3.6-litre V6 and nine-speed-auto, and aims at everything from Hyundai’s Santa Fe and Mazda’s CX-9 to the Ford Everest and Toyota Prado. 

Impression from testing the LTZ-V flagship suggests near on 100,000 North Americans aren’t wrong. Sure, some aspects require getting used to, yet it feels born to run comfortably here.

Will the square-jawed and hunky styling demand time to settle? The shape’s not divisive but expect discussion. The front-end is Holden-ised to the point where a GMC grille won’t fit, but all else is as North America knows it. The rhomboid wheel surrounds divide opinion, why the rear glass lacks the chrome edging meted the side windows piques curiosity and those thick A-pillars and large side mirrors create blind spots.

Despite sharing basic ergonomic ideals with Commodore, from comparing interiors for look and layout, fit and finish would you ever pick the SUV as the more modern? It’s plush and practical and right on point for tech, yet more polish and pizzazz wouldn’t hurt.

Right-way-around indicator and wiper stalk placements are achieved yet left-hand-drive-centricities remain. The convex outer section of the driver’s door mirror suggests it was meant for the kerb side. The mode switch is awkward to reach, being on the left rear of the centre console. Families with scampering young ‘uns might be alarmed the second-row seat split fold accessing the rear seat is engineered for the traffic side.

Trim rattles undermine GM’s quality boast but the spec’s rich. Leather, wireless phone charging, keyless entry/start, sat-nav, triple-zone air conditioning, power tailgate and automated parking are popular convenience and comfort features and LTZ-V adds memory for the driver's chair (which, like the passenger pew, is heated, cool-air ventilated and power adjustable), dual-panel sunroof, gas-discharge headlights, adaptive cruise control, 360-degree camera and Bose audio which, with a radio that abdicates stations as quickly as Trump drops staff, pleasingly lends Apple CarPlay podcast provision as a fallback. A Bluetooth system that accepts two devices simultaneously and five USB ports spread across the three rows, including 2.1-amp outlets for charging iPads, highlights expectation every occupant will have an electronic device. 

There's huge comfort and heaps of head and shoulder room for the front and middle-row seats and though the back row will only provide a knees-up seating position for big adults, it’s big for kids.

Luggage space is tight in three-row mode, generous otherwise, but hope you won’t get a flattie, with the space saver spare buried so deeply it’s a mission to access, let alone remove. The tailgate thoughtfully has a setting for 75 percent opening height and will open/close off the keyfob. The boot floor has sturdy tie-downs.

Holden’s touch is felt foremost with suspension retuning. I’ve not experienced a GMC Acadia but Holden’s claim it has firmed the spring rates seems reasonable. It’s still soft and loping but stable enough not to wobble over ruts or bumps.

Holden intent to make the LTZ-V feel like the VF Holden Caprice luxury sedan used to was evidenced during an almost six-hour solid open road run, where it came across as being capable and composed, if not a car that asked to be chucked about. The AWD dismisses in normal driving, so it’s not always quattro when pushing into a bend.

It might odd to propose the Acadia shines brightest in relaxed operation when it has a relatively rorty big six. Particularly when this mill marries to a transmission that, in addition to the usual sport mode (which sharpens shifts and seeks to self-downshift at slowdown), has an 'L' setting that provides a full manual mode. You won’t bother as this facilitates by toggling a ridiculous plus/minus switch atop the gear lever.

Though this engine hauls the heft well, offers a nice rumbling sound and is seamless in acceleration to the 6700rpm redline, you get the sense it’s probably just as well the Acadia wasn’t bigger or heavier than its 2032kg mass. The modest 2000kg braked towing capacity suggests it hasn’t too much left, so it’s a shame there’s no torque-rich diesel as an option. Economy depends on the roads you regularly drive. Relaxed running, with just 1400rpm at 100kmh in ninth gear, delivers parsimony that’s easily undone by ascents, winding stretches or push-on play.

Going by how it looks, you might have trouble convincing Acadia is Holden’s most advanced vehicle yet. Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) with pedestrian and cyclist recognition is a fantastic provision and even though it annoys by flashing incessantly once you go 5kmh above any posted limit, Traffic Sign Recognition is also highly useful – it’ll even read temporary roadworks signs. Acadia also has Equinox’s initially weird, ultimately worthy haptic seat alerts, plus blind spot and rear cross traffic alert, lane keep assist and lateral impact avoidance.

At a time when some argue about the Holden nameplate’s ongoing currency, let’s hope a model name recalling a moment of history that didn’t go well (Acadia being France’s New World foothold subsumed, under protest, into America in the early 18th century) isn’t a portent. I’d hate to see Holden relegated to the past.