2018 Holden Acadia v Kia Sorento v Mazda CX-9 v Toyota Kluger – Seven-seat SUV comparison review
Long gone are the days of children roaming free on bench seats and in the boots of Aussie-built station wagons, with not a seatbelt between them to constrain their freedom.
In less safety-conscious days, if the entire street needed a lift to the beach you simply shoved them in.
We’ve also fallen out of love with people movers as modern families chase an active lifestyle not supported by the dagginess of an MPV. Instead, we have the seven-seat SUV assuming the conflicting roles of chief carry-all, traffic-light contender and stylish status symbol. Unlike the wheezing wagons and underpowered vans that once littered our roadways, modern seven-seat SUVs have the grunt and the glamour to actually be aspirational.
Australia’s favourite among car-like seven-seaters (as opposed to more serious body-on-frame 4WDs like Toyota Prado and LandCruiser) is yet another Toyota, the evergreen Kluger. On sale in its current form since 2014 but updated last year, its petrol-only configuration and US-built origins set the blueprint for this test. The Americans love a ‘crossover’ seven-seater with a muscular V6 and it seems Australians do too.
Joining the Kluger from the land of the free is Holden’s Tennessee-built Acadia. Belatedly replacing the arthritic Captiva in The General’s line-up, the Acadia is another petrol-only proposition with either front- or all-wheel drive. And it’s the same situation with Mazda’s US-sized (but Japanese-built) CX-9 – petrol-only power (via a turbocharged four-cylinder, not a V6) and front- or all-wheel drive.
Finally, there’s Kia’s impressive Sorento. Another ‘Class of 2014’ debutant, it’s currently the sole range-topping V6 petrol offering from Korea, seeing the new-gen Hyundai Santa Fe is diesel-only beyond the anaemic four-cylinder base model.
So which American-sized SUV best suits growing Aussie families?
WHAT DO YOU GET?
Our four seven-seaters are as good as it gets in (relatively affordable) equipment land, leaving almost no stone unturned in the quest for pampering occupants.
Despite being the only SUV here with a sticker price beginning with a ‘five’, the Kia Sorento GT-Line is lavishly equipped. Keyless entry and start, adaptive cruise control, a 360-degree parking camera, eight-way heated and fan-cooled electric front seats (with an electric under-thigh extender, electric lumbar adjustment and two-setting memory for the driver), a heated steering wheel, heated outer-position second-row seats, dual-zone climate control with second-row air vents and fan-speed-adjustable third-row vents, rear door sunshades, a hands-free electric tailgate, a panoramic sunroof, and a 10-speaker Harman/Kardon sound system with 8.0-inch touchscreen, embedded sat-nav, digital radio and Apple CarPlay/Android Auto headline its in-cabin show-reel.
Outside, 19-inch alloy wheels (plus a full-size alloy spare), LED headlights with a dynamic cornering function, LED fog lights and standard side steps complete the Kia’s tempting menu.
Above and beyond those attractions, the Holden Acadia LTZ-V features an 8.0-inch configurable driver information screen with traffic-sign recognition, wireless phone charging, five 2.1-amp ‘fast-charge’ USB ports (two front, two middle, one rear), second-row digital climate control and 20-inch alloys, though it misses out on LED headlights, a heated steering wheel, rear sunshades and a full-length sunroof (it gets two separated panes). And only the driver’s window gets auto up-down movement, whereas its rivals have that labour-saving luxury on all doors.
Mechanically, the Acadia boasts a nine-speed automatic transmission (versus eight for the Kia and Toyota, and six for the Mazda), an excellent idle-stop system (just like the Mazda), and is the exclusive purveyor of adaptive suspension dampers, trailer-sway control, a tow setting in its selectable drive modes, and cylinder deactivation for its 3.6-litre V6 engine.
Mazda’s flagship CX-9 Azami mirrors much of what its rivals offer – including 20-inch alloy wheels, a full suite of active-safety electronics (as well as a unique rear auto-brake function), and a 12-speaker 294-watt Bose stereo – though its six-way front passenger seat lacks cushion tilt, its sunroof is a small one above only the front occupants, and it doesn’t get third-row air vents.
The new CX-9 Azami LE version tested also scores premium Chroma Brown leather trim (including a section on the dash), real wood inlays, LED ambient lighting and standard all-wheel drive, though it’s otherwise identical to the cheaper Azami.
The Toyota Kluger Grande shows its age with its lack of USB ports (just one in the dash) and offers no rear seat heating, a simple four-way front passenger seat without height or tilt adjustment, low-tech halogen headlights, a single-pane sunroof and smaller 19-inch alloy wheels. It does include a (bulky) flip-down BluRay player mounted in the ceiling above the rear seat, though its main multimedia system – a dated 8.0-inch touchscreen without smartphone mirroring, playing through just six speakers – is a bit rude in 2018.
In terms of warranty, Holden and Mazda now offer unlimited-kilometre coverage for five years – two years shy of Kia’s industry-leading seven-year term – whereas Toyota is sticking to the traditional three years/100,000km.
WHAT DOES IT COST?
There’s an element of truth in that you have to pay for what you get because the smallest SUV here – the 4800mm-long Sorento GT-Line – is also the cheapest. At $56,085 including premium paint, that’s where it begins and ends for the big-hearted Kia because there’s nothing else left to add (besides dealer-fit tat and floor mats).
The Acadia LTZ-V is next at $63,490 for the front-drive model, though unlike the Kia, there’s a sophisticated all-wheel-drive alternative for another $4000 more. The Kluger Grande front-driver starts at $65,646, though we tested an AWD version – the only one available – asking $69,796 when wearing $550 worth of premium paint.
The Mazda, too, wasn’t the model we asked for seeing the flagship $66,857 CX-9 Azami LE (with $367 worth of floor mats) is only available with all-wheel drive. But if you ignore the reddy-brown leather, the wood inserts, the ritzy cabin lighting and the rear driveshafts, you’re looking at a $60,990 Azami front-driver.
Kia recommends servicing every 12 months or 15,000km for the Sorento – a longer distance interval than its rivals – though its overall fixed-price servicing cost is the most expensive here at both the three-year ($1082) and five-year ($1994) marks.
Holden’s Acadia needs a workshop visit every 12 months or 12,000km, and its servicing cost is the most affordable of this bunch – $817 in total for the first three years, or $1535 if you stretch the comparison to five years.
The CX-9 needs a service every 12 months or 10,000km, costing $1041 up to three years and $1749 to five, whereas Kluger’s servicing is something of a double-edged sword. Its individual service price is easily the cheapest here at $180 a visit for the first three years (totalling $1080), but it needs fluids every six months or 10,000km. You’ll have the hassle of getting it there twice as often, though if you’re punching out 20,000km per year, that inconvenience will be reduced.
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Finally, resale. According to The Red Book, the Sorento GT-Line will retain 62 per cent of its value after three years, just ahead of the Kluger Grande on 61. The CX-9 Azami LE is expected to keep 57.5 per cent of its original value, whereas the just-launched Acadia LTZ-V’s projected value is just 51.5 per cent, based on Holden’s current poor showing in that department. If Acadia is a success, however, that figure may well improve.
WHAT’S IT LIKE INSIDE?
Given it has clearly the most presence on the outside – courtesy of 5075mm in body length, easily the most width (1969mm), and the longest wheelbase in its class (2930mm) – it should be no surprise that the CX-9 can hold its head high for cabin space. But it’s the Azami LE’s interior finish and detailing the really elevate it in this company.
Tactile, beautifully stitched materials, a dashboard layout worthy of a Mercedes-Benz, and an overwhelming feeling that you’re in a premium SUV is stuff that never leaves you. More so than the others, it makes you feel special.
Its additional size means the third row is actually comfortable (despite a lack of air vents back there – Mazda claims the dashboard pair have sufficient flow to reach rear occupants), and you gain access via an excellent seat-flip mechanism set up to open kerbside in Australia. We love the neat little touches like double map pockets on the backs of the front seats, or the two USB slots stashed in a carpeted tray under the centre-middle armrest, but an SUV this luxurious deserves more under-thigh support up front. The driver’s cushion is a bit too short and can’t be angled high enough.
The Acadia does a cracking job of housing seven in its broad, airy interior, though if you compare it to the CX-9 for finish, it feels like a commercial vehicle – favouring a robust look over a plush one. That said, some people will prefer the Tonka-tough, Hummer-style lack of pretension in the Acadia’s knockabout cabin – along with the hip-hop-friendly bass from its thumping Bose stereo – and it certainly knows how to accommodate big-boned families. It has the best middle-row comfort and vision here, individual rear climate control with roof-mounted vents, and its rear door trims will take up to three sugary drinks each!
In fact, vision and utility is a bit of an Acadia forte, with tiered seating so all rows have an expansive view forward, and by far the best side vision from the back section (though the least footroom due to intrusive middle seat mounts). And for all their firmness, the Acadia’s 10-way electric front seats have plenty of adjustment and sit well over longer distances. But there’s also a surprising lack of polish in several areas.
Acadia’s flimsy front doors barely fit one-litre bottles, the second-row roof handles are set so far forward they’re almost useless, and the headlining near the top of the windscreen on our test car was wonky and looked like it was starting to peel away. Lumpy boot carpet as well, and way too many gaps around the rear seats when they’re folded to lose odds and ends (though the optional wet/dry two-sided floor mat mostly fixes that).
For all its underwhelming blockiness and oversized controls, the Kluger’s interior feels bombproof. There’s a reassuring confidence sitting in its lounge-like driver’s seat with such a broad dashboard laid out in front, though things get worse as you move around the cabin. The front passenger’s seat doesn’t get height adjustment, leaving the headrest smack-bang in the eyeline of anyone sitting behind (just like C-HR and Corolla!). And the third-row seats feel like upholstered planks compared to the plush pair in the CX-9.
Yet its huge central bin up front could easily hide a handbag, the shelf below the ugly stereo is incredibly useful for stashing stuff (with thread-through access to the Kluger’s sole USB port) and the third row gets four cupholders. Forget the ambience, this thing is super-sized!
The Sorento is a bit of a quiet achiever inside. Neatly sized, nicely styled and generously equipped, you’d never know this design was over four years old as it argues a consistently strong case for itself. It’s certainly stood the test of time better than the Kluger.
The front buckets are well-bolstered, if cheezily trimmed in white piping and embroidery in the GT-Line, and the middle row offers both comfort (in the outer positions) and good vision, with an 11-position backrest that allows passengers to recline in premium-economy opulence.
There’s a fine view from the front section too, making the Sorento shrink around its driver, though the only access to the rear row is via the single left-middle seat. The other side needs to be manually, and clumsily, shifted out of the way to squeeze in a child back there.
WHAT’S UNDER THE BONNET?
With three naturally aspirated V6s and a lone turbo four-cylinder, there’s no longer a default ‘situation-normal’ drivetrain position in seven-seat SUV land.
All four possess plenty of punch, but it’s the Holden that delivers the most urgent performance when you ask for it. The Acadia’s strong, if thrashy-sounding 3.6-litre V6 loves to rev, and thanks to its surfeit of gears – all nine of them – it packs an eye-widening level of performance for a 1938kg SUV. That’s what 231kW and 367Nm can do for you.
The CX-9’s 170kW turbo four goes about its business very differently to achieve a similar level of performance. Using only six gears, it upshifts 1000-1500rpm earlier than the Acadia, which makes it sound lazy, yet there’s such a massive chunk of torque (420Nm at 2000rpm) underpinning the Mazda’s relative lack of capacity that it feels effortless. There’s a lovely, wafty nature to its driving flavour, yet when you activate the (awkward) Sport mode toggle near the gear lever, the CX-9 is also the best at holding gears on twisty roads and pre-empting the driver’s next move (with the Acadia second in that respect and the other two way behind).
The Kluger’s 3.5-litre V6 should be abundantly familiar to anyone with prior Camry or Aurion experience, yet its ubiquity shouldn’t be seen as a negative. Now fed by direct fuel injection (for a solid 218kW/350Nm), it’s the best of the V6s in finding the right gear ratio to channel its mid-range muscle, and it’s as quick as the CX-9 when you need to get to that soccer game pronto.
Neat gear shifter in the Kluger too – the stubby lever sitting right next to the driver’s left leg for easy access to both Sport mode and the +/- tip-shift gate for manually selecting gears. Same goes for the arrangement in the CX-9 and Sorento (which also gets steering-wheel shift paddles) whereas the Acadia inherits the hideous set-up of the equally flawed Equinox. You need to slot the lever down to ‘L’ to have access to the almost impossible-to-use shift toggle on top of the gear lever. Lucky its drivetrain calibration is so good you don’t really need to use it. Otherwise you’d rip it out, pour petrol on it and strike a match.
The Sorento’s 3.5-litre V6 belongs to Hyundai-Kia’s proven ‘Lambda’ engine family and performs smooth, if unspectacular service. Producing 206kW/336Nm, there’s a pleasant silkiness to its overall refinement, though even with eight gear ratios, it doesn’t quite have the same punch as its rivals. A short first gear gives the Sorento a boost from a standing start, but the rest of its ratio set feels too tall for the engine’s modest outputs, compounded by a ditzy transmission calibration.
Regardless of which drive mode you’re in – Eco, Comfort, Sport or Smart – the Sorento’s eight-speed auto is desperate to grab the highest gear possible, only to discover is doesn’t have the grunt to pull it and then jumping down three or four ratios. Even when you use the wheel paddles, the Kia will only hold a selected gear for a few seconds before automatically regaining Drive, then upshifting again. The Sorento V6 deserves better than this.
At least it somehow manages to not drink excessive amounts of fuel in the process. The Sorento averaged 11.0L/100km on test – some distance behind the excellent CX-9 on 10.2L/100km but also some distance ahead of its V6 rivals.
The Kluger managed a mediocre 12.1L/100km whereas the Acadia drank a surprising 13.4L/100km. Given its newness on the market, we spent more time pushing the Acadia than the other three, which would explain some of its thirst. But the gap between the CX-9 and Acadia would remain, regardless of how it was driven. Mazda claims the CX-9 uses around 20 per cent less fuel than its V6 rivals, and so it proved here.
HOW DO THEY DRIVE?
It’s surprising just how much fun you can have in a seven-seat SUV. Long gone are the days of lumbering separate-chassis 4WDs in this category, replaced by relatively lithe and limber wagons that mostly perform beyond expectation. Mostly.
If it’s pure handling you’re chasing, the Acadia is the one most likely to put a smile on your face. Fast-geared, reactive steering, a really precise chassis and excellent handling balance make this Yank Tank surprisingly capable on twisty roads. And that’s with the adaptive suspension dampers set to Normal. Flick the slow-to-respond drive-mode dial to Sport mode and there’s a definite firming up of proceedings, as well as superior steering weighting (it’s far too light otherwise), ably assisted by premium 235/55R20 Continental Cross Contact tyres. Yet even with all that pricey rubber, the front-drive Acadia still scrabbles for grip in its first two gears, and that’s in the dry. If it were us, we’d always pay a premium for the AWD version.
The Sorento, too, enjoys a curvy road and manages to blend the keenness of its steering response with greater suppleness in its suspension. It isn’t as well tied-down as the Acadia and doesn’t have its body control, but then the Kia is also more comfortable more of the time, without the Holden’s propensity to jar over sharp bumps. That said, when the going gets really tough, the Sorento will bottom out over potholes that fail to hit home in the Acadia. It also frequently struggles to find front-end grip, though its 235/55R19 Kumho Crugen tyres are an improvement over the grip-shy rubber on the base Sorento Si V6.
The CX-9 doesn’t like intrusive bumps much either, owing to the heavy-footed clumpiness of its 20-inch wheels. There’s a distinct reduction in the CX-9’s suppleness when it’s wearing the range-topping alloys with huge 255/50R20 tyres because the lower-spec models on 18-inch wheels don’t suffer the irritability and mid-corner steering kickback that blights the GT and Azami variants. We are talking ride-quality behaviour on third-rate country roads, but then this is Australia!
Otherwise, the CX-9 is very pleasant to drive. There’s some body roll in corners, but the handling poise is there and a fluidity of movement that perfectly suits its drivetrain behaviour. Deep down, the CX-9 has terrific suspension suppleness and control, but it’s never going to be everything it could be on heavy 20-inch wheels. Or as a front-driver, as it turns out. A brief stint in a Touring FWD proved the effectiveness of the Azami LE’s AWD set-up in reducing torque steer from the front wheels, albeit not eliminating it completely.
The Kluger is also quite capable when faced with a mountain pass, using its engine torque and gearing sense to good effect, but it feels heavier than its rivals. An Australian suspension tune helps the Kluger handle surprisingly well – not to mention the all-wheel drive underpinning our test car – and feel really planted on the road, though the Grande’s T-rated 245/55R19 Toyo A20 Open Country tyres aren’t up to the task, protesting at even moderate speeds on roundabouts. And that’s the AWD version. In front-drive guise, the Kluger can be quite a handful at times.
Unfortunately, the suspension firmness required to make the Kluger’s solid handling a reality undermines its ride. The tougher the surface, the more brittle the Toyota feels.
WHICH ONE IS THE BEST?
To become the finest jack-of-all-trades knockabout, one needs to achieve the finest blend of strength, smoothness, sweetness and subtlety, not to mention value and efficiency. And of our four seven-seaters, it’s the CX-9 Azami LE that continues to show how it’s done.
The best build quality and interior finish, complemented by the most persuasive seating configuration and comfort, effortless driveability and by far the best fuel efficiency. It’s also an incredibly attractive beast, appearing both pretty and handsome at the same time, which is an achievement in itself.
The Sorento GT-Line finishes second because it’s such a solid all-rounder. Fun to drive, nice to sit in, generously equipped and pleasantly smooth, it packs plenty of space inside its quite compact form and is a great-value buy. However, the petrol V6 deserves to be harnessed by all-wheel drive and desperately needs a fresh transmission calibration.
The Acadia LTZ-V’s excellence is less clear cut. It hits greater highs than the Sorento – performance, handling, second-row space, vision, seating flexibility, as well as its distinctive appearance – yet it also has a number of flaws relating to the expectations of its country of origin, and it can be thirsty if you use its performance. We’d also pay a $4K premium for the superior all-wheel-drive version with its more sophisticated road manners.
Finally, the ever-popular Kluger Grande. It’s a chunkily attractive, solid-feeling SUV that doesn’t really do much wrong. But in 2018, its lack of contemporary equipment sizzle, interior sparkle and overall seating comfort means a new-generation model with the flair and finesse of the new Camry and Corolla can’t come soon enough.
2018 Holden Acadia LTZ-V price and specifications
Price: From $63,490 plus on-road costs
Engine: 3.6-litre petrol V6
Power: 231kW at 6600rpm
Torque: 367Nm at 5000rpm
Transmission: 9-speed automatic, FWD
Fuel use: 13.4L/100km (test average)
2018 Mazda CX-9 Azami LE price and specifications
Price: From $66,490 plus on-road costs
Engine: 2.5-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder
Power: 170kW at 5000rpm
Torque: 420Nm at 2000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic, AWD
Fuel use: 10.2L/100km (test average)
2018 Kia Sorento GT-Line price and specifications
Price: From $55,490 plus on-road costs
Engine: 3.5-litre petrol V6
Power: 206kW at 6300rpm
Torque: 336Nm at 5000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic, FWD
Fuel use: 11.0L/100km (test average)
2018 Toyota Kluger Grande price and specifications
Price: From $69,246 plus on-road costs
Engine: 3.5-litre petrol V6
Power: 218kW at 6600rpm
Torque: 350Nm at 4700rpm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic, AWD
Fuel use: 12.1L/100km (test average)