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2020 GMC Acadia AT4 Review | A soft-roader in steel-toed boots

For carmakers today, the perfect lineup would be focused almost entirely on trucks and crossovers, favoring profitability at the expense of diversity. Just look at FCA’s Ram and Jeep showrooms. In the General Motors portfolio, that brand is GMC, with not a car to be found in its lineup and several body-on-frame offerings meant to take a serious beating. It should be a license to print money. But a lineup of trucks and SUVs isnÂ’t enough. Some folks want the rough-and-tumble edge of an off-road vehicle, albeit one that can still credibly serve duty in the school pickup line. Enter the AT4 trim level, an off-road package that spans the gap between the GMC's upscale professional image and the off-road oriented buyer. The 2020 GMC Acadia AT4 is the latest member of the family AT4 slots in between the mid-grade SLT and the range-topping Denali, but simply saying itÂ’s the second-most expensive Acadia variant isnÂ’t really doing it justice. If the SLT trim is understated, and the Denali trim opulent, the AT4 trim promises ruggedness and adventure – even if it canÂ’t deliver it.  The Acadia is definitely a soft-roader and AT4 doesnÂ’t do much to change that – itÂ’s effectively an appearance package. It adds a unique grille, 17-inch wheels and AT4 badges — all blacked out — plus a set of Continental TerrainContact A/T tires engineered to offer a comfortable ride while still enabling some off-pavement excursions. There are several unique interior treatments as well, including “AT4” embroidery on the seats, regardless of whether you go with the base upholstery or the upgraded perforated leather ($1,000) that was added to our test vehicle. Note that we didnÂ’t mention anything beyond the small wheels and meaty tires that would actually make the AT4 any better off pavement. ThereÂ’s no extra ground clearance (it remains a meager 7.2 inches), low range 4x4 system or suspension enhancement to be found here. This would be a departure from other GMC AT4 models, including the Sierra 1500 and upcoming 2021 Yukon, which get extra ground clearance, underbody protection and a rugged suspension, but it won't be an outlier. The similarly soft-roading Terrain AT4 has already been announced.  Yet, off-road models tend to get hammered with on-road handling and ride quality criticism and here's where the Acadia AT4 being more of an appearance package pays off.

Next-gen Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra may use carbon fiber

It's been generally accepted that the next generation of full-size GM trucks will use some sort of strong, lightweight material for the beds while retaining steel for the cab. While aluminum seems like the most obvious choice, according to Automotive News, the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra will incorporate both aluminum and carbon fiber in their beds. The publication cites sources from within GM, though it seems the introduction of this comparatively exotic material mix is still a few years off. While carbon fiber is both stronger and lighter than steel and aluminum, it takes significantly more time and money to produce, essentially relegating the material to small-volume cars. The main benefit for trucks is the resulting reduction in weight to improve fuel economy without sacrificing the tough, rugged capabilities truck buyers expect. The Ford F-150 made the switch to aluminum for the 2015 model year and it's proved highly successful. It seemed like it was only a matter of time before the competition followed suit. Automotive News says that the next-gen trucks will launch with aluminum beds and that it will take a couple of years before we'll see any carbon fiber incorporated into the design. Even then, only look for the composite material on higher-trim models, with a trickle down to lower-spec trucks possible further in the future. In 2011, GM announced it was working with Japan-based Teijin Limited on a carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic. There's a good chance that material's introduction will be on trucks. Related Video: News Source: Automotive News Plants/Manufacturing Rumormill Chevrolet GM GMC Truck

Poor headlights cause 40 cars to miss IIHS Top Safety Pick rating

Over the past few months, we've noticed a number of cars and SUVs that have come incredibly close to earning one of the IIHS's highest accolades, the Top Safety Pick rating. They have great crash test scores and solid automatic emergency braking and forward collision warning systems. What trips them up is headlights. That got us wondering, how many vehicles are there that are coming up short because they don't have headlights that meet the organization's criteria for an "Acceptable" or "Good" rating. This is a revision made after 2017, a year in which headlights weren't factored in for this specific award. This is also why why some vehicles, such as the Ford F-150, might have had the award last year, but have lost it for this year. We reached out to someone at IIHS to find out. He responded with the following car models. Depending on how you count, a whopping 40 models crash well enough to receive the rating, but don't get it because their headlights are either "Poor" or "Marginal." We say depending on how you count because the IIHS actual counts truck body styles differently, and the Infiniti Q70 is a special case. Apparently the version of the Q70 that has good headlights doesn't have adequate forward collision prevention technology. And the one that has good forward collision tech doesn't have good enough headlights. We've provided the entire list of vehicles below in alphabetical order. Interestingly, it seems the Volkswagen Group is having the most difficulty providing good headlights with its otherwise safe cars. It had the most models on the list at 9 split between Audi and Volkswagen. GM is next in line with 7 models. It is worth noting again that though these vehicles have subpar headlights and don't quite earn Top Safety Pick awards, that doesn't mean they're unsafe. They all score well enough in crash testing and forward collision prevention that they would get the coveted award if the lights were better.