The New GMC Acadia's Most Useless Design Feature Is Actually My Favorite

I just drove the redesigned third-generation GMC Acadia. Overall, it’s a really solid three-row family crossover with a techy interior, a lot of space and a more aggressive look than its predecessor, especially in AT4 guise. This mid-level trim (starting at $51,395 including destination) gets you all sorts of off-road goodies on the outside and underneath that makes it a bit tougher when the road gets bumpy. Most of them are actually useful, like a skid plate and standard twin-clutch all-wheel drive. However, one feature certainly isn’t, and it just so happens to be my favorite thing on the whole car.

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If you’re not looking closely you may miss them, but I absolutely adore the little amber lights that are integrated in the plastic flares above the wheel arches at all four corners of the Acadia AT4. Nope, those aren’t reflectors — they’re honest-to-goodness lights that turn on when the headlights are on. Their purpose? To look cool.

Photo: Andy Kalmowitz / Jalopnik

That’s right folks, these lights serve no other purpose than to look neat, and they succeed in their efforts. There are no regulations that say they have to be there because the Acadia AT4 is a smidge under 80 inches wide (it’s 79.95 inches without mirrors, to be exact). They’re just marker lights that GMC decided to throw on because customers and designers said they looked cool, and I totally agree.

When the headlights aren’t on, those little amber lights turn a sort of gray color and almost completely disappear into the rest of the car’s bodywork. It’s a neat trick, for sure.

Photo: Andy Kalmowitz / Jalopnik

A designer at GMC told me they decided to add this element based on customer feedback. Basically, a lot of buyers felt that when they were off-roading their Acadia, they’d like to be a bit more visible, and that’s where the corner lights come in. I mean, they don’t really do a ton to make the truck more visible, but they look sick as hell, and that’s more than good enough for me.

Putting something that isn’t really necessary on a car just to make it look cooler is a really commendable thing, if you ask me, and who knows? Maybe they will come in handy for someone off-roading their massive three-row family crossover at some point. I mean, they probably won’t, but I can’t see the future.