GMC Terrain: No bark, no bite, but plenty of fleas

[regfootball]

Believe it or not, mud washes off both the inside and the outside. We took the Jetta that fateful day when I biked off a cliff, and the car ended up covered in blood and dirt, inside and out. And now it isn't. Also, the bulk of SUV sales are to people who aren't going to get dirty at all.

you biked off a cliff?...

and....

you're back?

[ocnblu]

great segway into what i looked at this afternoon on a lot cruise.

a brand new Kia Sorento. the previous Sorento was true frame SUV. the new one is a crossover. thing is, the sales are all going to the unibody crossover rigs, better road manners and better interior space. People want a tall wagon with cargo and people room and they want it to drive close to a car. Nobody goes off road, they just want to look it. Just like all the dorks who buy the North Face clothing.

By the way, MAJORLY impressed by the Sorento. for 22 and change for the fwd 4 popper / 6 speed......i'd likely get it over the equinox due to the interior and cargo space. Even if it is a Kia. I still like the Equinox and Terrain and especially their center stacks (huge misaligned panels and all). I was shocked how semi decent it looked inside and out without getting into it.

Hope it doesn't have rust on it in a few months like some poster on Edmunds.com posted about his new Kia Forte.

To digress, but the Sorento if its playing in the same price class as the Equinox, has what looks like a lot more room and available third row and what looks to be a really decent interior.

I was in a CX7 yesterday, they really spruced that one up too.

Why do people drop huge bucks on the CRV and RAV when there are SO MANY BETTER CHOICES!?!?!?!

Local dealer has a Sorento (sp?). I think it looks awkward, didn't hop out in the cold to check the interior, but I think the front end looks Korean weird and the rear end looks non-descript... sort of like their BOF DOA Borrego looks like a generic SUV.

[balthazar]

>>"all you folks who think you hate the looks of the terrain, have you actually seen one in the real world, two, have you even seen an equinox? The terrain looks very upscale in comparison to the equinox."<<

I have, and agree.

>>"...its more different than the edge is to the MKx or Escape to the Mariner."<<

Agreed again, and by far. Same with the Acadia & Traverse.

But while I agree the Terrain looks more expensive/ upscale than the EQ, I see them as just different vehicles period. The EQ is a nice, trim lil CUV, and I favor it's styling greatly over the (still more expensive looking) Terrain.

[Satty]

you biked off a cliff?...

and....

you're back?

It wasn't a very big cliff, but it did hurt like hell.

As far as the Terrain goes, I like it in pictures, I didn't like the Equinox in person. I think that is what GM was going for, as someone mentioned, they're not carbon copies, so they'll appeal to different buyers. Do you really think many people who bought the last-gen Equinox wouldn't have bought a Torrent? Or Torrent buyers wouldn't have bought an Equinox? They really only existed so customers could pit dealers against one another and get a better price. Now they're at least different vehicles.

[daves87rs]

AUDIs most certainly have more options available and nicer interiors/materials compared to their VW cousin. To claim otherwise is to be completely unfamiliar with the products over the past 2 decades.

No one said "terrible" quality. What has been said, both by Dan Neil and our own site administrator, is that the assembly quality of the Terrain does not meet the same high bar set by the Equinox. The plant has little to do with it; Olds said the issues primarily occurred where the parts differed from that of the Equinox.

The point, yet again, is that for what is positioned and marketed as a premium vehicle over a Chevrolet, it fails to meet the hype in easily-demonstrable, quantifiable ways.

---

I must say I'm surprised at all the fanboy reactions in this thread. The members of this site should be better than this. Remember: this is one easily-remedied hiccup at launch after 5+ uber-successful, consecutive launches.

I see where you're coming from.

And on that point, I'd agree.

It's gotta be done right, not half assed.

Edited January 11, 2010 by daves87rs

[daves87rs]

Something dawned on me, a criticism of the Equinox and Terrain. They are "city cars" (hence my thread in The Lounge). In this class, for example, a Jeep Patriot or a Ford Escape I'd not be afraid to get dirty. Both have solid, plain interiors and utilitarian looks, where the GM entries have delicately fancy interiors and "urban" exteriors. When I think of their ancestors S-10 Blazer and S-15 Jimmy, whatever shortcomings they may have had, they were both suitable for city OR country use.

It's the death of the SUV. Where is the rugged, compact SUV these days? Jeep Liberty and Wrangler are the only "real" affordable compact SUVs left on the market.

Where I live, outside of the city there is a lot of farm land, and country geography, hills, creeks with roads that wind along their banks and sometimes get flooded, washed over with mud. Horse manure on the roads from Amish, dirt and gravel driveways, snow in winter, people who garden and farm, raise animals... where is their compact SUV these days?

Over the last few years, I've seen a few first-gen CR-Vs come in for repair, splattered with mud, interiors well-used and grimy... I just cannot see a current-gen CR-V used like that, as it's been "citified".

It's not just GM, it's just about everyone abandoning the genuine SUV market for something else. Some of us miss the old school.

That is certainly NOT to say that Equinox and Terrain are not fine compact crossovers.

Eh, I guess one could buy a base model and "mod" it up a bit.

I just saw a pretty cooling looking Nox' all decked out a few weeks ago.