Our Cars: GMC Terrain Denali – Week 1
It’s the Mighty Midget!
By Shahzad Sheikh
18-25th March 2013
I’ve dubbed this the Mighty Midget! Why? Isn’t it obvious? Viewed in isolation, this looks like a big, butch SUV with its tough and bluff front end, its squared off edges, and taught jaw line.
This thing looks like it would be used in a movie where the hero uses it to escape the baddies by driving through a neighbourhood – and I mean THROUGH a neighbourhood, as in cutting right through the centre of houses breaking down gates and walls, complete with faux comedy movements where our man manages to snatch a pizza off someone’s dining table and his sidekick buddy inevitably ends up somehow grapping with a washing line full of kinky women’s undergarments.
Cue hilarious one-liners, and whilst you’re wondering who actually got the better deal there, Terrain emerges sideways onto a main highway causing a tanker behind to jack-knife and roll onto the hapless pursuers.
As the Terrain speeds away from the stock Bruckheimer blast, is that a hint of a grin replacing the previous steely determination on the front of this car as it fills the iMax large?
Except that it isn’t, large, that is. It’s actually shorter and narrower than a Hyundai Santa Fe, weighs less too. And considering it’s got a pretty potent 3.6-litre V6 with 292bhp and 271lb ft of torque, giving it a 0-100kph time of just under 7 seconds, it probably could have outrun the bad men, although admittedly the houses would have had to be made of balsa wood for it to demolish them without coming to a crumpled halt.
So first impressions of looks are good. First impressions inside are pretty decent too. This is the top spec Denali, so it’s well kitted out and nicely appointed. Having said that, my first test for all modern cars is to see how quickly I can get my phone paired up with the Bluetooth.
Several exasperating attempts later, and even after a last-ditch desperate look at the owner’s manual, an email was fired off to the PR. Despite the fact that it has buttons on the steering wheel and centre console depicting a phone symbol, it turns out that this AED133,500 ($36,400) exec-spec Crossover, doesn’t have it as standard – although I’m reassured to learn that it will be on 2014 models. Fortunately you can connect up your iPhone cable to charge your phone and play your tunes.
Aside from the lack of Blue-teeth, it’s been all good so far. It’s had a reasonable hectic first week – covering 450km without needing a refuel – as we were in preparations for our massive Meet 13. The fuel economy is despite the pretty keen performance in this front-wheel drive SUV (AWD is available as an option) that displays torque steer and has a tendency to spin its front wheels like a good old-skool hot hatch.
It’s proved quite entertaining to hustle around, but it easily settles down into the role of a comfy slow cruiser too when the family’s in it or when you’re a bit fatigued. This became evident when towards the end of Meet 13 I resorted to driving around our vast venue slowly in this thing rather than walking – complete with a unique hood ornament, my son’s R/C Drift car!
Stay tuned to find out how we get on with this car over the coming weeks!
Let us know what you think of the Terrain below
Good god, did you get a dirty car to the meet? 😉
[Shahzad] LOL – it wasn’t exactly part of the Meet, I had left it in the organiser’s car park for most of the day. It was only when my legs couldn’t handle walking any more, and my daughter started feeling a bit cold that I fetched the Terrain and used it as a ‘Meet Patrol Vehicle’ – I like the sound of that 😉
I own a 2012 2.4L Terrian for Office use. Seems to have some kinda transmission problem. Hard shifts now and then in stop n go traffic. GMC has not been able to identify the issue as its difficult to replicate. My collegue has the same issue with his Terrian.
Hi Shahzad, great review but you’ve scared me a little with the whole blue tooth thing. we ordered a denali from SZR and was told that the the car had the latest entertainment system and could use this to make calls with a connected iphone. is this true and was he referring to the USB connection method or was he simply trying to make a sale?
[Shahzad] Honestly, you’d better go back and check explicitly to see if the model you’ve ordered is coming with Bluetooth connectivity. My understanding is that it was an option on 2013 models and will be standard on 2014 models. But do DOUBLE-CHECK. Otherwise enjoy the car, it’s a great little SUV!