2018 GM Terrain AWD SLT 2.0T – First Impressions

Gorehamj · October 26, 2017

John Goreham
Contributing Writer, GM-Trucks.com
10-26-2017

GM-Trucks.com was invited to a quick-drive event including the all-new GMC Terrain SLT this past week. The new Terrain and the Chevy version, the Equinox, are two of GM’s most important vehicles. There is no larger automotive segment in the U.S. market than compact crossovers. Yes, individual truck models (The F-150 and Silverado) outsell the top compact crossover, but more crossovers are sold each month.

GM was a little late to see the emerging formula, and the outgoing Equinox and Terrain grew long in the tooth. Nissan’s Rogue, Toyota’s RAV4, and Honda’s CR-V began to outsell the GM twins by huge margins. In response, GM has now closely adopted the size, and specifications of the top sellers. Sales are responding, and the Equinox was coming danger close to third place ahead of the CR-V – until the Equinox plant in Canada went on strike for a month.

Our short drive took us over all forms of roads including a short stretch of highway. The drive answered a lot of questions for us, but the Monroney (window sticker) raised new ones. Here’s our take.

2018 GM Terrain AWD SLT – The Drive

The new Terrain drives well. The new 2.0-liter turbocharged engine is responsive and plenty powerful to compete with the best engine in the class, Honda’s 1.5-liter turbo introduced 15 months ago. The 2.0-liter is one of two options GMC will sell alongside the volume engine the new 1.5-liter turbo. The other is the new 1.6-liter diesel engine. The optional 2.0-liter turbo adds $1,895 to the cost of the Terrain. In combination with the 9-speed auto, the Terrain felt good in all situations.

Handling was tight and steering sharp. The Terrain is also relatively comfortable over bumps.

2018 GM Terrain AWD SLT – Interior and Comfort

The interior quality is better than most of the Terrain’s competitors in our opinion. Materials and craftsmanship are above the mainstream class, and below the luxury class. The seat was high-up in the Terrain. By that we mean we felt it was higher up than other crossovers its type. This is a just a “seat of the pants” observation.

2018 GM Terrain AWD SLT – Pricing and Value

The hard part for us was the difference in price between the Terrain SLT with the options our tester had and the CR-V AWD Touring, the top-spec Honda. The CR-V is a $35K vehicle with everything. The SLT Terrain we drove was priced at $42,045. $7K is a big delta in this segment and a 20% gap is hard to justify. However, GMC does have other trims that will be priced lower and so too does Chevy.

The next item we noticed of concern was fuel costs. The Terrain AWD’s combined fuel economy is 23 MPG with the 2.0-liter engine, and 26 MPG with the 1.5-liter engine. Honda’s CR-V is 29 MPG. The Terrain we drove was rated with Premium, which we feel is crazy for any mainstream vehicle. We did a little more research and found that the diesel Terrain has the same annual fuel costs as the gasoline CR-V. We know from having asked GM that the deisel Terrain's 0-60 MPH time is about 10 seconds. Pretty slow for a modern compact crossover.

GMC may well have found a sweet spot just above the level of the mainstream sales leaders in the compact crossover segment. We hope that is the case.

2018 GM Terrain AWD SLT – Safety

Safety is a key consideration for compact crossover buyers. Our Terrain tester had added in $1,335 for active safety systems like forward collision prevention and lane keeping assist. The top sellers, RAV4 and Nissan Rogue, now include these systems on all trims at no added cost. Honda’s CR-V includes it on all trims but the base model. We suspect the new Terrain will score high on the IIHS testing.

2018 GM Terrain AWD SLT – Conclusions

Without a full week of testing, we can’t say whether the new GMC Terrain AWD SLT is now the best mainstream compact crossover. Based on our short time with the new Terrain, we can say for sure that the look of the Terrain SLT AWD 2.0T is attractive and the perceived quality is competitive with the best. The drive may well be better than the CR-V, due in part to the optional engine. We hope we have the opportunity to do a full test and review soon. The Terrain is an exciting new vehicle in the largest segment and deserves a close look.