My youngest daughter Sarah (11) doesn't really remember her Nana and Poppa's cabin in Lake Arrowhead because it and 90% of the other vacation cottages and homes along Hook Creek burned in a huge conflagration that swept through in 2003.
Our 2010 GMC Terrain is parked where, previously, it would have been in danger of falling pine cones and sap from a 100-foot tall tree, the ruined trunk of which I'm standing on as I shoot this photo. Many others like it used to stand across the street and all around.
Some of the nearby trees survived, but they bear scars that tell the tale. These used to constantly drop pine needles onto the porch.
The cabin stood here, right alongside Hook Creek. Funny how lots always look tiny without a house standing on them. It'll probably stay this way. The burned-out and exposed terrain means that no one has much interest in rebuilding. Newer building codes now in effect mean there isn't enough room between the creek and the road to do much.
As for the 2010 GMC Terrain, the kids had a pleasant ride in the spacious backseat. But the hot weekend weather (90-100 F) did alert them to one serious shortcoming back there: no rear seat AC vents. My wife and I had to freeze ourselves to cool the kids down, so we didn't like it much, either.
In fact, Carl, my neighbor, recently bought a 2011 Kia Sorento because it has this very feature, even on the lowest trim grade. He cross-shopped it against the Equinox/Terrain, but his slighty-older kids noticed the difference. It was actually a deciding factor for them, possibly the deciding factor.
Dan Edmunds, Director of Vehicle Testing @ 13,803 miles
bankerdanny says:
08:27 AM, 09/ 8/10
No rear seat vents? That's an odd feature to leave out on a vehicle like this.
oachalon says:
09:39 AM, 09/ 8/10
I know gm sometimes run them under the floor under the driver and passenger seat. i wonder if the terrain has them there.
felonious says:
10:05 AM, 09/ 8/10
Rear seat vents were a big selling point for replacing my Audi wagon with the Flex.
feloniousmonk says:
10:21 AM, 09/ 8/10
How in the world did we ever make do in the old Country Squire/Vista Cruiser without rear seat vents!? Oh, that's right, we just rolled down a window.
For some reason I'm still amazed at how much we take for granted in modern cars. There was a time, not too long ago, when only the most luxurious of luxury cars had rear seat vents. Hell, I remember back when even AC was a luxury and not a given.
1487 says:
10:47 AM, 09/ 8/10
what he means is it doesnt have louvers at the rear of the center console where Ac airflor can be controlled. All vehicle (as far as I know) have rear seat ducts under the front seats. The Sorento may have them but its not common for vehicles in the under $30k category. I don't believe the top selling crossovers in the segment have them.
actualsize says:
10:50 AM, 09/ 8/10
@oachalon: underseat vents, where they exist, are almost always a heat-only proposition. AC needs to blow on one's chest, face and hands. It needs to cool the upper cabin, where the sun-load from all that glass is highest.
cello_one says:
10:54 AM, 09/ 8/10
+1 felonious - how do we explain to our kids about driving across Nebraska in the back of a Ford Fairmont, single carb straight 6, manual w/ no AC let alone rear climate control, no entertainment units, no rear windows that went all the way down, no refrigerators, no multiple power outlets, NOTHING TO PLUG INTO THE POWER OUTLETS, no storage places except the floor...
1487 says:
11:14 AM, 09/ 8/10
GM (and American in general) AC is pretty powerful so I can't see how rear passengers wouldnt get cool. Direct the air from the center vents straight back and crank up the AC.
dougnash2009 says:
11:43 AM, 09/ 8/10
My Uncle just shelled out almost $90K on the Mercedes GL. Guess what that money DOESN'T buy you? Correct, third-row air vents. What's even more insulting, is that there are vents back there, but ONLY for the window-oriented defroster slats. Lame, to the highest order.
zeniff says:
01:54 PM, 09/ 8/10
I kind of have to agree with these folks who jest about how 'back in the day' we got by with so much less. It's a whole different issue, but possibly one reason why our cake is being eaten by other countries -- we've just become too damn stupid in the US to appreciate the value in hard work and making sacrifices.
tmathes says:
01:58 PM, 09/ 8/10
@1487
I can verify our Equinox has the traditional "freeze your butt off" AC in it. Our kids usually beg for us to turn down the air after about 3-5 min. since they're too cold, and that's with the vehicle having baked in the 95-100F temps. The back seat seem to cool off faster than the fronts do in this vehicle (and in just about any vehicle I've owned). There are under-seat vents but they're only when using the floor register settings.
I don't see a need for rear seat vents in this vehicle. My picky 10 year old never said it is ever hot in the back seat, unlike my Mazda3 (the Mazda3 must have the world's most pathetic excuse for an AC). Maybe some vehicles need them since they're AC systems are pitiful to begin with, something NOT an issue with the Terrain/Equinox.
actualsize says:
02:21 PM, 09/ 8/10
@tmathes: That was not our experience. The front air outlet temperature is indeed cold, but there was insufficient circulation to the rear seat. Using "foot mode" isn't an efficient substitute to cool-off the cabin and rear occupants, because then you have no air circulation up high, where you need it to combat the sun load.
misterfusion says:
04:13 PM, 09/ 8/10
Interesting post. The Sorento's unrefined ride was THE deciding factor in me choosing another vehicle -- one that (like every other vehicle I've ever owned) does not have rear vents. So far, there have not been any complaints from rear passengers about the efficacy of the climate control.
diggertsi says:
07:11 PM, 09/ 8/10
Thanks to my 1994 Eagle Vision (which I sold in 2006 and is still going, with over 250,000 miles on it), my sons thought all cars had air vents through the console to the back seats. Mind you, now they battle over who gets to sit in the front seat, they don't care as much about back seat vents. I have to admit that I do appreciate an A/C system that can freeze meat on a hot, sunny summer day. I used the Vision to demonstrate to the local Ford dealer who was looking at (several times) the A/C on my (now former) wife's Taurus what an effective system functioned like.
actualsize says:
07:37 AM, 09/ 9/10
@misterfusion: Interesting point about the Sorento's ride, though I might say "intentionally firm" rather than unrefined - that's the one aspect of his new purchase he's still getting used to.