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We sold it to CarMax for $25,000. Now they are selling the 2010 GMC Terrain we tested for $27,998, almost $3,000 more than they gave us. This ad was spotted by Sodaguy, a reader of the Long Term Blog and, sure enough, the VINs matched. I'm just wondering if the new buyer will read our blog entries. For some reason, they don't promote the Inside Line connection in their ad.
Thanks to hugene for this week's favorite caption.
Here are the others that made us laugh.
Vehicle Testing Director Dan Edmunds sent me this photo of our GMC Terrain near a trash heap. He suggested Planes, Trains, and Terrians.
What is your caption?
We'll post our favorite this afternoon.
Donna DeRosa, Managing Editor
The used car super-store CarMax seems unpredictable in its pricing. Often, after an appraisal for one of our long term cars, we leave scratching our heads or muttering angrily. This time, we hit the CarMax jackpot. Maybe they were just in a good mood because they offered us $25,000 for the 2010 GMC Terrain. It was so good we just had to take it.
Here are a few numbers to put things into perspective. The MSRP for the Terrain was $32,140 when we bought it a little more than a year and 21,608 miles ago. We actually paid $31,133 for it since it was relatively new then and still commanding a high price. Turns out that the price we got from CarMax was almost the same as the clean TMV private party price: $25,408. So it dropped $5,725 or 18 percent over the first year of ownership.
"Riswick, don't do that to ours," I say. "Ohhh, you guys have a Raptor?" says the Ford guy at the booth. "For the purposes of this conversation, yes, absolutely."
Anyway, this week of course was the 2011 Detroit Auto Show (you've been following on Straightline, right? ) and in between press conferences and free espresso, I snagged shots of as many of our current Long Termers as I could find. (Note: Some substitutions)
Here ya go!
Noticed last night on my way home that the Terrain's right turn signal was out. When activated it exhibited the classic "fast blink" symptom I remember from my bulb-slaying high school ride. The video tells the story and reveals the culprit. Left turn signal shown first as standard.
The first time I saw tweeters mounted in a car's A pillars was at a "sound-off" competition back in the early '90s. As with auto racing, a lot of car audio innovations came out of the sound-off scene (tweeters mounted in the A pillars or "sail" panels of the doors, center-channel speakers, subwoofers in the front of the car) since competitors would try anything to give them an edge.
Over the years, automakers have adopted several applications that were first used in the aftermarket, and that can be directly traced to sound-off competitions. Our 2010 GMC Terrain has a tweeter in each A pillar, for example, as does our 2010 Chevrolet Traverse, although the system in the Terrain is from Pioneer and the one in the Traverse is from Bose.
Not that positioning the tweeters as far forward as possible does much to improve the Terrain system's sound quality or enhance imaging and staging, as evidence by an audio review of the system. But it's usually better than burying them in the doors.
Doug Newcomb, Senior Editor, Technology
The GMC Terrain may not blow you away with its abilities, but at the same time there's also little that offends. You might think the 2.4-liter four-cylinder wouldn't be up to the task of pulling 3,859 lb. worth of SUV, but if you're not afraid to rev it near 6,700 rpm (where it produces its peak of 182 hp), it provides more than enough snap for most situations. And it's still smooth at those elevated engine speeds, if on the noisy side.
Sunday was Christmas Tree Day at the Oldhams. And that's our just plucked 10-footer atop our long-term 2010 GMC Terrain.
Now I know what you're thinking: How could you be so cruel and put that big tree on the roof of the Terrain without a protective blanket or something? And you're right, normally I wouldn't have done such a stupid thing but the Z06 was already signed out for the weekend.
Jokes aside, the Terrain was perfect for this kind of task. And it performed other family duties perfectly all weekend, which is of course job one of a vehicle like this.
Scott Oldham, Editor in Chief
This weekend our long-term 2010 GMC Terrain blew through the 20,000 mile mark. That's 20,000 miles in less than 11 months, as we bought the crossover in late January.
Usually this is where I would sign off, but Donna DeRosa made me promise to make these Milestone posts more of an update on the Terrain's last 5,000 miles. So here goes.
And in the last 5,000 miles the Terrain has needed nothing but 87 octane. No repairs. No problems to report. The GMC continues to be good, solid, reliable transportation. Comfortable too.
Scott Oldham, Editor in Chief
I never used pay much attention to seat memory buttons. They seemed like an unnecessary gadget that automakers added so they could fatten up the features list. Now, however, I glad to see them.
Maybe I'm getting old, but it's nice to set your seating position once and then forget about it from then on. Someone borrows the car? No problem. Just get in and hit the button. I didn't really expect to find this feature in the Terrain. Glad it's there.
Ed Hellwig, Editor, Inside Line
See that little relief in the top of the center console? That's an easy detail to get right. It's there to allow the auxilliary or iPod cable to pass through without getting pinched. But I just spent a week in a $75,000 Cadillac which failed this test. And my aux cable is still upset.
Something weird after the jump...
Our Terrain has one of those rear view cameras with the guidance lines that bend in proportion to the amount the driver turns the steering wheel. I've always wondered if those line correspond to where the car actually goes so I did little non-scientific experimenting this morning.
Video after the jump.
Our GMC Terrain is not only nearing the end of its time in our fleet, but it's built up considerable mileage. At 19,678 miles, it's well past the point at which many vehicles begin to show wear on the interior bits a driver touches every day. Here, the driver's seat shows little wear. Yes, there's marginal stretching of the seat bottom material, but otherwise this seat is showing good wear life.
More everyday touchspots after the jump.
How do those lyrics go? "Blinded by the light. Revved up like a d***** another runner in the night." Wait, Mannfred Mann: What? (He actually said deuce.)
Anyway, when you unlock the doors on our long-term 2010 GMC, the reverse lights are activated. And they are very bright. I think the intention was to illuminate the rear area as you approach the vehicle, for both safety and convenience. But it's quite annoying as you get close to the rear tailgate to load your gear.
I wonder if the deuce who designed it actually evaluated it prior to production line-off.
Albert Austria, Senior VE Engineer @ 19,600 miles
The GMC Terrain has been selling well. November was its best sales month since its introduction in September 2009, rising 56 percent over the previous November. And the Terrain is sitting on dealer lots an average of 17 days. For comparison, GM says Terrain competitors are on lots around 31 days.
GM is getting more women into the GMC brand with the Terrain (duh) as 46% of its buyers are women. And GM claims that 54% of all Terrain buyers are trading in non-GM vehicles.
This all makes sense to me as I would recommend the Terrain to someone looking in its segment. But I won't send you to Penske Las Vegas for it, as the only new cars they sell are Ferraris and Maseratis.
Perhaps they have a Terrain that was traded in...
Albert Austria, Senior VE Engineer @ 19,500 miles
A couple nights ago the temperature dropped below freezing where I live (central California) and gave our long-term Terrain a covering of frost in the morning. Extreme weather it wasn't, but it still gave me a chance to test our our Terrain's remote engine start feature.
I wrote last week that I was looking forward to driving our 2010 GMC Terrain for a Thanksgiving road trip to my in-laws' house. For the most part, the Terrain met my expectations.
Our Terrain has four power ports: one for the center stack, one in the center console, one for the rear seating area and one for the cargo area. One can never have too many power ports, right? But having one for the rear seat is pretty rare. And I suppose it's actually fairly useful for families as it makes it a lot easier to power or charge electronics for kids seated in back. No rear air vents for the Terrain, though.
Brent Romans, Senior Automotive Editor
On Wednesday I'm packing up the family to visit the in-laws for Thanksgiving. It will likely be a pretty long trip as greater Los Angeles traffic the day before turkey day is always extra-terrible. But I'm finding myself fairly thankful that I'll be driving the GMC Terrain for the trip.
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