While GMC's new-for-2010 Terrain crossover may be all but identical to Chevrolet's Equinox, one look at this bluff-faced polarizing design will tell you that badge-engineering wasn't part of the program at General Motors. Yes, both vehicles share the same platform, the same engine choices and even the same suspension calibrations, but the in-your-face look here is likely to inspire love-it-or-hate-it reactions. We'll let you decide on which side of the fence you sit, with one caveat: It is often the case that certain cars look better in the metal than on screen or in photographs. We were invited to GM's Design Dome for a media backgrounder, and after being in-and-around the vehicle, we profess that we can't make the same case.

Controversial aesthetics aside, the 2010 Terrain looks to have the goods, including a new 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine on the base model that delivers 182 horsepower and 174 pound-feet of torque. Like its Chevy stablemate, this model is tipped to deliver 30 miles-per-gallon on the highway. The four-banger features noise-canceling technology to mute undesirable sound characteristics and a driver-selectable Eco button that remaps the throttle responses, shift patterns, and torque converter lockup speed to improve fuel economy.

The more powerful engine choice is a 3.0-liter direct-injection V6 engine that develops a healthy 264 horsepower and 222 pound-feet of torque. GM says six-cylinder buyers can expect to achieve 17-mpg city and 24 on the highway. Interestingly, the noise-canceling circuitry is only included on the Terrains equipped with the 2.4-liter. Models are available in front- or all-wheel drive trim, and a six-speed automatic is the transmission no matter what engine (or how many driven wheels) you choose.

This model is effectively a Pontiac Torrent replacement (that model is going away as GM figures out what to do with its affordable performance brand), albeit one made for GMC's truck-oriented audience. As such, it has a much more masculine exterior, with its triple-element grille, U-pattern hood, massive squared-off fenders, and a markedly different greenhouse. To our eyes, the Terrain's front-end looks almost out-of-scale with its footprint, or perhaps rather like some of the fuel-cell or hybrid conversions we've seen, in part because the front is so bluff and the lower blacked-out air dam rides rather close to terra firma for aerodynamic reasons. The rear-end is decidedly less controversial and nearly minivan-like, with Toyota Sienna-like taillamp clusters and paint-by-numbers "ruggedizing" cues.

The interior is leaps and bounds ahead of the outgoing Equinox/Torrent pairing, with tons of available options including a dual-screen rear entertainment, Bluetooth, a rear-backup camera, and a power liftgate that adjusts for low garage clearances. In general, the dashboard is nicely laid out (though that center stack looks a bit button-happy) and we found plenty of room up front to get comfortable while still leaving enough space for kids and adults sitting behind us. One area of obvious cost-cutting on the model we were shown was that the nice contrasting red door panel stitching up front is not repeated for rear-seat passengers, although it is present on all seats.

GMC, as you will recall, only recently made its first foray into the crossover market with its Lambda-platform Acadia three-row CUV, and this new model figures to be the division's entry level model when it debuts in dealers in late Summer. GM has yet to announce pricing, but we expect it to be priced nominally higher than its Chevrolet counterpart.

Autoblog

Link to C&D Article

That 's a massive grill. It should be 1/3 smaller.

Wow GM, way to cheap out and give it almost the same interior as the Equinox.

It looks like it was designed by someone who only had a ruler.

I like the Equinox styling better. I find all of the exterior treatment odd...maybe it'll look better in person.

Wow, that 's a massive grill. It should be 1/3 smaller.

Wow GM, way to cheap out and give it almost the same interior as the Equinox.

Its not any worse than the grill on the previous body style Ram. You could turn the grill sideways on them and it would be as big as the one on my dads Kenworth! lol!

Edited April 5, 200916 yr by Dodgefan

Its not any worse than the grill on the previous body style Ram. You could turn the grill sideways on them and it would be as big as the one on my dads Kenworth! lol!

Uh no, it's much worse. the Rams' grill didn't cut nearly that far down into the bumper. It's also proportionate to the rest of the truck.

Wow GM, way to cheap out and give it almost the same interior as the Equinox.

Maybe you haven't heard, GM doesn't have any money, and what little money they do have belongs to the Taxpayers ...

I like the Equinox styling better. I find all of the exterior treatment odd...maybe it'll look better in person.

+++++1

Maybe you haven't heard, GM doesn't have any money, and what little money they do have belongs to the Taxpayers ...

So why waste the money and build it? Hmm? They've already got the volume Equinox.

Plus they spent enough money to make the exterior different, would it have cost trillions more to make the gauge cluster and center stack different?

So why waste the money and build it? Hmm? They've already got the volume Equinox.

What and hear all those BPG dealers whine, and of course they can't afford the cheese either ...

Well I guess you could cut the cheese in their general direction.

Well I guess you could cut the cheese in their general direction.

I have more than you will ever know ... :rotflmao:

This thing is definitely about the angles. From some angles, the rear looks like a Sienna, and the front looks bizarre. From others, there's an evolution to the Terra design vocabulary. This is definitely one to see in person.

As for the interior, I really hope it's the lighting, but it looks decidedly low-rent and plasticky in those pictures. I really hope it's the lighting, but if materials are of a lower standard than is found in the Acadia, I will write this thing off as a failure to capitalize. I'm not saying the Acadia has bad materials--just that I think that's the lowest baseline standard for a division that's supposed to be better than Chevrolet (marketing, at least). And compared to the new Malibu? I just have to see this in person before I can condemn or praise it.

Oh SWEET JEEZUS. It looked better with Camo. IMO this thing is hideous, and I mean "hide the children" bad. At least we know exterior badge engineering is dead at GM because the Equinox is a BEAUTIFUL vehicle.

Croc, the Sienna, that's what it looks like out back! I was wondering why it looked so familiar.

I understand building a Chevrolet model for the general public.

I understand building a Cadillac model for the luxury crowd.

I don't understand what the GMC model brings to the table.

Once again GM takes cover behind a badge job.

Open question to GM:

General Motors, What is "professional grade" about a Chevrolet Equinox with a fugly grille?

It looks... futuristic... in an Isuzu Axiom sort of way.

But with the Mercedes GLK hardly being any better... at least GMC isn't alone.

Ew. That's not attractive.

This is the automotive equivalent of a solar eclipse in that you should not look directly at it. EEEK!

there's a little jeep compass side profile creepiness going on here. mostly in the wheel arches.

i'm fine with this, aside from the way too big grille and the lack of uniqueness on the instrument panel.

But if this keeps someone away from a RAV4, CRV, or Forester, then woo hoo. Seriously, how can you bitch about the Terrain when there is crap like the Forester and RAV4 on the market?

Caveat, the GMC should have gotten the 3.6.

I know the perfect word to describe this thing: ugly

my eyes! my eyes!

the equinox is definitely sexier. i also think gmc should be ditched over saturn.

WICKED. I applaud GM for spending the money to truly differentiate this exterior from the Equinox. Yes, I was shocked on first viewing, but when I blew up the photos and looked again, I can see this is the production version of all those recent GMC Concept vehicles so many of our members wanted to see. Silver, once again, to show maximum contrast so we can see all the body lines, but in real life, in a different color (white, brown, green for example), this thing will look good. I think I'm gonna like this.

Dodgefan: your bias is showing. Yes, the Terrain is squarecut, but have you seen the current Grand Cherokee? The Patriot? Both of those designs are just as linear. And the '10 Ram HD? That truck's grille is ridiculous.

Edited April 5, 200916 yr by ocnblu

I like the exterior, it looks better in the colors that aren't silver. The interior isn't the greatest, or most original.

It looks so bulky in the front...

I like it - actually better than the Equinox, which I've always felt looked too generic Japanese/Korean for my tastes. The grille is huge, but no worse than a Pilot, CRV, MDX, or any Ford truck these days.

Behold, the Aztek of GMC ...

Much less bizarre than that weird-ass X6.

Much less bizarre than that weird-ass X6.

Clearly since you just turned 50, your eyesight needs to be examined. That GMC = Epic Fail.

Much less bizarre than that weird-ass X6.

whoops, I guess repeating myself is also a sign of turning 50.

Much less bizarre than that weird-ass X6.

whoops, I guess repeating myself is also a sign of turning 50.

I wouldn't know ...

Really don't like it. Biggest obvious styling failure out of GM in a few years IMO.

the front reminds me of how big the grill looked on the G6 GXP, and then adding some headlights from the sierra(edit : actually they look closer to Pilot's), and the lower (fog)lights look styled from a saturn...

it will be a love/hate design.

Edited April 5, 200916 yr by loki

Behold, the Aztek of GMC ...

I thought the same thing. This monstrosity is proof that GM wasn't smart enough to fire the designer(s) of the eternal poster child for automotive deformity, the Pontiac Aztek.

If this is an example of future GMC CUV styling, then I think GM should reduce GMC back down to just SUVs and trucks and let Buick carry the CUVs instead. I would hope GM wouldn't drop such a blunt block in Buick's lineup. I seriously like the Acadia and had genuine hope that this vehicle would carry on the nice divisional CUV styling that began with that Lambda based product. Geez, am I disappointed. Chevy definitely got the better looking version of the 2 LWB Theta products.

YIIIIIIIIIIIKES!!!!!!!..............

Edited April 5, 200916 yr by cire

So they've badge engineered the KIA ripoff into a Jeep ripoff. Great.

I think Tyrone designed this, and the Equinox. At least the back end on this one is nice, and the front end other than the headlights on the Equinox is nice. I can't say anything nice about the rest of either vehicle.

For the love of God can someone please tell Lutz that not every vehicle needs a stupid strip of chrome on its rear end? Having the same design element for different cars of the same brand makes sense but not for cars across all of GM's brands.

This thing is close to being Aztek hideous. The design elements don't match. The wheel arches and front end go together. The side surfacing and rear end go together. However the wheels arches and front end don't mesh with the side surfacing and rear end. The grill dips too low. There's too much chrome on top of the grill. The rear end is boring.

No. Just no.

Uh no, it's much worse. the Rams' grill didn't cut nearly that far down into the bumper. It's also proportionate to the rest of the truck.

Yea your right you got me DF...... Damn!

Pictures can be misleading so my opinion may change when I get to see the real deal. However based on the photos, if all the GMC badges were removed I would have guessed it was a product of one of the Asian companies. It's that unattractive and bizzare looking. The rear is the least offensive part. The front is just too much and way over done. On the sides, they made the same mistake they made with the Sierra/Silverado. They give it these busy fender flare-things front and back and the middle of the vehicle is smooth as a bar of soap. There is nothing coherent in the design of this thing. Sad, just sad.

The other thing I just noticed is the interior lighting. Is GMC taking over the red dash lighting in the event that Pontiac goes away?

Edited April 5, 200916 yr by usonia

I actually *really* like it. I'd never own one myself, but it is a butch looking entry in a rather feminine segment. I think it'll do well for that reason alone.

Again, don't think about it from the "would I buy it" perspective, think about it from the perspective of "would the typical buyer in this segment like it?"

I want to round off the wheel arches and lower corners of the facia just a bit, and then I think it would be fine. As-is, it looks "chunky".

there's a little jeep compass side profile creepiness going on here. mostly in the wheel arches.

i'm fine with this, aside from the way too big grille and the lack of uniqueness on the instrument panel.

My thoughts as well. It's certainly far less generic. I'm thinking purely from the perspective of what a typical GMC would look like. That said, it will sell.

It kinda gives me the squarish Ford Escape vibe to me in the front area, something which Ford would bring in a design for the new Explorer. It is butch no question about that.

I need to see it in person to judge how intricate the details are.

I like it overall, but I don't like 2 details: the square wheel arches and the really thick strip of chrome at the top of the grill. Otherwise I think it looks good and modern.

Well, being GMC-biased and all, I gotta say that I like it and would definitely consider it if I had the money.

Aztek bad? I don't think so! I think that's going too far. This is definitely a love-it or hate-it design, and I fall in the "love-it" group. Yes there are some design styles I don't agree with, but overall there isn't enough that make me want to puke. I remember when the Aztek came out in May of 2001, when I was leasing a brand new '01 GMC Sonoma Highrider. My then-salesman tried to get me into an Aztek, and no matter what angle I looked at it from, I couldn't find any attractiveness to it. I told him that even if the lease was $50 per month I wouldn't jump on it (the fact that it was leasing at something like $400/month <price he quoted me>, made me even sicker to my stomach). Again, this design is not for everyone - you can choose the Saturn VUE or Chevy Equinox if you must have one of GM's cute-utes.

I like these shots of the Terrain from Autoblog:

(maybe it will look more appealing to some in darker colors?)

This is definitely a love-it or hate-it design

I'm in the 'hate it' camp, but offering different and even polarizing designs does help GM differentiate its brands from one another. In that regard the Terrain looks to be a good bet.

It does look better in that darker color, but something about the front seems off. It needs a lower grille I think to take some focus off of the giant upper grille.

I can see this appealing to men much more than the Equinox. It looks like it means business and is much more expressive than the 'Nox.

I guess GM is trying to appeal to the same demographic that are purchasing this car:

GM has video posted of the Terrain with designer commentary up on FastLane.

Link to Article/Video

I can't wait to see this in person at the NYIAS in less than two weeks. I like it's uniqueness and even if it sells less than the Equinox, then all the better (not everyone will have the same vehicle). The Acura I posted above, with it's cowcatcher chrome grille, is all over the place in southern New Jersey. So apparently while many of us here at C&G think it's hideous looking, the market doesn't. I think those buyers who are looking for something a little stand-outish and unique will like the GMC Terrain. If I have more motivation to find a new job soon, it's now thanks to the Terrain.