Yoda's mom here. I have been driving GM vehicles for nearly twenty years now. I have had a prettty good track record. I started with a Chevrolet Lumina which saved my life in a head on crash. I then had a Beretta, Saturn SC2 and my current Saturn Ion. The Beretta and SC2 made it to 200,000 miles and the 2007 Ion has 120,000. I had not had the pleasure of driving a GMC product and I was excited about the Terrain since it is an SUV and gets 32 miles a gallon highway which is what my Ion gets. Driving 140 miles a day on the interstate, having a little bit if height is a good feeling but good gas mileage is important.
GMC delivered the Terrain to me on Wednesday, the day before the trip. They use a great company for their deliveries - Prestige Auto. Before he delivered the car to me, Hector stopped and washed the car and gassed it up. This is Hector when he delivered the car to me outside my office and right next to the Virginia Governor's mansion.
This summer I had a long term rental for a program I work on. I had a Dodge Journey. The Journey is larger than the Terrain but I found the Terrain just as roomy and with a lot of nice features.
I did not get the 32 mpg highway because GMC provided me with a 6 cylinder model. I averaged about 24 mpg for the trip. My mistake was not reviewing the very handy guide to the vehicle that GMC provides. Owner manuals are sometimes daunting and often provide information on a variety of models. GMC also provided a Quick Start guide (as a geeky person that reminded me of all the tech stuff I usually get - no geek reads the full manual). Sadly, I failed to look at the cheat sheet so I missed a few really cool features for several days. The worst thing I missed was the door lock buttons which are on the radio and climate control console. I did check for the MP3 player connection (cleverly stowed in the center console along with one of three 12 volt jacks). The Terrain has an entertainment package not in this model and I hope it comes with an actual AC outlet (the Journey had one).
Boris Kitty's Human 2 (Kelly) and I brought a lot of stuff to BarkWorld and nearly all of it fit in the back with room to spare. The Terrain features an auto lift and close feature for the rear hatch which was pretty cool when Kelly actually found it on the Quick Start guide. Here is the car all loaded up to go. Kelly brought two boxes of stuff from DogToys.com to give away at the Expo. You can see Yoda's bag from Doggy Baggage that I borrowed for the trip. That was one of the great freebies I got for the trip. Not sure how I could have packed all my stuff coming home without that roomy bag!
Kelly and I were Team Jedi for the trip. Well, with Yoda's name and both Kelly and Boris Kitty's love for sci fi, we couldn't resist. I had magnetic signs made for the car that told everyone who saw us that we were part of the GMC Bark and Ride promotion. Here is the picture Kelly took (we each kept one of the signs as a souvenir).
You can see Edgar Kitty relaxing on the very comfortable leather dashboard. Did I tell you that there were leather seats? They were also the kind that you can heat up but since it was August we sure didn't need that feature. The XM satellite radio was wonderful and we listed to the Bridge and Classic Vinyl for the trip.
I am a cruise control fanatic. It's the only way my lead foot keeps me out of speeding ticket trouble. The Terrain's cruise control was one of the easiest to control. There was also all kinds of information available at my fingertips including miles left until you run out of gas, average and real time fuel economy.
The ride was very comfortable. When we were in Atlanta the Prestige Auto folks spruced up the Terrain for us and gassed it up so we were ready for the trip back.
I was really lucky because I got to keep the Terrain until Friday. I had a trip for work that took me on some curvy back roads at night and the Terrain was easy to handle and has great lights. It was hard to say goodbye to the Terrain and I am seriously thinking of purchasing one. The folks from GMC were wonderful to work with.
Here is the Team Jedi artwork that Kelly designed. Pretty snazzy!
I am one of the Bark World Expo Advisory Committee members and I received a conference pass at no charge. GMC provided me the use of the Terrain for the trip to Atlanta and back plus three additional days. I also received two tanks of gas and a goodie bag of dog toys and supplies. Doggy Baggage provided a free 20 inch duffel bag. I received no other payment or gratuity.
