Car Thread - Looking at a GMC Terrain and GMC in general

Ruckus

So my faithful '98 Nissan Pathfinder has been throwing more problems at me than I can really justify fixing, so I've decided to take a serious look at replacing it.

On of the serious contendors of my serious look is the GMC Terrain, which is new this 2010 model year.

I've never dealt with GMC, or bought a car from a dealer, so my questions and the advice I seek pertains to the following:

Anybody have a Terrain yet? How's it working for you?

Anybody have a recent (2007+) model GMC or Chev SUV that they can comment on the quality of?

Has anybody had to deal with GMC for warranty issues or anything good/bad/hinky with the dealer during the purchase process, specifically with financing or additional costs? I'm most likely going to secure a loan via my Credit Union but any knowledge is potentially useful.

The model I'm looking at is the 4cyl AWD base model, primarily for the fuel economy as I spend a lot of time on the highway (at least 2/3's of my k's are highway) and I never tow anything. I need the AWD as I live in a small town that's pretty low on the plow priority and said town is in Manitoba, Canada.

Figgy

A buddy of mine just bought a GMC truck and absolutely loves it. He had it custom built and saved quite a bit on it (haha trucks), fully loaded, etc.

One thing I thought was pretty retarded was their "rust protection" policy. You can bring it in and claim rust damage, but what they do is take a small piece of the rusted body and send it off to a lab for tests. If they find any trace of salt, they won't handle your claim.

Hilarious.

TexiKen

You won't get any kind of real deal on the Terrain right now because it's brand new and fairly popular. The Chevy Traverse is the same thing underneath, you could look into maybe getting a discount through them (but it doesn't look as good, granted).

Also, the beginning of the year is a bad time to buy a car. The best deals are always in December as the dealers try to hit their yearly numbers, and they don't really add a lot of incentives in January. Usually by March and the end of the quarter you get something to entice you into buying.

If you could, I would wait until then if your vehicle can do it and you can justify spending enough just to keep a band-aid on it for another month or two. And by then they might offer something on the Terrain.

illig

i'd avoid a 1st year car of any make... the 1st year is when all the kinks are ironed out of a model

NibCrom

Actually, the GMC Terrain is a restyled Chevy Equinox.

TexiKen

You're right, my bad.

The Traverse is the Acadia is also the Enclave.

Ruckus

illig wrote: »

i'd avoid a 1st year car of any make... the 1st year is when all the kinks are ironed out of a model

NibCrom wrote: »

Actually, the GMC Terrain is a restyled Chevy Equinox.

Normally I'd be warey of brand new models as well, but as NibCrom pointed out, it shares a ton of it's engineering with the Equinox, and it was designed to somewhat replace the GMC Envoy line.

And the kinds of repairs I'm looking at right now are basically going to cost me the equivalent of 3-6 months worth of payments on a $30,000 car loan.

Couple that with the fact that I do currently spend a lot of time on the highway, I'm burning like 50% more fuel and risking a tow fee should the drivetrain fail, not to mention the inherent dangers of being stranded on a Manitoba Highway during Winter.

I also need my vehicle not only to get to work, but I also use it for work, and to respond to emergency calls for the Volunteer FD where I live.

NibCrom

Personally, I would buy a used car to save money, but TexiKen and the others are not giving bad advice.

MushroomStick

Some areas don't have a wonderful selection of used cars right now.

Ruckus

I've always bought used as well, but every vehicle I've gotten has had little things that didn't really hurt the vehicle's performance or value but still annoyed me. For instance, my first car, they had an aftermarket stereo in it that they removed before they sold it to me, including the speakers. They didn't have the original speakers, but they did have the original deck, which they provided but I had to hook up and since I had no money for new speakers (college bound at the time) I had to settle for a pair of crappy speakers jury-rigged into the back window.

My current vehicle was in good shape except for the rear windshield wiper, which was siezed, and a fibreglass debris guard panel on the bottom front that protects the engine from road debris. The panel was cracked, and many of it's bolt holes were broken. Also, that panel has to be removed to change the oil filter, and the previous owner had his done at one of those lube places. 5 of the 8 bolts that hold the panel on had either been sheered or stripped, probably by somebody using an airwrench on them. I ended up drilling out all the holes and retapping them a size up and getting new Bolts/Washers to properly fasten the panel back on.

These are just examples, there are other little things too, but basically for once I'd like to have a vehicle that nobody but the assembly line has been able to fuck up yet. Ideally I'll test drive one that's the wrong colour or option package and they'll order me one and I'll get it before they can even put a dealer decal on it.