The 2025 Terrain gets new styling that brings it more in line with the trucklike looks of GMC’s full-sized Yukon and midsized Acadia SUVs. On the inside, it boasts a large, vertically positioned infotainment touchscreen at the center of the dash, along with an all-new display for the driver. The Terrain has also caught up to most of the compact SUV class by including a significant suite of standard active safety and driver assistance systems, including automatic emergency braking that operates at highway speeds, blind spot warning, and rear cross traffic warning, all of which were either optional or not available on the previous model.
Overall, we think the redesigned Terrain is an improvement over its predecessor, with a pleasant powertrain, a comfortable ride, and a roomy cabin. It’s mechanically similar to the Chevrolet Equinox, which we’ve also tested. But the GMC didn’t score quite as well as the Chevy in fuel economy, braking, handling, or the usability of its controls.
The base Elevation trim we tested comes well-equipped with heated front seats, a heated steering wheel, and remote start. Although the Terrain scored just well enough to garner a CR recommendation, there’s little about the Terrain that makes it stand out from other top-rated models in the crowded compact SUV category.
“The Terrain is comfortable, relatively quiet, and is a just-right size for many people. It’s one of GM’s more pleasant-driving vehicles,” said one of our testers. “But, it shines brightest when driven calmly; the soft chassis tuning and modest powertrain are not suited for driving with any kind of urgency.”
“It’s not a bad all-around vehicle, although it’s not particularly impressive in any way, either,” said another tester. “If it were me, I’d choose the Chevrolet Equinox over the Terrain, simply because the infotainment screen is in a more usable position and orientation.”
We bought a 2025 GMC Terrain Elevation AWD for $37,540—anonymously from an area dealer, as we do with every vehicle we test—for the purpose of this road test review. Our Terrain was assembled in San Luis Potosi, Mexico.
Driving experience
The powertrain is largely carried over from the previous Terrain. Every trim comes with a 175-hp, 1.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine. Front-wheel-drive versions get a continuously variable transmission (CVT), while all-wheel-drive models—like our tested vehicle—get an eight-speed automatic transmission. The latter setup feels energetic in around-town driving and is notably free of any low-speed delays or hiccups.
Unfortunately, the transmission doesn’t always shift smoothly, and outright acceleration is mediocre. It plods from 0 to 60 mph in 9.1 seconds. You feel some of the shifts, and downshifts don’t come as promptly as they should when the driver is looking for more power. It doesn’t help the Terrain’s case that fuel economy is an unimpressive 24 mpg overall, lagging behind class leaders by a few mpg. Further, several competitors offer hybrid versions that get 35 to 37 mpg overall, but GMC doesn’t have one for the Terrain.
The Terrain handles corners just fine when driven casually, but it feels less responsive than the Equinox when pushed harder. Braking performance also isn’t at Equinox levels, especially during wet testing, where it needed an extra 13 feet to come to a stop from 60 mph—likely due to the different tires between the two vehicles.
Ride comfort is a strong suit, though. The suspension does a good job soaking up most bumps, including large potholes, though some imperfections make the cabin vibrate. The cabin is reasonably quiet in terms of its subdued engine hum and wind noise, but a fair amount of road rumble comes in on coarse pavement, though we didn’t think it was too offensive.
Cabin comfort
Even the base Elevation trim looks and feels upscale, with padding around the dashboard, contrasting stitching, and scattered bits of chrome and wood-look trim. We found the front seats reasonably comfortable, with just enough side bolstering to hold you in place through corners. However, the left footrest, which is too close and too upright, compromises the driving position, making some drivers feel hemmed in.
The rear seat has ample space and is plenty comfortable. There’s lots of headroom along with good foot space underneath the front seats. Opening the liftgate reveals a large rectangular space and a flush load floor, both of which make it easy to slide cargo in and out. We were able to fit four large suitcases behind the rear seat, which is quite good for the compact SUV class.
Controls and usability
The Terrain’s controls are a mix of good and bad. For example, the infotainment touchscreen is usefully large, but the portrait orientation (which means it’s taller than it is wide) places the climate controls down low, which takes the driver’s focus away from the road. On the other hand, we appreciate that most of the climate controls have physical toggle switches and buttons, rather than a capacitive-touch variety on a panel.
Some other controls are either inconvenient or unintuitive. For example, the Terrain has a very large audio volume knob toward the bottom-center of the screen. But it’s nearly flush with the display, making it difficult to grasp without accidentally pressing other buttons. Then there’s the left steering wheel stalk, which has a complicated secondary function for the windshield- and rear-window wipers that can lead to accidental activations. The right stalk serves as the electronic gear selector, and its operation can take some getting used to, although we think it’s an improvement over the previous Terrain’s ill-conceived, dash-mounted push-button setup.
Finally, we don’t think having the emergency flashers button hidden high up on the overhead console is a smart idea. Not only is the button small, but its out-of-view location makes it difficult to find quickly in an emergency situation.
Active safety and driver assistance
The Terrain features a bundle of standard active safety and driver assistance features, including automatic emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection, automatic emergency braking that operates at highway speeds, blind spot warning, rear cross traffic warning, reverse automatic emergency braking, lane departure warning, lane keeping assistance, adaptive cruise control, and automatic high beams. Some of the Terrain’s safety warnings are communicated via vibrations to the driver’s seat (called the “Safety Alert Seat”), a feature we’ve appreciated in numerous other General Motors products.
We’re happy to see that both a rear occupant alert system and a belt minder come standard. The former is designed to remind the driver—based on rear-door logic—to check the rear seat when they turn the Terrain off to help prevent children and pets from suffering heatstroke or hypothermia if unintentionally left behind in the vehicle. The rear belt minder alerts the driver if a rear passenger unbuckles their seat belt during the trip.