2013 GMC Terrain Denali: Motoramic Drives

The 2013 GMC Terrain Denali has much to offer: A chrome honeycomb grille the size of a McMansion foyer, a handsome, square-jawed physique that yields willingly to no vehicle, top-of-the-line safety features, including enough warning lights and whistles to scare away a team of burglars, a top-flight entertainment and GPS system with rear-seat TV screens, loads of trunk space, and a black-leather interior trim package that makes you feel like you're in the lair of some sort of mobile Chinese tong. So I'll end the mind-blowing suspense now: The Terrain Denali is a quality machine.

But a key question remains: Who's going to buy this thing, and why?

GMC launched the Terrain line at the end of 2009 as a somewhat human-scaled alternative to its gargantosaur Yukon and the Acadia. The Denali luxury package, which GMC introduced in the late '90s to further distinguish its products from the Chevrolets with which they share mechanical pieces, always had a bit of a lipstick-on-a-pig quality. People got GMCs to haul large families, large boats, or, well into the era when "American" cars are assembled in Mexico and Japanese cars in Tennessee, out of some concept of buying domestic. This is the first time GMC has given the Denali treatment to the Terrain. It may finally have found an ox that wears its garland well.

I spent a pleasant morning a few weeks back in Northern Michigan driving the Terrain Denali, as one does. Generally for drives in cars like this, the routes are lumbering straightaways. But for this one, GMC put in a number of hilly rural roads, some with tight curves. They were clearly confident in what the Terrain Denali could accomplish.

New rear-flow dampers remove the horse-and-buggy-ride feeling that sometimes accompanied previous editions of the Terrain. Fully-loaded, this thing bears a 3.6-liter six-cylinder engine that generates more than 300 horsepower. For a few grand less, you can get a much less powerful 2.4-liter four-cylinder, but even that comes with a best-in-show 32 mpg.

The Terrain is a massive conveyance, more than 4,000 pounds, and you feel it behind the wheel, as though you're being pressed into your highly-adjustable, well-cushioned seat with some sort of extra gravitational push. Given that, it handles remarkably well through tight spots as though it were a much smaller car. Driving it almost makes you feel sedated, but the view from the passenger seat is completely different, where the turns feel air-light. This car pulls off the trick of being simultaneously heavy and smooth, like a decent stout beer. The 3.6-liter engine, which is what we had in our car, gives it a lot of push, and the power boost is noticeable compared with previous editions.