[loach]

In a metro area of about 800,000 people, 2 GMC dealers and 4 Chevy dealers, I can't find a single V6 Terrain or Equinox to test drive. The dealer I went to tonight showed one in inventory on their site, but it hasn't arrived yet. Are people buying these things without even a test drive? Looks like I'm left with 3 choices:

1. Give up and buy a Murano. Got a good offer on the one I would want today.
2. Put a deposit down on the Merlot SLT-1 AWD V6 Terrain that my preferred dealer has incoming. Then I suppose I could drive it when it gets in and if I don't like it I'm sure the dealer would let me walk away. He'd probably sell it to somebody else for more money.
3. Go into auto-buying hibernation for a couple months in the hopes that inventories improve. This would be tough for me to do. Once I get on a project like this and narrow the field I want to get it done.

 

[Roesterman]

I test drove the Terrain but ordered the Equinox. Just looks different on the outside.

 

[NY_Joe]

Option 2

 

[loach]

I test drove the Terrain but ordered the Equinox. Just looks different on the outside.

That's exactly what I'm trying to do - would be happy to test drive either. Haven't been able to locate a single V6 of either one.

 

[9Tango]

Just my 2 cents.....We've had a Murano...and the Terrain, in terms of ride, handling, comfort, features, etc...has it beat hands down!
They are now supposed to have ramped up production and producing more Terrains and Nox's...so if I were you, I'd hang in there for a bit....one will become available in your area soon.

Dan

 

[Islander]

Many of us have spent months waiting for our ordered vehicles. I have been lucky enough to have driven both Nox & Terrain, in both 4 & 6, and was able to choose. I'd choose option 2 as well if it's the vehicle you want. I took a road trip last year, about 1600 miles, in a friends Murano. Get the Nox or Terrain.

 

[scottyyyc]

It's too bad right now, because Terrain's and Equinox's are in really high demand. I live in a city of a million people (Calgary), and there's virtually no Terrain's or Equinox's to be had in the city. I went to my dealership last week to drop off some paperwork for my trade-in, expecting to sit in something in the showroom and push some buttons for a few minutes, and there was nothing. Talking with the Sales Manager, he mentioned 'we could get 50 in tomorrow if we could, and they would be gone in a week'.

Oh well, worth the wait. The Murano's a solid vehicle, but given the quality and popularity of the Terrain/Equinox, I reckon it's worth waiting for.

 

[loach]

Just my 2 cents.....We've had a Murano...and the Terrain, in terms of ride, handling, comfort, features, etc...has it beat hands down!
They are now supposed to have ramped up production and producing more Terrains and Nox's...so if I were you, I'd hang in there for a bit....one will become available in your area soon.

Dan

Did you have a current generation Murano ('09 or '10)? The ride quality has supposedly improved over the previous generation. However, I drove 2 Muranos last night - an LE with 20" wheels and an SL with 18" wheels - and quite frankly I'm not sure either rode as smoothly as my '01 Pathfinder - a lot of front to back bounciness IMO. No discernable difference between the 20s or the 18s. Handling in the Murano might be a little better than Terrain as it has a tighter turning circle. I suspect that Terrain will ride smoother - if I remember correctly from my Equinox I4 test drive 4 months ago. Not a fan of the orange instrument backlighting in the Murano either. Murano is faster - 0-60 in 7.2 seconds compared to 8.1 for the Terrain V6 according to Motor Trend. Since the Murano certainly didn't blow me away with its power, I fear I might be even more disappointed in the Terrain. However, the lack of shifting in the Murano CVT may make it "feel" less powerful than it is.

Sorry for the stream of consciousness. I fear I might be about to expand my field of contenders when I thought I had it narrowed to 2.

 

[Narg]

I'd say option 2 won't leave you disappointed. But do keep option 3 very very close to your heart. Patience pays off in multitude. It took us 2 months to work things our for our new 'Nox. I was prepared to wait another 12 if needed (I told the dealer that and he seems to work harder on the deal...) I will confess that normally I am like you with project completion though.

 

[loach]

Well, I got my wish today. Lo and behold, the dealer got a couple V6's in, so I went and took a drive tonight. Overall pretty impressed. It rode smoother than the Murano (more on that later though). It also handled pretty well and I found the V6 to be adequate (like my Acadia - ain't gonna win many drag races). The engine is a bit loud when you put it through its paces. Ergonomics could be better - controls on the center console are a reach.

I also drove a V6 Toyota Venza tonight. It rode smoothly too. The steering was way too light and the interior seemed kind of cheap even though it had the leather package and navigation. It's a good vehicle, but it doesn't excite me and I hate most of the color choices. The engine is much quieter than the Terrain.

If you go by Motor Trend's 0-60 times, the Venza is the fastest of the three and the Terrain the slowest, but I didn't really notice an appreciable difference. All 3 seem to be adequate but not speedburners.

So my last stop tonight was back at the Nissan dealership with tire pressure gauge. I suspected the tires were overinflated in the Muranos I drove yesterday, making the ride rougher than it should have been. Sure enough they were all around 40 PSI. Don't understand why dealers don't pay attention to stuff like this. So now I wonder whether my Murano test drives were a fair representation of how the vehicle rides.

I'm leaning more toward the Terrain now, but I'm not sold yet. I wish the decision was as easy as when I got my Acadia - where the Acadia met my family's needs perfectly and my distant 2nd choice (Mazda CX-9) was barely in the conversation.

 

[NY_Joe]

Well, I got my wish today. Lo and behold, the dealer got a couple V6's in, so I went and took a drive tonight. Overall pretty impressed. It rode smoother than the Murano (more on that later though). It also handled pretty well and I found the V6 to be adequate (like my Acadia - ain't gonna win many drag races). The engine is a bit loud when you put it through its paces. Ergonomics could be better - controls on the center console are a reach.

I also drove a V6 Toyota Venza tonight. It rode smoothly too. The steering was way too light and the interior seemed kind of cheap even though it had the leather package and navigation. It's a good vehicle, but it doesn't excite me and I hate most of the color choices. The engine is much quieter than the Terrain.

If you go by Motor Trend's 0-60 times, the Venza is the fastest of the three and the Terrain the slowest, but I didn't really notice an appreciable difference. All 3 seem to be adequate but not speedburners.

So my last stop tonight was back at the Nissan dealership with tire pressure gauge. I suspected the tires were overinflated in the Muranos I drove yesterday, making the ride rougher than it should have been. Sure enough they were all around 40 PSI. Don't understand why dealers don't pay attention to stuff like this. So now I wonder whether my Murano test drives were a fair representation of how the vehicle rides.

I'm leaning more toward the Terrain now, but I'm not sold yet. I wish the decision was as easy as when I got my Acadia - where the Acadia met my family's needs perfectly and my distant 2nd choice (Mazda CX-9) was barely in the conversation.

I also looked at the Murano.Leasing a Nissan Altima I was partial to Nissan. Terrain is a better ride and overall a nicer vehicle.

 

[Mobius]

It's too bad right now, because Terrain's and Equinox's are in really high demand. I live in a city of a million people (Calgary), and there's virtually no Terrain's or Equinox's to be had in the city.

Really? When we were at the GM dealership here in Drumheller, they had two Terrains. A black SLT1, and a Merlot SLE-2. The Merlot one has been there since early September. The only color Terrain they haven't had sit on the lot here was a Carbon Black one (which is the color we had wanted).

 

[loach]

I drove another Murano at a different dealership yesterday. It rode much smoother (tires apparently not overinflated like the last dealership). Seemed peppier too for whatever reason. I ended up having that dealer locate what I wanted today and put a deposit down on a Murano. I'm sure I would have been happy with a Terrain too, but at this time the Murano is just the better vehicle for me. I wanted a little more power and some of the missing features on the Terrain - like Homelink - I can get on the Murano (although Nissan does not offer remote start). I predict that by the 2012 model year, GM will have torqier (is that a word?) engine available for the Terrain - I think there needs to be more distinction between the I4 and V6 and GM will make that happen eventually.

Don't hate on me too much, folks. After all, I still love my Acadia. So I may not have ended up as a Theta brother but I'm still your Lambda cousin ;D

 

[Narg]

That's a bummer. You'll also miss out on:

- Better MPG
- Electronic gear selection
- Hill holding
- On Star
- Estimated higher resale value
- and keeping more jobs here in the U.S.

 

[NY_Joe]

I drove another Murano at a different dealership yesterday. It rode much smoother (tires apparently not overinflated like the last dealership). Seemed peppier too for whatever reason. I ended up having that dealer locate what I wanted today and put a deposit down on a Murano. I'm sure I would have been happy with a Terrain too, but at this time the Murano is just the better vehicle for me. I wanted a little more power and some of the missing features on the Terrain - like Homelink - I can get on the Murano (although Nissan does not offer remote start). I predict that by the 2012 model year, GM will have torqier (is that a word?) engine available for the Terrain - I think there needs to be more distinction between the I4 and V6 and GM will make that happen eventually.

Don't hate on me too much, folks. After all, I still love my Acadia. So I may not have ended up as a Theta brother but I'm still your Lambda cousin ;D

I have a good mind to ban you from both forums.

Good luck with the Murano. Be sure to visit us.

 

[loach]

Just out of curiosity, do you use Homelink for anything other than a garage door opener?

Nope - not really a deciding factor either - just one of the first things that came to mind as I was typing my message. Things I'll have in my Murano LE that I can't get in the Terrain:

Homelink
Heated rear seats
Dual moonroof (many people would call this an advantage but I couldn't give a rip about the 2nd fixed pane in the backseat - actually prefer the convential single sunroof in the Terrain)
Overhead console sunglasses holder (pet peeve of mine)
Rain-sensing wipers
Power tilt/telescoping steering wheel with memory settings
Power rear seat return (I know - big whoop)
Dual zone climate control
Auto-up drivers window (I think)
Intelligent key system with push-button start

Major features I'm missing on Murano that are available on Terrain:
Remote start
Onstar
Sliding rear seat

The Terrain/Equinox is an interesting vehicle in that most people think it competes with smaller CUVs like the CRV, Rav4, Escape, Rogue, etc. But it's actually closer in many dimensions to the Murano, Venza, Edge, Santa Fe, etc. I shopped it against the latter vehicles. When I told the Nissan salesman that I was looking at the Terrain/Equinox, he started trying to push the Rogue on me. I think he was scared that he would lose out based on price (although I ended up getting a nearly loaded Murano (sans RSE) for a price maybe $1-2K higher than I would have paid for a Terrain SLT-2 with nav).

EDIT: Deleted references to DVD-based nav in the Terrain/Nox based on clarifying posts below.

 

[loach]

That's a bummer. You'll also miss out on:

- Better MPG
- Electronic gear selection
- Hill holding
- On Star
- Estimated higher resale value
- and keeping more jobs here in the U.S.

-Murano AWD MPG is 18 city/23 hwy vs 17/24 for Terrain AWD V6. Since most of my driving is city, I have no doubt I will get better real-world mileage with the Murano.
- Electronic gear selection - Have it in my Acadia and don't use it.
- Hill holding - didn't know/don't really care
- Onstar - like it in my Acadia which is our trip/weekend vehicle, but simply isn't that important in my commuter vehicle
- Resale value I seriously doubt will be worse than a GM vehicle, but even if it is, this is simply never a factor in my buying decisions. I keep my vehicles 10 years, so none of them are worth squat when I'm done with them.
- Jobs in the U.S. - Terrain is built in Canada, eh?

 

[NY_Joe]

Both of the Nox/Terrain with NAV.

I was going to say we have the 10GB Hard Drive andI thought NAV was hard drive based.

 

[loach]

I was going to say we have the 10GB Hard Drive andI thought NAV was hard drive based.

GMC.com says it's DVD based in the specs but I suppose it could be wrong. Not sure why they would make a radio with a hard drive and then not use the hard drive for navigation.

 

[loach]

The Nox/Terrain have 40GB hard drives. 30GB is used for NAV, and 10GB is available for music/movies.

It does require a DVD to load the maps, but no DVD is required for continuous operation.

That makes more sense - thanks for clarifying. Still don't understand why they would want to advertise it as "DVD-based" though. For those of us who have true DVD-based nav systems without hard drives (like the one in my Acadia), it sounds like a bad thing.