You can see the point here in Dubai, where the higher driving position and greater feeling of safety really play an important part in our hectic and sometimes scary, everyday commutes. However, to loose out on my saloon car driving fun, the compact SUV of my choice would have to offer a funky, solid and most certainly relaxing driving experience, as well as a reasonable amount of handling prowess that can be expected of their higher centre of gravity. And I’m not really sure that this here Terrain SLT (in a rather boring, uninspiring ‘Kadinsky' red mica paint scheme) really did the trick. More like OK, than KO!

You see, the car, sorry compact SUV, lacked any real knockout punch in any of my important SUV departments. Walking up to this car in the car park just failed to set my pulse racing - the aforementioned burgundy paint job I think was the worst culprit. I’d like to see the car in a vibrant bright red or a chunky tough grey to really make my buying choice, as the rest of this freshly-designed and modern-looking car isn’t so bad be behold.

From the front, the angular metalwork looks sharp and aggressive, without being so dangerous as to scare the children; but cute it isn’t. The toughened bumpers and pretend front bash-plate give the Terrain a slightly Hummer-esque feel, although the smallest GMC SUV in the line up doesn’t rock anywhere near as hard as any of the Hummers. You can see that both vehicles share the same parent company, but perhaps the biggest car manufacturer in the world has several design departments, and the Terrain was designed in the slightly boring one; the Hummer in the really fun one!

Then again, pretend vents in the front wings add a dash of detail and flair, as do the silver door handles and the roof-length roof rack rails, and with that faux bash-plate making an appearance again around the back, and sporty twin-exit exhaust tips, you could say that the GMC is looking ready for some rough and tough action. But, take these details away though and you could well be sound asleep the moment you first clap eyes on it.

Let’s hope the interior is a little perkier. Upbeat is certainly the wrong description of the inner space, with the AutoMiddleEast test car’s interior feeling more sombre than inspiring. This top-of-the-range SLT model comes with full leather interior (the SLE just gets the cloth) as standard, and I have to say that both the front and rear seats looked and felt finished to a high standard with nice soft leather and precise stitching.

I could have done with an extra inch or two on the driver’s seat pad, just to give a little more support to my legs whilst driving. Other than that the driving position was good with plenty of adjustment in the seat to give this over 6-footer the right sort of leg room. But with my seat right the way back, the passenger behind me would’ve started to get squashed, especially if they were of an adult’s size.

I wasn’t really blown-away by the rest of the interior. The 3-spoke steering wheel prevented me from resting one hand on the bottom of the wheel, something I like to do whilst motorway cruising, and the oversized-for-storage (of what exactly?) centre console was tall enough to let me bang my elbow on it regularly whilst moving around to get comfy.

The gear selector was sticky and non-positive in its movement, especially taking the stick from ‘park’ to ‘reverse’ – it needed gentle persuasion sometimes and brute force at other times! Maybe that was just a glitch on our test car though? The clocks looked a little tacky and plasticy for my liking and the AC felt slightly under-puffed in the extreme midday heat.

The stereo was cracking though with not only plenty of punch, but also plenty of depth and detail to the sound, and the views from the large side mirrors were wonderfully widescreen. It’s a small point, but the wash and wipe from the wipers was impressively and instantly effective at getting the windscreen spotless – remember; we live in the dusty old desert!

Getting those chunky, but not too funky 18-inch wheels rolling and the first thing I notice when slow speed manoeuvring is the Terrains turning circle – or lack of it. Just when you thought you had another half-a-turn of the steering wheel to get you past that post, the steering just stopped against the lock, leaving an embarrassing back-up-and-try-again move that began to grow a little annoying. You might get used to the restricted movement, but you might not want to. Niggles like this will only stick in your mind when test driving the other compact SUVs from the Japanese car giants.

Eventually under full steam and it’s time to work that 3.2-litre, 223bhp, V6 engine. The claimed 0-100kph time of 8.8-seconds sounds about right, but thanks to the engines fairly punchy feeling of torque and lovely raspy sound, you do feel like you’re going quicker than you are. Now I like my engines so I can hear them, but the sound must be right, and with this all aluminium V6 I think GM have about nailed it, with a balance of quiet cruising refinement at the lower end of the rev range, rising to that raspy roar at the top.

You’ll find yourself kicking-down that quick-to-react 5-speed automatic gearbox again and again, but, truth be told, the torque doesn’t really translate to pulling you through the high gears at low revs that well, so if there is a time limit on your overtake, it’s best to put the pedal right to the metal.

At a shade under 120,000 AED, the GMC Terrain feels a tad on the expensive side for its size, although the interior and exterior specifications and engine power are respectable. However, if price was really an issue and only a compact SUV would fit the bill, I’d have to look seriously at the Terrain’s competition, like the RAV-4 and X-Trail, which are both cheaper, as ultimately, the GMC just doesn’t seem quite special enough to justify the extra cash.

Technical Specifications

Model – 2008 GMC Terrain

Body Type – Small/Compact Crossover

Price – AED120,000

Engine – 3.2-litre V6

Power – 223bhp @ 6400rpm

Torque – 290Nm @ 3200rpm

Transmission – 5-speed automatic

Drive – All-Wheel-Drive (AWD)

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