2022 GMC Terrain AT4

GMC hasn’t slowed down a bit with keeping pace in the highly competitive SUV market. Its 2022 Terrain AT4 ramps things up with some beefy tires, rugged looks, and some nice amenities. GMC did a refresh for 2022 which includes a new bumper and front grille, LED headlights, new 18 or 19-inch wheels – the black ones look extremely sharp – updates to the upholstery, the addition of Apple CarPlay as well as Android Auto, and an overall, more rugged look. Even though this AT4 looks the part of a rugged off-road-worthy SUV, is it all hat but no cattle? Let’s dive deeper.

Powertrain:

Powering the Terrain AT4 is a 1.5-liter, turbocharged inline 4-cylinder engine that’s rated at 170 horsepower and 203 lb-ft of torque. The 9-speed automatic transmission does a good job of handling the gears and did so rather smoothly. As far as fuel economy goes, you can expect it to get around 25 miles per gallon around town and up to 28mpg on the highway with the all-wheel-drive model.

Take a look inside:

Inside, you’ll find a very spacious place with some good tech but trailing behind the competition. Also, the mix-match use of cheap-looking surfaces doesn’t help the Terrain AT4 feel at all special. In fact, it feels rather pedestrian in the driver’s seat. GMC has a series of small buttons on the lower half of the center console that takes a bit of getting used to reaching.

Tech:

We found the tech to be good, and the audio quality of the included Bose sound system to be decent, its audio performance lacks luster compared to the likes we’ve heard from Harman/Kardon, Infinity, and Fender. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are included, as well as a built-in Wi-Fi hotspot and a few good applications.

There are a lot of driver-aids you can add on, such as adaptive cruise control (our test vehicle didn’t have this feature) and some good standard ones like lane departure warning, lane-keeping assist, parking alerts, blind-spot monitoring with alert, automatic front collision avoidance braking with pedestrian alert.

Driving:

On the road, we found the Terrain AT4 to handle okay with a bit of body roll around corners but has dismal acceleration – look at 0-60 times around 9 seconds. Additionally, GMC has bolstered the Terrain’s looks with off-road-looking wheels and tires, however, it is not an ultra-capable off-road crossover. It can do modest off-roading pretty good, with its stock tires, but if you’re wanting an SUV with greater off-road ability, look elsewhere.

GMC provides a standard 3-year / 36,000-mile warranty that covers everything and 5-years and 60,000 miles on the powertrain.

In the end, the Terrain feels like it has a lot of room for improvement to catch up with the competition and we’ll be following up to see what kinds of changes GMC has in store. Until then, if you’re looking for a good-looking crossover SUV with limited off-road ability, then check out the Terrain AT4.