Is the 2025 GMC Terrain Suitably Separated From Its Chevy Equinox Sibling?

Why buy a GMC if it’s just a tinseled-up Chevy? It’s an age-old question, one the General’s slightly more upscale truck and SUV brand has been struggling with for years now: How best to separate and elevate products like the third-generation, 2025 GMC Terrain above platform siblings like the also new-for-2025 Chevrolet Equinox? Can the market be convinced?

Less Basic Base Version

Gone are the SLE and SLT bottom feeders, swapped for the openly striving moniker “Elevation.” Standard equipment levels are indeed elevated, with remote vehicle starting, adaptive cruise control, heated front seats, and a heated steering wheel standard on every 2025 Terrain, to better reflect the way most folks were optioning their SLE/SLT models. Also standard, an expanded suite of 15 safety features including these new ones: blind-zone steering assist, enhanced automatic emergency braking that can now identify pedestrians and bicyclists and other hazards in intersections, automatic rear braking for cross traffic and other obstacles, and side bicyclist alert.

New to the options list for all Terrain trim grades are goodies like a two-tone contrast roof paint scheme (silver over black, but black over every other available color option), AutoSense presence-based (instead of foot-kick-based) power liftgate, a camera-based rearview mirror, and an eight-camera HD Surround View. The former Elevation package has been replaced by a Black package that upgrades the standard 17-inch wheels to 19s (in black), while murdering out all the other trim and badging. And a Premium package upgrades the cloth seats to Coretec faux leather, adds wireless charging, roof rails, an integrated garage door opener, and 19-inch silver wheels.

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Minimal Powertrain Changes

The Terrain’s 1.5-liter 175-hp/203-lb-ft turbo four-cylinder engine carries over, but for 2025 it’s either mated to a continuously variable transmission (front-wheel drive only), or an eight-speed automatic with all-wheel drive. Sadly, this removes one of the differentiators relative to the Equinox, which used to make do with six ratios—three shy of the Terrain’s, but now the two trucklets will share powertrains. Terrain fuel economy should hold steady, despite the vehicle growing and losing a transmission ratio (the eight-speed is less complex than its predecessor.) Towing capacity remains in the jet-ski/tiny pop-up camper realm (1,500 pounds, 800 with the front-drive/CVT setup). Also unchanged is the driver-selectable all-wheel-drive system, requiring a button push to ready the system to send torque rearward when necessary (defaulting to front-drive at startup improves the EPA numbers). 

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Truckier Style

The designers strove to channel the Canyon’s new face in redesigning the Terrain’s grille, headlamps, and fascia. The windshield leans back farther for aerodynamics, and the rear window stands more upright. Inside, the design is very much informed by the rest of the lineup, with the 15-inch vertical center screen virtually lifted from the GMC Acadia. It features a “floating” volume knob adhered to the screen, and a row of hard buttons along its bottom edge for climate control. There’s also an 11.0-inch reconfigurable instrument cluster, Google Built-In, 5G Wi-Fi hotspot, and (yes, still) Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility.

All Terrains get a soft, stitched trim material on the dash, doors, and center console with bright chrome accents running across the dash and doors, as well. It feels reasonably upscale in the Elevation model, but with the added leather and contrasting colors available in the Denali variant, it starts to look like a Lincoln Corsair competitor (if a grossly underpowered one). Another plus: The last-gen Terrain’s dorky push/pull buttons that served as a shifter are binned in favor of a column-mounted stalk.

Dimensionally it grows 2.1 inches in width and about a half-inch in height, with track widths also broadening by nearly 2 inches. This helps lends a broader stance, but most of that width was apportioned to styling—shoulder and hip dimensions only wiggle less than an inch and passenger space remains about the same. Cargo space behind the rear seat is virtually unchanged.

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AT4, Denali

Those opting above the Elevation trim must choose either the rugged soft-roader path with AT4—which gets standard AWD, 17-inch tires wearing all-terrain rubber, a mild suspension lift, red tow hooks, skidplates, hill-descent control, and a terrain-select mode; or the luxury path with an AWD Denali, decked to the gills with brightwork, 19-inch rolling stock (20s optional), heated rear seats, and ventilated front seats. 

When and How Much?

The 2025 Terrain will go on sale in late 2024 as a 2025 model, offered only in Elevation AWD trim at first. The standard front-drive/CVT option is expected in February, followed shortly by the AT4 and Denali variants, which will arrive as 2026 models. Equipping a 2024 GMC Terrain SLE with the Convenience package (most of which is now standard) costs $31,470. We reckon the added size and other spiffs will bring the base price of a front-drive Elevation to around $34K, with AWD adding a similar $1,600 premium. Stay tuned as we near the on-sale date for definitive pricing info and a drive opportunity to better gauge whether the poshness gap between the Equinox and Terrain has increased, and how well it’s justified by the pricing gap.