I will be traveling this week, and when I am done I will have driven all the way around Lake Michigan. In November we bought a 2013 GMC Terrain, and this is the first time that I have driven it on a long trip.
We are really happy with the Terrain, and right now I will happily recommend it. One nit I have with it is the cruise control set and resume “switch.” In other cars that I have owned they had buttons for resume and set, but the Terrain has a rocker switch that you flip up to resume and flip down to set and I find it uncomfortable to operate. Perhaps I will get more used to it over time.
Navigating the Navigation
Another issue that I have had is with the car’s navigation. During a previous trip when I used the navigation and turned off the car during the trip at a rest area, I was shocked to find after restarting the Terrain that the navigation system had forgotten the destination that I had previously programmed. I had to re-enter the destination.
During this trip I have not had a repeat, and I am not sure if that is because I am doing something different or because the “bug” has been fixed. Each time that I restarted the car today I saw the navigation system initialize and then prompt me if I wanted to continue on to the destination that had been programmed in the system.
Last week I took the Terrain to the dealer to have the tires rotated, and they updated the navigation software. The service manager told me that it was a recall item, but the service invoice didn’t provide any details about what was updated. It’s possible that the problem I had seen previously was actually a bug. At either rate, I am glad that the navigation is now working as I expect.
Take Me Out To The Baseball Game
Finally, I got to say that I am really happy with the SiriusXM satellite radio. During the trip I was able to listen to the Chicago Cubs/Cincinnati Reds baseball game. Normally on long trips like this I listen to a podcast or music, and between the Bluetooth connection to my phone and the USB port and thumb drive, I have more audio to listen to on this trip than ever before. Of all the options available to me, I enjoyed listening to the live baseball game the most.
The SiriusXM subscription was free for the first three months that we owned the car, and I wasn’t sure it was worth the $15 per month they normally charge, but when the subscription expired they offerred the first year at half price so I decided to sign us up. I still am not sure we really need satellite radio on top of what we already have, but I am also sure that if I drove more than I do now, I would not hesitate to sign up.
Notes From The Cave 
