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Last week I was lucky enough to be asked to go to Steamboat Springs, Colorado to try out the new GMC Terrain in winter conditions. As I have never driven the Terrain before I was very excited about the opportunity to not only learn abotu the new car and what it offers, but also to learn more about tips for driving in winter conditions. Living in Michigan, while I know we do not have a lot of snow and ice yet it is coming very soon!

Arriving in Steamboat Springs last Thursday I had the opportunity to explore the city which was very quaint and western in Nature (which makes sense). I found some fun shops with very neat people. One of the fun stores was a store named FM Light and Sons. This was a store that has been in business since 1905. I walked in and was amazed to see that they had a whole wall of cowboy boots and another section with so many stetson hats that you can not even imagine. What I came to find was that people come to this store from over 100 miles away to get fit for hats and boots and a large amount of their orders are custom orders. What this means is that a person would have to go to the store get fit and then come back in a month or two when the boots are ready to get fit again. You might ask if I stocked up on western gear, but alas, I would have to say no. That being said though I do have to say that I was impressed though in the overall selection and the personal attention that the store provided!

The rest of the town was great and the people were very happy to have tourists in town. I walked through the entire town and found some fun gifts for my girls as well as one for my family in general (have to come back with something, right?).

The first night that I was there we had the opportunity to eat at a great restaurant called Cafe Diva (perfect name for a Dad of Divas like me) and again we were met with great hosts and amazing food. I even decided to try fresh Bison and let me tell you, if you have never tried this, it is so tender and the flavor from this restaurant was out of this world!

Day 2 was where the meat of this program took place. This was the day in which I and the rest of our group would be learning to drive in winter conditions in the new 2012 GMC Terrain. We started the day with a great overview of the Terrain itself and let me tell you from all of the things that were being explained to us, I was very impressed, but as the old saying goes, the proof is in the pudding, so it was up to the actual driving to let me get a true sense of the vehicle itself.

Getting into the vehicle I was impressed to find the large on-screen display with the

added upgrade of a navigation system. This system was great and ended up being (in my opinion) as good as the Garmin that I have in my own home.  With the fact that this is only an $800 upgrade it seemed to me to be a great add-on for this vehicle. The vehicle also has some great functionality built in for stability control as well as for someone like me that is a bit shorter, I appreciated the additional controls to make it easier for me to adjust the pedals as well as my seat so that I could drive in comfort. Add onto this the rear camera as well as the new safety features that alerts you when there may be someone that could be close enough to cause a collision (don’t worry, no bells and alarms, but instead lights that were easy to understand and follow).

The Terrain handled well on main roads and when we got onto the snow it also handled well. Keep in mind that we did have snow tires on, but I can say that we had no problems with the vehicle itself. One of the things that I really liked about the vehicle (outside of what I have already related) was the fact that it was so quiet on the inside. Even with winter tires on, I found the inside to be very well insulated to outside noises which was great. I also liked the fact that you could fold the seats down to the ground for easy storage and hauling if need be.

Seeing that this was a winter driving experience, I learned quite a bit about what to have in the car with you, as well as what to do when in a slide and other treacherous conditions. Outside of this thought, one thing that I did learn was more about when to shift into first or second gear when in snowy conditions, which was good to know in any situation!

When we were done driving we had the opportunity to go outside and experience more of Colorado. I chose to try something I had never done before, snowmobiling. I had heard fun things about this, and with my bum knee being what it is I knew that I needed to try this out for myself.

Getting out on the trail with the wind in my face was exhilarating. With that and the speed behind this I can see why this is a popular winter sport. After finishing this I wanted to go out for more and now that I am back in Michigan, I may just look into doing this!

All-in-all, I was completely impressed with the Terrain as well as my trip to Steamboat Springs. I have to say thanks to GMC (@thisisgmc) for the opportunity to go and try out the vehicle as well as to experience a great town in Colorado.

If you or your family are looking for an amazing vehicle, take the new  GMC Terrain for a test drive and I think that you will be as impressed as I was!

All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by the company.  Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. Please refer to this site’s Disclaimer  for more information. I have been compensated or given a product free of charge, but that does not impact my views or opinions.

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