ENGINE Type: pushrod 16-valve V-8, aluminum block and heads, direct fuel injection
Displacement: 376 cu in, 6162 cc Energy: 420 hp @ 5600 rpm Torque: 460 lb-ft @ 4100 rpm
TRANSMISSION: 6-speed automatic with manual shifting mode
DIMENSIONS: Wheelbase: 130. in Length: 224.3 in Width: 80.5 in Height: 74.4 in Curb weight: 6060 lb
Efficiency: NEW Zero to 60 mph: 6.5 sec Zero to 100 mph: 16.2 sec Zero to 110 mph: 20.3 sec Rolling begin, 5-60 mph: 6.8 sec Top gear, 30-50 mph: 3.5 sec Top gear, 50-70 mph: 4.2 sec Standing ¼-mile: 15.1 sec @ 96 mph Leading speed (governor restricted): 113 mph Braking, 70- mph: 189 ft Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: .75 g
FUEL ECONOMY: EPA city/highway: 14/20 mpg
WARRANTY: 3 years/36,000 miles bumper to bumper 5 years/25,000 miles powertrain 5 years/100,000 miles roadside assistance 3 years/36,000 miles corrosion protection 2 years/24,000 miles free routine upkeep
We just cannot talk about the GMC Yukon Denali with out obtaining the sticker-shock vapors out of the way. Gaze upon the $ 74,720 figure on our tester’s Monroney, then huff smelling salts like a teenage Dee Dee Ramone left alone with a tube of Testors’ finest cement. That is a rather eye-watering sum for a descendant of the humble GMC pickup John Steinbeck kicked around the country even though writing Travels With Charley.
Far from its 1990s/early-’00s ubiquity, the body-on-frame SUV has after again grow to be a niche car. Its smaller variants, the Ford Explorer and Dodge Durango, went unibody on their most current go-arounds. Ford’s mammoth Excursion trod the flightless path of the dodo bird 10 years ago, whilst the aging Nissan Armada, the Lincoln Navigator, and the Ford Expedition soldier on with minor revisions and refinements for the subsequent couple of years. For now, Common Motors has the newest models and owns this distinct game: It has the spread covered from the $ 46,745 base Chevy Tahoe all the way up to practically $ 100k for a loaded Cadillac Escalade ESV 4×4. Viewed via that lens, our Denali falls squarely in the middle.
What do you get for that outlay? How about a quarter-mile time that’d be competitive with a 21-year-old Camaro Z28? This Denali, equipped with the 6.2-liter V-8 not provided on GM’s lesser SUVs, blew by way of the traps in 14.2 seconds at 99 mph. Shoddy ergs, questionable styling and all, the LT1-powered 1994 Camaro was a performance bargain in its day. And if the Denali is not the deal of this century, it at least performs in a straight line—60 mph came up in 5.5 seconds, or specifically the same time it took the Porsche Cayenne GTS. As quickly as the road curves, although, forget about it. The GMC exhibits a mere .77 g of lateral grip and the really feel is not dissimilar to that of a 21-year-old K1500 Blazer. Which is to say floaty and a bit uncertain, despite the fact that the steering no longer demands on-center sawing to make minute directional corrections. Even though it gives double the horsepower that numerous SUVs settled for in the ’90s, it also sucks gas like that old, unsophisticated throttle-body-injected truck. We recorded a meager 14 mpg—equivalent to the truck’s EPA city rating, cylinder deactivation notwithstanding. The larger Yukon XL Denali in our extended-term fleet is faring greater (17 mpg) so far but carrying out far more of its miles in highway-cruise mode.
Inside, the Denali’s upgraded materials nonetheless do not very cut the asking-sum mustard. Our tester priced out roughly the same as a base Porsche Cayenne S. And although the Leipzig-built ute’s alleged mission is diverse from that of this bruiser from Arlington, Texas, there’s tiny point in pretending that they’ll do something but commit most of their days carrying out the exact same sorts of things. And inside, there’s merely no comparison. The Porsche’s interior materials, fit, and finish completely shame the large GMC’s. The Variety Rover Sport, which provides up some power to the Cayenne and the GMC unless you splash out Escalade income for the supercharged V-8 variant‚ similarly makes the huge Yank’s cabin appear Walmart-grade. Sure, the GMC’s got pickup-rooted rock-solid guts and does that American friendly-intimidation point much better than the smaller sized Euro-utes, but the galoot-in-a-low cost-suit vibe is instantly apparent if you have spent any time in the offerings from the opposite shores of the Atlantic.
If GM desires to wean itself from its money-on-the-hood addiction, it has to provide interior top quality on par with the competitors. And the competitors, when you’ve pumped your value this high, is utterly fierce. The Infiniti QX80, another dreadnought-grade, body-on-frame machine that commands related entry costs, feels opulent inside in comparison to the Denali. A single may possibly argue with its Zentraedi-battlepod looks, but Infiniti spent the money to do it right. The Yukon nails the huge, blocky, and butch theme—it’s a vast aesthetic improvement more than its droop-faced predecessor, but it just doesn’t really feel nice enough to play at this price point.
By the time Steinbeck penned his portrait of America at midcentury, he was at the end of a storied career—a man whose letters had brought him fame and the sort of cash-flushness most lowly scriveners will by no means reside to see. He had the wherewithal to summer season in Sag Harbor. The Long Island town is exactly the sort of location exactly where the Denali may possibly be put to operate nowadays. Ferrying the children to college, putting the boat in, doing the unluxurious grunt work the lush life demands. It is just that, nicely, that life calls for a shade far more consideration to actual luxury.
October 16, 2014 at 10:55 am by Vehicle and Driver | Photography by Michael Simari
“It would price around $ 164,000 to send 1 of the Yukon’s wheels (tire incorporated) into orbit aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9.” – Charley Ladd, road warrior
Our long-term GMC Yukon XL is so big—well, it has “XL” right there in its name, does not it? It has a massive 6.2-liter V-8 engine. Its huge cabin seats 8 comfortably, plus their stuff. And its big 22-inch wheels look damn great, but Charley is right—shipping them into space (present price: practically $ 2K per pound) in one particular of Elon Musk’s rockets wouldn’t be cheap. We realized this when running our common entrance exam on the GMC—as we do for each and every one particular of our lengthy-term vehicles—and we removed the wheels to measure brake-pad thickness. (It’s a measurement we’ll take once again when the GMC leaves our fleet to analyze wear.) The wheel removal proved to be a workout.
Huge rims on SUVs—even from the factory—aren’t news any longer. But we had never ever especially sought out the wheels’ particulars, even even though we know they’re quite heavy. Following road warrior Charley Ladd—who is far from weak—struggled to wrestle the Yukon’s wheels off, we decided to weigh the beasts. As it turns out, each and every of our long-term Yukon XL Denali’s wheel-and-tire combos crushed the scales at 88 pounds.
As any amateur suspension designer knows, unsprung weight—essentially, anything in the suspension, brakes, and wheels—can have a large impact on overall automobile dynamics and wheel handle more than bumps. The Yukon, for that reason, ought to ride like a broken Radio Flyer wagon, but thanks to the Denali model’s regular Magnetic Ride Manage adaptive magnetorheological dampers and the XL physique style’s longer wheelbase, the truck rides very well. So why are we noting the precise weight of the wheels?
Allow us to paint you a image: It is dark out, possibly raining, and a single of your Yukon’s 22-inch tires meets a nail. You’re a zillion miles from anywhere, and a tire modify is in order. Yep, have enjoyable pig-wrangling that giant chrome wheel and its dead tire up into the trunk—you didn’t have anything back there, did you?—all by your lonesome following installing the 17-inch spare. It hasn’t occurred to us however, but we suggest that any prospective or existing Yukon owners out there commence practicing their power squats—or familiarizing themselves with the location of the OnStar button.
Astute marketing by GM has split the fraternal truck twins Chevrolet and GMC into distinct marketplace segments, at least in the standard consumer’s mind. In the full-size-SUV category, an invisible wall stands amongst the worth-conscious Chevy Tahoe and Suburban and the far better-dressed GMC Yukon and Yukon XL.
Tack on a Denali badge—which, for a tidy $ 16,345 surcharge above the expense of a base Yukon or Yukon XL, adds Cadillac Escalade–worthy trim and equipment—and you have got a GMC welcome alongside the pricey imports at swish watering holes. There’s so significantly cachet associated with this trim level that most of the Yukons sold are now Denali editions.
The rise of any domestic solution into premium import havens is result in for celebration. Element in a redesign for the 2015 model year and our perpetually higher demand for comfy autos capable of hard work and you have got a Automobile and Driver extended-term test in the generating.
Not a Minivan
As usual, we checked every expensive box: Denali trim with its standard 6.2-liter V-8, 4WD with a dual-variety transfer case, a $ 4160 Touring package (such as rear-seat entertainment, a sunroof, a head-up display, and adequate theft-deterrence gear to thwart a government operative), and 22-inch aluminum wheels. The net result is a $ 74,030 3-row, leather-trimmed, electronics-steeped, purple-ish Iridium Metallic, all-weather, tow-ready family members transport that will never ever be confused with a minivan.
Or, for that matter, something mini. Very first observation: The dark paint doesn’t help this Yukon XL appear any smaller sized. We’re speaking much more than 3 tons of curb weight, a 10-foot-plus wheelbase, and the need for a parking space big adequate to host a pair of Wise For2s. Completing a U-turn in one sweep calls for a 43-foot stretch of pavement.
Lengthy rear doors offer great access to second- and third-row areas, despite the fact that there’s often a climb up to get in. Simply because the fold-flat seats align with a cargo floor raised 3 inches, there’s a 25-inch-long level surface and 121.1 cubic feet of space amongst the tailgate and the front seatbacks. 4-by-8 sheets of building material fit nicely. The stitched and perforated leather, brushed metal, and burl-wood trim are desirable, and there are enough cup holders and cubbies to host a scout troop.
Out on Maneuvers
A trip to the track revealed decent functionality for such a big rig. The run to 60 mph took 6.5 seconds, and we clocked a 96-mph quarter-mile in 15.1 seconds. The 22-inch all-season Bridgestone Dueler tires hung on for .75 g of grip on the skidpad, and pizza-sized brake discs stopped our Denali from 70 mph in 189 feet with moderate fade.
The much more time we invest behind the wheel, the smaller this grand van feels. What seems large and cumbersome in your driveway shrinks around you as the miles of interstate disappear behind you. The husky V-8 cruises silently even whilst running on 4 cylinders, and the magnetic adjustable dampers and all-coil-spring suspension provide a placid ride. We can’t wait to put the 7900-pound tow rating and the 8-passenger interior to getaway use.
Certain, we really like sports cars and nimble hatchbacks for our day-to-day commutes. But when there are swimming holes to pay a visit to, collector cars to retrieve, and road trips with family members and close friends, this Yukon XL Denali is the very first to be reserved, typically weeks in advance. Watch this space to see how a classic American pickup-primarily based luxury wagon fares more than the long haul.
Months in Fleet: 3 months Existing Mileage: 12,750 miles Typical Fuel Economy: 17 mpg Fuel Tank Size: 31 gal Fuel Range: 530 miles Service: $ 94 Normal Put on: $ Repair: $
