I’m always interested to see how the neighbors or my friends happen to react to a given test car or truck showing up at the BangShift eastern world offices. We have had some interesting stuff roll through over the last few years and the way that the regular folks in the neighborhood kind of perceive it tells a lot. For instance, when there was a BMW i8 in the driveway last summer people went ape. It has the same visceral effect on them as it did on us. Just jaw dropping. It forced you to look at it and pay attention.
Other stuff like say the Jaguar F-Type R didn’t get the attention that I figured it would just because it is such a hot looking number. All this being said, the amount of fawning and pure interest generated by the 2016 Yukon Denali was pretty much beyond anything I had experienced to date. This is a big, romping-stomping SUV that is clearly an aspirational vehicle to a lot of people and something that has firmly implanted itself into the public consciousness. With 60% of GMC sales being Denali models, it is clearly something that people want to own and it was now my job to try and figure out why. Oh, the other challenge was to see if it met the standard of a $74,330 price tag.
Powertrain –
For starters, the thing is a rocket. With the 420hp 6.2L engine and an eight speed transmission the 2016 Yukon Denali runs to 60 in 5.5 seconds and reportedly it will cover the quarter mile in 14.1 seconds. This is a 5,500lb truck that will run within a couple tenths of a V6 Camaro in the quarter mile. The eight speed transmission is fantastic and really does a nice job of adapting to the driving style of the person behind the wheel.
At full throttle the shifts are crisp and nicely timed and around town the trans does the job of finding the lowest possible gear in the quickest possible fashion to maximize fuel economy. Maybe I should phrase that as minimize fuel consumption because the economy side of things isn’t exactly prolific. We saw the Yukon Denali achieve the “sticker” economy of about 15mpg around town and 22 or a little more on the highway. Like in lots of situations, the power is kind of too fun to ignore and dipping a toe into it or a foot into it in a more frequent than normal fashion may have hampered the fuel economy some.
Here’s the 6.2L LT that powers the 2016 Yukon Denali. 420hp and an eight speed automatic make this a hell of a combo. The truck is shockingly quick.
The 420 factory horsepower can become 500 or more in a hurry in this truck. It wouldn’t be hard to add headers, intake manifold, a cam, etc. The LT engine is coming into its own in the aftermarket now.
The modern equivalent to the 1960s big block station wagon, this truck is really something else in terms of performance. Because of the magnetic ride control, handling is also far better than expected.
Exterior –
The basic SUV shape is kind of an inescapable thing, especially one that is in the full-sized realm so the defining features on these vehicles aren’t necessarily their shapes but rather the way those shapes are treated. In the case of the GMC Yukon Denali we think that it looks about as taught as it could, given its girth. The flab is minimized and while you get the sense of how big the Yukon Denali is when you are inside it, looking at it from the outside does not give you the impression that it is the size of a Mack truck or anything. Unlike some other manufacturers the key design element was less testosterone and more class and dignity. I do feel that one of the reasons people see these vehicles as status symbols (outside of the price) is the fact that they have a commanding presence and not because it is trying to beat you over the head with flashy looks but rather the Yukon Denali is trying to keep you peeking back to see more details. This is the definition of a sharply dressed brute.
The nose of the truck is very nice with the large chrome grill and the headlights that hark to the earlier days of the Art and Science Cadillac design direction. It all looks entirely modern and we bet that it will age well. The 22 inch wheels are massive but in total proportion with the rest of the truck. I feel as though they would be gaudy and bad if they were polished chrome but in the argent/flat hue that they were here everyone liked them, including me. They split the difference between toughness and style very well.
We did some very light off-roading with the truck, mainly to see how the magnetic ride control worked in different situations. It was fantastic and the big Yukon was more than happy on the fire roads.
The styling direction on the Yukon Denali is pretty conservative and with a $74,330 price tag we understand why. We’d have to guess that the average buyer isn’t hunting for a graphics package.
The vast majority of SUVs like the Yukon Denali will never see the dirt unless they are parking on some at a concert venue or perhaps backing over a flowerbed at the end of the driveway. We’re not saying you could take this one to Moab but it did ok in our little test.
These wheels are cool and for a factory pice, very nice. We’re not sure how many people that paid the $2,000 upgrade for them would pull them off in favor of chrome wheels but we never would.
Interior and driving impressions –
One area that General Motors has found universal acclaim for over the last several years has been the interiors of their cars and truck. They really made some serious investments in materials, design, and engineering to make the interiors better and to move the class of their interiors up to the level that people were spending to buy into them. In many respects the interior in the Yukon Denali is spectacular. There is storage room for days in the driver and passenger compartments. There’s ample leg room for everyone at all times. There are power fold down flat third row seats which turn a decent storage area into a cavern. There’s pockets, compartments, and bins for whatever you could possible want to stick in this thing.
We’d say that the seats have a declining comfortability level as you move rearward. The front seats are nice and would be a fine place to park your backside on a road trip. The rear seats are nice but not quite as cushy as the fronts and the third row is what you would expect and not the place you’d want to spend hours and hours on end, unless you were a kid and then you’d probably love it.
With regard to what it is like to drive the 2016 Yukon Denali I can tell you that while you’d never confuse it for a Corvette it handles really well for something that weighs three tons. GM’s amazing magnetic ride control is 100% to credit for this. Roll and lean is kept to a minimum, squat under acceleration and dive under braking are virtually nil, and the weight of the steering is akin to a sport sedan rather than the feel of a pickup truck or something of that nature. Again, it is an SUV so it is impossible to report that the thing blew us away with its handling prowess but it is quiet, it is lacking in bumps, clunks, and clanks, and if you want to take a highway off-ramp at decent speeds you can get away with it.
There is storage and stowage a plenty inside the 2016 Yukon Denali. The column shifter is a bit of an oddity these days but it does open up a ton of console room.
Wood accents are used sparingly and nicely through the cabin. Overuse of wood can be pretty garish and bad but the interior follows the exterior theme here and that is subtly
Rear captains chairs give tons of room and are comfy. Plenty of space and comfort to survive a long road trip back here.
Even the third row offers human-sized leg room but as is the case with virtually every third row seat ever, comfort isn’t exactly the focal point back here.
Rear climate control and heated seats were a nice touch and give the friends you are driving around another layer of comfort.
The fold down entertainment screen is part of the “Open Road package” that nets you this screen, nine more months of XM radio, and the sunroof. Price? $2,760.
You do feel like a captain of industry when you are cruising this thing down the road. People look, more than we ever expected would.
The transfer case lever is a dying thing these days. In this case 4×4 mode is set by turning the dial.
Door panel illustrates the interior colors which are described as “cocoa/dark atmosphere” on the window sticker. Hints of wood that were seen in the driver’s area head through the vehicle as shown here.
With the power rear seats folded down flat you could haul a ton of stuff inside the Yukon Denali. You could flip the captain’s chairs down as well and have the entire length of the vehicle to store things in if you needed to move a marching bad or something.
With the third row seat in the up position there’s a little more than 15-cubic feet to store things.
Final conclusions –
Here’s the reality of the situation. If you are shopping for a new Yukon Denali you have the scratch to afford it. Putting myself into the place of a guy or girl that was walking into a dealership with the expectation of spending $70,000 may not have been the easiest thing to do but if I looked at it though their eyes, was I getting what I wanted for my money? I believe that the buyer is getting their money’s worth here. For a similar sized vehicle from a “luxury” manufacturer you would be spending 10s of thousands more. Yes you may have slightly more rich textures on interior surfaces from those vehicles but performance-wise, styling wise, and social status wise the Yukon Denali holds its own with all of them.
Image is everything when it comes to the big SUV world and the Yukon Denali projects the one that its potential buyers are looking for. It is large, it is fast, and it is well dressed. Entry into that club just doesn’t come cheap.
My mortgage was $100K. No Suburban is worth 3/4 of a house.
Uh,74k, is it 2 or bedroom ? Very nice though, but, I’ll have to wait till its 3-4 years old and, if I’m lucky salvage history, and then really affordable!!