I gawped at the $111,785 sticker of this seven-passenger GMC. How could I not? Mind you, you can get “into” the Yukon Denali with 4WD at a slightly saner $76,000 for the 4×4 Elevation version. But a base 4×4 Tahoe (which, under posher polish is the same vehicle) is a lot cheaper, at about $64,000 out the door, with destination. Even a pretty dang spiffy High Country Tahoe tabs up to about $86,300. Oh, and the Cadillac Escalade starts at $97,000 (including destination). So you can get into a Tahoe for $25,000 (and change) cheaper, or add a few options and buy the Caddy instead. Oh, and go back a half decade and a 2020 Yukon started at $50, 600. So what are you getting for more than 100 large? How ultimate is Ultimate?
Performance and Driving Impressions
A Big SUV That Drives Better Than It Should
- Engine: 6.2L V8
- Power: 420 hp
- Transmission: 10-speed automatic
- Drivetrain: 4WD
- Max towing: 8,200 lb
Let’s give GMC credit where credit’s due. This is one very slick-driving lifted limo. The ride is terrific, and I’ll hat-tip both magnetic ride control — a Corvette innovation that stiffens or softens the dampers 1,000 times per second in response to road imperfections — and an adaptive air suspension.
“I’m sure there are plenty of customers for whom even the High Country Tahoe isn’t fancy enough. And who would never consider the Ford Expedition, either, which, by the way, is also a worthy cross-shop.”
A long road trip was also made a lot easier using GM’s SuperCruise. Since this is the Ultimate trim it came with the more potent, 420-horsepower, 6.2-liter V-8 rather than the 355-horsepower, 5.3-liter V-8. Despite the extra heavy-metal, I still managed to just whisper over 20 MPG during a mostly highway trip lasting six hours, and the 10-speed automatic transmission shifts both crisply under hard throttle and buttery when you’re not mashing it.
Also, myriad cameras make tight parking and also trailering extra easy. I didn’t trailer anything (though I could’ve tugged 8,200 pounds in this trim), but did fit a bike rack. Having multiple rear camera views was a godsend. That said, I had to keep silencing a persistent and nigglesome backup alarm that kept not retaining the knowledge that there was something attached to the receiver. If there had been a three-pin trailer connector this system would’ve gotten the message, but, again, for this kind of scratch, why isn’t there a simple override function you enter once while a bike ratch is attached?
And while I’m asking questions, does the Yukon deny physics and slice apexes? Unfortunately, no. And since it happens to be competing where both the Mercedes-Benz GLS and BMW X7 are priced, that’s a problem, since both of those rigs (especially the BMW) are both faster and handle more precisely. Arguably, too, at this price especially, both those labels carry more cache, too.
Related – 2024 GMC Yukon Denali Ultimate: Luxury SUV or Premium Truck in Disguise?
Interior
The Cabin Mostly Lives Up to the Price
I cannot let another sentence pass without oozing about this beast’s 22-speaker Bose sound system. I’ve heard somewhat better in top systems in Porsche and Benzes, but this sound system is definitely stellar. You access that and so many other features via a massive center touchscreen that would make an Airbus blush with envy. This is definitely a capital S, “system,” with menu upon menu of infrastructure. Luckily, HVAC controls still have physical switchgear, and there are shortcut activations to what you really need to fire up — massaging front seats.
That said, folding the third row via buttons within the hatch proves a fairly fiddle operation, since the fronts have to be all the way forward to accommodate that flip, and don’t auto-magic into place. This seems like a feature you’d want in your north-of-$100k whip.
Still, at least both the first and second rows are decently posh, with a contour-line (a la, what indicates changes in elevation on a printed map) theme to shoulder supports, and sumptuous leather and whole groves of open-pore wood gracing the cabin.
Related –2016 GMC Yukon Denali Review
Styling
Premium Without Trying Too Hard
GMC can’t really catch a break in a way. This is most obviously a Tahoe under its bones and so is an Escalade, but Cadillac is given a bigger checkbook for further botoxing its sheetmetal. It’s not that the Yukon Denali is unattractive. I think it’s plenty sharp, actually, and at least in the Glacier White tricoat paint (shouldn’t that be Denali white?) with red GMC logos, it has the right “horse country” vibe.
Related – 2019 GMC Yukon SLT Graphite Edition Review: Trying Too Hard?
Takeaway
I’m sure there are plenty of customers for whom even the High Country Tahoe isn’t fancy enough. And who would never consider the Ford Expedition, either, which, by the way, is also a worthy cross-shop.
And, no shade to GMC for selling the Ultimate version of this Yukon. I dig it fine, and certainly think in the big-barge, three-row category, it does all the things you want, including seating seven (though, naturally, the third row is tight).
To me the issue is that this is so expensive, and its Cadillac cousin is also a rival and not massively more pricey. So I struggle to see why you’d get the GMC instead. Because if you want posh, you’ll buy German. And if you live in the heartland and that’s not cool, you’ll just buy the Escalade. Hey, I think all cup-runneth-over-with-equity buyers ought to cross-shop the segment and see what GMC has to offer. I just doubt they will.
