Is the GMC Yukon Denali Ultimate a Credible Luxury Vehicle?

When GMC showed a concept of the first Yukon Denali at the 1997 Detroit Auto Show, we’re not sure it imagined quite how far into luxury territory – spec-wise and price-wise – the production truck might ultimately reach. This Ultimate trim arrived for 2023.

The Denali Ultimate, the range-topping version of the 2024 GMC Yukon full-size SUV, sells for C$130k / US$105k with a couple of basic options. You could buy an entry-level Porsche Panamera or Range Rover for that (just), a high-spec Mercedes GLE or a super-luxurious Genesis G90. This is serious money.

We spent a week testing a Yukon Denali Ultimate 4WD, MSRP C$127,699 / US$101,755, to see whether it could convincingly shake off its work-truck roots.

Performance and driving impressions

Under the hood is GM’s tried-and-trusted, 6.2-litre gas V8. In normal driving it only makes its presence felt when you accelerate hard, which is as it should be for a truck with luxury pretensions. GMC says that around 25% of customers opt for the 3-litre Duramax diesel, which should use a lot less fuel than the 16L/100km (14.7mpg) we recorded.

The ride comfort on air suspension is decent for the GMC SUV. It still feels like a truck on 22-inch wheels, but at least there’s good isolation from road noise. The tires are Bridgestone all-seasons — fine for road work, but you won’t want to venture too far into the mud. GMC says that Denalis tend not to get too dirty anyway.

Whether hands-off systems like SuperCruise offer a safety benefit is a moot point – we’d recommend reading IIHS’s thoughts on this technology. Crucially, here on the Ultimate the SuperCruise gave us ample reminders when disengaging and helpfully worked on some non-highway major routes.

Interior

If you’re a fan of physical buttons and controls rather than touchscreen replacements and Lincoln-style minimalism, you’re going to love the Ultimate’s dashboard. Chunky buttons designed to be operated by gloved hands are still in evidence here, albeit nicely finished to complement the premium materials elsewhere.

There are positives to this. Mounting the gearshift pushbuttons vertically, high up, makes them more user-friendly than when arranged horizontally, down low. Likewise the parking brake is at a sensible height, rather than forcing the driver to reach low under the dash.

The downside is that by the time you layer on the Ultimate’s extra features, there are a lot of small buttons. There’s a cluttered look and it’s sometimes hard to find what you need. We think relocating some less-used functions to the 10.2-inch central touchscreen could result in a happy medium.

That screen has Google built-in, which always makes the infotainment simpler to operate. We had no issues integrating a phone via Android Auto and there’s good sound from the Bose audio system.

Rear-seat occupants get seat-back screens of their own. These will help keep the kids or chauffeured VIPs entertained but they do restrict the driver’s view when looking through the passenger-side rear window when backing out of a parking spot.

Rear visibility with the third-row seating in place is also limited, which is where the video rear-view mirror should come into its own, except that we found depth perception to be a challenge. We were never quite certain where the cars around us on the highway really were.

However, there’s no doubt that the interior has an upscale ambience overall. The Alpine Umber (brown) leather seats are nicely trimmed and the cab feels well screwed together. When some friends climbed into the rear seats the reaction was, “wow, this is nice!”. That’s a subjective first impression, but few will be disappointed with the space and comfort in the second row.

There’s a power-folding third row too, of course. If you want acceptable trunk space with three rows in place, you’ll need the longer Yukon XL.

Styling

GMC tells us that for Denali buyers, style enters the top-five reasons to buy alongside traditional truck attributes like power and towing capacity (3,632kg / 8,000 lb in this case).

You’ll never reinvent the two-box profile of a full-size SUV so it’s about ensuring the details catch your eye. The Ultimate adopts a low-key approach, keeping the chrome trim restrained and ensuring the lights and grille add visual interest. One strange quirk was that in wet weather, water collected in the grille and then periodically fired up over the hood like a sprinkler system. One for the aerodynamicists to revisit.

The wheels on our truck were the standard, ‘ultra-bright machined aluminum’ items. You can spend a few thousand more on fancier ones. All are 22in rims, so you’ll have to go aftermarket if you want to downsize and add some plushness to the ride.

Our Titanium Rush Metallic was priced at the low end of the optional paint shades (C$495 / US$495), and gave an understated look entirely in keeping with, say, delivering celebrities to the red carpet.

Pros

• Classy cabin
• Major controls thoughtfully designed
• Vast towing capacity

Cons

• Too many small buttons
• Restricted rear visibility
• Load area not flat

We’re told that GMC Yukon Denali Ultimate buyers are often entrepreneurs, many of whom also have work trucks and buy their Denali through the business. In short, they love trucks, making high-end products from Chevy, Ford, Ram or Toyota the natural rivals to the Yukon rather than a less-trucky SUV from a traditional luxury brand.

The Denali Ultimate remains truck first, luxury vehicle second – albeit, “a thoroughbred not a workhorse,” as our GMC contact put it. Sitting in its rear seats is a world away from spending time in the back of a cosseting Genesis G90, but that was never the goal. Instead, its target market of truck buyers with money to spend will find a lot to like.