2019 GMC Yukon XL Denali 4WD 8-Speed Automatic
2019 GMC Yukon XL Denali 4WD 8-Speed Automatic Basic Motors pretty considerably owns the full-size SUV section with its entries from Chevrolet, GMC, and Cadillac. Income of the General’s six regular- and extended-length full-size SUVs totaled 255,907 through November; within the identical time period, Ford found just 63,887 buyers for its four complete variants from the competing Expedition and Lincoln Navigator. It can’t hurt that GM covers each of the pricing bases in the $48,410 entry-level Chevy Tahoe for the $98,790 Cadillac Escalade ESV Platinum 4x4. As people hefty MSRPs propose, these trucks make plenty of revenue, especially luxury variants like the one particular we’ve tested here, the GMC Yukon XL Denali.
More than a folks hauler, the extended-wheelbase Yukon XL can tow and haul hefty cargo, too. Almost 19 feet lengthy from stem to stern and riding on the massive 130-inch wheelbase, the large GMC has room for up to eight individuals (our Denali check truck’s second-row captain’s chairs constrained it to a optimum of 7) and will carry 39 cubic feet of their belongings behind the third row. Tow ratings vary from 7900 to 8100 pounds, based on products.
Paying out the $8650 premium for that Denali improve in excess of the next-lowest trim, the SLT 4x4, brings magnetic-ride-control dampers, HID headlamps, active noise cancellation, a larger alternator (to take care of these electrical upgrades), a customizable driver’s display, a glitzy grille, and sparkling body-side trim. A more functional Denali upgrade is its 6.2-liter V-8, which supplants lesser versions’ 5.3-liter V-8. The six.two is really a detuned model from the Corvette Stingray engine and produces 420 horsepower and 460 lb-ft of torque here, output we manufactured ample use of throughout a forty,000-mile long-term test of a 2015 Yukon XL Denali. So why test the identical GMC once more? Because our long-termer was constructed, GM replaced the six.2’s former six-speed automated transmission with a new eight-speed unit.
The new powertrain pairing propelled this 2017 model from rest to 60 mph in five.8 seconds and through the quarter-mile in 14.3 seconds at 98 mph. Compared with the best outcomes we acquired from our 2015 long-termer, people are improvements of 0.1 and 0.two second-essentially a wash. The eight-speed proved relatively much more valuable in terms of fuel economy, if not in our combined average-16 mpg, similar to the long-termer-then more than our 200-mile, 75-mph highway cruising test. For the duration of that physical exercise, this Yukon XL returned 21 mpg, or one mpg increased than its EPA highway rating.
2019 GMC Yukon XL Denali 4WD 8-Speed Automatic - Interior:
The Yukon’s interior is almost identical to that of its mechanical twin, the Chevrolet Suburban, setting aside the upgraded resources and characteristics that feature the Denali trim level. This is not a poor factor with regards to comfort, ergonomics, and first- and second-row room, but a number of the same plastics that disappoint in that base $48K Chevy are nevertheless prominent in this rig, along with the third row is unpleasant, hard to clamber into, and set really reduced on the floor. The central infotainment touchscreen is crisp and clear, responds rapidly to inputs, and has redundant buttons and knobs beneath it. There is even a modest area behind the screen-which motors up and out of the way-to retailer or charge a telephone and to hide other modest things you’d like to conceal. There are numerous storage cubbies of numerous sizes scattered through the entire cabin that it’s tough to think about anybody needing to depart something behind.
In its element even though cruising the interstates, the Yukon XL wafts along quietly and generally isolates occupants in the outside globe, even though also feeling planted and stable. Nonetheless, when traversing Michigan’s most broken pavement, some tire slap and suspension noise invades the cabin, along with the ride can get flinty on the Denali edition’s 22-inch wheels (our long-termer’s 22s weighed 88 lbs per corner using the tires put in).
The Yukon XL yields towards the Ford Expedition EL/Lincoln Navigator L in relation to cargo capability, giving up four cubic feet with all seats raised and 10 with the second and third rows stowed. These aren’t insignificant, but you can nevertheless fit a studio apartment’s worth of things in here. Without a doubt, deciding on the long-wheelbase XL model means 24 cubic feet far more room behind the third row than while in the common Yukon and as much as 26 further cubes with the seats folded. In the most recent redesign for 2015, GM attained a nearly flat load floor by including a platform with storage beneath, but it is a work-around for your inefficient packaging in the live-axle rear suspension, a carryover in the full-size-pickup platform on which GM’s full-size SUVs are based. In contrast, Ford’s Expedition employs an independent rear suspension that each allows far more productive packaging plus a far more compliant trip above washboard sections of gravel roads. In addition, GM’s platform raises the load height by about three inches, which might not look like much until you’re trying to things a hefty fridge through the hatch.
2019 GMC Yukon XL Denali 4WD 8-Speed Automatic - Features:
Parking or maneuvering a motor vehicle which is seven feet wide (such as large mirrors) and 224 inches long could be a challenge. Without a doubt, while testing the GMC, a tight parking lot place the SUV’s security functions by means of their paces. Proximity sensors were buzzing front and back, cross-path detection chimed as other folks navigated around the monster SUV, and the transmission and shifter (along with the driver) got a workout even though creating something like a six-point turn to slot the beast into a narrow room. Our check car also came equipped using a high-resolution backup camera along with GM’s haptic alert technique, which vibrates the driver’s seat when the vehicle closes in on an obstruction. These haptic alerts also deliver warnings through the lane-keeping-assist method.
Whilst the Yukon XL Denali can be a hugely capable and pleasant adequate motor vehicle, there are numerous other options that ring in under its massive $81,000 MSRP. As an example, each of the space, a sizable portion from the capability, and nearly all of the comforts might be had for $10,000 much less while in the Chevy Suburban Premier. The bow-tie version’s only concession is the fact that it can’t be ordered together with the six.2-liter V-8, however the 355-hp 5.3-liter V-8 is no slouch, delivering a zero-to-60-mph run of seven.one seconds in our testing. People contemplating the Yukon far more for its trimmings than its hauling abilities may well contemplate the Mercedes-Benz GLS450, which starts at significantly less than $70,000 and includes a a lot more luxurious interior. It also offers a much more satisfying driving knowledge and a lot much more brand cachet. Even though the GMC resides inside a excellent middle ground between Chevy and Cadillac when viewed from a GM-centric perspective, the Yukon XL Denali’s price elevates it to a degree in which ultra-luxurious appointments, stellar road dealing with, and-in a lot of cases-better off-road prowess come from more prestigious brand names that style their large SUVs on devoted platforms.
It’s a competent, strong, and luxurious SUV, but the Yukon XL Denali is not the best bang for your buck, except if, probably, you are pricing it like genuine estate, from the square foot. Constructing these cars on existing pickup-truck mechanical components could enhance GM’s revenue margins, but tough the most luxurious seven- or eight-seat SUVs would take far more energy to supply a deluxe driving encounter that goes beyond embellishing a work truck having a bunch of features and trim.
2019 GMC Yukon XL Denali 4WD 8-Speed Automatic
More than a folks hauler, the extended-wheelbase Yukon XL can tow and haul hefty cargo, too. Almost 19 feet lengthy from stem to stern and riding on the massive 130-inch wheelbase, the large GMC has room for up to eight individuals (our Denali check truck’s second-row captain’s chairs constrained it to a optimum of 7) and will carry 39 cubic feet of their belongings behind the third row. Tow ratings vary from 7900 to 8100 pounds, based on products.
Paying out the $8650 premium for that Denali improve in excess of the next-lowest trim, the SLT 4x4, brings magnetic-ride-control dampers, HID headlamps, active noise cancellation, a larger alternator (to take care of these electrical upgrades), a customizable driver’s display, a glitzy grille, and sparkling body-side trim. A more functional Denali upgrade is its 6.2-liter V-8, which supplants lesser versions’ 5.3-liter V-8. The six.two is really a detuned model from the Corvette Stingray engine and produces 420 horsepower and 460 lb-ft of torque here, output we manufactured ample use of throughout a forty,000-mile long-term test of a 2015 Yukon XL Denali. So why test the identical GMC once more? Because our long-termer was constructed, GM replaced the six.2’s former six-speed automated transmission with a new eight-speed unit.
The new powertrain pairing propelled this 2017 model from rest to 60 mph in five.8 seconds and through the quarter-mile in 14.3 seconds at 98 mph. Compared with the best outcomes we acquired from our 2015 long-termer, people are improvements of 0.1 and 0.two second-essentially a wash. The eight-speed proved relatively much more valuable in terms of fuel economy, if not in our combined average-16 mpg, similar to the long-termer-then more than our 200-mile, 75-mph highway cruising test. For the duration of that physical exercise, this Yukon XL returned 21 mpg, or one mpg increased than its EPA highway rating.
2019 GMC Yukon XL Denali 4WD 8-Speed Automatic - Interior:
The Yukon’s interior is almost identical to that of its mechanical twin, the Chevrolet Suburban, setting aside the upgraded resources and characteristics that feature the Denali trim level. This is not a poor factor with regards to comfort, ergonomics, and first- and second-row room, but a number of the same plastics that disappoint in that base $48K Chevy are nevertheless prominent in this rig, along with the third row is unpleasant, hard to clamber into, and set really reduced on the floor. The central infotainment touchscreen is crisp and clear, responds rapidly to inputs, and has redundant buttons and knobs beneath it. There is even a modest area behind the screen-which motors up and out of the way-to retailer or charge a telephone and to hide other modest things you’d like to conceal. There are numerous storage cubbies of numerous sizes scattered through the entire cabin that it’s tough to think about anybody needing to depart something behind.
In its element even though cruising the interstates, the Yukon XL wafts along quietly and generally isolates occupants in the outside globe, even though also feeling planted and stable. Nonetheless, when traversing Michigan’s most broken pavement, some tire slap and suspension noise invades the cabin, along with the ride can get flinty on the Denali edition’s 22-inch wheels (our long-termer’s 22s weighed 88 lbs per corner using the tires put in).
The Yukon XL yields towards the Ford Expedition EL/Lincoln Navigator L in relation to cargo capability, giving up four cubic feet with all seats raised and 10 with the second and third rows stowed. These aren’t insignificant, but you can nevertheless fit a studio apartment’s worth of things in here. Without a doubt, deciding on the long-wheelbase XL model means 24 cubic feet far more room behind the third row than while in the common Yukon and as much as 26 further cubes with the seats folded. In the most recent redesign for 2015, GM attained a nearly flat load floor by including a platform with storage beneath, but it is a work-around for your inefficient packaging in the live-axle rear suspension, a carryover in the full-size-pickup platform on which GM’s full-size SUVs are based. In contrast, Ford’s Expedition employs an independent rear suspension that each allows far more productive packaging plus a far more compliant trip above washboard sections of gravel roads. In addition, GM’s platform raises the load height by about three inches, which might not look like much until you’re trying to things a hefty fridge through the hatch.
2019 GMC Yukon XL Denali 4WD 8-Speed Automatic - Features:
Parking or maneuvering a motor vehicle which is seven feet wide (such as large mirrors) and 224 inches long could be a challenge. Without a doubt, while testing the GMC, a tight parking lot place the SUV’s security functions by means of their paces. Proximity sensors were buzzing front and back, cross-path detection chimed as other folks navigated around the monster SUV, and the transmission and shifter (along with the driver) got a workout even though creating something like a six-point turn to slot the beast into a narrow room. Our check car also came equipped using a high-resolution backup camera along with GM’s haptic alert technique, which vibrates the driver’s seat when the vehicle closes in on an obstruction. These haptic alerts also deliver warnings through the lane-keeping-assist method.
Whilst the Yukon XL Denali can be a hugely capable and pleasant adequate motor vehicle, there are numerous other options that ring in under its massive $81,000 MSRP. As an example, each of the space, a sizable portion from the capability, and nearly all of the comforts might be had for $10,000 much less while in the Chevy Suburban Premier. The bow-tie version’s only concession is the fact that it can’t be ordered together with the six.2-liter V-8, however the 355-hp 5.3-liter V-8 is no slouch, delivering a zero-to-60-mph run of seven.one seconds in our testing. People contemplating the Yukon far more for its trimmings than its hauling abilities may well contemplate the Mercedes-Benz GLS450, which starts at significantly less than $70,000 and includes a a lot more luxurious interior. It also offers a much more satisfying driving knowledge and a lot much more brand cachet. Even though the GMC resides inside a excellent middle ground between Chevy and Cadillac when viewed from a GM-centric perspective, the Yukon XL Denali’s price elevates it to a degree in which ultra-luxurious appointments, stellar road dealing with, and-in a lot of cases-better off-road prowess come from more prestigious brand names that style their large SUVs on devoted platforms.
It’s a competent, strong, and luxurious SUV, but the Yukon XL Denali is not the best bang for your buck, except if, probably, you are pricing it like genuine estate, from the square foot. Constructing these cars on existing pickup-truck mechanical components could enhance GM’s revenue margins, but tough the most luxurious seven- or eight-seat SUVs would take far more energy to supply a deluxe driving encounter that goes beyond embellishing a work truck having a bunch of features and trim.