2021 GMC Yukon Denali Video Review: MotorTrend Buyer's Guide

MotorTrend

In this Buyer’s Guide

Transcript

00:00 Hi there, this is the completely new 2021 GMC Yukon Denali.

00:05 It's big, it's bold, it's face is definitely in your face

00:12 and this one doesn't even have a V8.

00:15 In fact, this Yukon doesn't use any gasoline at all.

00:20 That's right, this Denali is a diesel.

00:24 But is it any good?

00:26 Let's find out.

00:27 (upbeat music)

00:29 The Yukon has been around for decades.

00:33 It's part of the corporate triplets of GM full-size SUVs.

00:37 You've got the Chevy Tahoe/Suburban

00:40 and of course the Cadillac Escalade.

00:42 And what General Motors does is

00:43 they take their full-size pickup truck,

00:45 they put an SUV body on it and for this generation,

00:49 they are removing the live rear axle

00:51 and replacing it with independent rear suspension.

00:54 This not only greatly improves ride quality,

00:57 but it allows for a larger third row.

01:00 Vehicles of this sort are very rare outside of the US.

01:05 There's some in Canada and some in Mexico,

01:07 but really to have a vehicle this large

01:09 with this much capability,

01:11 it just doesn't exist in other markets.

01:13 It's a almost unique American phenomenon.

01:16 Aside from the Chevy version and the Cadillac,

01:20 its natural competitors are the Ford Expedition,

01:23 the Lincoln Navigator, the Toyota Sequoia,

01:26 the Nissan Armada and sooner than later,

01:29 there's gonna be a full-size three row SUV from Jeep.

01:34 The problem with the Yukon in the past was

01:36 why would you choose it over the Chevy?

01:39 They're identical vehicles

01:40 and typically Chevys cost a little bit less.

01:43 So what GMC did to solve that problem was

01:45 they came up with the Denali trim level,

01:47 which is nicer than the Chevrolet,

01:49 not quite as nice as the Cadillac.

01:51 It's a bit of a tweener and that made it unique

01:54 in the marketplace.

01:55 Add to that a turbo diesel motor

01:58 and that's two unique selling points.

02:00 As far as design goes, I think it's fairly safe

02:04 to point out that the word subtle was banned

02:07 from the GMC design studio.

02:09 I mean, ah, look at this thing.

02:11 Really though, the overarching design element is just size.

02:16 It is massive and then there's this grill.

02:20 I mean, talk about bling bling.

02:22 It's almost obscene, but the crazy part is

02:26 if you look at the Yukon next to the Chevy version

02:29 of this platform or the Cadillac,

02:32 this is the best looking one.

02:34 Coming down the side, and again,

02:35 it's just the scale is so big.

02:38 These are 22 inch wheels

02:40 and they just look like regular size wheels.

02:42 But the details are good, the bright work is nice,

02:45 the line work is good.

02:47 They did a really excellent job on the C pillar.

02:49 It's elegant.

02:50 You walk out back and ah, I mean, it's just a giant SUV.

02:54 The only thing they really played with

02:55 or maybe were allowed to play with are the tail lights

02:58 and they did a great job with that.

02:59 But again, the overarching message is size apparently matters.

03:04 I'm inside the Yukon Denali and as you can see,

03:08 it's not quite as bling blingy in here as it is out there.

03:12 I'd actually call it drab

03:13 because I'm looking at about 12 different shades of gray.

03:16 Yes, everything seems to have leather and metal

03:19 and wood on it, but I'm not 100% convinced that's leather.

03:22 I know that's not metal.

03:23 They say authentic wood details,

03:26 which means it's plastic and they molded it off

03:28 of an authentic piece of wood.

03:30 I don't wanna call it lipstick on a pig,

03:33 but this is fake wood on the Chevy.

03:36 And one of my crazy gripes

03:38 with all these full-size GM products,

03:40 there's this knob here.

03:41 It's a really important knob

03:42 because it's how you get from normal to sport to towing,

03:45 the different driving modes, and it's unlabeled.

03:48 I only found it on accident,

03:50 but they hide what it actually does.

03:53 And this is just a normal GM weird thing

03:55 where they have cool technology

03:57 and they hide it from the owners.

04:00 As far as the screen goes, it's big, it works well,

04:04 it's legible.

04:05 Now, one of the reasons you buy these vehicles though

04:07 is really for space and there's tons of it.

04:10 It is cavernous in here.

04:12 There's also tons of room in the middle row.

04:14 And even the third row, finally,

04:16 because of the independent suspension,

04:18 is actually pretty spacious.

04:20 Performance.

04:22 There's bad news and there's good news.

04:24 We're gonna start with the bad news.

04:25 This turbo diesel three liter six cylinder engine

04:28 makes 277 horsepower and 460 pound feet of torque.

04:33 Now, that torque output is the same

04:35 as the 6.2 liter gasoline V8.

04:38 However, the power's way down.

04:39 The gas engine makes 420 horsepower.

04:42 So, in a straight line, this is gonna be slower

04:45 than the regular V8 Yukon.

04:46 However, that's really only when you're flooring it.

04:49 Because the torque outputs are the same

04:51 and because of GM's brilliant

04:53 10 speed automatic transmission,

04:55 in normal driving, they feel about as quick as each other.

04:59 So, maybe you're getting the diesel

05:00 because you wanna tow more.

05:01 Diesels are better for towing, right?

05:03 Not here, because three liters

05:05 is a relatively small displacement

05:07 for such a large vehicle.

05:09 This actually tows a little bit less

05:11 than the V8.

05:12 Okay, so why would you get the diesel?

05:15 Here's the good news.

05:16 Fuel economy.

05:17 This monster SUV next to me

05:20 actually gets 21 miles per gallon in the city

05:24 and 27 miles per gallon on the highway.

05:26 That's pretty impressive.

05:28 And speaking of impressive,

05:29 around town and on the highway,

05:31 ride quality.

05:32 We mentioned that this now has

05:34 four fully independent corners.

05:36 That really does help make the thing ride better,

05:39 which is important, not just for your family,

05:40 but a lot of these wind up as black cars.

05:44 How's it handle?

05:45 It's no sports car, but losing that live rear axle

05:48 makes this big thing handle a lot better

05:51 than you might think.

05:52 Safety is a mixed bag with the Yukon.

05:56 It only gets a four star crash rating,

05:59 but it is massive and being this large

06:02 is an inherent safety benefit.

06:05 Luckily, it does come with all sorts

06:07 of standard automatic safety features.

06:10 How much?

06:11 Well, this diesel Denali Yukon right here

06:14 costs $78,450.

06:17 And remember, the diesel is actually $1,500 cheaper

06:22 than the gas engine one.

06:23 Now, it's priced a little bit more

06:25 than the similarly equipped competition.

06:27 GMC is hoping that you're gonna see

06:29 a few thousand dollars worth of value

06:31 in the name Denali, but in my mind, you aren't.

06:35 If there's one thing I want you to know

06:38 about the 2021 GMC Yukon Denali,

06:42 it's that it is a great full size SUV.

06:46 Take away the price and the interior quality

06:48 for just a moment, and what you're left with

06:50 is a very comfortable, good to drive,

06:53 humongous family SUV that returns impressive fuel economy.

06:57 In fact, the efficiency is unique in this segment.

07:01 The trouble for GMC is that for the same money,

07:05 you could own Cadillac's Escalade.

07:08 And my question is, why wouldn't you?

07:10 To check out the latest rankings,

07:13 go to motortrend.com/cars.

07:16 (upbeat music)

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