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The new GMC Sierra Denali pickup truck is an excellent workhorse, an everyday truck, and a luxury experience—all blended into one.
GMC has always been one of the giants of the pickup and SUV market in America. Over the years, luxury pickup trucks have become dearer to enthusiasts, and the GMC Sierra Denali has always pioneered this phenomenon since its launch two decades ago. One of the most luxurious, feature-packed, and advanced pickups in its class, the GMC Sierra Denali sets the bar that other trucks measure up to.
Extremely refined and technologically superior, the GMC Sierra Denali has just received a mid-life cycle update, which is a minor facelift and a host of features on the inside. Sure, the 2023 Sierra Denali Electric has us excited, but the current Sierra Denali gets our heart racing as well, be it through its sheer power, or the plethora of luxury that greets you when you enter the truck.
An extraordinary truck that showcases premium craftsmanship, here are 10 features of the GMC Sierra Denali that make it the ultimate luxury truck, bar none.
While the GMC Sierra Denali does have a remarkably spacious cargo box, that isn't where it stops, and the Sierra Denali allows you the ability to interact with your payload in a multitude of creative ways. The tailgate is what GMC calls the world's first Multipro tailgate, and it comes with six different functions.
The Multipro tailgate has a built-in load-stop, it can act as a step that supports 375 lbs, it halves itself to make loading easier, and it even acts as a workstation on which you can put your laptop or other gadgets to work out of the field. Talk about functionality taken to the extreme even in a tailgate!
When towing or hauling heavy loads in your pickup, driving becomes a little more difficult, as your vehicle then has to handle the added weight of the cargo as well. The Sierra Denali thus comes with Damping Adaptive Ride Control, in which the truck makes adjustments according to the payload as well as the driving surface.
The Damping Adaptive Ride Control system on the GMC Sierra Denali senses the weight of the cargo, the new suspension position, the speed of the truck, and even the driving surface, and then adjusts the suspension accordingly to its best and most appropriate settings, to ensure a comfortable ride and superior control over the vehicle.
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When it comes to the construction of beds in most pickup trucks, steel is what you will almost always find as the material used. However, that is not the case for the Sierra Denali, in which GMC has used CarbonPro- a carbon fiber material one usually finds in supercars or even aeronautic applications!
While there is the added benefit of the Sierra Denali being 62 lbs lighter owing to the carbon fiber, the CarbonPro truck bed is extremely durable, and is corrosion-and-scratch-resistant as well, giving the truck an edge against its rivals who use aluminum or steel for the truck bed.
Legroom and the interior quality are usually an afterthought in pickup trucks for most companies, but the Sierra Denali isn't one of them. Boasting ample interior space even in the back row, the luxury continues into the second row with heated and ventilated seats throughout the truck.
In fact, there are plenty of family SUVs even today that only offer this feature in the front row, at best. Paired with a heated steering wheel feature, the truck becomes an epitome of luxury driving and comforts no matter what harsh conditions and temperatures you take it into. Sadly, however, owing to the global chip shortage, GMC has been cutting down on the feature in many models, and the Sierra Denali has been affected by the same.
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GMC's Sierra Denali houses powerful engine options, with a 5.3L EcoTec3 V8 option, a 6.2L EcoTec3 V8, and a Duramax 3.0L turbo inline-6 engine. What remains impressive throughout all engine options is the Dynamic Fuel Management Cylinder Deactivation System, which, when not needed, switches off the other cylinders and powers the truck only on two.
This improves the truck's efficiency, which is an absolute must in today's day and age, and optimizes the engine. In fact, even more remarkable is the system's ability to change the active cylinders so that no one pair of cylinders gets degraded faster than the others.
When a truck is as massive as the GMC Sierra Denali, it does, admittedly, make maneuvering in tight spaces quite a difficult task, and parking becomes a bit of a hassle too. Thankfully, that's not an issue one would face behind the wheel of the Sierra Denali, as it comes with a phenomenally-equipped camera system capable of 15 different angles of view around the truck.
This includes a front-view cam as well in case you decide to take your truck off-roading, along with a hitch-guidance view, which shows a direct feed from a camera mounted on the back of the truck if your rearview mirror is blocked. Furthermore, an aerial view around the world also makes things loads easier.
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The Sierra Denali, in its Ultimate trim, comes standard with the Super Cruise Semi-Autonomous driving system, which allows for hands-free driving on over 200,000 miles of compatible roadway in both the United States and Canada. The system boasts of features such as Lane Change on Demand and Automatic Lane Change functions.
What's even more impressive is the fact that the system works even when towing, which undoubtedly raises the bar on pickup tech for years ahead. Following this, the Sierra Denali also comes with a host of other driver assistance systems including Adaptive Cruise Control and Blind-Zone alert. Public introduction of hands-free driving still remains a bit of a gray area, however.
The GMC Sierra Denali's engine management tech doesn't stop at just its DFM cylinder management system. General Motor's active-thermal management system is also present in the truck, which improves the engine's performance further by targeted cooling and heating.
The Active Thermal Management system warms the engine up quickly by pinpointing temperature levels for optimum combustion. The ATM system even targets cooling across the entire powertrain, thus creating the most optimal fuel economy, since it recovers even the wasted exhaust heat.
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Being behind the wheel of the GMC Sierra Denali is nothing short of being in charge of a full-blown command center, with three massive screens gracing the center console. The 12.3" driver's instrument cluster is highly-customizable, and is quite impressive, allowing drivers to keep and customize exactly what they see behind the wheel.
Furthermore, a 13.4" touchscreen infotainment display almost overshadows the instrument cluster, remaining quite configurable, and loaded with tech, including Google Assistant and Play Store, while Apple CarPlay, too, is standard. Last but not the least, there's also an advanced 15" multicolor heads-up display, all of which adds up to 40.7 inches of screen for the driver.
GMC has been the pioneer in the luxury truck movement, having played a significant role in the segment and upping the ante creatively and through innovation. Thus, despite the powerful 420 horsepower V8 engine on the outside, the Sierra Denali boasts a very quiet cabin, and it simply wouldn't have been a luxury truck without it.
Through sound-absorption tech embedded in the dashboard and the carpet, the Sierra Denali ensures you're free to enjoy the plethora of luxury on the inside without the noise of the outside world intruding. The doors being triple-sealed sees to it, as well.
There remains no doubt that the Sierra Denali is the ultimate luxury pickup truck, and at $56,800 for the Sierra Denali and a staggering $81,000 for the top-of-the-line Ultimate trim, the Sierra Denali surely justifies it by leading the class in luxury, setting standards for the rest of the segment to follow.
If it has wheels and an engine, Samarveer Singh is going to be obsessed with it. He is a budding Indian motorcycle racer, competing at the national level in his country in his very first year, chasing his dream around every corner of the racetrack. A touring enthusiast, Samarveer is forever stuck between the urge to constantly redline his bike, or save its clutch plates for longer.