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The 4th generation of the GMC Sierra 1500 pickup truck is all new and chock full of useful features. The most intriguing ones are the MultiPro tailgate that opens six different ways, a carbon fiber load bed, and a caput-up display that represents the best apply withal of the visual airspace sitting just above the forepart hood.

Add in the features shared with the 2022 Chevrolet Silverado — new chassis and body, new engines, truly variable cylinder deactivation, trailer-tow cameras — and the Sierra represents a highly apparent upscale pickup. The lack of adaptive cruise control and GMC's choice to brand important condom features part of a pricey options packet damps Sierra's appeal. In the full-size-pickup market, when y'all combine Sierra and Silverado with the new Ram 1500 pickup, the sales-leader Ford F-150 has its most serious competition ever. Still, Ford led its closest pickup competitor Silverado by more than 300,000 units last yr.

The Sierra Denali, the top trim line, is covered in leather. It's heavier — stiffer — than loftier-end rider-car leather because GMC wants it to last a long time, even in work weather condition. (Photograph: GMC)

GMC has rolled out the first two of the six Sierra trim lines, the off-roading Sierra AT4 and the top-line Denali. The AT4 comes with a ii-inch lift, meaning the body is hiked raised two inches at the mill, and plumbing equipment with off-route tires and special shocks. The Sierra Denali has a wide array of standard and optional features that tin can push the transaction toll past $70,000.

Denali is the top trim line for more than a 6 GMC SUV and pickup models. GMC sees Denali as a luxury brand within the GMC brand, something like AMG is for Mercedes. Were Denali its own brand, it would rank 5th in luxury vehicle sales, GMC says, behind just Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Lexus, and Audi, and ahead of Cadillac. With more than 160,000 Denali sales in 2022, Denalis constituted nearly a third of GMC volume. Pickup truck profits are substantial, specially amongst the top trim lines. It takes a lot of Malibus to equal the margin on one Sierra Denali.

The Tailgate to Die for: GMC MultiPro

No longer do pickup trucks have tailgates that fold down, end-of-story. F-150 got kudos for a congenital-in pace and ramps that let you load, say, an ATV. Silverado has power open up/close from the cab. Ram 1500 may get a vertically split tailgate and the halves would swing open up or drop down separately. None holds a candle to the Sierra MultiPro tailgate. MultiPro's outer and inner tailgates open, fold, slice and die six ways. There'south a drib-down step (to match F-150), a elevation one-half that folds down, load stops, and a tailgate load shelf for carrying two levels of cargo, among the diverse features (slideshow above).

The 2022 Sierra seriously raises the bar with MultiPro, and owners will detect it'south useful, not only a gimmick. There is even an auto-close characteristic bachelor: Bump the main tailgate upward with your human knee and information technology closes the balance of the way automatically. Information technology didn't piece of work well during our press drives; GMC says it's an early on product model. Also, unless you're in piece of work clothes, you lot might not desire to bump the tailgate with your knee if the gate has picked upwards road clay.

Denali buyers can specify a carbon fiber load bed, called CarbonPro; it saves 62 pounds of weight. GMC and Chevy have been making fun of Ford'south F-150 alternative weight-saving tailgate, which is aluminum, just what they mean is, they believe aluminum dents easily if you drop really heavy stuff from a tiptop. It may, simply not and so yous'd notice any slowdown in F-150 sales. Sierra buyers can as well specify a factory-sprayed bed liner, done in a controlled environment.

The Sierra'south caput-upward display is big, bright, and intuitive. It shows lane guidelines existence tracked, forward collision alert locked onto the car ahead, following distance in seconds, speed and speed limit. It can too testify driving directions, telephone, or sound info. (Photograph: Bill Howard)

Superior Head-Up Brandish

HUD switched for off-roading or steep inclines. (Photograph: Bill Howard)

GMC has washed the nicest job I've seen yet in making adept use of the additional space among the newer, bigger caput-upwardly displays. Every automaker works with third-party hardware suppliers but the layout wait and experience is GMC's exclusively. The display (photo above) shows speed and speed limit, navigation directions if in use, or audio or telephone info. Most cars do that.

But on the left is the best part: a big pictogram road view showing lane divergence alert and forward standoff alert active. When the car is centered in the lane, both lane indicators glow dark-green. They alter color if y'all migrate out of the lane. Ane or both lane markers disappear if the photographic camera tin can't pick up the markings. The only HUD feature missing is blind spot indicators, which raise the mirror or A-colonnade BSD indicators; and then far just a handful have this, including Genesis, Hyundai, and Mazda.

The lane-and-cars pictogram would be fabled for showing the status of adaptive cruise control except ACC is not on the 2022 Sierra. It is on other GMC vehicles (merely not on the new Silverado). A GMC exec privately said, "We're working on information technology." Equally they should be.

GMC specifies the HUD size as 3 by 7 inches and also equally a 15-inch diagonal HUD. The diagonal measurement would make information technology the industry's biggest when other automakers talk virtually 10- and 12-inch displays for the new offerings. GMC'due south is dazzling.

With the right drivetrain, the Sierra tows up to 12,500 pounds. Shown hither is the 2022 GMC Sierra SLT mid-grade pickup. (Photo: GMC)

Other Cool Technology: Trailering, Cylinder Shutdown

GMC and Silverado both raised the stakes for trailer hookup and towing. GMC calls its package ProGrade Trailering. Hitch Guidance with Hitch View is a separate down-facing rear camera. It makes it easy to back up and put the trailer brawl perfectly nether the trailer hitch. From 10 anxiety away, it took me 15 seconds to place the brawl an inch from dead-center of the hitch and then that when the trailer was lowered, the ball settled correct into place. Put the shifter in Park and the electric parking brake is applied so that the car doesn't gyre an inch or two when you take your human foot off the hydraulic brakes. A smartphone app lets you test each of the trailer lights and since you eyeball them yourself, in that location is never the feud with your spouse/partner over whether that'south the running low-cal, brake light, or backup light ("honey, the fill-in light is always white"). Ford has a dainty cockpit app to test trailer lights, but seeing the light keep is really believing.

You lot can order a camera to mount on top of your trailer ($250) to really see behind your vehicle. You can't have it always on (in the center stack display), thanks to federal regulations by somebody in DC who's probably never even hand-towed anything bigger than a Radio Flyer wagon with a kid aboard. But you tin flick on the trailer photographic camera or tow-hitch photographic camera for 5-8 seconds at a time, which is proficient enough. If you tow multiple trailers, you can prepare separate profiles for each. The profiles let you track usage and fuel economy for each configuration, besides.

GM also offers environment view cameras, useful for parking a vehicle 81 inches wide. The nose photographic camera is great if you lot're climbing a steep hill or driveway. But: If you lot order the trailer camera package and surround cameras, you don't get a nose camera. GMC gave usa a vocal and trip the light fantastic almost how useful the trailer photographic camera is, ditto a 270-degree about-environs photographic camera. What they mean is: "We specified a four-port photographic camera input box and we haven't still certified a 5- or six-port box. Sorry."

GMC's big V8 (six.2 liters, 420 hp) and new 5.three-liter V8 utilizedynamic fuel management while the other engines utilise active fuel management (all cylinders on or half on). With DFM, there are 17 patterns for running on two to 8 cylinders and with an odd number of cylinders engaged, the engine moves amid the cylinders to make them working and idle. Sierra powerplants will include a new 6.2 liter V8 with a x-speed automatic, a new 5.3-liter V8 with an eight-speed, a new ii.vii-liter gas turbo iv (310 hp!) with the eight-speed, a new three.0-liter inline-six turbodiesel with the 10-speed (2019 availability), and a 4.3-liter V6 with a 6-speed.

The Sierra Denali comes draped in leather. It's upscale merely not dazzlingly more than then than Silverado High Country, or the tiptop-end Ford F-150s and Ram 1500s. (Photograph: GMC)

Denali: The Most Luxurious Sierra

With the 2022 Sierra Denali, you tin can spend upwardly to $seventy,980 if you cheque every options box including the $995 white frost tri-coat paint and $2,995 22-inch wheels with 50-series tires. The Sierra Denali starts at $57,190 including $1,495 aircraft. (The Denali I tested was $67,595.) The seats, steering wheel, and the like are leather, only the seats are not glove-soft. Even the Denali falls under the visitor's Like a Pro branding and the leather has to be thick (and stiff) enough to survive 100,000 entry/get out cycles and still expect good. Still, the Denali doesn't have quite the interior cachet of an Audi, Lexus, or Mercedes-Benz. Or Ram 1500.

The Denali only comes with coiffure cab seating, pregnant two existent rows. For 2022 the back seat is three inches longer; the truck is 232 inches long bumper to bumper with the brusque cargo box. The Denali has adaptive ride control and sensors adjust the vertical interruption properties every 2 milliseconds (i/500 of a second) so passenger comfort is good on the highway and motel racket is muted. If you haven't been in a full-size pickup, you'll admire a center console that is a foot across, and room in the back for three to sit comfortably. At that place'due south an amazing number of door and console pockets, fifty-fifty under-flooring and behind the rear-seatback storage areas. Does your car have 2 glove boxes?

Smaller drivers and passengers may experience the front seats are likewise large. There are plenty of USB ports including USB-C. The infotainment system and center stack take lots of big buttons and knobs, although because the knobs are made to look like bright metal, they're harder to grasp than the condom knobs on Silverado. The center display is 8 inches wide, dwarfed by the Tesla-like 12-inch LCD on the Ram 1500.

The Sierra AT4 is GMC's off-route-ready pickup, shipped from the factory with off-road tires and lifted two inches. Buyers tin can special guild other trim lines with 2-inch lift kits if desired. (Photo: Nib Howard)

Sierra AT4 for Off-Roading

The GMC Sierra AT4 is the Sierra that comes from the mill gear up to go off-roading. Information technology rides well enough on paved roads despite its knobby Bridgestone Dueler A/Ts with 20-inch wheels. It's a mild off-route tire and well-suited to the mild obstruction form GMC offered: into a farmer'due south pasture, forth a dirt path at a decent clip, up a grassy hill, stop and admire the Atlantic Ocean in the distance off the coast of Newfoundland (the virtually easterly point in Northward America), down the hill and avert some rocks, done.

It's as capable as the Silverado Z71, which at launch allowed testers to crawl over log-roads, up a steep hill, forth a bedrock form, and and then romp through a curving water-filled ditch of several hundred yards. My test AT4 (above) was about as muddied every bit any of them got. It's also zippier inside than other Sierras, with contrasting stitching within.

The middle stack and infotainment system are functional. In that location are lots of buttons merely direct admission to functions works for many users. An 8-inch LCD in a vehicle almost 8 feet wide underwhelms in 2022. (Photo: GMC)

Should You Buy?

The 2022 GMC Sierra is an entirely new model. Information technology's better in every manner, so much that you lot'll encounter 2022s marked down by $ten,000 plus however much discount yous can leverage. A diesel and V6 are coming. The large V8 and 10-speed automatic are capable of 20-plus mpg in highway driving, although EPA combined ratings for the vehicles and powerplants released so far are 15-17 mpg. The big V8 will get to lx mph in about half dozen seconds.

The MultiPro tailgate is a must-accept feature. The carbon fiber bed is currently offered simply on Denali and the price will be lofty, at least $1,000 and quite possibly well beyond that. The caput-up display is fabulous though most Sierras won't have it. The trailering features are very good, better than Ford's. The 2022 Sierras expect better than the previous generation. GMC'south standard OnStar telematics, now 20 years erstwhile, has proved its value.

And then far there are three Sierra 1500 trim lines bachelor with vehicles just now on auction (August-September): Sierra Denali, Sierra AT4, and a mid-level SLT at $49,690 base of operations toll. These are the three that have MultiPro tailgate standard. Yet to come are the iii lower trim lines: entry Sierra, SLE, and Elevation. The Sierra should start in the mid-thirties, roughly on par with the Silverado Work Truck. All have Apple tree CarPlay and Android Car, and then you lot can utilize that for your navigation. Sierra configurations include regular, double cab, and crew. Regular cab (i-row) Sierras get an viii-foot box, double-cab Sierras get a 6-foot-vi box, and coiffure cabs get a v-human foot-8 or 6-human foot-vi box. Every trim line offers four-wheel-drive. Depending on the trim line, trailering capacity goes to 12,100 pounds.

The Sierra Denali grille is more than intricate than on the lower trim lines. (Photo: GMC)

In that location are a couple drawbacks to the 2022 Sierra at launch: no adaptive prowl control at least until calendar 2022, y'all lose the front surround view photographic camera if yous get the trailering camera, and at that place's a general shortage of standard safety equipment. On the $50K-$70K Denali, for example, the simply characteristic standard beyond regime-mandated or manufacture-standard items is blind spot detection and that'southward optional on some lower trim lines. Y'all have to pony up $two,320 (Denali Driver Alarm Bundle Ii) to get lane keep assist/lane departure warning, forrard collision warning, low-speed forrad automatic braking, front pedestrian braking, following distance warning (standard on almost $25,000 Hondas and Toyotas) plus some cool stuff: the head-up display, automatic high beams, Hard disk (720p) surroundings cameras, and a wide-bending digital (camera) mirror that takes over for the optical mirror by flipping a button.

The 2022 Sierra is further differentiated from the Silverado at present, more cousin than sibling, and the Denali seems to ride better than the comparable Silverado High Country. The Denali has three features Silverado lacks: MultiPro tailgate, bachelor CarbonPro bed, and adaptive shocks. I'd suspect some Silverado intenders will shift to the Sierra to get the superb tailgate and besides suspect more will complain so much that in a yr or two Chevy will become a MultiPro Low-cal gate. Why? Because Silverado plus Sierra still sold 100,000 units less than Ford F-150 did last twelvemonth. Better Sierra loses sales to Silverado than be cannibalized by Ford and Ram.

F-150 is 18-24 months from an all-new model and is even so quite capable. The 2022 Ram 1500 is an overdue new model and its range-topper, the Laramie Longhorn Edition, may be more luxurious than the Denali. Ram's 48-volt balmy hybrid system, chosen due east-Torque, is a big step forwards. Among full-size pickups, only Toyota Tundra and (more so) Nissan Titan struggle to continue stride. In other words, at that place's no clear winner, just four skilful choices: Sierra, Silverado, F-150 and Ram 1500. Even the current Toyota Tundra and Nissan Titan can be desirable with the correct kind of factory incentives. You lot'll like what the Silverado has to offer and at the high end, GMC has built a loyal sub-brand out of Denali customers who return again and over again. The Sierra MultiPro tailgate, head-up display, and dynamic fuel direction are large leaps forward.

Now read: Aluminum-body Ford F-150 pickup sheds 700 pounds,  2019 Chevrolet Silverado Review: 8 Models Set up to Fight Ford, Ram, Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 Tested: Formula 1-Fashion Shocks Make the Divergence