The Test in the West: Road-Tripping in the 2016 GMC Yukon XL Denali 4X4
Seven thousand pounds to move a hundred and fifty. I remember my best friend Jake’s dad saying something to that effect years ago about how some people buy giant trucks and SUVs, but you often see them carrying only one person at a time.
The Thursday before Labor Day, I traveled from Austin to El Paso, Texas with my girlfriend Eli in a four-wheel-drive 2016 GMC Yukon XL Denali. Although it was just the two of us in the front of the big rig for the 500+ mile trip there, we would eventually be joined in it by her parents, brother, and busia (pronounced BOO-shah, one way of saying grandmother in Polish). We would be using the 6,000+ pound Denali to move about 1,000.
I already knew that was a good use of the GMC’s carrying capabilities. However, on the way to “The Sun City” in the far-far-far-western part of Texas, in it, and during the trip back, I learned a few things:
Adaptive Cruise Control Takes Care of the Hassle While You Hustle
My test vehicle came equipped with more than $9,000 in options, such as its $395 Iridium Metallic paint, $2,495 22-inch aluminum wheels, and $1,745 power retractable running boards. As nice as those were, my favorite extra was the Adaptive Cruise Control. It costs $995. After close to 20 hours of using it, I have to say it’s worth every penny GMC charges for it. It not only maintains the speed you tell it to, but it keeps a distance you pick between it and the vehicle in front of you. On long stretches of I-10, the speed limit is 80. I dialed that and a medium following distance into the Denali using the handy controls on the leather-wrapped steering wheel. If someone going slower than 80 wandered into my lane, the Denali sensed it, then automatically slowed itself down to keep that pre-set gap between its bug-splattered mug and the slowpoke ahead of it. Once the road ahead cleared, the speed in the equally useful $425 Head-Up Display climbed back to 80. While the Denali’s computer brain sweated the choreography, I just stayed cool in my ventilated seat as scrub brush whipped past on the right and left, and monolithic buttes got closer and closer.
The Denali’s Underpinnings are Like the Lyrics to an Eagles Song
My girlfriend’s dad is a big fan of the San Francisco 49ers. I may not be a football lover like he is, but there are a few interests he and I have in common: cigars, cars, and the songs of the Eagles. One that came through the 10 speakers of the Denali’s Bose Centerpoint surround sound audio system was “Lyin’ Eyes.” A part of that song that stuck with me over the course of trying the food at one of El Paso’s unofficial landmarks, Chico’s Tacos, and taking in the limitless views of the city from the money-lined Rim Road was “There ain’t no way to hide your lyin’ eyes.” Well, there ain’t no way for GMC’s engineers to hide the SUV’s body-on-frame truck roots. My biggest complaint about the Denali was its ride quality. I was surprised by how jarring single bumps in the road were after being filtered through the front coil-overs and rear multi-link/coil spring setup; quick series of pavement blemishes were processed more smoothly.
There were some pluses, though. My girlfriend’s busia is 90 years old. If you’ve been alive that long, you know what pain is – that brought on by loss and that brought on by the advancement of time. Busia only felt comfort when she sat in the second row captain’s chair. Eli’s brother found the third row so relaxing that he fell asleep as I drove him and Eli back from a night out in downtown El Paso. When I made my way through the conveniently wide space between the second-row seats and climbed back there to experience it for myself, I found it had a surprising amount of headroom.
Flip-Down Screens are Great, But…
As you probably remember, Gene Wilder passed away shortly before before Labor Day. What better movie to play on the optional rear seat entertainment system’s second- and third-row flip-down screens than “Young Frankenstein”? Eli’s dad and I even caught some of it on the front touchscreen while we were in park at a Walgreen’s drive-through waiting for a prescription to come out. A look in the rear view mirror revealed…not much. The screens blocked out a lot of my view out of the back. Thank goodness for the backup camera and lane departure warning.
Even before Eli and got back to Austin, I started calling the $81,045 2016 GMC Yukon XL Denali we traveled in a “Road Warrior.” It wasn’t perfect, but no warrior is. They all have vulnerabilities, areas that can be improved. The Denali did its job, though. It fought through hundreds of miles, rainstorms, and desert heat. It protected me from the tedium of certain driving tasks and got me, my gal, and her family where we needed to be in comfort and safety. The Yukon XL Denali cannot enlist itself, but it doesn’t have to. Plenty of customers pay good money to recruit it themselves.
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