#Gmc iridium metallic review manual
#Gmc iridium metallic review full

One flight of fancy is the double-tube bed adornment, a visual throwback to the Chevrolet Avalanche and the Cadillac Escalade EXT. The X package’s few flashy bits live discreetly in the LED lamps, lug nuts, and Sierra All Terrain badges. The 3.5-inch-high GMC letters in the black chrome grille are quite effective at brushing left-lane laggards out of the way. This Sierra is a handsome piece, with minimal chrome disrupting its black exterior theme. That’s the price you pay for driving on treads molded to dig into mud and dirt.įortunately, there is compensation for these performance shortcomings. The GMC’s highway cruising noise level is four decibels higher than the Ford’s and two decibels louder than with ordinary all-season tires. It also scored only 0.70 g of lateral adhesion on the skidpad, versus the F-150 V-8’s 0.75 g and the 0.77 g that its GMC siblings managed. (The GMC earns partial credit for its aluminum hood.) The Sierra’s off-road rubber hurt it in traction tests, where it needed more than 200 feet to stop from 70 mph ( versus 179 to 187 feet for previous four-by-four GMCs without the off-road kit and tires). Chalk that up to the Fords’ aluminum cab and bed construction, which gives them a 255-to-468-pound weight advantage. The run to 60 mph in 6.6 seconds is 0.3 second slower than the 385-hp F-150 V-8 and 0.8 second slower than the 375-hp EcoBoost V-6. While our Sierra’s 20-mpg observed fuel economy beat two Ford F-150 pickups we recently tested by 4 mpg, this GMC fell behind in practically every other test. One quirk is that lighter, less luxurious Sierra 4x4s equipped with GMC’s six-speed automatic transmission outscore the eight-speed’s 15/21 mpg city/highway EPA ratings by 1 mpg each. That’s respectable for a buff 5688-pound vehicle. During our 1000-mile drive, which involved minimal hauling and off-roading and no towing, we averaged 20 mpg. Every trip to the driver’s seat is a two-step climb, and the 35-inch-high tailgate is annoyingly high for performing normal truck tasks such as loading dirt bikes, home-improvement materials, and lawn fertilizer. This is a huge truck, and its 12-foot wheelbase and 47-foot turning circle mean it takes planning and practice to enter a standard parking spot. The refinement GMC has put into this truck is what makes it popular with well-heeled customers seeking a pickup with a wide range of on-road, off-road, hauling, and towing capabilities.Ĭasual shoppers, though, must be cautioned.

#Gmc iridium metallic review manual

This transmission offers trailer-tow and manual shift modes, allowing you to hold your selected ratio up to the engine’s fuel cutoff. The stiffer suspension doesn’t beat you to death when you drive on pavement, the standard 5.3-liter V-8 is all but silent at work, and the eight-speed automatic transmission-introduced for 2015 and now available with the smaller Sierra V-8-shuffles gears with the skill of a Vegas blackjack dealer. This king’s ransom buys surprising versatility. For reference, that tops a BMW M2’s base price by exactly $4000. Add a few more upgrades-a $995 power sunroof, GMC’s $495 Intellilink infotainment system with navigation, and a $275 trailer-brake controller-and you’ll match our truck’s $56,695 window sticker. A bed-mounted sport bar touts your Sierra Club membership in mega-red letters.

#Gmc iridium metallic review full

The $4315 X package-available on Sierra SLT 4x4s in the crew-cab, short-box body style as well as double-cab, standard-box form-kicks in additional macho gear: Goodyear Wrangler DuraTrac on-/off-road tires, black-finished wheels and mirrors, LED headlamps and taillamps, side steps, a performance exhaust system that adds 10 horsepower for a total of 365 hp, and a full set of rubber floor mats. The $2105 All Terrain package contains a mix of hard- and soft-core upgrades: an off-road suspension with Rancho shocks, a locking rear differential, an eight-speed automatic transmission, 18-inch wheels, body-color bumpers, a spray-on bedliner, Bose audio, heated leather seats, and a center console with wireless charging. The truck reviewed here is a two-step march up from the base $48,465 Sierra 1500 4WD Crew Cab SLT, which lives just below the Sierra Denali in GMC’s pecking order. Enter GMC with a well-timed All Terrain X package for the Sierra 1500. Gas prices have dipped nearly 50 cents per gallon in a year, providing suburban cowboys with a guilt-free opportunity to scratch that off-road itch.