2025 GMC Yukon Denali review: Australian first drive

• Doors and Seats

  

  NA

• Engine

  

  NA

• Engine Power

  

  313kW, 624Nm

• Fuel

  

  NA

• Transmission

  

  NA

• Warranty

  

  NA

• Ancap Safety

  

  NA

Family Cars Guide

If you want a big American truck, but you don’t necessarily want a ute, now you have an option.

It’s the 2025 GMC Yukon Denali, a big V8-powered SUV with room for eight on board, 24-inch wheels, and a huge smattering of standard kit and technology.

It’s the automotive equivalent of turning up at the swankiest, most expensive restaurant in town and ordering the double cheeseburger.

Cheeseburgers are amazing – one of my favourite foods. Salty, dense, soft and meaty, with extra richness from the melted cheddar cheese and being held together by a soft and slightly crispy bun.

It’s a flavour sledgehammer: simple and straightforward, and perhaps missing an edge of sophistication and delicacy that can be had elsewhere.

While the big GMC – the first time General Motors’s ‘professional grade’ sub-brand has been made it to Australia – is running up against the likes of a BMW X7, Audi SQ7 and Mercedes-Benz GLS, it’s also a different kind of offering.

Using underpinnings that are adapted from the same ‘T1XX’ platform as you’ll get with the Chevrolet Silverado, the GMC Yukon Denali does get some hefty towing capabilities with a 3628kg (8000lb in the old money) braked towing capacity.

There’s also a part-time four-wheel-drive system with a low-range transfer case, but the gigantic 24-inch wheels make the Yukon Denali a bit less suitable for off-road driving.

One thing it’s certainly suitable for is filling up with humans. There are eight seats across the three rows (yes, room for three in the back) and an impressive amount of space.

It’s crazy to think that the Yukon XL in the United States is a supersized version of the same car, similar to the step up from Chevrolet Tahoe to Suburban for even more cabin space.

But even though what we get isn’t the supersized model, it still offers a huge interior space for big family buyers.

However, it also comes at a heftily large price. While this big rig was initially slated to arrive at $169,000 plus on-road costs, we saw a $5000 bump just before launch to make it a $174,990 proposition.

Why? Macro-economics, unfortunately. All this talk about tariffs and trade deals, along with the associated volatility, is what’s to blame.

Looking at the competitive set of the Denali is interesting, because they all feel a bit oblique. BMW’s X7 is around $170,000, while the Mercedes-Benz GLS 450d provides a similar offering at a similar price.

Owing to its relative age, the Audi Q7 is the cheaper big Euro family chariot, so a similar cross-shop on price opens up the potent V8-powered SQ7 for similar money.

But these three Teutonic amigos aren’t really similar to the GMC, which has room for eight on board, like a people mover, and a much larger towing capacity thanks to those trucky underpinnings.

Under the fulsome bonnet of this Yukon is a familiar 6.2-litre petrol V8, utterly devoid of any forced induction or hybrid assistance. It makes 313kW at a lazy 5600rpm, while 624Nm comes on at 4100rpm.

This runs through a 10-speed automatic gearbox, part-time four-wheel-drive system and low-range transfer case.

It’s also worth pointing out that while this engine has been at the centre of widespread and major problems, the manufacturing defects don’t extend to 2025 models like this Yukon Denali. In other words, the problems have been fixed.

Pushing 2.8 tonnes, performance from this V8 feels brisk without being brutal. It’s a whole lot of car, and those 24-inch wheels don’t feel skittish from the power. It’s smooth and lazy, develops revs at a relaxed gait, and isn't perturbed by inclines.

And of course, it sounds like a V8 should: not raucously loud, but with a muscular rumble you’d expect from so much swept volume.

Those truck-like underpinnings are never far from your mind, though, and the Yukon doesn’t exactly shirk the physics at play here. 

There’s independent suspension all round in the Yukon Denali, with height-adjustable air suspension matched up to Chevrolet’s ‘Magnetic Ride Control’ dampers.

While it’s happy loping along on the highway with a smooth ride and low levels of noise intrusion, it’s around town where the slower and heavier steering becomes more noticeable. And considering how good the ride quality can be from other big SUVs at this price point, the Yukon holds its own without being particularly impressive in this regard.

When towing around 2100kg worth of horse float with the Denali, you get the sense that the powertrain couldn’t really give a damn about the extra weight. Our trailer was jostling around quite hard on the cambered and pockmarked dual-carriageway road of our test loop, but there was no tail wagging the dog here. The Denali is simply too heavy and dominant.

However, the Yukon Denali doesn’t get all of the towing technology that you can get in a Silverado 1500 and 2500.

On the inside, the Yukon Denali goes hard with loads of space and technology. Looking at the size of the centre console between the two front seats (which are quite comfortable, by the way) reminds you of how big this car is. It’s an American-sized truck, in wagon form after all.

Air vents and climate controls surround a suitably big 16.8-inch infotainment display, which has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto included in the deal. There’s also Bluetooth and an upgraded Bose sound system, but there is no native navigation or digital radio.

On the shopping list of standard equipment, there is everything that one would expect here otherwise: heated and vented seats with memory, a head-up display and digital instrument cluster. There are also twin entertainment displays in the massive second row, with seats that tumble and slide forward for good space appropriation.

Owing to the overt width of the Yukon, there’s ample room for three adults in the second row. In fact, you could fit three in the back fairly comfortably as well, provided that the second row is moved forward a bit.

In other words, only a big people mover can match the Yukon for interior space. And for families, it’s luxuriously excessive.

While there is a competitive set that this Yukon Denali goes against, it is also a markedly different offering for the Australian market. 

It’s a little coarse in some respects, in comparison to what you get for similar money elsewhere. But at the same time, it’s a different offering with strengths and capabilities all of its own. 

Some will buy this car purely for the presence, engine and perceived clout, no doubt. But others, who want a heavy-duty take on a luxurious and spacious family truckster – and are happy to pay the big price tag – this could be the right fit.

For those whose budgets don't stretch so far, we would recommend looking at the Nissan Patrol V8, which offers a similar plus-sized vibe without going to the same extremes.

Family Cars Guide

Sam Purcell has been writing about cars, four-wheel driving and camping since 2013, and obsessed with anything that goes brum-brum longer than he can remember. Sam joined the team at CarAdvice/Drive as the off-road Editor in 2018, after cutting his teeth at Unsealed 4X4 and Pat Callinan’s 4X4 Adventures. Off-road writer of the Year, Winner - Sam Purcell

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