2021 GMC Yukon Denali Review

I’m a car kind of guy, in both games and in real life. I started playing Gran Turismo on the PS1 when I was 13; I graduated to GT2 on the PS1 still, and, most recently, Gran Turismo Sport on the PS4. I’ve never owned an SUV in real life, I’ve only ever owned cars, like the 2013 Honda Civic I currently own. Now that I have kids, an SUV almost seems inevitable, so why not test one out for a week and see how we get on.

So, when GMC approached us to see if we’d like to test the 2021 GMC Yukon Denali, we obviously said yes! This particular model was the diesel engine package, but that was just fine with me. I only had to put fuel in it once, and that was the day we returned it after a week’s worth of testing. GMC say the fuel tank holds around 24 gallons (~91 litres), but we didn’t have to put even close to that amount in.

Let’s just start right at the beginning and talk about size. The 2021 GMC Yukon Denali is huge. Like, both long and wide, huge. When I got to the dealership to pick it up, I remember thinking that this was the biggest land yacht I have ever seen. With a length of around 210” (17.5 feet) and a width (without the mirrors) of 81” (6.75 feet), it was hard to not see it when I was walking up to it.

All that space translates to the interior as well. I am pretty sure my Civic could have fit in the cabin with room to spare. One of the things I noticed first was the centre console in between the two front seats. It acts as a very comfortable armrest and provides a reasonable amount of storage. Not enough to fit one’s purse or other bag, but more than enough to store your vehicle’s knick-knacks, like gloves, gum, etc. There’s quite a bit of distance between the driver and the passenger, so it almost feels like they’re in another world.

“The 2021 GMC Yukon Denali is huge. Like, both long and wide, huge.”

Going a bit further with the space of the interior, the entire “trunk” is huge, especially with the rear seats folded flat. I could have easily fit my hockey bag, golf bag, and the week’s groceries in the back with no trouble at all. All this space translates to getting all your shopping done in one go, instead of having to drop things off at home and go back out. As a parent of two small children, this is an incredible feature.

In the rear seats, of which there are 5, your passengers will certainly not be left wanting for legroom. The middle two are split bucket seats and have their own set of heated seat controls, as well as air vents to control the heart and/or cold. In the rear three seats, the passengers sitting there will have access to 2 USB-C charging ports. All of this is a far cry from the Dodge Caravan my family had when I was a kid. Being able to charge your devices for every passenger except for one (the rear middle seat) is a total gamechanger.

The real draw for this vehicle is the rear seat media centre. I know what you’re thinking: “a lot of vans and SUV’s already have fold-down screens, this is nothing new”. Well, you’re wrong, and let me tell you why. The 2021 GMC Yukon Denali’s Rear Seat Media System features two 12.6” displays, one mounted on either headrest of the front seats. They can be split to be two independent displays, showing different content OR they can be unified to play the same content on both screens.

“The 2021 GMC Yukon Denali’s Rear Seat Media System features two 12.6” displays, one mounted on either headrest of the front seats.”

Gone are the days of the kids not being able to agree on what to watch for the journey. They can now watch their own programming as they please. On its own, this would be a great feature. But GMC wasn’t done there. They added in two individual HDMI input ports, and two USB-C charging ports as well. So, if you have, let’s say, an Amazon Fire Stick, just plug that in to one of the HDMI ports, and using the vehicle’s onboard Wi-Fi (yea, it’s got Wi-Fi), you can have the kids watching Netflix, Crave, Prime Video, or any selection of movies if you would rather use a regular USB drive.

I feel like a game show host here, but whatever… That’s not all! Lastly, GMC put in an electrical outlet, like the one you’d find in your home, so you can plug in a portable DVD player, charging block if you don’t have a USB-C cable at hand, or, you can do what I did, and bring your PS4 down to the car, and plug that in. In a grand total of 5 minutes, I had my PS4 up and running using the electrical outlet in the car, connected to the Wi-Fi hotspot, and playing online with no latency issues, or frames dropped at all.

I should note here that I initially tried to bring my PS5 down to see if that would work, but it would shut off immediately after launching a game. I don’t think there is enough power going from the outlet to adequately run the PS5. It ran the PS4 perfectly fine though, so that’s still a plus. The PlayStation 5 does draw a lot of juice, especially under load, so this is not surprising, even if it was a bit disappointing.

“In a grand total of 5 minutes, I had my PS4 up and running using the electrical outlet in the car…”

Now, the Wi-Fi isn’t the absolute best you’ll ever see. I did a network test on the PS4 once it was connected, and it reported a download speed of between 6 and 10 mbps. Not earth-shattering, I know. Just make sure your games, apps, etc., are up-to-date before you get on the road, otherwise you’ll spend the trip waiting for the download to finish instead of playing.

At this point, you’re probably thinking that the media system for the rear passengers is great, but what about for the driver and passenger seats. Well, the 2021 GMC Yukon Denali features an 8” multicolour Driver Information Centre. This touchscreen display allows you to control almost every aspect of the vehicle from the comfort, and I do mean comfort, of the driver/passenger seat.

This touch display has just about every feature one can think of for a vehicle. Android Auto and Apple Car Play allow you to integrate your phone with the display. Although, after using Android Auto, I don’t particularly care for it, mostly because your phone’s layout takes over the screen, and you can’t use features like controlling the rear screens, unless you exit Android Auto. I enjoyed pairing my phone via Bluetooth, and using the display as it is, far more.

“This touchscreen display allows you to control almost every aspect of the vehicle from the comfort, and I do mean comfort, of the driver/passenger seat.”

Let’s talk about how this yacht-on-wheels drives. There’s certainly no shortage of power, so getting the thing moving is no problem. For a vehicle that “only” has 277hp, it has absolutely no trouble getting up to road speed in a decent amount of time. As I mentioned earlier, the 2021 GMC Yukon Denali is a very wide vehicle, and that means that getting used to how much of your lane it takes up is a bit of a process. I can say that there were a few times that I looked at my driver side mirror and thought I had plenty of room before going over the line, but when I checked the passenger side mirror, I was basically straddling the line! Apparently, I was still used to my Civics’ size.

The comfort of the ride was next-level good. There was plenty of softness in the suspension to provide a gentle ride, something that is fantastic if you have kids that like to sleep in the car. I barely felt any bumps in the road, something that I am not used to in my Civic. For a vehicle of the 2021 GMC Yukon Denali’s size, that’s quite a feat. Especially when the Denali weighs in at around 5500lbs, depending on which model you get. The model tested was shy of 5500lbs but is as near as makes no difference.

With all that weight, you’d think that it would handle like a yacht, but that wasn’t the case. Despite its weight, the 2021 GMC Yukon Denali was able to nimbly manoeuvre around other vehicles in traffic and having the blind-spot indicators on the side mirrors helped that even more. The only issue I had manoeuvring the vehicle around came when I was trying to find a parking space in a crowded parking lot. Pulling into parking spaces when there are vehicles on both sides of the spot made things difficult, especially when you need to pull as far to the other side of the lane to be able to turn into the spot you want. Let’s just say that the turning circle for the Yukon Denali was shockingly large.

“The only issue I had manoeuvring the vehicle around came when I was trying to find a parking space in a crowded parking lot.”

This vehicle is absolutely loaded with features, all designed to make your driving experience better and more comfortable. One of my absolute favourite features is the HUD that displays on the windshield for the driver. It is a transparent projection from inside the dashboard and displays your current speed, and time to the vehicle in front of you. These let you keep your eyes on the road easier than having to look inside the dashboard and are easy to read and understand.

All this is well and good, but what does it mean in terms of price? Well, there’s no easy way to get around it, so here it is, the 2021 Yukon Denali starts at almost $70,000. The model tested has a sticker price of around $79,000, and this is for the diesel version. The regular gasoline model will add another $2,000 on to the price. It’s a lot of money, without question.

It makes me wonder if it’s all worth it, spending that much money for a vehicle of this size. There are absolutely going to be people who like their vehicle to be this big, and that’s their prerogative. I prefer my cars to be a little bit smaller, and, for lack of a better word, subtle. If you have the money to spend on a vehicle of this size and capability, by all means, look into it. I just can’t justify it for myself.

GMC have made a great family vehicle in the 2021 Yukon Denali; you’ll never want for space in this thing. Some of the features they’ve added in are truly incredible. I never thought I’d be able to have a game console in my car and be able to play online while driving (Disclaimer: I did not play while driving). I just can’t get around the price.