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2022 GMC Sierra Denali Ultimate Interior Review: Better by a million miles

We were right. So were customers. Basically, everyone who took one look at the interior of the current GMC Sierra/Chevrolet Silverado generation and immediately went "not good enough." Possibly followed by "not even close" and/or laughing. The Silverado cabin was especially egregious in the top-of-the-line Sierra Denali, which slapped some token bits of "wood" to the doors and center console sides and called it a day. It didn't even get the Silverado High Country's bronzey trim surrounding the touchscreen. Absolutely nothing about it said, "I am competitive with just about any Ram 1500 or, to a lesser extent, a Ford F-150 King Ranch or Platinum." That changes with the 2022 GMC Sierra. Do I really need to explain why the "After" (up top) is so much better than the "Before" (above)? I do not. The better question is: is it better or at least as good as the Ram and F-150 now? Yes! And! GMC actually upped the game further for 2022 by adding a level beyond the Denali: the Denali Ultimate. While both Denalis share a common design with each other and the also-new Sierra AT4X, that design is different than what you'll find in other Sierras and every redone Silverado. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the first time the Silverado and Sierra have had such substantially different interiors. True, they're still awfully similar, but by GMC/Chevy standards, it might as well be night and day.  You can see the difference below: Denali Ultimate left, Silverado High Country right. Is one design better than another? I don't think so, but they are indeed different, which is great. BUT! Remember, this is the new Denali Ultimate we're talking about here. That means it goes beyond the regular Denali.  First, this "Alpine Umber" color with "Forge perforated leather seat trim" is only available on the Denali Ultimate and the only color available for the Denali Ultimate. It has a bit of the King Ranchy/Long Horny feel to it without going so far into cowboy land. I dig it. The regular Denali offers Jet Black or "Atmosphere/Brownstone" (shades of brown).  This leather then features white piping and super-cool baseball-ish contrast stitching. I would like to reiterate at this point that the Sierra Denali's previous idea of a luxury aesthetic upgrade was strips of wood-looking plastic. What's the word I'm searching for? Ah yes. "Effort." But wait, there's more!

2024 GMC Hummer EV SUV Second Drive Review: Moab made easy

MOAB, Utah — The title of our First Drive of the 2024 GMC Hummer EV SUV included the phrase, "It's big, but this elephant can dance." The truck earned that compliment after a day of squeezing through San Francisco lanes and the slightly-more-commodious back roads in Napa Valley. But an SUV can't be called a supertruck without equivalent mastery on dirt, so GMC led a posse of media to Moab, Utah to run the Hummer's favorite stomping grounds. What happens when you subtract 20 inches of overall length and nine inches of wheelbase from a megafauna pickup? You find the dancing doesn't stop where the pavement ends. Allowed to roam Moab's challenging terrain — and ample room — the SUV is more than ready to do the Hokey Pokey and turn itself around. Admittedly, we knew this from our First Drive of the Hummer SUT two years ago, also performed among Moab's red rocks and red dust. The two variants share the same tricks, and GMC engineers chose Moab for prototype development, so there was no question of successfully navigating the trails. The SUV's simply nimbler about than the SUT. Clearance angles are better all over. Compared to the SUT, the SUV's 49.6-degree approach angle is just 0.1 better, but the 49-degree departure angle is 10.6 degrees better, and the breakover angle is 2.2 degrees better. Having four-wheel steer to rotate the SUV's shorter wheelbase shrinks the already tiny turning circle by 1.7 feet, to 35.4 feet. That's only four feet wider than a BMW i3, but 14 feet more compact than a GMC Sierra Crew Cab with the Short Box. And there are 'only' 15 standard cameras on the SUV, one shy of the 16 cameras in the SUT; the pickup adds an angle on the cargo bed the SUV doesn't have. Our 3X trim packed three motors producing a combined 830 horsepower and 1,200 pound-feet of torque. The $9,995 Extreme Off-Road Package threw on rock sliders with integrated steps that can support 1.5 times the Hummer's weight, full underbody skid plating, two additional underbody cameras front and rear, an electronically locking mechanical front differential for the single motor on the front, a virtual rear differential (programming that makes the two rear motors behave like a locked diff), heavy-duty ball spline half shafts, tow hooks and 18-inch black wheels on 35-inch Goodyear Wrangler Mud-Terrain tires.

Satisfaction with dealer service rises, Lexus and GMC are tops

During the economic downturn, many car dealerships counteracted their slowing income by focusing on things that would set them apart from competition - things like the quality of customer service they provide. When the economy picked up and more sales and service followed, many also first invested those funds back into the business, improving their dealership facilities and service centers.
It looks like those investments are paying off, as J.D. Power and Associates' latest Customer Service Index Study shows that overall consumer satisfaction with dealer service has increased to 797 (on a 1,000-point scale), up from 787 in 2012 and 29 points higher than the score in 2011. The study also finds that people are more satisfied with the service they get at dealerships compared to independent service providers, despite the much higher average out-of-pocket cost per visit ($118 vs. $44).
Note, however, that this study only looks at how people are treated by a dealer's service department during the first three years of ownership (the survey is based on responses from 91,000 owners and lessees of 2008 to 2012 model year vehicles), so we're talking about the experience had when bringing a car in for repair or maintenance work, most likely under warranty. In fact, maintenance work is increasing in share and accounted for 77 percent of service visits (up from 72 percent in 2012 and 63 percent in 2011). This helps explain why customer satisfaction has also risen, since a properly maintained car is one that's less likely to require a dealer visit for an unexpected repair.