Review: 2011 GMC Yukon Denali Hybrid

When the folks at GMC asked if we’d be interested in driving a GMC Yukon Denali Hybrid for a week, we jumped at the chance to check it out! 🙂

When you think of hybrids, you usually think of tiny economy cars that blend into the crowd. The Denali gets attention everywhere you go, and you might wonder how such a huge beast can be good for the environment..

If you’re willing to sacrifice everything in hopes of achieving 40mpg, then something like a Volt or Prius will do the trick. But if you want seating for 7, lots of cargo room, and the ability to go off-road with 4WD, those cars just won’t cut it. Yukons are great trucks, but they are massive gas guzzlers. Back when gas was only $1/gal, no one thought twice about driving them. But with gas prices as high as they are right now, a giant SUV just isn’t practical.

So what are your options?

Enter the GMC Yukon Denali Hybrid! While the regular Yukon Denali gets mileage of 13/18, the Hybrid returns a respectable 20/23. For someone like me who does the majority of their driving around town, that gives me an extra 175 miles per fill-up! And with a 25-gallon tank, you can get nearly 600 miles out of a tank of gas, which is pretty darn amazing..

The downside? You lose a bit of HP and torque. And you’re paying a bit of a premium for the Hybrid over the regular engine. (But you’ll make up that difference pretty quickly just on the gas savings alone)

As someone who typically drives small cars (I haven’t owned an SUV since the mid-90s), I wasn’t sure how I would feel about the Yukon Denali.

But I’ve gotta tell you, I felt like a straight up PIMP! The truck has such a presence, due in large part to those huge rims and the rest of the visual cues from the Denali package. We caught people checking out the truck everywhere we went, and that big green H kept the gas guzzler haters at bay!

I never thought I’d say this, but it was tough handing the keys back to GMC at the end of the week. I loved the attention the truck drew, and I was just starting to get the hang of parking it!

Want to learn more about the Yukon Denali Hybrid? Click here to visit GMC’s website.