2022 GMC Sierra 1500 AT4X Overview: Superbly Constructed for Issues It Will By no means Do | Skilled evaluation

The decision: GMC fastened the one large space the place the earlier Sierra 1500 fell quick (the inside), making the brand new 2022 mannequin a no-excuses, absolutely aggressive premium full-size pickup truck with some costly high-end trims.

Versus the competitors: Extra luxurious than its Chevrolet siblings, the brand new Sierra 1500 handily out-luxes the Ford F-150, Nissan Titan and Toyota Tundra, however the Ram 1500 nonetheless offers it a run for its cash.

When GM redesigned its full-size pickup vans for the 2019 mannequin yr, we have been large followers of a lot of the adjustments it made: Styling was wild, capabilities have been improved, and powertrains and chassis dynamics have been top-notch. The interiors, nonetheless, have been no higher than the plastic-fantastic cabins they changed. GM spent its cash on every little thing however the inside and acquired one-upped by Ram and Ford on cabin high quality and ending touches.

Associated: 2022 GMC Sierra 1500 Denali Final, AT4X: Up Shut

Now, with the 2022 variations of GM’s large vans, that subject has been soundly resolved. Utterly new interiors have arrived for the Chevy Silverado 1500 (see our evaluation) and the truck mentioned right here, the 2022 GMC Sierra 1500. Together with the Sierra’s new digs comes some new tech, some new trims, and a few determined hits and misses. After spending time behind the wheel of a brand new ’22 Sierra, we got here away largely impressed, but in addition just a little involved.

Conserving Familial Ties

The one space GMC actually didn’t want to the touch (however did anyway) was the Sierra’s exterior styling, however we ain’t mad about it. After its final large redesign, the Sierra got here out wanting like a extra formal, extra conventional mannequin subsequent to the Silverado’s wilder look. Each have their attraction. For 2022, the Sierra will get some gentle updates to its entrance and rear finish, with new grilles, new headlights, new LED working lights and new bumpers. The house between the ends stays the identical, however there are some new wheel designs relying on trim degree.

The mannequin I examined was a new-for-2022 AT4X, which is a extra luxurious improve to the still-available AT4 off-road variant. GMC payments the AT4X as a balanced strategy to a premium off-road pickup, delivering superior off-road tech and functionality with out sacrificing on-road efficiency, towing functionality, payload ranking or inside luxurious.

From the surface, the AT4X doesn’t look a lot completely different from the traditional AT4, although it sports activities new 18-inch black wheels with Goodyear Wrangler DuraTrac mud-terrain tires. It sits increased, too, due to its off-road suspension and has numerous blacked-out trim bits, together with the grille and mirrors. It additionally options some curious decisions for an off-road pickup, resembling LED foglights set low and outboard within the bumper — the place they’re prone to be broken on a path. It does make you surprise simply how severe an off-road pickup that is given this styling selection. The equal Chevrolet, the brand new Silverado 1500 ZR2, additionally has LED foglights in its bumper, however the bumper itself is increased, has cutouts for the entrance wheels, and locates its lights extra inboard and away from the corners. The distinction means that the extraordinarily costly Sierra AT4X is extra about wanting off-road-capable than truly being in such environs.

But It Has Off-Street Tools

The AT4X is supplied with all of the goodies one must go off-road fairly efficiently, beginning with the suspension. It makes use of a shared model of the Multimatic Dynamic Suspensions Spool Valve dampers and off-road springs that debuted on the Chevrolet Colorado ZR2, which have since unfold to the larger vans within the lineup. This will increase suspension journey versus the usual AT4’s suspension by 50 millimeters up entrance and 25 millimeters in again. My time with the truck sadly didn’t embody any severe off-roading, however I did handle to search out some empty fields and gnarly rural dust two-tracks, and I can verify that the AT4X’s suspension is kind of good out within the tough. Main washboard surfaces are barely noticeable at velocity, and the truck had no drawback crawling over mounds and hillocks. On the road, it supplied a compliant, well-damped experience that swallowed southeastern Michigan’s cratered, potholed roads with ease. (Roads like these may very well be extra cause to purchase an off-road succesful truck than a need to truly go off-road.)

The AT4X powertrain can be stable. The trim degree’s solely engine selection is the usual 6.2-liter V-8 paired with a 10-speed automated transmission. It makes a really strong 420 horsepower and 460 pounds-feet of torque — sufficient to get the massive truck transferring neatly with only a gentle stab of the go pedal. It’s all accompanied by a sonorous roar that no EV pickup might match with synthetic noise. It burbles round city, can tow a decent-sized trailer (as much as 8,900 kilos) and really a lot seems like a standard large pickup when it comes to capabilities and positioning.

Additional qualifying the powertrain for off-road duties are entrance and rear digital locking differentials — a class-exclusive function, not counting the Silverado 1500 ZR2. The massive and most notable distinction between the AT4X and different pickups is its tires: Its 18-inch mud-terrain tires are knobby and undoubtedly ship extra noise into the cabin due to their chunky tread sample. They’re a bit extra squirrely on dry pavement, as nicely, particularly at freeway speeds, however such is the value you pay for off-road functionality that you just’re not going to make use of fairly often. The brand new AT4X might simply head into the muck and do nicely in such environments, however given the truck’s staggering price ticket, it’s a must to surprise how keen its homeowners shall be to thrash their luxurious rigs round in such locations. The AT4X appears constructed extra for captains of very particular industries (like development firm homeowners) — drivers extra doubtless to make use of its skills on poor terrain, construct websites, logging roads and the like.

Stellar Inside With Buggy Electronics

Another excuse chances are you’ll not need to take an AT4X off-road is the danger of messing up its really improbable, luxurious and well-appointed inside. Who desires to get all that leather-based and wooden truly muddy?