- GMC’s full-size SUV gains a new flagship off-road trim
- All Yukon models get a new dash with a massive central screen
- Air suspension convincingly hides the Yukon’s trucky platform
In its new AT4 Ultimate trim, the 2025 GMC Yukon tries hard to do a lot of things, many of which seem to cancel out one another.
Meaty all-terrain tires wrap 20-inch alloy wheels that are awfully big for real-world off-road use. The distinctive red tow hooks projecting from a bumper carved inward to improve the approach angle contrast with underbody lighting that illuminates when you approach the vehicle. Even the upholstery sends a mixed signal with its buttery soft leather contrasting with rubbery textured inserts.
What exactly does the Yukon AT4 Ultimate want to be? A rough-and-tumble off-roader or a genuine Land Rover Range Rover rival with an eye-popping six-figure price tag?
After driving the revamped Yukon for a week, I learned that it can be both—though it spreads itself thin in the process.
2025 GMC Yukon AT4 Ultimate
2025 GMC Yukon AT4 Ultimate
2025 GMC Yukon AT4 Ultimate
GMC Yukon: A big interior upgrade
The 2025 Yukon has a fresh face and a new interior compared to last year. Styling tweaks outside are largely incremental; the C-clamp headlights are a bit more complex than last year, each trim level’s grille has revised surface detailing, and GMC has fresh wheel designs. There’s only so much GMC can do to a two-box SUV that shares its bones with the Chevy Tahoe and Cadillac Escalade, after all.
The interior is much different. Gone is last year’s quirky, space-robbing push/pull transmission control panel on the dash. Instead, you tug a delicate steering column stalk. (Hey, wasn’t that the way SUVs were shifted once upon a time?)
It’s a big step to climb into the Yukon’s cabin, though the power-deploying running boards with the Ultimate package help out. It’s big and spacious, if not exactly airy. Blame my test vehicle’s all-black leather upholstery, trim, and headliner, though the oversized dash and center console manage to make the front seating area feel surprisingly confined. The seats themselves have just eight ways of adjustment even in the top Ultimate trim, though they are heated and cooled, and blessed with a massage function.
All trim levels from the Elevation (which combines last year’s SLE and SLT grades into a single trim) up to the top AT4 and Denali versions get a big 16.8-inch touchscreen on the center of the dash. A big volume knob sits in the lower center of the screen, while a handful of toggle switches are nestled below. The screen can feel too big. I had to lean forward to access anything on the right side. It is programmed with a good overlay of Google built-in tech. Access to the Google Play store and Google Maps means some users may not bother with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, though they’re also on board.
More pixels are displayed on the big digital instrument cluster as well as the optional 8.0-inch rear-seat climate control touchscreen. Ultimate models—the package is available on both the off-roady AT4 and the Escalade-lite Denali—include rear-seat entertainment screens for outboard middle-row passengers. Here, too, the Yukon leverages Google’s connectivity via streaming services like YouTube.
The AT4’s newly optional Ultimate package swaps in more Bose speakers, a head-up display, power release for the second-row bucket seats, and the excellent Super Cruise hands-free/eyes-on driver-assistance tech. At nearly $20,000 more than a standard AT4, the trim level is expensive. My test vehicle was loaded up to about $102,000 with the aforementioned underside lighting, heavy-duty rubber liners, and the Enhanced Trailering Technology Package that can work with trailer-mounted cameras. I literally gasped when I read its price tag.
2025 GMC Yukon AT4 Ultimate
2025 GMC Yukon AT4 Ultimate
2025 GMC Yukon AT4 Ultimate
Yukon AT4 Ultimate: That dreamy air suspension
Underneath, the Yukon has more in common with a pickup truck than it does competitors like the Range Rover, Infiniti QX80, and BMW X7. Its separate ladder frame connects to the wheels and tires via an independent front suspension and a solid rear axle. Coil springs come on most versions, though they’re augmented by magnetic dampers on the AT4. Air springs come on Ultimate versions, though they’re optional on the standard AT4. They’re worth it for as low as $2,060 in the Premium Trailering Package.
Between the tall tire sidewalls and the cossetting nature of an air suspension, the Yukon AT4 canceled out lousy pavement below. The electric power steering has little in the way of feedback, and the Yukon leans considerably into corners, but this big SUV makes no effort to be sporty. Tapping Sport mode makes the ride surprisingly hard and jittery; I can only imagine what it would be like with the Denali Ultimate’s available 24-inch alloy wheels wrapped in a mere rubber band of rubber. Generally, the AT4 is hushed and comfortable, even with the limited rough-road use I was able to sample thanks to a big snowstorm during my evaluation period.
The standard Yukon stretches 210.1 inches between its bumpers and measures a gargantuan 81.0 inches wide. Add another 15.1 inches to make the Yukon XL, which has more legroom for riders in rows two and three plus an even bigger cargo area. Even the short one is simply too big to be genuinely useful off-road, though it did a perfectly fine job plowing through deep snow. It will almost certainly get you to your cabin. I never encountered enough fresh powder to need to raise the Yukon’s air suspension, though GMC says it can hike itself up by about two inches. It also hunkers down a bit ostensibly to improve stability and aerodynamics at highway speeds.
Elevation and AT4 models come with a 355-hp 5.3-liter V-8, a version of which GM has been bolting into its big SUVs and trucks for a generation. I haven’t sampled it in the Yukon, but it is hard to imagine how it will provide blistering performance given that the fleetest Yukon in the lineup still weighs north of 5,600 pounds. Oddly, the 5.3-liter has the highest maximum towing rating: 8,400 pounds. Other versions can lug up to 8,200 pounds.
The best bet here is the 6.2-liter V-8, which puts out 420 hp and 460 lb-ft of torque. It’s smooth and silent, and probably a better choice for most than the curiously positioned 3.0-liter turbodiesel inline-6. That engine is an expensive $9,305 upgrade in the AT4 and the Denali ($6,810 more than the 6.2), yet it costs $1,500 less than the 6.2 in Ultimate guise. V-8 models are estimated to return 15 mpg city, 20 highway, 17 combined at best; the 6.2-liter slices 1 to 2 mpg off those figures. Estimates for the late-introduction diesel have yet to be posted.
All Yukons use the 10-speed automatic transmission that GM developed with Ford. Here, it’s reasonably well-tuned, though it occasionally fumbled through gears in low-speed stop-and-go city driving. It’s yet another reminder that the gargantuan Yukon is best-suited to the open road—or, at least, to suburbia. There, the Yukon’s gearbox fades into the background, only revealing itself when smoothly swapping down a few cogs for highway passing or when climbing long grades.
Putting the Yukon in Sport mode tightened up shifts, though it also delayed upshifts to the point at which I was beginning to wonder when the big V-8 would settle down at highway speeds. There’s also an Off-Road mode that dials back throttle response and remaps the traction control system and the electronic limited-slip rear differential
Even by big SUV standards, the Yukon’s huge roof pillars and tall dash make it hard to see traffic below. That makes the Yukon a chore to pilot in town, though it’s of limited consequence on the highway with Super Cruise engaged. The system activates with a few bings and bongs, and then it does a very good job keeping the Yukon centered in its lane and away from traffic while the driver’s hands rest away from the steering wheel and eyes stay on the road. I was particularly surprised to see that Super Cruise worked just fine even accounting for the Goodyear Wrangler Territory AT tires’ knobby tread pattern. The system seems to be capable of accounting for the inevitable wander from knobby tires.
2025 GMC Yukon Denali Ultimate
2025 GMC Yukon Denali Ultimate
2025 GMC Yukon Denali Ultimate
GMC Yukon: Is the Denali Finally the One to Have?
The AT4 Ultimate might seem like the Yukon you want—it’s in the name, at least. But at $95,795 to start with the diesel engine and $97,295 with the 6.2-liter V-8, it’s a dubious value. Even at that price point, its Tahoe roots show through too much in the way of hard plastics on the door panels and so-so front seats. The 6.2-liter V-8 is also strong and powerful, but it’s not as strong as the forced-induction engines in most rivals.
With starting prices ranging from $68,895 to almost seven figures, GMC is spreading the Yukon too thin.
For perhaps the first time ever, the best way to build a Yukon may be to select the Denali trim level. There, GMC charges $5,630 to add a series of packages including its top trailer-tow tech, Super Cruise, and the air suspension. So-equipped, it costs $88,125. That’s a lot more than the base Yukon Elevation, and yet the Denali mostly justifies its price tag. It’s arguably the most focused version of the Yukon now, too; if all you want is a big, tow-ready SUV, you might as well stick with the Chevy Tahoe. And if you want to be pampered, the Cadillac Escalade delivers legitimate six-figure dazzle.
