2023 GMC Sierra 1500 Reviews, Pricing & Specs
Write a reviewPros
Tons of cabin space
Lively diesel engine
Versatile features
Cons
Too much tech for a truck
Cabin quality still trails competition
City parking a challenge without tech aids
With a new Denali Ultimate trim, the Sierra 1500 ups the ante for pickup-truck luxury.
Take a step back and think about a full-size truck from the early 2000s. The nicest creature comforts included leather upholstery, an upgraded stereo, and, if you were lucky, heated seats. Today, nearly every luxury-car feature has found its way into high-end pickups. We’ve blown past heated leather seats; you can now get features like massaging seats in a full-size truck. The same brinksmanship that applies to pickup-truck capability now also applies to the luxury trims.
This is very evident in the 2023 GMC Sierra 1500. The Denali trim is what kicked off the idea of a “lux truck,” and it has been joined by the Ford F-150 Limited and Ram 1500 Limited. Those competitors deliver a higher grade of refinement than the Denali was providing. But upping the ante is a constant state in the truck market, and GMC now offers a Denali Ultimate trim that includes nearly every single option and package. So is the Denali Ultimate the new standard of luxury among full-size trucks?
The Sierra received a styling update for the 2022 model year that evolved an already great design for a full-size truck. It’s highlighted by a wider, more imposing grille and headlights that are an update of the previous design. The new Sierra looks sharp, but it was already a good-looking truck. As a result, this feels like a lateral move.
While the exterior changes were a lateral move for General Motors, the interior is a sharp departure from the previous truck. Depending on your perspective, it’s not necessarily for the better. Given the trend of making the cabin experience in trucks more like daily driver cars and SUVs, this evolution was bound to happen. The dash is capped off by a large screen that ditches the simple layout of its predecessor. If you want a straightforward truck to get work done, this will be an unnecessarily complicated setup. The new infotainment system moves controls down further in the dash, but at least retains traditional climate controls, a conventional volume dial, and a home button.
Trims for the GMC Sierra 1500 are Pro, SLE, Elevation, SLT, AT4, AT4X, Denali, and Denali Ultimate. If you liked the previous, simpler infotainment system, check out the base Sierra 1500 Pro. Its interior is largely carried over from pre-facelift years, and the 7-inch touchscreen includes Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The base Pro trim also comes standard with remote keyless, entry, cloth seats, and Bluetooth connectivity.
The SLE adds a power-adjustable driver’s seat, heated front seats, a heated steering wheel, dual-zone automatic climate control, and a wall-style power outlet. This trim also gains a fully digital instrument panel, a larger touchscreen, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, additional USB ports, and a Wi-Fi hotspot. Moving up to the Elevation trim has most of the features from the SLE, but makes certain options and packages available.
The SLT trim adds leather upholstery, an auto-dimming rearview mirror, a power-adjustable front passenger seat, and memory settings for the driver’s seat.
The AT4 is an off-road-oriented trim that comes standard with four-wheel drive (4WD). It also adds skid plates, a lifted suspension, a two-speed transfer case, and an upgraded air filter.
The AT4X is an all-new trim for the 2023 model year. It was conceived in partnership with American Expeditionary Vehicles (AEV), a company with plenty of experience on the trail. The AT4X is visually distinguished by its steel front-and-rear bumpers, integrated front winch, and black 18-inch wheels wrapped in 33-inch mud-terrain tires. The AT4X also features additional skid plates, upgraded Multimatic dampers, and front-and-rear electronically locking differentials.
The Denali trim features unique styling elements, a Bose premium audio system, ventilated front seats, wireless device charging, and a camera that provides a view of the truck bed.
We drove the Denali Ultimate trim, which includes nearly every feature optional on other trims. It includes an integrated Kicker sound system in the Multi-Pro tailgate, unique topographical map designs etched into the wood interior panels, massaging front seats, 22-inch wheels, and a 12-speaker Bose premium sound system.
GMC offers four powertrain options for the 2023 model year. Base Sierra 1500 models come standard with a gas 2.7-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine that makes 310 horsepower and 430 pound-feet of torque. We drove a truck with the optional 3.0-liter Duramax turbocharged inline-six diesel engine, which puts out 305 hp and 495 lb-ft of torque. the Diesel engine gets a boost in horsepower and torque for 2023, while the gas turbo-four boasts increased torque. Buyers can also select two gas V8 engine options: a 5.3-liter V8 that generates 355 hp and 383 lb-ft or a 6.2-liter V8 puts out 420 hp and 460 lb-ft.
The gas four-cylinder engine comes with an eight-speed automatic transmission. All other engines are paired to a 10-speed automatic. As with most other pickups, rear-wheel drive (RWD) is standard and 4WD is optional. When properly equipped (diesel engine with RWD), the Sierra has a towing capacity of up to 13,200 pounds. It also has a maximum payload capacity of 2,240 pounds, when equipped with the turbo-four and 5.3-liter V8 engines.
Truck owners will love the sound of the diesel engine, giving it a heavy-duty truck presence. Unlike diesel engines of the past, this six-cylinder Duramax is also lively. This is thanks in large part to the 10-speed automatic transmission keeping the diesel in its optimal power range at all times. The Sierra has plenty of power for getting up to highway speeds, as well as getting around town.
Steering is on the lighter side of well-weighted, which is expected in a truck. The stopping force of the brakes is on-point, as is the pedal feel. At all speeds, the Sierra Denali Ultimate is almost impossibly smooth and composed. It can briskly take an onramp or offramp and navigates corners surprisingly well for a full-size pickup truck.
Unsurprisingly, maneuverability suffers in tight spaces. The Sierra has a wide turning radius and its blocky styling makes for a cumbersome vehicle in malls and department-store parking lots. Overall, though, the Sierra 1500 Denali Ultimate shows just how far the full-size truck has come in making a utilitarian vehicle into a comfortable commuter car.
While the Denali Ultimate is optimized for on-road use, the AT4 and AT4X are meant to take on the trail. While the running gear makes for impressive off-road capability, full-size trucks can be cumbersome on heavily wooded mountain trails that are meant for Jeeps and compact pickups. But if you want to traverse open spaces, these Sierra models will be more than capable of tackling tough terrain.
Buyers can select a regular cab with a standard-size bed, single cab with a long bed, double cab (extended cab) with a standard bed, full four-door crew cab with a short bed, and crew cab with a standard bed. Trim availability depends on bed/cab configuration.
Our test model featured the crew cab/short-bed setup, which provided miles of cabin space. The doors have large storage trays and multiple spots for large water bottles. The center console featured two large cup holders, a tray ahead of the shifter, and a deep center storage compartment with an organizer. The rear bench folds up, providing plenty of storage space that’s safe and secure from the elements or prying eyes.
Our Denali Ultimate tester also came equipped with GMC’s MultiPro tailgate. It looks like a tailgate within a tailgate, and actually provides multiple helpful configurations, including a helpful bed step-up, fold-out workstation, and a passage for ladders and longer planks of wood. Every trim of the Sierra 1500 also comes with helpful bed steps cut into the corners of the rear bumper. These offer access to the bed without any moving parts that could break over time.
As mentioned above, the GMC Sierra 1500 comes standard with a 7-inch touchscreen and carryover infotainment system that has a more intuitive layout, while providing modern features such as Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Every other trim gets the updated infotainment system with a 13.4-inch touchscreen and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. While the carryover system is more intuitive, the updated infotainment system is still better than many others on the market today. It has a logical layout, large icons that are easy to read, and you can always come back via the home button. It also includes a volume dial, but no tuning knob.
The new infotainment system is also among the first in a GMC with Google-connected apps—which it spams you with every time you start up the vehicle. There’s also a Google icon at the top of the page. Instead of apps taking over the entire screen like Apple CarPlay, The right third of the screen has several menus including a clock and a Google Maps window. For all this frustrating forced interconnectivity, there are still some helpful apps, including trailering status apps. The infotainment system can also show average fuel economy when connected to a trailer.
The Sierra Denali Ultimate features a wireless charging pad, USB-A port, USB-C port, and a wall-style power outlet. Unfortunately, the massive screen moved the wall outlet from its ideal placement in the dash down to the center console storage compartment.
All trims but the base Pro also feature a 12.3-inch fully digital instrument panel. This setup also is logical and easy to read and works well with the massive head-up display, which provides vehicle speed, navigation prompts, and other critical information.
The GMC Sierra 1500 comes standard with forward collision warning, automatic emergency braking, pedestrian detection, lane-departure warning, and GM’s Teen Driver system. The latter allows the owner to set speed and audio-volume limits for a second set of keys.
There are a host of additional driver assistance features that are optional or come on higher-level trims. The Denali Ultimate comes with every one of them, including blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, front and rear parking sensors, adaptive cruise control, a surround-view camera system, and GM’s Safety Alert seat. It also comes with GM’s Super Cruise driver assist system, which allows for hands-free highway driving, and can even perform a hands-free lane change with a tap of the turn-signal indicator.
Our crew-cab Sierra came with a simple solution for rearward visibility: rear headrests that flip down with the push of buttons on each headrest. It removes any impediment to rearward visibility, but if you have rear-seat passengers, or have anything in the bed, the Sierra’s rear-vision camera mirror can help you out. Flip the button in the rearview mirror that usually switches it to night mode and the rearview camera feed presents in the mirror. It is incredibly vivid at night and ensures added visibility in the daytime.
As trucks have grown in size and proportions, parking-lot maneuverability has suffered. It’s become more difficult to judge parking spots in these newer, bigger trucks. Luckily, our Denali Ultimate came equipped with the aforementioned surround-view camera system, as well as the front and rear parking sensors. It allows the driver to accurately place the massive full-size truck in the tightest parking spots.
The most efficient powertrain setup of the GMC Sierra 1500 is the Duramax turbodiesel with RWD. It returns an EPA-estimated fuel economy of 24 mpg city, 29 mpg highway, and 26 mpg combined. With 4WD, fuel economy drops to 22 mpg city, 27 mpg highway, and 24 mpg combined. In our week of combined city and highway driving, we observed an average fuel economy of 23.7 mpg.
The gas turbocharged four-cylinder engine returns 19 mpg city, 22 mpg highway, and 20 mpg combined. The 5.3-liter V8 returns 16 mpg city, 21 mpg highway, and 18 mpg combined. The range-topping 6.2-liter V8 with mud terrain tires is the least-efficient configuration, returning just 14 mpg city, 17 mpg highway, and 15 mpg combined.
Base MSRP for the 2023 GMC Sierra 1500 is $38,995 for a single cab, standard bed Pro with RWD. The SLE trim starts at the double cab standard bed configuration and costs $52,095. The Elevation trim of the same setup starts at $53,795. The crew cab, short bed SLT trim starts at $57,795 and the Denali starts at $67,595. The AT4 starts at $68,595, and the AT4X starts at $83,595. The Denali Ultimate starts at $82,940. The GMC Sierra 1500 is backed by a five-year/60,000-mile powertrain warranty.
If it seems like we’re being overly critical of one of the most comfortable, well-made, and technologically advanced trucks on the market today, it’s because General Motors needs to take a hard look at the execution. This is solutionism for its own sake. The GMC Sierra is not a Tesla, it’s a truck, and truck owners are two things: loyal, and set in their ways. We’ll see if the former is put into jeopardy by the latter.
