We’ve come a long way from the days when pickup trucks were utilitarian work vehicles with minimal comforts, driven by people who needed them for work or couldn’t afford a car. There’s no better demonstration of this evolution than the beautiful 2022 GMC Sierra 1500 Crew Cab AT4X, as is immediately obvious by its $76,700 price tag (without dealer upcharges, as has become common nowadays). Figure at least $85,000 out the door with taxes and fees. For a pickup truck. But this isn’t any old flat-bed-plus-driver-compartment, the Sierra 1500 is a beast, powered by a massive 6.2L V8 engine and with every smart vehicle feature and technology you can imagine integrated into the drive experience. It’s also quite comfortable and has plenty of power to pull a trailer up into the mountains or get your boat to the lake with nary a hiccup.
GMC loaned me the Sierra 1500 for a week, asking me not to off-road, though it was darn tempting. The vehicle has lots of 4WD features, including a 2-speed autotrac transfer case, off-road suspension with 2″ lift, skid plates, front and rear locking differentials, hill descent control, mud-terrain tires and tons of towing and trailer smarts. But let’s start with a photo, shall we?
The exterior is Cayenne Red, with an Obsidian Rush interior. You can see that the Crew Cab offers a second row, eating up a lot of the truckbed, but gaining space for three adults in the back seat. Perfect for your posse or, if you’re actually using it as a work truck, the rest of your crew. The actual truckbed is 69.9 inches since this is the “short box” version of the truck. The full-size “standard box” bed, with the crew cab, is 79.4 inches, but, of course, that also lengthens the truck and adds weight, which lowers fuel efficiency.
You can see that the short box at just under 6 feet deep and almost as wide offers a decent amount of capacity for bikes, sporting equipment, boxes, a lot of bags of shopping, or even construction supplies. What’s really fun is that the rear tailgate has a secret addition, but let me first show…
[[ review continues on PlanetDave.com as “Blazing My Trail in the 2022 GMC Sierra 1500 Crew Cab AT4X” ]]