GMC Sierra: A Family of Beefy Pickups to Sink Your Teeth Into

A great deal of innovation has led General Motors to produce the gorgeous GMC Sierra we see on the roads in 2018. In fact, GM has been innovating trucks for 100 years. That’s a helluva long time. That’s 26 Winter Olympics ago and eight years longer than cheeseburgers have been in existence!

Lionel Sternberger reportedly began our national obsession with the cheeseburger in 1926, while working as a short-order cook in his father’s Pasadena, California restaurant, ‘The Rite Spot’. The original hamburger had already been in existence since at least the 1880s. But ol’ Lionel was in an experimental mood one day, and dropped a slice of gooey American cheese on a hamburger just for kicks. And that one little moment of dairy inspiration launched cheeseburgers into the stratosphere and earned them a place in the all-time sandwich Pantheon. And the rest? Caloric history. (I’m going somewhere with this, I promise…)

The Silverado’s Spiffy Sibling

If GM ran a restaurant, the Chevy Silverado would be their hamburger. Classic. Timeless. Reliable. The GMC Sierra is practically identical in every way, right down to the chassis. Identical, save for a little added flavor on top to set it apart. Check out the Sierra: The cheeseburger of the GM family. (People call it that, right?)

The Sierra line, sibling to the Silverado, has a truck for every job. The half-ton Sierra 1500, the three-quarter ton 2500 HD, and the full-ton 3500 HD are all wildly configurable and well-equipped. All billed as semi-upscale alternatives to their Chevy counterparts, there’s a lot to love about GMC in 2018.

1500: Choices and Capability

The Sierra 1500 leads the pack, with three different engines to offer (and an additional electric option). The base is a 285 horsepower 4.3 liter V6 paired with a six-speed automatic transmission, making 305 lb-ft of torque. There’s also a 5.3 liter V8 that produces 355 horsepower, which can be paired with an eight-speed transmission on the fancier SLT and Denali models. Atop the engine choices is a beefy 6.2 liter V8 with an eight-speed, making 420 horsepower and 460 lb-ft of torque.

New for 2018, the 5.3 liter option can be fitted with eAssist technology, saving precious fuel without having to think about it. The 6.2-liter gets from 0-60mph in 5.6 seconds, making it one of the speediest trucks there is. Along with its Silverado doppelganger, the Sierra 1500 has the top towing capacity in its class.

Available in rear-wheel and four-wheel-drive configurations, the Sierra 1500 offers three cab styles (regular, double, and crew cab) and two different bed lengths. All Sierras come nicely equipped. A rear-view camera, six speaker audio system, and a seven inch touchscreen are just a few of the goodies that come standard. All models are equipped with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay capability. All Sierras are Bluetooth-enabled and sit on 17” alloy wheels. That’s a lot of jazz straight from the factory, but no worries—our aftermarket brotherhood of WARN winches, N-FAB RSP pre-runner front bumpers, and premium Putco lighting are eager to strut their stuff on a platform like this.

The GMC Sierra 1500 is competitive among its contemporaries when it comes to gas mileage. The rear-wheel V6 gets 18/24 mpg city highway, while the four-wheel drives gets 17/22. The NHTSA awarded the 1500 with a 5-star (out of five) safety rating, and for good reason. The Enhanced Driver Alert package available on the higher trim levels offers Driver Seat Alert, forward collision warning, automatic emergency braking, lane keeping assist, and Intellibeam headlights.

An Option for Every Budget

The Sierra 1500 is available in four trim levels. The base model is offered for just over $28,000. The next step up is the SLE for around $35,000, and the swankier SLT for a shade above $42,000. And then, of course, there’s the Denali. If the Sierra is indeed a cheeseburger, the Denali package adds a heaping pile of bacon. The Denali comes with that hyper-fast 6.2 liter V8. It’s outfitted with leather and chrome, has a heated leather steering wheel and 12-way power-adjustable buckets seats. Spray-in boxliner, LED everything, a power step, the total package. Bacon isn’t free, of course. This slab retails at $55,305.

If the 1500 isn’t enough truck for what you’ve got in mind, fear not. Professionals love the Sierra 2500 HD and the 3500 HD to get their big jobs done.

Sierra: The Right Truck for the Big Job

The Sierra 2500 sits in the middle of GMC’s truck lineup. Like its smaller counterpart, there are rear- and four-wheel configurations, the same cabs and two bed lengths. The 2500 offers two engine choices. A 6.0 liter V8 making 360 horsepower and 380 lb-ft of torque, and a 6.6 liter turbodiesel V8 making 445 horsepower and a maddening 910 lb-ft of torque. Both match up with a six-speed automatic transmission.

Like the 1500, with higher trim packages comes larger wheels, larger touchscreens, and all the leather and chrome that physically distinguishes the Sierra from the Silverado. The base price for a 2500 starts just below $35,000, while the high-falootin’ Denali package kicks off at $56,000.

And for the Even Bigger Job

Still not enough truck? Good. Sierra has still got ya covered. Say hello to the 3500 HD, the largest GMC truck available. Its the full-ton machine offered with an optional dual rear-wheel setup. It’s the one that can tow over 23,000 pounds (one more time: Twenty three. Thousand. POUNDS. Sheesh.)

All the bells and whistles found on the smaller Sierras are available, optional Bose sound, 4G-LTE connectivity, the whole nine. The 3500 base model sells for about $38,500. The 3500 Denali is a work truck for a king. So is the price tag. A crew cab with four-wheel-drive and dual rear wheels fetches a ransom of about $63,000. Still need more truck? If so, what you might really be looking for is a bulldozer.

Regardless what your specific trucks needs are, there is a labyrinth of Sierra options to navigate, sure to contain the configuration you need. There are, after all, a million ways to eat a cheeseburger. And every damned one of them is the right way. (Except meatless. That oughta be a crime. There aren’t any vegans still reading at this point, right?) And the GMC Sierra takes a big meaty bite of the American truck market.

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