Since moving into our house last March, I have been meaning to redo the front landscaping because the current bushes look weak and require too much maintenance as is. After coming up with a grand design, consisting of a natural coquina rock mounds, rock ground cover and drought resistant tropical plants, it was time to start pricing and mapping out the process.

Well, I got invited to some exclusive party by one of my coworkers where someone tries to force people to buy all this dust collecting junk they don't need and eat expensive looking food. I mean I only need so many crystal candy bowls, right? I decided to go, not wanting to insult anyone at the office and figured if nothing else, free food. Well, it was such an (not) interesting party that I can't even remember what company was selling the dust collectors and out of sheer boredom, I got talking about the landscape design and how cool it was going to look. So one of my coworkers asks how I am going to get this stuff home. Uh, I haven't gotten that far, but all the landscaping places I priced have inexpensive delivery services I plan to indulge on. "Oh No!" she remarks and insists that I barrow their 2003 GMC Yukon Denali to get the stuff home. Sweet, but I would rather not and was about to decline when she kept insisting, looking at me like saying no would be an unforgivable sin and she would grow horns and a big red fork would appear in her hand if I dare tried it. I usually do not like borrowing other people's cars, especially ones that cost over $40,000, in fear that something might happen. But, in this case, they were sweet to offer and I thought it would be a great test drive opportunity.

Well, it was an interesting experience and half a Saturday down the drain just getting the ground cover and I'm mentally kicking myself for not just having this delivered. Then I could have salvaged a large percent of the day, not to mention my sanity. But, oh well, live and learn. Anyway, onto the Denali's review.

Performance, Power and Handling
The Denali comes standard with a Vortec 6000 V8 with 320 horsepower, which is pretty much enough power to handle anything most boat owners, horse owners, yuppies holding boring parties and maybe construction workers can come up with. With this engine, it can tow up to 8,200 lbs. It has a automatic four-speed transmission with electronically controlled overdrive for towing big loads that shifts fairly smooth, no clunking or braking glass sounds and little to no jerking, which is a good thing.

I noticed an annoying thing with the handling while turning in an intersection with the back weighed down. The back drivers side wheel hit a manhole cover, sticking up about a inch or so from the pavement, and lost grip to the road, causing the back to jolt to the right sharply. If I didn't have both hands on the wheel, I might have found myself in another lane. The back end continued to sway for a little bit after this. It has 4-wheel antilock disc brakes that seemed very responsive. It also has standard all-wheel drive that distributes power to all wheels, decent for all-weather handling, but not the best for off-roading and you can also find this system on many sedans. Also, it offers GMC's StabiliTrac system that connects the suspension, steering, ABS and traction control to improve handling. Though, I did not notice many benefits from this and felt I was in a rocking boat many times. This is mainly targeted to improve weather performance.

Unfortunately it only had about a little over a fourth of a tank of gas when I got it and I knew I would have to fill it up before returning it. The Denali has a 26 gallon gas tank and I had to put about 21 gallons into it, costing me $32.55 (Again, the delivery fee would have been cheaper!). Now, the Denali also has made the Meanest Cars list for the environment for 2002 because of its low gas mileage at about 12 city and 15 highway. Also because it's using an old, somewhat outdated emissions standard called Tier 1, not LEV or ULEV, this does not effect the gas mileage, just the amount of pollution emitted and Tier 1 is and older, less filtering standard. That is a little disappointing for a car in this price range and it will most likely make the list again for 2003 and not help the resale value. You can read more on this at www.greenercars.com. More info on emission at www.idontcareabouttheair.com/facts/emissions.shtml.

Interior Looks and Features
Inside, there seemed to be ample space and for the size there better be. Total storage space behind the front row of seats is 104.6 cubic feet, behind the second row of seats, 63.6 cubic feet and finally behind the third row of seats a lowly 16.3 cubic feet. Now, if you primary need is space, not necessarily towing or a lot of off-roading, the Denali would not be the best choice in internal space comparison with most minivans. An example, behind the front row, the Denali has 104.6 cubic feet, the Honda Odyssey has 146.1 cubic feet, that's a big difference. With all seats in, the Denali has only 16.3 behind the third row while the Odyssey has 38.1. Again, a big difference and a lot more room for groceries and junk, maybe even dust collectors from boring parties.

Sitting in the drivers seat, I was overwhelmed with the amount of features and controls. Starting with the standard power adjustable pedals for different sized drivers, power adjusting 10 way seats, heated leather seats (not really needed here), a three zoned climate control, armrests built into the captain's chairs, map lights, cruise control, cup holders, power locks and windows and much, much more. It also comes standard with a Bose 9 speaker sound system that sounds superb and has controls in the 2nd row of seats. For giggles, I sat in the 3rd row of seats and was a little surprised at how uncomfortable it was. I'm 6 feet tall and found a lack of leg room and my head was very close to the roof and realized this row was designed for kiddies. I had more room when I was stuffed in the 3rd row of a Kia Sedona. This particular model has the 2nd row captain's chair option and makes getting to the 3rd row easier, but limits the body count to 7, instead of 8 with the bench 2nd row. Another option is the DVD entertainment system for the 2nd and 3rd rows. Overall, the interior was nice, but a little bland, I like to see more metallic tones, creative gauges and something with a sporty feel, so the looks felt plain.

Now, on this particular trip, I am just getting the rock ground cover, sealed off in smaller bags and relatively clean. Good thing too, because I would not want to use this for anything more rugged, such as the coquina rocks because they could cause a lot of damage to the interior materials.

Exterior Looks and Features
On the exterior, the Denali looks like most large SUVs, big and boxy. Unfortunately, once you reach something this size, there's not much distinction or excitement in looks. There are some trim details to improve this, such as lower cladding, semi-like mud flaps and a shiny chrome grille. Also, a roof rack is standard. But, still the looks did not do anything for me, despite the hints of yuppie class here and there. Curb weight on Denali is about 5,382 lbs. The corners are rounded and the front has some curve to it, but still a box with clean lines.

To load the back, we had to fold the 3rd row of seats and flip them up. Loading the bags of rocks was not as easy as I thought because of the Denali's 8.4 inch ground clearance and the back tail gate seemed a lot higher and we were basically heaving the bags in. It's also about 16 1/2 feet long and about 6 1/2 feet wide making parking a bit of a challenge.

Safety
The Denali comes with dual front airbags and a passenger sensing system that determines the force of the airbag. It also has 3 point seatbelts and better child safety latches. No official crash test ratings from NHTSA or IIHS for the 2003 model, but the 2002 model got 3 star drivers side and a 4 star passenger side from NHTSA and a 3 star rollover resistance rating.

Parting Shots
Overall, a nice SUV with many features and relatively refined handling, but I have a problem with the targeted audience, I'm not sure who it is. With it's powerful engine, high towing capacity and impressive AWD drive system, it would seem this model is targeted for rugged truck uses like towing horse trailers through mud, but I would not want to track mud into the nice interior. But the interior features and price suggest it's targeted to luxury car buyers and I don't think the two classes mix, somewhat limiting this SUVs rugged capabilities. Another issue, it's not as fun to drive or does not have as much spirit as a luxury coupe or sedan would have. And it does not look as cool or demand the attention that a true luxury car would. This model values up to $52,000 (well, at least that's what you pay for it new), and for that money, you could spend $40,000 on a nice luxury car and maybe the other $12,000 on a used truck or SUV and have it just for the rugged uses and a car that's more fun to drive. Now granted, you'll have to pay insurance for both vehicles, but if you are willing to drop $50,000 , that should just be another drop in the bucket.

For me, the bang for the buck factor wasn't there with the Denali, the luxury aspects interfered with the rugged aspects. Leaving me thinking this here's a vehicle with all the SUV drawbacks, such as high gas usage, mushy handling and cumbersome parking, but fearful to fully use it as a rugged vehicle and cause damage. Yet is has a luxury price tag without the thrills of a luxury car and I'm thinking luxury cars and SUVs were never really meant to be combined. I was also a little disappointed with the amount of space.

Next time I'm at Lowe's watching all those suckers heave large heavy objects into the back of SUVs, I will remember this experience and why a delivery service is a good thing. And maybe I'll even not go back for the rest, but instead order it and arrange the delivery online.
Amount Paid (US$): 50,000
Condition: New
Model and Options: 2003 Denali