The 2023 GMC Sierra 1500 AT4X Is An Elegant Brute

The 2023 GMC Sierra 1500 AT4X brings a delicious combination of comfort, style and brute force to market, for a price.

Full-sized pickups remain the reigning sales champs in the U.S.A. despite the current electric rush and the AT4X, which I spent seven days in, is particularly beastly and satisfying. It’s also not at all cheap, starting at $77,500 but ballooning up to $80,935 with all options and if you can buy one at that price.

Highlights for 2023

There’s a lot to choose from trim-wise, as you might expect. It’s available as a single cab, double cab or four-door crew cab with available beds ranging from 5.8-to-8.2 feet in length. Four engines are on deck including a 310-hp turbo four-cylinder, a Duramax turbodiesel with 460 pound-feet of torque, a 355-hp 5.3-liter V-8, and a 420-hp 6.2-liter V-8. It’ll tow 13,200 pounds at its max – that’s 13 grand pianos, three adult male moose or, of course, your trailer or boat or debris.

You’ll need to pick a cab configuration and length of the bed. My tester had a combo tailgate with different configurations that was interesting but not essential, if you’ve driven pickups for 20 years as this author has. There’s also a carbon-fiber-reinforced cargo bed that both weighs less and is stronger than steel, the company says.

The Engine and the Drive

My tester housed a 6.2L EcoTech V8 engine with a sweetly smooth 10-speed automatic transmission. Mileage was a miserable 15 MPG city, 17 highway, end of story. The big boy was cumbersome to navigate in and out of parking spaces and other small areas and you have to get used to giving up parking spaces and trying elsewhere. Otherwise, the steering, handling and braking were all suitably sharp and a pleasure at slow speeds or on the highway. When you roll in this truck, you feel deliciously mighty-mighty.

Inside

You sit comfortably high with plenty of visibility, and your controls are all within easy grasp.

The bigger your budget, the more goodies you get, like a heads-up display or a power-adjustable steering column. Above all, there is room for the big and/or tall. It’s plush and pleasant and welcoming inside.

Connection/tech

The truck comes with a 13.4-inch touchscreen accommodating Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, both of which I’ve abandoned long ago as one needs fewer apps in one’s life, not more, if possible. Google software allows subscribers to access maps, apps and a voice assistant. A 12-speaker Bose audio system is available as well as wireless phone charging and more. The sound of the audio system on my test unit was muddy and unsatisfying at whatever volume and whatever music.

Safety

It’s one of the most up-to-date and safety-conscious trucks on the market which is a particularly great thing considering what a lot of people make their pickups do from going through streams and over mountains of dirt or hauling debris and carting it at speed to its destination. Its off-road features include Terrain Mode where you can use just one pedal in certain situations.

Check out, too, the multicamera system, particularly useful if you’re towing a trailer, as anyone who has bashed one knows. Also available is GM’s Super Cruise hands-free-driving tech, which, used prudently, will help you on those long drives where there are hundreds of miles of nothing. Otherwise, buy and use it at your discretion. It’ll even change lanes for you but only if there isn’t anything hooked up in the back. It’s not perfect and no one’s saying it is. Just keep an eagle eye on it if you buy it.

Otherwise your essential standard safety features include forward-collision warning and automated emergency braking, lane-departure warning and lane-keeping assist and standard blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert.

Warranty and Maintenance Coverage

• Complimentary maintenance covered for first visit

• Limited warranty covers three years or 36,000 miles

• Powertrain warranty covers five years or 60,000 miles

The 2023 GMC Sierra 1500 AT4X is an expensive but ultimately satisfying pickup; check out similarly-priced rivals.