Luxury pickup trucks, once quite the oxymoron, have exploded into popularity in the last decade or so. Truckmakers formerly content simply to one-up each other on power, torque, or towing capacity are now engaged in battles over the nicest materials, the most potent stereos, the flashiest in-car tech, and the most comfortable seats.
But what’s under the hood still matters for many buyers, especially those who plan on using their trucks for work as well as play. Plenty of vehicles can do luxury, plenty of them can haul loads. But nailing both of those at the same time takes skill.
The GMC Sierra Denali has more experience at that than anything else on the road, having first landed in dealerships back in 2001. There is, as you might have heard, a newly face-lifted Sierra set to arrive shortly, but unlike the heavy-duty models, the turbodiesel engine in 1500s doesn’t change. So if you care more about torque than having the latest infotainment, look for these 2026 versions on the lot; you might find one for a deal.
The Lowdown
The GMC Sierra is one of America’s best-selling vehicles. Alone, it racked up more than 348,000 sales in America in 2025, more than the Toyota Camry or Tesla Model Y; add in its effective twin, the Chevrolet Silverado, and that number crested 925,000 last year alone. It’s been the keystone of the GMC lineup since 1968, offering a slightly more upscale alternative to the Chevy and delivering the full variety of beds, engines, body styles and beyond that buyers have come to expect from pickups.
The 1500 designation marks this as the mainstream light-duty pickup (formerly known as “half-ton”), versus the heavy-duty 2500, 3500, and beyond. Denali is GMC’s highly successful premium subbrand; the suffix Ultimate marks the recently added top trim within the Denali line, which piles on even more high-end features. Duramax is GM’s in-house term for the diesel engines used in its beefiest trucks and SUVs. Here, it refers to a turbocharged inline-six shared with the Silverado 1500, as well as the GMC Yukon and Chevrolet Tahoe/Suburban.
Vehicle Tested: 2026 GMC Sierra 1500 Denali Ultimate Base Price: $87,195 Price as Tested: $89,204 Test Location: New York/Vermont
How Does It Drive?
GM’s pickup trucks tend to sit at the front of the class in terms of driving dynamics — not that many actual buyers are likely to care, but we at Road & Track certainly do. Pay attention, and you’ll notice a level of fidelity coming through the wheel that Ford’s, Toyota’s, and Ram’s pickups lack; there’s a comparative crispness, a little extra reward for the enthusiast forced to drive a body-on-frame brute. But let’s face it, nobody would choose a pickup based on steering feel or lateral handling, so even if they’re appreciated, these aspects are largely academic.
The big news here is the turbodiesel engine. It’s notable because GM is the last truckmaker in America still selling an oil-burner in its mainstream light-duty pickups, Ford and Dodge Ram having given up a few years back. Their loss is the General’s gain, though. The Duramax suits the truck’s nature well, delivering a smooth rush of midrange power that makes highway driving breezy. The top end may be lacking compared with a burly gas-powered V-8, but down in the meat of the powerband, where most of the real work gets done, the turbodiesel provides an immediate, forceful shove that both instils confidence and handily pushes the Sierra past slow-moving traffic.
The biggest appeal of diesel power for truck drivers is low-end torque, and that’s certainly true here. In spite of a displacement of less than 3000 cc, this motor cranks out more torque than the 6.2-liter gasoline engine in the GM pickup line; in fact, it’s only 6 lb-ft behind even the brand-new 6.6-liter V-8. Plus, not only does it generate its full twist at just 2750 rpm, it’s also making 94 percent of that by 1500 rpm, so the force comes up quickly as you roll up from idle.
The motor is unexpectedly quiet for both a truck and a diesel, a trait that plays well with the Denali’s luxury mission. What engine noise does penetrate the cabin comes across with enough inline-six smoothness that it’s easy to imagine the motor has some deep ties to the straight-sixes of Germany. (Ironically, the Silverado and Sierra’s gas-powered inline-four sounds more like a traditional diesel than the Duramax from inside the cabin.)
Diesels also generally see better efficiency, in no small part due to the fuel’s greater energy density than gasoline. The EPA rates the blocky Sierra at 26 mpg on the highway, and the onboard fuel-economy gauge reached as high as 28.7 mpg on a long highway stretch — a number that would be impressive from many sedans at 70-plus mph.
