2023 GMC Sierra 1500 AT4X AEV Review: A Big Toy Truck for Grown-Ups

After spending a couple days driving around in this big rig ... I oddly started comparing it to a Corvette. Of course, from a technical standpoint, a body-on-frame pickup and a mid-engined sports car are night-and-day different; look at them from another angle, however, and certain similarities start to emerge.

Both are, in effect, transportation that double as toys — playthings meant to express the pleasures in driving beyond the simple 9-to-5. In the case of the 'Vette, the fun is in going fast; in the case of the AT4X, the fun is in going anywhere. While the Corvette starts at a lower price point, it's easy to option it up to match this GMC's roughly $90K MSRP (and many buyers do indeed pay that much for their Stingrays).

Both Corvette and Sierra AT4X pack the hardware and engineering to excel in their chosen fields, yet both are comfortable enough to be driven every day, fancy enough inside to feel worthy of their elevated price tags (again, assuming you spring for the Corvette's top-shelf trim) and packed with technology that genuinely helps ease the burdens of life. Either would be a good choice for a realistic dream car; it just depends on what sort of fun you dream about.

For all its all-terrain capability, this GMC is still perfectly happy doing everyday chores. One nice feature of an off-road-focused vehicle is that the tall tires and pliant suspension needed for post-tarmac action are great for imperfect roads, as found in ... well, much of America these days, but most certainly in the New York area I call home.

The 6.2-liter V8 remains as delightful as ever; granted, with three-plus tons and the frontal area of an oil tanker to work against, it doesn't give the Sierra the same verve that the engine does in a Camaro, and those Goodyear Wrangler tires wouldn't know what to do with all that torque on dry pavement without the stabilizing hand of the traction control. Still, it's never lacking for passing power or takeoff thrust, even when merging onto the dense, fast-moving traffic of the Tri-State area.

The sole usability issue — well, assuming you don't count "finding parking for a 19-foot-four-inch-long, six-foot-nine-inch-wide vehicle" as a usability issue — is the thin side steps, which sacrifice surface area in order to decrease the risk of snagging on rocks and so forth. Unfortunately, they're so thin as to be almost unusable — and on a truck this tall, most people will need a step to climb aboard. (GMC is correcting this for the 2024 model year by adding power-retractable side steps to this and several other models, as well as bringing the 3.0-liter turbodiesel inline-six to the AT4X.)

While you might expect the X in AT4X to mean this trim level is even more extreeeeeeme than the AT4 variants, in actuality, it's a more luxurious version of GMC's AT4 trim level. (Well, more luxurious and more extreme, in all honesty.) High-end leather (well, high end for an American vehicle that's not from a luxury brand, at least) has been applied liberally through, with additional elements of dark matte finish wood and piano black plastic offsetting it here and there. GMC calls the look "Obsidian Rush;" I'd call it "lots of black." A lighter leather option — say, a nice saddle brown — would do a lot to draw attention to the quality of the interior.

Still, even if it's not quite as glamorous as its Sierra Denali Ultimate sibling, the AT4X remains a very nice place to spend time. As with all full-size crew cab pickups, interior space is tremendous, and the controls are easy to intuit and easy to use on the move. The Google-based infotainment system found here and in other big GM rigs remains one of the better such systems on the market; having Google Maps built into the head unit and making it able to project onto the full-screen instrument panel is quite handy ... even if you're still more likely to just use Android Auto or Apple CarPlay to stream directions from your phone to the center screen instead.

That's probably not going to change your mind about it one way or another, but it was hard to look past.

The closest direct competitor comes from the same factory: the Chevrolet Silverado ZR2 Bison is extremely similar, all the way down to its AEV tie-in and parts; the only differences are stylistic, with the Chevy packing a more extroverted design inside and out. Over at Stellantis, the Ram 1500 Rebel can be loaded up to present a fairly comparable package; meanwhile, at Ford, the F-150 Tremor can also be optioned up to fight on the AT4X's turf. Toyota's Tundra TRD Pro also plays in this space.

Anyone planning on doing a lot of serious overlanding would also be wise to at least look at the Sierra's smaller sibling, the Canyon, which now offers a comparable AT4X AEV package to go with its more compact, trail-friendly dimensions. On the flip side, anyone who also plans on towing heavy loads with relative frequency but also wants maximum go-anywhere prowess might consider the Sierra HD AT4X AEV, which can tow more than nine tons.

And, of course, if you want to really go buckwild with your off-road truck, there's the Ford F-150 Raptor and Ram 1500 TRX. Both of those are more made for desert-bashing than rock-crawling, but they're still remarkably capable at the latter, and both offer even more power and presence than the AT4X.

2023 GMC Sierra 1500 AT4X

Base Price / Price as Tested: $83,595 / $91,085

Powertrain: 6.2-liter V8; 10-speed automatic; four-wheel-drive

Horsepower: 420

Torque: 460 lb-ft

EPA Fuel Economy: 14 mpg city, 17 mpg highway

Seats: Five

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