Gmc Yukon vs Hyundai Elexio

What's the difference?

The 2025 GMC Yukon Denali is a big, comfortable, eight-seat 4WD with few rivals in the Aussie market. However, while it may occupy its own niche, it doesn't offer enough in terms of premium look and feel and towing capacity over what could be considered its rivals – and it all comes back to that price tag. 

While it lacks a competitive warranty and its price puts it way out of reach of a lot of 4WD buyers, if you are in the market for a big premium-style wagon with a V8 and eight seats – and the Nissan Patrol and Land Rover Defender 130 aren’t your cup of tea – then the Yukon Denali just might be the right choice for you.

But when all is said and done, for the price of the Denali, you could buy two Nissan Patrols – maybe not brand-new ones – and a camper trailer and a couple of cartons of beer. 

The Elexio doesn't really push any boundaries in terms of its exterior design, its powertrain, or its battery. It doesn't drive itself. It doesn't look like a spaceship. And apart from some interior quirks, it's all pretty familiar in the way it goes about its business.

And I think maybe that's the point. Maybe that's what people are really looking for. Because Hyundai says this will be its best-selling EV in the country. And on our short test, we can't find too many reasons to disagree.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with accommodation and meals provided.

Note: The author, Andrew Chesterton, is a co-owner of Smart As Media, a content agency and media distribution service with a number of automotive brands among its clients. When producing content for CarsGuide, he does so in accordance with the CarsGuide Editorial Guidelines and Code of Ethics, and the views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.

The 2025 GMC Yukon Denali is 5337mm long (with a 3071mm wheelbase), 2378mm wide, 1943mm high and has a kerb weight of 2813kg.

Suffice it to say, it’s big. 

The signature Denali grille – with LED headlights and chrome accents – is the size of a house and it’s eye-catching. 

In terms of design, the rest of the Denali is standard SUV, but it's so massive it can't help but have plenty of presence on the road. 

This 4WD has 24-inch rims, which are not suited to off-roading at all, but I’ll get to that later.

The Denali’s dual exhaust system, with polished stainless-steel tips, adds to the street-cool aesthetic. 

The rest of the Denali exterior works – but it’s an in-your-face kind of success. 

Inside, the space is cavernous and with leather upholstery, wood-look trim and soft-touch surfaces you’d expect it to feel like a plush, well-appointed cabin. But it doesn’t quite hit the mark. 

Sure, all three rows of seats offer enough in terms of comfort and amenities but, for a $175,000 vehicle, the cabin lacks a distinctive premium feel, as you'd assume it should in a vehicle at this price point. That's a bit of a disappointment.

I don't want to sound boring, but the thing I really like about the Elexio exterior package is there's nothing too challenging about it. Some of the Hyundai Ioniq cars can be a bit more polarising (and, in the case of the Ioniq 6, a lot more polarising) but there's none of that going on here.

It feels very clean, fairly timeless and like it's going to age pretty well. In short, it looks like a familiar family SUV with only really the full-width light bar, the cubed headlights and a bit of an architectural flourish at the rear three-quarter – which actually reminds me a bit of the Kia EV5 – giving it a more modern edge.

The wheels are 20 inches, there are only a handful of fairly predictable colours and it all just feels really familiar. But, as I mentioned, things do get a bit more out-there in the cabin.

Let's start with the good. I really like the fit and finish. It all feels very high quality and the materials used are lovely, including the velvet-like fabric in the door panels. I also like the square-edged steering wheel.

But the not so good? Now, the central screen looks great, but it controls everything – and I do mean everything. Apart from the steering-wheel controls, I couldn't locate a single physical button in the cabin.

The Denali has retractable sidesteps, which is a big help to hobbits, such as me, and it also has big grab handles, again a welcome addition for the purposes of easier ingress for those on the wrong side of tall.

Once you climb inside, it’s easy to appreciate the fact that this wagon’s interior is vast, functional and comfortable, with plenty of storage spaces for everything – glove box, centre console, sunglasses case, door pockets etc – and plenty of charge points for your array of smart devices, even a wireless charge pad. 

It’s a well-designed cabin but, as mentioned earlier, the Denali lacks the prestige fit and finish and even build quality usually showcased in something at this price-point.

Instead, there are expanses of hard plastic throughout, storage receptacles with flimsy lids, and lacklustre fit and finish here and there.

The vertically-oriented 16.8-inch touchscreen multimedia system is simple enough to use, even when the road gets bumpy, although it sometimes took a few stabs of my finger to get the system to register a command.

Climate control switches and the like are located under the screen.

The three rows of seats offer more than adequate levels of comfort – the front seats are heated and ventilated and the second row’s outboard seats are heated – and each row also has the appropriate amount of amenity to suit its occupants, including cupholders, USB-C sockets, map pockets and the like.

The second-row seats even have 12.6-inch HD colour touchscreens – one on the back of each front-row headrest – with which to enjoy… whatever. Those units also have wireless headphones so everyone else in the vehicle doesn’t have to listen to… whatever.

Those in the third row get air vents, a USB-C plug and two cupholders on both sides. 

Rear cargo volume with all seats up is 722 litres. With the second row folded that number expands to 2056 litres, and with only the front seats left standing you have a 'yuge' 3480 litres to play with.

The boot area has tie-down points, a shallow section of underfloor storage and plenty of packing potential. The tailgate door is power-assisted with remote open and close.

As I mentioned, the Denali’s interior is very functional and very comfortable and that includes the second and third row, which offer plenty of space. 

Overall, my thoughts on the Denali’s cabin interior boil down to “massive”, “comfortable” and “feels cheap”.

At just over 4.6m long, just under 1.9m wide, and just under 1.7m tall, the Elexio fits snuggly between the smaller Kona Electric and Bigger Ioniq 5 among Hyundai's electric family. In family vehicle terms, it's marginally shorter than the brand's petrol and hybrid-powered Tucson.

But owing to the magic of EVs and their flat floors, the Elexio feels massively spacious in the backseat. I'm 175cm, and had no trouble getting comfortable behind my own driving position, with plenty of leg and headroom. 

Tech is pretty strong, too. There are twin wireless charging pads up front, a total five USB-C ports, and a household style plug (which car companies call Vehicle to Load) located in the boot.

There's storage in the doors and centre console, including a storage drawer, and cupholders up front and in the pulldown divider that deploys over the middle seat in the back.

But the weirdest thing is the driver screen, which is the only straight-ahead access the driver has to things like speed or navigation directions. It's a very cool 3D-effect display, but it utterly disappears if you're wearing polarised sunglasses. 

That's actually pretty common with all head-up displays, but they usually are projected above a traditional driver's binnacle. In the Elexio, it's the disappearing screen or nothing.

To be fair, the central screen also displays speed and crucial information, but I hate having to turn my head to look at it. It's my least-favourite thing about Teslas, and if you're wearing polarised sunglasses, the Elexio ends up feeling a lot like that.

I do love that there is an actual control to select Drive, Reverse or Park, and I adore the addition of a physical stop/start button, too.

There's also an auto-opening boot which reveals a 506-litre space with the rear seats in place, and 1540 litres with the 60/40 split rear seats folded flat. Keep in mind there's no spare tyre taking up space, though. You'll be leaning on the repair kit should you get a flat.

The Elexio arrives with just the one grade for now, the Elite, and the pricing is a bit weird. It lists at $61,990, but is actually being offered for significantly less than that at launch, with a special $59,990 drive-away deal in place until around the end of March.

There is a cheaper Elexio grade coming sometime in quarter two this year, and it will be $58,990. But I reckon you can expect a sharp drive-away deal there, too, at least at launch.

How does that stack up? I think we have to go on permanent pricing, rather than any special offers, and that puts the Elexio above its main rivals in the BYD Sealion 7 ($54,990 for the Premium), the Tesla Model Y ($58,900 for the Premium Rear-Wheel Drive) and the Xpeng G6 ($54,800 for the Standard Range). Though the cheaper Elexio variant will help to narrow that gap.

There are significantly cheaper electric SUVs that fall into the mid-size category, too. Like the Geely EX5 and Leapmotor C10, both of which are less than $50k on the road.

Anyway, for now the Elite arrives with 20-inch alloys, cube-style LED projector lights, an auto-opening boot and Hyundai’s Digital Key, which allows you and up to 14 other people to use their phone as the key.

Inside, there’s leather seating that’s powered for driver and passenger and heated and ventilated up front. There’s also dual-zone climate, twin wireless charging pads and a household-style power point to power your devices.

Where it gets really interesting, though, is with its cabin tech, which is seriously bleeding edge. The entire dash, from in front of the passenger to pretty much the edge of the steering wheel, is dominated by a 27-inch screen that actually gives the passenger more real estate than the driver.

It's impressive stuff, with high-res games for the passenger to play (including the super-sharp Space Invaders), but there's also wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, twin wireless charging pads, and a relatively small head-up display (only located within the binnacle) for the driver.

The GMC Yukon Denali has a naturally-aspirated 6.2-litre V8 petrol engine – producing 313kW and 624Nm – and that’s matched to a 10-speed automatic transmission.

This is an impressive set-up – the Denali is punchy off the mark, smooth and refined at highway speeds and overall it offers a composed and comfortable driving experience.

The Denali has a full-time 4WD system, selectable driving modes include 'Normal', 'Sport', 'Off-road' and 'Tow' and an electronic limited-slip differential is standard.

There’s just the one powertrain on offer here — with a front-mounted electric motor, so front-wheel drive, that produces 160kW and 310Nm. That makes the Elexio feel spritely enough, but it’s no rocket ship.

Obviously, with such a big vehicle – almost three tons – driven by such a big V8 engine, fuel consumption is a concern. The 2025 GMC Yukon Denali has a listed fuel consumption figure of 12.8L/100km (on a combined, urban/extra-urban cycle).

I recorded 16.2L/100km on this test. I did a lot of high- and low-range 4WDing and this wagon was never working hard.

The Denali has a 91L fuel tank so, going by my on-test fuel-consumption figure, you could reasonably expect a driving range of about 560km from a full tank. 

Delivering the driving power is an 88.1kWh LFP battery, which Hyundai says equates to a WLTP driving range of 546kms.

The Elexio’s E-GMP platform is a 400-volt architecture, which does limit DC fast charging to around 120kW – the Ioniq 5, for example, will charge in excess of 230kW. 

Hyundai says you’ll go from 10 to 80 per cent in around 38 minutes plugged into our fastest chargers. AC home charging is capped at 10kW.

The Denali is imported to Australia as a left-hand drive vehicle and then Walkinshaw's subsidiary company Premoso remanufactures the US 4WD wagons to right-hand drive at their facility in Clayton, Victoria. 

And that mob has done a commendable job.

Firstly, the Denali is very impressive on general driving duties – settled and composed, that V8 just rumbles along. It’s pretty close to flawless on the open road - smooth and refined. 

But off-road is a different story – especially in low-speed technical low-range 4WDing – and a lot of that has to do with the Denali’s sheer bulk and its 24-inch wheels.

The big pizza plate rims and paper-thin Bridgestone all-season tyres (285/40) aren't suited to four-wheel driving as they don’t offer the grip of a decent all-terrain and you can’t drop air pressures because there isn’t enough tyre there. Worth noting the spare is a Maxxis Bravo HT-750 (265/70R17).

In its favour, though, the Denali has a range of drive modes – one of which is Off-road and that seems well calibrated for a variety of 4WD situations – as well as high- and low-range gearing and an electronic limited slip diff.

Steering has a nice balance to it at low speeds, throttle response is quite impressive and controlled. And you can call on that 624Nm from the big 6.2-litre V8 pretty much as you see fit, and it delivers it smoothly and in a controlled fashion. 

This top-shelf variant has air suspension – that does some levelling out of even major imperfections in the road or track surface – and it does have a special damper system also working away to even out ride and handling. 

In terms of off-road measurements, the Denali offers approach, departure and rampover angles of 24.8 degrees, 20.5 degrees and 22.5 degrees, respectively.

Ground clearance is listed as 205mm, wading depth is not quoted, but likely a guesstimated 700-800mm, and turning circle is 12.4m.

And again, this is a big vehicle – 2813kg – so it requires more consideration, more patience, more skill and probably more experience than perhaps some smaller four-wheel drives do. 

The Denali's payload is listed as 634kg, which is not a lot for a massive vehicle like this. Its towing capacities are 750kg (unbraked) and 3500kg braked.

If you do, however, put a 70mm tow ball and a weight-distribution hitch on the Denali, you can tow as much as 3628kg legally (braked).

That's not a lot more than something like the Nissan Patrol, which is 3500kg, or the equivalent 4WD wagon or ute available in Australia already. So the extra towing capacity in the Denali is not that big of a selling point. GVM is 3447kg and GCM is 6577kg.

Ultimately, even though the Denali has sound four-wheel drive mechanicals and reasonable off-road traction control, it's hampered by its gargantuan dimensions and let down by its 24-inch wheels and paper-thin tyres.

If you got rid of the standard wheel-and-tyre combination and replaced it with a set of decent, aggressive all-terrain tyres on 17 inch or 18 inch, or even (if you had to) 20 inch wheels, those changes would go a long way to making this over-sized 4WD capable in some off-road scenarios.

In its current state, however, the Denali is a tow vehicle playing at 4WDing rather than the other way around.

Ok, let's skip to the good part quickly. I really like the way the Elexio drives. Honestly, Hyundai (and, to be fair, Kia, Porsche, Polestar, Tesla, some German brands and Leapmotor with the new B10, amongst others I'm surely forgetting) are restoring my faith in how an EV can feel from behind the wheel.

It turns out they don't have to feel soft and saggy and come with a light sense of seasickness as standard. They can be engaging, connect you to the car and to the road below, and attack corners with some athleticism, too. 

And so it is with the Elexio, which – to be fair – has a spec sheet that reads a bit like a bedtime story, such is the lack of excitement in the numbers. A two-tonne-plus, front-wheel-drive family SUV that produces less power than a Toyota Camry doesn't exactly quicken the pulse.

And it's true that the flat-footed acceleration on offer won't knock your cap off (though it feels perfectly perky enough to get you up and moving). But the numbers don't tell the whole story here.

A sports car this ain't, but its driving nature perfectly suits the ethos of the car. The ride can feel a little harsh at times, but irons out most road imperfections to the point that you notice them, but they're not uncomfortable.

The steering is direct without being overly aggressive –though I prefer the sportiest setting with the heavier feel – and the body roll is minimal, too.

In fact, you can push the Elexio harder than you might think along twister roads, with plenty of confidence-inspiring stability and without too much complaint from the tyres. Because there's not a huge amount of power underfoot, and this is going to sound absolutely crazy, but it gave me (much-heavier) Mazda MX-5 vibes, in the sense that you can really feel like you're driving it without feeling like you're going to get yourself in too much trouble.

There’s a long list of safety stuff aboard the Elexio, including nine airbags and just about every active safety system you can imagine.

They seem better tuned than some of Hyundai's competitors too, without being too overzealous. That said, overspeed warnings remain an auto industry scourge.

Particularly clever is a system Hyundai calls 'Forward Collision-avoidance Assist 2', which shows just how far modern AEB (or autonomous emergency braking) systems have come. 

Once, and not so long ago, a vehicle could automatically apply the brakes if it sensed a collision ahead. Hyundai's system, though, not only works in both directions, but also detects pedestrians and cyclists as well as cars, and works when you're pulling out of a junction and it detects fast-moving oncoming traffic. It also detects traffic coming in either direction when you're travelling straight through an intersection, and when you're changing lanes.

The Hyundai Elexio wears a full five-star ANCAP safety rating, though one stamped 'tested in 2024'. The data was actually taken from the crash-test result of the related Kia EV5.

The 2025 GMC Yukon Denali has a three-year/100,000km warranty – which is on the wrong side of ordinary in this day and age.

Roadside assistance is available for three years but check with your dealership for more details on that.

Servicing is scheduled for every 12 months or 12,000km. The first three workshop visits come in at $398.33, $420.33 and $506.48, including GST. Not outrageous for such a hefty beast.

The Elexio is covered by Hyundai’s new seven-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty, provided you service with Hyundai. If you don’t, then it's five years of coverage.

Service intervals are a pretty luxurious 24 months or 30,000kms, and Hyundai’s service plans will see you paying $779 at the two-year mark, and another $1118 at the four-year mark, which puts your annual cost at around $475.

I'd say that's about average, with the happily extended service intervals counterbalanced by slightly higher servicing costs than you might find with some competitors.