The initial drives in the Yukon Denali required some adjusting for all of us. First it was the aforementioned size. Next was the excessive power. The Yukon Denali sports a 6.2L eight-cylinder with direct fuel injection that forces out a testicular 420 hp and 460 lb-ft of torque. How powerful is that? Think of those POV shots in The Lord of the Rings, when the viewer accompanies oversized boulders suddenly launched from trebuchet catapults across the battlefield and – WHAMMO!  – into the White City.

That’s how powerful the Yukon Denali’s pickup was, except we didn’t crush any walls.

All it took was a spirited tap on the accelerator, even weighed down with a full complement of soccer fans. The cabin still cooled in seconds with the A/C on full.

But remember the old saying power corrupts and the mention above of spirited tapping? Well, we regularly faced urban congestion packed tighter than the arteries of an old smoker who’s eaten deep-fried animal fat his whole life. With an engine of such heroic girth, I was tempted, almost corrupted at first, to treat the Yukon Denali like some light, agile coupe.

It’s not.

Ever see one of those nature documentaries, showing a charging rhino sprinting towards the camera? They accelerate at seemingly impossible bursts – but can’t stop on a dime. Effective as the Yukon Denali’s brakes are, they can’t countermand inertia. So the first safety feature we tested was the seatbelts in the two rear rows. Turns out they’re as responsive as the eight-cylinder engine. Awkward Google translation? We lurched a bit on the first drives.

But, courtesy of the magnetic ride control and deep-breathing exercises learned in my early adulthood, the trips quickly became more comfortable for all. I stopped channeling my inner soccer mom (ever notice what aggressive drivers they are? I think it’s all that dieting, constantly futzing up their blood sugar) and defaulted to my real mother who always played it slow and safe to and from church on Sundays.

Which leads to a brief discussion on fuel consumption. Adaptive cruise control comes standard. It was employed regularly on highways, as was the active fuel management feature, which switches the eight cylinders to four during lighter rides. Between these and more careful driving that didn’t toss passengers like salad, we did relatively well on fuel consumption. Mind, that says ‘relatively’ and you haven’t seen my relatives fuel up at family weddings and funerals. The Yukon Denali usually achieved between 14 to 15 L/100 km, which isn’t much higher than the predicted EnerGuide formula of 13.8.

You can select from two-wheel, auto four-wheel, four-high and four-low drive modes. You’d think that we would’ve tried the assorted four-wheel drive modes in the country but the only “offroading” we did was in Toronto. Between hosting 10 percent of the world for Pride Month and the road works neglected last year during the Pan-Am games, the city was buried in congestion and construction. Traffic moved like lava. So we occasionally expanded the definition of “road” to circumvent frustrating barriers.

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