2015 Sierra Denali 6.2L 1st Impressions

[savaytse66]

Well, I picked up my brand-new Sierra Denali yesterday. It's my first new truck since 2001, so needless to say, it's a bit of a change. I thought I'd post my random 1st day impressions. It's a Bronze Alloy Metallic, 6.2L Denali Crew Cab, Standard Box, Cocoa Dune interior, 20" polished wheels w/ AT tires, driver alert package, and sunroof. I ended up getting Supplier Pricing minus $5,000 in rebates. The Private Offer worked, but it eliminated my credit union discount.

 

Good

• The power if the 6.2 compared to the 4.8LV8 in my '02 Silverado is just scary
• I do not find the throttle response to be as bad as people say, but I haven't put any significant mileage on it.
• It's quiet. I do notice the rumble of the 6.2 a little more than I expected, but I'm quite happy with the noise level. I have not had it out on the highway yet other than the test drive.
• On the test drive, I got it up to just over 80 and noticed no unusual vibrations
• The family seems quite comfortable, and there seems to be plenty of space in the back.
• Even though I generally don't drive with the windows open, it's nice having the full windows in the back, as well as the sunroof and the rear window
• There is way more door storage than I realized. I don't know what I'm going to use it all for, but I'm sure it will come in handy.
• I was worried about the lack of air vents in the back, but everyone was cool driving around yesterday. We'll see what happens next summer when it's 95F instead of 60F outside.

 

Bad

• Intellilink - I was pessimistic coming into it, and it's living up to my expected frustrations. I had to reset the system twice to get it to recognize my iPod classic, and now that it does, the display does not change the track name. The actual song changes, and the duration / time remaining is right, but the displayed song name seems to just get stuck. Also, if I plug my phone into ANY of the USB ports, the phone freezes immediately. I will give the Nav a shot, but I do not expect to ever use it. Part of my decision making process of a '15 over ordering a '16 was that I could use some of the rebate money to buy an aftermarket unit if needed. I think I probably will at some point. I hate the Intellilink on my wife's Acadia, and I hated it in our '08 Yukon XL. So I did not expect anything more here.
• The brand new truck has a very small dent on the top of the panel right next tot he hood, and the tailgate has a small paint chip exposing the steel. I need to take it back Tuesday to get those fixed. They are planning to touch up the chip with a touch-up pen, but should I insist they repaint the entire tailgate?
• The truck came with underseat storage and all-weather mats. I was going to buy these separately, so I feel like I wasted a few dollars, but it's a minor gripe. I will sell the mats on Craigslist, and just use and enjoy the underseat storage.
• Occasionally when stopping, the transmission clunks going from 2nd to 1st (I think). It's not all the time; it happened 2 or 3 times driving around town yesterday.
• It looks like mounting the radar detector will be tricky. There is no tint strip along the top of the windshield, so I cannot conceal the detector very well. Maybe someone out there has some advice on that. I have the driver alert package, which makes it a little more difficult.
• The dealer experience sucked, which unfortunately was expected at this dealership. From getting me out there before the truck even showed up on their lot, to trying to play games with numbers, to the condescending nature of their "upselling" process while signing the papers, it was just annoying. It's so important to be informed going into these places, otherwise, you WILL get screwed over.
• I'd love a flat floor in the back, but it is what it is.

Undecided/Neutral

• I'm not sure about the factory spray-in liner. If I was going to order a truck, I think I'd do a delete and get this done myself. It's very plastic-y and hard. I am also concerned about the durability. Does this get a lifetime warranty like the Rhinos and Linexes of the world, or is it just covered under the factory warranty?
• It's longer than I'm used to, so depending on the lot, parking can be tricky without taking up a second space. I usually park far away from the door anyway, so I'm not too concerned. I wouldn't trade it for a short bed for anything.
• Gas mileage. It sucks so far, but I have no idea what the dealer filled it up with, and the dealer had to do all their emissions testing and the like while prepping the vehicle. I think I just need to get through the 1st tank of gas, get some 91 in it, and reset the gauges.

Overall, I like the truck, and I do not regret buying it. I expect it to get better the more I drive it and get used to it. If anyone has questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

[Z45]

 

Occasionally when stopping, the transmission clunks going from 2nd to 1st (I think). It's not all the time; it happened 2 or 3 times driving around town yesterday.

Normal behavior, clunking. Its voodoo transmission programing designed for better fuel economy and to control power and protect the transmission.

 

Gas mileage, I have 5,500 miles and average 20 mpg but I am not hauling around passengers, nor do I drive interstates or have a lot of traffic lights to contend with. No full power take-offs etc.

 

I had the spray in liner deleted because I do not like them. I went with the drop in liner because it makes it easy for me to slide items without having to get into the box. The spray in liners I seen looked like very coarse sandpaper.

[jvbronco]

Congrats on the new truck! One of my favorite parts about these trucks is how quiet they are on the road from the inside.

 

Do you plan to tow or haul anything?

[Hspore]

Congrats on the new truck! I presently have a 2014 DENALI long bed with 4wd and the 6.2. I special ordered it in the fall of 2013 and waited 14 weeks for it to arrive - it was worth the wait. My lease is up soon and I will be ordering a 2016 configured the same way. This truck has given me zero trouble. Mine has the 6 speed and also has the occasional downshift clunk. Once you get past the first couple tanks of fuel don't be afraid to push this engine. My dealer sent their lot attendant to get fuel when I was picking it up and you guessed it, he put in 87. In order to get the performance this engine is capable of, you have to use 93 in my opinion. As for gas mileage, well you didn't get the 6.2 because you really cared about it. I average 10 mpg around town and 18 on the highway. The lifetime average according to the computer is 11 mpg. I like performance cars and the ability to accelerate, so there you go. My truck presently has 13K miles on it and the Goodyear street tires on it are starting to show wear - yes they have been rotated twice. I'm looking forward to the 2016 with the improved LED lighting and I hope to be as happy with it as I am with the 2014.

[redwngr]

Mine still has the occasional 2-1 clunk, but it's rare enough and quiet enough that I'm no longer concerned. For mine, the shift issues posted in other threads seem to have been programmed out by the latest update.

 

I like the spray-in so far. I had the last 2 trucks were Linex-d and am happy with either. (truck before that was aquired used and it had some other spray-in that was smoother -- but also slippery enough that items in the back wanted to move around).

 

Enjoy the new ride!

[Badass69]

I am a new 6.2 owner as well and my 2015 is just at 1000 miles now. The tranny is going to shift that way unless you tune it.... You can search high and low on these forums and you just have to accept it as it is. GM may do revisions and updates over time like when they first released the 6 speeds so it can get better possibly. The transmission also learns over time and does start to shift differently. Mine is clunky when its cold and then has a huge hesitation from first to second gear every single time it does that shift the first time after you start it. I honestly don't care though.... I really don't. Once its warm it shifts fast and seems to get the job done.

 

I have the intellilink with Nav and mine works fine but I also don't use Apple products. All I care is it streams Bluetooth and it works no different than any other Bluetooth audio system I have had. The bedliner is on par with like my old 05's LineX and it's still good after 10 years so I won't worry much.

 

Fuel economy..... Well I have done nothing but pull trailer for basically a good portion of this trucks infancy...... so I really had no idea on mileage. Last night I did a 100 mile run with just the truck on a 4 lane highway with cruise set between 75 and 80 mph. My mpg average upon destination from the old lie o meter was just short 19 mpg so I can't really complain........ I don't think I have ever owned a pickup that could achieve that mileage at those speeds. My gas gauge seems pretty accurate and it hardly moved... I will hand calculate when I grab some fuel. And for fun..... my truck only sees V4 going downhill so when I delete that feature via tuning it won't affect my mpg one bit.

 

Power out of this thing is pretty awesome for a stock truck..... I have other modded trucks and I dunno.... this heap might be as fast as they are bone stock. I am pretty sure my one F150 will still outrun it but it's 6.2 has headers, full exhaust and a custom tune. I can't comment for other people but my Silvy does not feel held back stock like people always talk about..... and feels stronger than the couple other 2014/2015 6.2's I drove..... significantly stronger over the max trailer 2014 I was trying to buy a year or so ago. This truck still breaks the back tires loose on a 20 mph wide open throttle downshift... even with stock sized 10 ply BF K02's on it instead of the original SRA's.

 

Overall other than its battery going dead while sitting parked for a couple days I have no complaints.

[savaytse66]

Thanks for chiming in, everyone. After driving it around today, I have no complaints whatsoever except for the Intellilink system. I hate it, and I don't expect it to change, unfortunately. I'm hoping there is just something wrong, but it locks up both my phone (Android) and it locked up my iPod classic today. I don't use Apple products either, except for the iPod which is quite a few years old.

 

What's up with the lack of HD radio? Quite honestly, that really irks me. As a general rule, i only listen to one radio station, and it's an AM station, but is broadcast over one of the FM HD waves. My wife's Acadia had HD, and even my cheap Pioneer head unit I threw in my Silverado has HD. I thought I researched every last feature on this truck, but I never in a million years thought to look for HD capability. Just crazy. But given the fact I got over $3,000 in rebates that I wouldn't have got with a '16, I guess I'll just swap it out when I decide I've had enough.

 

The truck itself though is awesome. The clunking didn't happen at all today, i don't think, so no real complaints there. I half-loaded the bed with some drywall today, and I didn't even notice it was there. Not sure the truck realized it either. I have no evidence, but I'm pretty sure this truck is running 87 for its first tank. That being said, I've never in my life driven a vehicle with anything other than 87. I'm looking forward to the first fill up. If it IS running on 87, at least it's good know know that it CAN.

 

A few other random observations:

• I notice a high pitched "whine" when I accelerate slowly under normal driving conditions. It's a little annoying, but I doubt anything to worry about.
• I have a RAM suction cup mount for my phone, and I'm not sure where it belongs. I have it on my windshield to the left of the steering wheel, but I don't like it there. On the Silverado, I 2-sided taped a round disk to my plastic dash, and it was perfect where it was. I'm not sure I want to stick anything to the soft pleather dash though. Has anyone used a Command strip or anything like that? Otherwise I don't know where to mount it without obstructing my view in some way.
• Same goes for the radar detector. It is very visible when mounted at the top of the windshield because of the lack of a tint strip. Probably not a big deal, but I am paranoid to dismount it and hide it every time I leave the truck. On the Silverado, it was invisible from the outside.
• The bed liner seemed fine today. It definitely was rougher when loading the drywall, but I think it will break in after some use.
• Sun glass holder is a joke
• The garage door buttons seem to need a very firm push for them to work. I notice this on the Acadia too. I guess it's a GM thing.
• I can't for the life of me figure out how I end up at 40 mph in what seems like a blink of an eye. And that's with a light foot. My wife leaned over yesterday to check my speed because she thought I was driving too slow. I was going 72.

If the truck wasn't so damn smooth and comfortable, these little things would bother me more. I know I'm not reporting anything new here that hasn't been talked about before, but I thought confirmation from a new owner might help some folks.

 

On a side note, I ordered some Husky liners today, so I am anxious to get them. The factory all-weather mats are already on Craigslist, so I hope it doesn't rain before Wednesday when they get here. I think I am also going to grab an Amp bed extender, and I need to decide on a hard fold tonneau. Except for maybe an under-tonneau tool box, I think that will do it. I'll be keeping an eye out for Alpine's offerings and a way to replace this stupid Intellilink and maintain my factory controls.

[TXTruk15]

Congrats on the new truck!

 

I have the driver alert pkg also on my SLT, and mounted the radar unit using a blendmount and a mirror tap power cord (or inviscord, take your pick), which taps into the plug under the plastic cover. The unit turns on when the key goes on, and turns off when the ignition is off. Here's a pic -- I have done this on my other vehicles, including a vette, for the past 3 years, and haven't had any issues...

 

[Badass69]

I guess I should say the FM radio reception in the truck is useless........ but I rarely ever listen to regular radio anyway. Living in the middle of nowhere does that to me as there are about 4 FM stations and they all kind of suck. However I noticed when getting within proximity of a city I do listen to the one station they have its hard as it basically doesn't work unless I am in the metropolitan area...... which is not right. Common complain on here though with no resolution of course lol. HD FM doesn't exist here anywhere so its of no concern of whether it works or not... but FM radio reception in general is pretty bad.

 

My radar detector is on one of the Bell/Escort Stickycup mounts they released a while ago on the windshield and and just plugs in the cigarette lighter. I have 2 detectors and 6 different trucks so I don't ever hard mount any of them.

 

I only run premium ( 91 or 94) and drive the hell out of everything so I don't think I will be trying 87. My truck was empty when I bought it and the salesman put premium in it when we filled it.

[sneakypete6]

I thought all these trucks had HD radio channels but I guess not.

 

I thought I'd let you know that I've run 87 in my 2014 6.2 for 4,000 miles and 93 for about 6,000 miles. I never noticed any knocking or pinging while using 87. I can tell a difference in performance between the two, and I am averaging about 1-2 mpg better with 93. My dad also ran 87 in his 2014 6.2 and he never noticed any issues, but he switched to 93 as well (I'm not sure if he has noticed a difference or not).

[redwngr]

HD radio is back for 2016 models.

[Glava2876]

I had two of the same issues;

The paint chips, but that has been fixed.

Also, the transmission downshift clunk, which only got worse -but was fixed at the dealer.

Here is the last post on my thread;

 

Posted 09 October 2015 - 02:38 PM

I just wanted to be sure this is on the site incase anyone has an A8 with a real hard 2-1 down shift bang.

My dealer had it for almost a week, but it is now FIXED!!

The tech at the dealer (Bill Rapp GMC Casey Jones)was not sending the Denali back until he was satisfied with it -man am I satisfied!

This transmission downshifts smooth as silk through all the gears ... and still goes though the gears like stink when I mash the pedal! ​

He did the following:

1) UPDATED TCM SOFTWARE, PERFORMED FAST LEARN ADAPTS AND ABBREVIATED COAST ADAPTIVE DOWNSHIFT ROUTINE AND VERIFIED REPAIR.

2) RECALL 15304 PROGRAMMED TRANSFER CASE SHIFT CONTROL MODULE. Prevents 4wd always engages when cold.

3) RECALL 15396 REPLACED TRANS INTERNAL HARNESS WITH INTEGRAL TFT SENSOR. Prevents harsh shift when starting in cold temperatures.

 

Thanks to my dealer, I am extremely pleased with my Denali!

 

​

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[BuddTX]

Congratulations on your new truck! Just like me, My last truck was a 2001 GMC Sierra that I bought labor day 2000. I was looking forward to keeping it three more years, then it got vandalized, and the insurance totaled it out, so I bought a 2015 GMC Sierra SLE. I LOVE mine too!

 

Like you, I was disappointed in the lack of HD Radio.

 

I wanted top of the line radio, minus the BOSE. I very much dislike the bose! (better sound thru brain washing!)

 

I was just "ho hum" with the sound at first, I was thinking after about 10K or so I would swap out the speakers, but the speakers seemed to really open up after 2000-3000 miles or so. I will be happy for the foreseeable future with the current system.

 

I had a bed liner in my last truck, but decided to get a bed mat in my new truck, saved some money, and like the soft cushon. Also, I haul stuff about 1-2 times a year, so the bed matt made more sense.

 

I bought the blendmount (not the cheaper version) but have not yet installed it. I also installed a BAK VP Tonneau cover, and I really like it.

[savaytse66]

Ok, so now I'm not sure what to do. I've had the truck at the dealer since yesterday to look at a few things, and though I haven't been back to pick it up and verify, all of the following have been addressed:

• Dent next to the hood - They removed it
• Chip in the tailgate - They supposedly touched it up
• Clunking from 2nd to 1st gear - Said it's normal and the adaptive transmission will work itself out over time
• Phone locking up when plugged in via USB - Could not duplicate, which I expected...maybe it's my phone
• iPod locking up and not changing track titles - Here's where it gets interesting and I cannot accept...

The service tech told me that while certain devices are supported (iPod Classic), they may not support all the features of the Intellilink system. Also, since the Intellilink software has not been updated in several years, certain devices may not work well.

 

WTF?

 

To me, this is completely unacceptable. As stupid and petty as it sounds, I am considering returning the vehicle under my dealer's "return" policy. Essentially, they allow "No Questions Asked" returns within three days and 150 miles. When I took it in yesterday, I was on day 3 and at about 146 miles.

 

I LOVE the truck other than this Intellilink system. But I take frequent business trips that are 4 - 5 hours away, and I rely on having my music accessible. The cheap, $150 Pioneer head unit I put in my '02 Silverado can interact with my phone and iPod pretty seamlessly, so why can't the infotainment system on a $60k MSRP "luxury" truck?

 

I realize it sounds stupid to give up on an otherwise fantastic truck because of the radio, but this is a serious shortcoming and not something I am willing to sacrifice. I was going to hold out for a '16 with Android Auto, but I thought I could get past the crappy Navigation that I'll never use (I MUCH prefer Waze and/or Google maps) since I'd still be able to jam to my tunes. But now this, and MY ignorance with not knowing it did not have HD radio capability has me reconsidering.

 

I'd love for somebody to change my attitude before I go in tomorrow to (not) pick it up...

[Badass69]

I use Bluetooth media on mine more than anything else and it's great...... I have all my music loaded to my Galaxy S5 and I don't use ITunes anyway. It's seamless...... I mean it picks up the phone and just works. I won't attempt to talk you into the truck..... if you hate it this bad already ditch the stupid thing. If you don't you will sit there and nit pick it for the rest of time and regret not doing it. There are tons of those people on these forums so just get rid of the truck and don't become one of them lol. I'm not a Chevy fan..... I have GM, Ford and Toyota trucks so I honestly don't care what I drive.

 

I dumped my F150 for the Sync system being garbage for one of the reasons anyway so just get rid of the truck.