Active Response 4WD - Is it worth waiting for when driving periodically in snow?

[CTown Duramax]

I think you should get the diesel. This is not an uncommon engine. It is now in its third year in the Silverado and Chevy and GMC dealers are everywhere. There's plenty of passing power at speed. 277 hp seems to me to be plenty of steam, even for a three-ton aerodynamic brick. I think all three engines are practical and give you more than you need. The output of these engines goes far beyond what was available and certainly adequate only 20 years ago.

 

[Stbentoak]

"Plenty of passing power" may be a little generous. The diesel starts to run out of legs if you are trying to pass at say 60-70MPH.... it will definitely get you around someone in due length, but nowhere near what the 6.2 would do.
That being said, if you know its capabilities, you know what and what not it can do. I've never had a loss for needed power (Within expectations..) and I'm getting at least 50% better MPG on the daily, so any tradeoff is worth it to me...

 

[muncie21]

Not sure if the newer Yukons/Suburbans have real 4WD as compared to the AWD on the '09 and '14 Denali's. I prefer having the hi/low manual switch, but that's not available on the Denali trim 07-14 models.

I will say that tires on the AWD Yukons make a big difference. I've spun the rear end around on the Yukon XL with all season tires, with just a few inches of snow on the road. Without people in the back the rear end feels light.

 

[vcode]

2010 Tahoe. I live in Wisconsin. If I drive in heavy snow, turning the TC off really helps get you going as the computer won't cut power.
Auto 4WD usually works great but 4WD Hi provides instant traction. The locker diff works great. I'm guessing dedicated snow tires would
make more of difference than anything. That said, I'm not sure Active Response would make that much of a difference except in truely
hideous conditions.

 

[YYCYukon]

I have a fairly basic 2021 Yukon Denali with the 3L Diesel with 17,000km. (no air ride, no running boards…)

For perspective, I’m based in Calgary Alberta, there is currently 5” of recently fallen but now hard packed slippery snow/ice covering the roads. The current temperature is -28 C / -18 F. I haven’t got around to mounting my winter tires (Nokian Hakk).

I’ve never driven a diesel prior to this.



Here are my observations.

1) The diesel and the 10spd transmission are the perfect combination for this big SUV. It chugs along quietly at ~1,500 rpm and has lots of low end torque for cruising around town and makes long highway drives a pleasure. It gets shockingly impressive highway fuel economy. I’ve been tracking 19mpg in the city and 29 mpg on the highway during road trips (manually calculated). It’s not fast by any means, but it’s a great engine for the car. If you want to pass people going 160kph+ on the interstate you should probably opt for the bigger V8.

2) The diesel has been great in the cold weather. It’s parked in an unheated attached garage, but starts instantly and gets to full temp very quickly (probably faster than my Land Rover LR4 with a gas V8). I haven’t tried to leave it out on the driveway overnight at -20 and cold start it … but I may this week just to see how it goes.

3) You’ll be fine with the 2021 version of the 4WD system. Starting traction hasn’t been an issue for me even on either hard packed ice or deeper snow. Like all heavy trucks/suvs, stopping is the bigger issue (especially when going down hill). The LSD won’t help with that - it’s all in the tires.

 

[R32driver]

We actually had snow in the PNW on Christmas so got to drive the yukon about 20 miles or so and it did fantastic. Mostly had it in AUTO mode but then on the trip home put it in 4HI and never noticed any slipping or traction loss in either setting. Just this week put Nitto ridge grapplers on it so I'm sure that helped a bit too but overall it had a very confident feel on the road