2008 GMC Yukon Hybrid Video
2008 GMC Yukon Hybrid Video Transcript
>> There's no [inaudible] on buying what GM is selling right now. That means you got to buy something as big and porky as a Yukon, I guess it's good that it's a hybrid, but how good? Let's Check the Tech, and check the greens. ^M00:00:13 [ music ] ^M00:00:21 Now the power in this big bastard comes out of a six liter V8, holy cow. But then of course it's got electric motors helping it out not be so porky. 332 horsepower, 367 foot pounds. That's a big old mule, you don't think of that as a green car, do you? So what's going on here is a two mode hybrid. You see the badge on the outside of the car. And what they've done here is create a special transmission that has two electric motors integrated into it, two planetary gear sets, one fixed set of four gear ratios, and the whole idea is a unique way of combining the transmission and the hybrid electric power motors into one unit. What's the end result. You can run this vehicle on electric only, which it does in creeping modes. It'll also do an auto stop when you come to a red light or a stop sign, you see that happen there. And then as soon as you lift off or hit the gas deeply enough, depending on the mode, it fires the engine again. You've got some variable fuel management, which is another way of not using cylinders when they're not necessary, like when you're cruising on the freeway under gas power. The bottom line here is a significant, though significant enough?, MPG improvement. Twenty one, twenty two are the EPA ratings, and take those with a grain of salt. They're usually optimistic. Your batteries live under the second row seats, three hundred volt battery packs. Again, bear that into the cost of ownership on this guy, you will eventually need to service and or replace those batteries. Hard to say what that'll cost when the time comes. Oh and check this out. A novel way to operate a shiftable automatic, which this is. You've got this rocker switch right here, so you drop the lever into M, which is right below drive, and then you move that rocker up and down to select your gear. Now it's not any different than a typical slush box that's shiftable, but it's a novel way of handling the interface. Here's our head unit, which by the way is standard. Yukons come pretty well equipped. This is a navigation head unit, which means you don't have to rely on that Onstar turn by turn nav that GM used to force you into if you wanted navigation. Now you've got the on screen, looks like cell. It's a little bit on the crunchy side in terms of how the map looks. The audio system on this guy is AM, FM, XM. Here's your AUX jack. There's no iPod adapter available, no USB adapter. This is a relatively dated head unit, you're not gonna see those kind of technologies right away in this piece. Now when you've got a vehicle this big, you better give folks in the back something to do, because when they see you pull up in this, they say oh it's gonna be a nice, comfortable ride. So you can option a rear seat entertainment system, it'll play DVDs on a single, overhead mounted, ceiling mounted drop down display, and has two pair of wireless headphones. So bottom line, there's our average economy over a mix of driving, 18.8 miles per gallon. Not happy time at the pump, folks. But if you need something this big, not bad, and certainly an improvement over the bad old days not too long ago. On the other hand, if you don't need something this big, the whole point's mute, hybrid or not. ^M00:03:23 [ music ] ^M00:03:25 Okay, let's price our big boy with the battery pack. You're pushing fifty two grand base. But it's well equipped. That includes everything I've shown you, with few exceptions, and a couple things I didn't show you, like the rear view camera and park sensors. If you want to option it up, twelve ninety five for rear seat entertainment. If you want the all wheel drive, it's about three thousand dollars more base.
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The good: The power train in the 2008 GMC Yukon Hybrid delivers enormous power and better mileage than comparable SUVs, and can drive the car for short distances under electric power only. The audio and navigation interface is very well designed.
The bad: The navigation system offers no particularly advanced features. There is no Bluetooth cell phone integration, although you can get hands-free calling through OnStar.
The bottom line: The 2008 GMC Yukon Hybrid provides the most power, utility, and economy available today. It makes a good choice if you need to haul people, cargo, and trailers, but it comes up a little short in its cabin tech.
Manufacturer: GMC
Part number: 100959522
- Body style
- SUV
- Available Engine
- Hybrid
- Smart airbags
- Standard
- Antilock brakes
- Standard
- Satellite radio
- Standard
- Video entertainment system
- Optional
- Connection for portable MP3 sound system
- Standard
- Multizone climate control
- Standard
- Heated/cooled seats
- Standard
