2024 GMC Canyon AT4X
| The Good: – Aggressive styling – Cabin trim and features – Decent onroad, monster offroad |
The Bad: – Some hard cabin plastics – Fuel economy – Average rear legroom |
For the longest time, GMC’s reputation in the Middle East revolved largely around their full-size pickup trucks and SUVs. Their range also consists of a couple of crossovers, but the smaller Canyon pickup never made it to our shores. That is now changing with the introduction of the newly-redesigned model, now available locally only in the toughest AT4X format.
The Canyon AT4X only comes in 4-door crew-cab form, and looks a bit docile from far away. But once you walk up to it, the truck looks absolutely mean, with its bespoke flared fenders, big offroad-ready tyres, more aggressive bumpers, rock rails and sky-high ground clearance.
The front end is mostly grille, while the 17-inch two-tone wheels look small within the beefy Goodyear Wrangler Territory MT tyres. The front bumpers have the corners cut out to reduce breakable bits during offroading while the rear has unpainted corner caps, but all the bumpers still have body-colour bits to avoid looking like a base model. The side-marker orange lights on the fender flares are a unique touch.
While the rock rails are nice, the high-riding truck could’ve have used some side-steps, because it’s a massive pant-stretch to climb up into the cabin for anyone shorter than six feet, let alone your arthritic aunt.
Once inside, the AT4X-exclusive “Obsidian Rush” interior with “Ceramic White” accents nicely spruces up the otherwise utilitarian interior. The hard plastic dashboard and doors are nicely broken up with padded leatherette, even along the sides of the centre console. Combined with the cabin tech and textured leather seats, GMC has done a great job in making you feel like you’re driving something special.
The 5-seater Canyon has excellent space up front, while the rear is reasonably comfortable for average-sized adults. Very tall folks may complain of rear legroom, and the upright seatbacks don’t help either. But there’s a ton of storage spaces, under the centre armrest, under the rear seat-bottom, and even in a long shallow compartment within the tailgate. And of course, there is the 6-foot bed with liner.
In terms of tech, the Canyon comes with an 11-inch digital gauge cluster and an 11.3-inch dash-top touchscreen. The touchscreen is generally intuitive, and has a lot of features to fiddle with, including a virtual spinning copy of the truck that shows different settings via little hovering buttons around it.
It is possible to completely change the visual layout of the gauge cluster using the steering wheel buttons, such as replacing the basic tach and speedometer with a more off-road-focused layout with fore/aft and side-to-side angles, altimeter and more.
But a whole lot of configurable features has been buried with the main touchscreen. Simple things like resetting the trip computer and even turning the headlights on/off require playing with screen menus, because there are no physical controls for those.
Still, the layout has been kept fairly clean even with all the tech. Other features include a 6.3-inch heads-up display, adaptive cruise control, intelligent high beams, smart keyless start, Google Maps navigation with full map displays even within the gauge cluster, wireless Apple Carplay and Android Auto, wireless charging pad, rear parking sensors and a surround-view system with up to 10 available cameras, including underbody cameras that include front and rear underneath the truck, for rock-climbing help.
Safety features include automatic emergency braking, front pedestrian braking, rear cross-traffic braking, rear pedestrian alert, lane keeping assist with departure warning, forward collision alert and blind zone steering assist. GM’s OnStar service is available in “standard” form for 10 years free, with subscription upgrades available on trial.
The Canyon comes standard with a turbocharged 2.7-litre 4-cylinder engine making 310 hp at 5600 rpm and 583 Nm of torque at 3000 rpm. Mated to a decent 8-speed automatic, the combo doesn’t set the tyres on fire on account of the AT4X’s 2,360 kg curb weight, but it is plenty quick for a truck.
We timed the 0-100 kph run at 7.8 seconds on a warm Dubai afternoon in May weather. But more importantly, the AT4X feels quick on account of its good low-end kick and juicy peak torque.
Our as-tested fuel consumption was 16.7 litres/100 km (6 km/litre) as per the trip computer, not particularly frugal, but it does have a maximum towing capacity of 2,722 kg.
The AT4X comes with very visible Multimatic DSSV (dynamic suspensions spool valve) dampers. Ground clearance is 272 mm, approach angle is 36.9 degrees, breakover angle is 24.5 degrees, departure angle is 25 degrees and track width is 1684 mm. For context, the Canyon’s stats are largely comparable to a Ranger Raptor, while the Jeep Gladiator Sand Runner has better ground clearance and approach angle, but much worse breakover angle.
The AT4X is fully equipped for fighting the wilderness, with electronically-selectable 2WD, 4WD, 4-low and auto modes, front and rear electronic locking differentials, a baja drive mode, and a button turn off rollover detection to not set off the airbags. The silver part of the front bumper is plastic, but there is underbelly protection, including a transfer case shield and those serious-looking rocker protectors.
Those golden-coloured Multimatic dampers steal the show though, softening up wheel motions over rocks and ruts with ease. The faster you drive, the smoother the ride gets, as alluded to by the aforementioned “Baja” mode. Take a bit of air out of the tyres and you can hammer it all over the dunes just like the bigger F-150 Raptor and Silverado ZR2, just with some more throttle input required to climb the steeper stuff.
Even on-road, the fancy dampers are excellent at filtering out rebounds over lumpy roads, and even speed bumps is you shamelessly hurry over them. The Canyon’s road manners are reasonably good around corners too, although the tall springs allow a fair bit of lean on sharper corners. Body roll becomes very noticeable if you start taking turns at the same speed as a sedan, but otherwise it’s an easy truck to drive around town. The steering and brakes are a bit lazy, but not overly so, while the turning circle is manageable.
On the highway, the ride is smooth enough, better than its rivals at the very least, although there is always an audible hum from the 285/70 all-terrain tyres.
The Canyon AT4X is a welcome addition in a dwindling segment that is now being revitalised with exciting choices. For a pricepoint just a little above what the Japanese sell decades-old workhorse offroaders for, the AT4X is as modern as it gets, and immensely desirable. This one is a good egg.
Photos by Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury.
| Price Range: Dh 234,000 – 235,000Current Model Introduced in: 2024 Body Styles: Engines: Transmissions: Setup: Suspension: |
Brakes: Front: discs Rear: discsCurb Weight: 2360 kg Length: Wheelbase: Top Speed: Test Acceleration 0-100 kph: Observed Test Fuel Economy: |
Comments
Gerhard van der sandt
I have the previous generation model if your interested in comparing the old model to the new model @drivearabia.com