2006 GMC Sierra SLE Crew Cab Z71

Author's Rating:

Pros: Smooth riding, comfortable seating, and excellent leg room in 2nd row, features and styling

Cons: Fuel Economy, no tailgate lock, child seats need to go in middle or passengers side.

The Bottom Line: 
Excellent truck, I praise so highly a coworker has just gone out and purchased his own Sierra 1500HD Crew Cab and he loves his too.

Author's Review
Before purchasing this truck I compared it to the other American models out there. I have two small kids and I wanted the Crew Cab for the ease of getting them in and out of there car seats. Dodge was quickly ruled out because there Quad Cab had almost 3 inches less of rear leg room plus the rear doors are not as big as those on GMC and Ford. Between the Ford and the GMC it pretty much came down to styling and standard options. Although style is subjective, I prefer the smooth lines of the GMC. The Sierra also came with standard amenities as dual zone climate control, rear defogger, heated mirrors and a lower price tag.

My Sierra is equipped with the Safe and Sound package which includes and XM capable radio along with OnStar. I had a portable XM in my last car and was looking forward to having this feature built into the truck. The radio is RSD capable so it will display the artist and song title as well as any other pertinent information. The OnStar is also another nice feature. It is very easy to setup, as simple as pushing the OnStar button on the mirror and answering a few simple questions with the operator on the other end. I get e-mail reports once a month showing the status of the Engine System, Emission System, Airbag System, Antilock Braking System and OnStar System as well showing remaining oil life and any maintenance required. If you get locked out, it’s a simple as calling OnStar and they will remotely unlock the doors. The hands free phone is excellent, calls are clear and now you have the option of adding the OnStar phone as an additional line to a Verizon Wireless account. Both XM and OnStar use the same small antenna on the roof over the driver’s side.

The 5.3L V8 has excellent power and for a truck my average fuel economy has been about 14.7 miles per gallon. The fuel economy plus things like trip odometers, engine hours and estimated oil life are right on the dashboard and controlled by easy to use steering wheel controls.

Four wheel drive is controlled by a simple push button. There are the typical settings of 4x4 High and 4x4 Low as well as 4x4 Automatic which will monitor for wheel slippage and automatically shift into four wheel drive. If you plan to tow the truck, disengaging the transmission is a simple as pushing the 2WD and the 4x4 buttons at the same time.

The rearview mirror and driver’s side mirror are auto-dimming at night. And the outside mirrors can be folded in with the touch of a button.

My truck has the split bench front seat and the back rest of the middle seat folds down to reveal a rather large storage area. The seats are very comfortable and easy to adjust with the 6-way power driver’s side controls. The rear seats are just as comfortable. The only downfall is if you plan to put child seat in the rear of the Crew Cab there are only anchors to place the seat in either the middle or passengers side location. If you plan to put a child seat on the drives side, be prepared to use the seatbelt and H-clip to secure it. Even with having to put the two car seats side by side, they are able to fit nicely and I still have room to put another passenger in the rear seat comfortable.

Overall, I think this is the best truck out there. If I need to replace this truck down the road I would buy another GMC in a heartbeat.