2025 GMC Sierra EV AT4 Review
2025 GMC Sierra EV AT4
Price: $81,395 (AT4 Extended Range)
Battery Specs: 205 kWh Ultium Pack
DC Motor Specs: Dual Motors, 754 HP / 785 TQ (Max Power Mode)
Efficiency: 1.9 kWh/mile
Guy who did stuff: Yousef Alvi
Photographs: Manufacturer
Yes, I know everything from the battery pack to the electric motors to the entire platform is the same as the Silverado RST. Yes, I know I wasn't the world's biggest fan of the Silverado RST. So it would make sense if I lumped this Sierra EV into the same 'meh' category as its bowtie brethren... but I'm not.
Call it the AT4 package with its big squishy sidewalls and off-road paraphernalia, or maybe it's the more restrained styling of the Sierra EV, or maybe it's all of the above? Whatever it is, I massively prefer the Sierra EV AT4 to any iteration of the Silverado RST.
First, its ride quality is borderline sublime. It effortlessly cruises down the road without a care in the world. Its retuned AT4 suspension swallows up bumps with barely an audible 'thud' and that's it. You would expect it to be a wallowy beast of burden then with its 9,000-pound weight and off-roady suspension, but it's easy to wield on the road as a Canyon. It also doesn't completely fall apart in the bends either, staying relatively flat until physics kicks in to understeer itself to oblivion. Overall, pretty damn excellent.
Second, its looks. The Silverado RST looks squinty, overstyled, and needlessly 'sport truck'd' up the wazoo. Whereas this Sierra EV looks like a modern... truck. Let me explain. There are three apparent ways to style a full-size EV truck.
Do what the Ford Lightning does and barely do anything.
Swing the complete opposite direction, like the Silverado RST, and overstyle every inch of it to oblivion.
Find the happy median, like this Sierra EV, and beautifully combine both.
Obviously I prefer the Sierra EV in AT4 guise over all of them.
The interior is largely the same as the Silverado RST. You get a ginormous screen, minimal physical controls, and some standard 'wtf why is this stuck in the infotainment screen' issues. But you also get some slightly more premium materials and more soft-touch materials here and there. The largely corporate GM copy-and-paste is pretty much in full display here on the interior of this Sierra EV. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Everything fits together snugly, there are no random squeaks or rattles, and most everything is logically laid out.
Another thing that is the same is the powertrain. Both the Silverado RST and this Sierra EV are powered by the same Ultium dual-motor setup, which can deliver up to 754 horsepower and 785 lb-ft of torque in Max Power mode. And this is where the cognitive dissonance truly kicks in. Logically, the driving experience should be identical, but it simply isn't. The AT4's off-road focus seems to have serendipitously smoothed out the rough edges that made the Silverado RST feel overly aggressive and truck-like. It's a remarkable case of the sum of identical parts yielding a surprisingly superior result when mixed with chunky tires and a different suspension tune.
So, is the Sierra EV AT4 the perfect electric pickup? Absolutely not. The interior is still a touch too 'corporate parts bin,' the price tag makes a Rivian look like a bargain, and let's face it, moving 9,000 pounds of truck requires more electrons than is strictly polite. However, if you're going to build a nine-thousand-pound electric truck on the Ultium platform, the AT4 is definitively the way to do it. It takes the bones of the less-loved Sierra EV and—thanks to some genuine off-road swagger and superior ride tuning—transforms it into a genuinely desirable, comfortable, and beautifully styled package. It’s the same core product, but the Sierra AT4 finally feels like a 'Professional Grade' electric vehicle, and for that reason alone, it gets my enthusiastic, if financially cautious, stamp of approval.
Yousef Alvi
