Test Drove
reviewed by Emily Hansen

Test drove: 6/17/08 – 6/24/08

Green SUV Leads to New Family Fun

By: Emily Hansen

As a former full-size-SUV owner, I know that driving a big vehicle is really about hauling people. But owning a Yukon Hybrid is more than that — it’s also about hauling gear, being comfortable on long trips and doing it all with a dash of green, earth-loving sassiness.

This green behemoth has spacious seating for seven and hauls a boat or pop-up camper with its 6,200-pound towing capacity. The Yukon Hybrid and its sister SUV, the Chevy Tahoe Hybrid, are two-mode hybrids. Don’t glaze over yet — this means they can run on a battery-powered engine — up to a point — in city driving and a powerful V-8 engine during highway cruising.

Keeping the Yukon in battery mode became a game for my family — thrilling since the ABC road sign game gets old. While paying close attention to my driving I got close to 22 mpg in a mix of city and highway driving; otherwise my mileage averaged between 20 and 21 mpg. It was much harder for me to change my driving habits than I would have imagined. I had trouble adjusting to other drivers’ snooty impatience when I would slowly move away from a stop sign to stay in battery mode. Hybrid or not, I will have to make some adjustments to my lifestyle to up my fuel economy numbers.

In my day-to-day grocery-getting life, I loved that when my kids sat in the Yukon they weren’t even close to touching each other. I could easily fit three booster seats across the middle row (three five-point harness child-safety seats would also fit, depending upon their dimensions) and the kids were able to buckle their seat belts without any problems.

I did feel a little uneasy about the nickel-metal hydride battery, which sits directly below the second-row seats. A GM engineer assured me it’s safe, but the idea of my kids sitting on top of a giant battery makes me feel about as comfortable as someone building an elementary school next to a power station.

If a family wants to maintain a lifestyle that includes moving kids, stuff and trailers, and occasionally going off the beaten path, then getting 20 mpg in the Yukon Hybrid is a lot more appealing than 15 mpg in its non-hybrid sister — that’s a 25 percent gain in fuel economy. But if high gas prices are making you consider a hybrid, I suggest stepping outside your SUV comfort zone altogether and broadening your hybrid horizons.

*For more information on the 2008 GMC Yukon Hybrid and its safety features, visit Cars.com. With questions or comments regarding this review, write to .

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