My mom leased a 2013 Yukon XL Denali with 4wd in either August or July of 2013 as a replacement for our 2004 Chevrolet Suburban that me and my two brothers grew up in. The Yukon was comfy and had plenty of space for the six people in my family and a dog. The heated seats were great for bitterly cold New England winters, and the 4wd was great in the rain and snow. The car was very reliable, and aside from scheduled matinence, the car only had two instances of emergency repairs when just the brakes needed to be re-calibrated, and the dealership was very helpful and fixed the problem easily. Materials wise, the dashboard, I thought, felt a bit cheap as it was made entirely of hard plastics, but the plastics all looked nice and held together nicely and never chipped or cracked. All of the places where you would rest your arms and hands were nicely padded (aside from the third row) and all of the seats were very comfortable, although I thought the driver and passenger seats could have used a bit more side bolstering but were comfortable none the less. The car was very safe as well, with a backup camera with good quality, very responsive parking sensors, good blind spot monitoring, and just giving the size of that car would make it safe if you were to get in a crash in one. The car ride and handled well, the steering could be defined as a bit numb, but it must be for a car of its size. The car accelerated stupendously for its size and braking was fine. Two complaints I have for the car's performance are that I thought that the headlights were not too bright, though I am comparing them to halogen projector beam lights, but they do suffice nicely, and that the accelerator could be a bit touchy and could take some time to get used to, but once you did it was nothing. All of the electronics worked splendidly, the touch screen was very responsive and Bluetooth worked fine, that navigation system could be annoying to work with when in crowded city streets, but it usually worked fine. This was the first car that I drove when I got my permit and the more time I spent driving it, the more I came to like it! It was a solidly built American body on frame SUV and it made me feel very safe when in it, and I loved going fast down the highway in it. However the Yukon's lease ran up this August and instead of buying it, my mom leased a 2016 Toyota Sequoia and it is a good car, but there are still things I liked better about the Yukon that the Sequoia. The Yukon proved that it was a good, reliable, and useful car that will suit any large family and all of their needs.
