2022 GMC Sierra 1500

The volume 2022 Sierra 1500 configuration — SLT/Elevation crew cab 4WD with the 5.3L L84 V8 — is rated 355 hp at 5,600 rpm, carried unchanged through the 2022 mid-cycle refresh. The lineup spans the 310-hp 2.7L Turbo High-Output up to the 420-hp 6.2L L87, which is standard on the new-for-2022 Denali Ultimate and AT4X.

The volume 5.3L V8 peaks at 383 lb-ft at 4,100 rpm — mid-pack for a half-ton and, as of the 2022 refresh, less than the base four-cylinder, whose High-Output revision lifted it from 348 to 430 lb-ft. The 2022 torque leaders are the 6.2L V8 and the LM2 Duramax, both at 460 lb-ft; the 495-lb-ft LZ0 Duramax does not arrive until 2023.

No public instrumented test of a 2022 Sierra 1500 with the 5.3L V8 exists — the verified 2022 GM half-ton results are all 6.2L trucks — so the figure rests on tests of the mechanically identical 5.3L/10L80 Silverado, which land right around 7.0 seconds. Quick enough for the segment but nowhere near the electric trucks that anchor the top of the truck band.

The 5.3L and 6.2L small-block V8s deliver the lag-free, linear low-end torque that defines a half-ton, and the LM2 Duramax is quiet and vibration-free by diesel standards. What holds this below the top band is the 2.7L Turbo High-Output — reviewers consistently describe it as strong off idle but coarse and buzzy at higher revs, and for 2022 it is the standard engine on Pro, SLE and Elevation rather than a niche choice — plus the V8s' Dynamic Fuel Management cylinder deactivation, which is audible at light throttle.

The 10L80 10-speed behind the 5.3L, 6.2L and Duramax normally shifts smoothly and holds the torque band without hunting, but the refreshed 2022 trucks specifically drew widespread complaints of poor shift quality — most often a harsh or hesitant low-gear shift, sometimes with the malfunction indicator lamp — serious enough that GM issued a service update replacing and reprogramming the transmission control module. That is a genuine 2022-model-year defect rather than a carry-over characteristic, and it pulls this item a full band below where the same hardware sits in 2023.

Properly equipped, the 2022 Sierra 1500 tows 13,200 lbs — at the top of the half-ton class and near the ceiling of the truck normalization band. The peak needs the Duramax, the Max Trailering Package and 20-inch wheels; the volume 5.3L V8 crew cab 4WD is rated 9,100 lbs as delivered and 10,800 lbs with Max Trailering, while the 5.3L model maximum is 11,200 lbs in the lighter double cab 2WD.

Maximum base payload for 2022 is 2,240 lbs, achieved with the light 2.7L turbo four in a work-oriented regular cab — competitive but not exceptional against the half-ton field, and real crew cab trims land near 1,920–2,030 lbs. The off-road trims give up the most: the AT4X carries just 1,420 lbs, the lowest in the range.

GMC's ProGrade Trailering System is the most complete factory towing suite in the segment and the 2022 refresh extended it: an available integrated trailer brake controller, Traction Select with tow/haul mode, hitch guidance with hitch view, up to 14 camera views including Transparent Trailer, an in-vehicle trailering app with stored trailer profiles, jackknife alert and a pre-departure checklist, and the six-function MultiPro tailgate with a step that keeps hitch access usable. New for 2022, Super Cruise can operate hands-free while towing a compatible trailer. It falls short of a perfect score only because the brake controller, ProGrade suite and trailering Super Cruise are all options or top-trim exclusives rather than standard equipment.

Four-wheel drive is offered on every 2022 Sierra 1500 trim from Pro to Denali Ultimate through a genuine two-speed transfer case with low range, and is effectively mandatory at the top of the range — the 6.2L V8 is a 4WD-only engine, so AT4X and Denali Ultimate are 4WD by definition — with driver-selectable front and rear electronic locking differentials on the AT4X. It stops short of the top of the band only because 4WD remains an extra-cost option on the mainstream Pro, SLE, Elevation and SLT trims.

2022 is the year the Sierra 1500 gained a genuine halo off-roader in the new AT4X — Multimatic DSSV spool-valve dampers with 40 mm pistons, a 2-inch factory lift, driver-selectable front and rear electronic lockers, 32-inch Goodyear Wrangler DuraTrac mud-terrains and 11.1 in. of ground clearance — over an AT4 with a 2-inch lift, monotube shocks and a rear locker. It scores below its Silverado ZR2 twin, though, because GMC kept the AT4 front bumper: approach angle is 25.5° against the ZR2's 31.8°, tires are 32-inch rather than 33-inch with no room for 35s, and underbody protection stops at the transfer case instead of running forward to the front differential.

Four genuinely distinct powertrains — a 2.7L turbo four, two displacements of small-block V8 and an inline-six turbo-diesel — give the 2022 Sierra 1500 one of the widest conventional engine menus in the segment, and the refresh strengthened the base engine rather than thinning the range. It cannot reach the top band because none of them is electrified: there is no hybrid or plug-in Sierra 1500 for 2022, and the Sierra EV is a separate nameplate on its own platform that had not yet reached customers.

The volume 5.3L V8 4WD crew cab returns 17 MPG combined — thirsty even by full-size truck standards and the main drag on this category. The 2022 refresh cost real efficiency: the same 5.3L 4WD 10-speed was rated 19 MPG combined in 2021, and 17 is where the truck stays for 2023. The 3.0L Duramax is the only 2022 Sierra powertrain that materially changes the picture.

16 MPG in town is unremarkable for a V8 half-ton; Dynamic Fuel Management cylinder deactivation and standard auto stop-start on the refreshed truck keep it off the bottom of the class, but stop-and-start use is where this configuration costs the most to run.

20 MPG on the highway sits in the lower third of the truck band, which runs to 31 MPG, and is 2 MPG down on the 22 MPG the pre-refresh 2021 5.3L 4WD 10-speed earned. The 3.0L Duramax is the only 2022 Sierra powertrain that changes the highway picture, at 26 MPG in 4WD and 30 MPG in 2WD.

A 24-gallon tank and 17 MPG combined give the volume crew cab just over 400 miles between fills — adequate for a half-ton but well short of the 550-plus miles the same truck delivers with the Duramax. The figure is derived from the EPA combined rating and the published tank size rather than quoted directly by EPA.

EPA puts annual fuel spend for the volume 5.3L V8 4WD configuration at $3,650 — high in absolute terms and in the upper half of the truck band, with only the premium-fuel 6.2L trims costing materially more. The Duramax's diesel price premium cancels most of its MPG advantage at EPA's reference prices, leaving it within $100 a year of the V8.

The volume 5.3L V8 and the 2.7L Turbo High-Output both make their full rated output on regular 87-octane unleaded, and some 5.3L trucks are additionally E85 flex-fuel capable, which adds a cheap-fuel option where E85 is sold. The score is held below the top of the band because the 6.2L V8 requires premium — and on the Sierra that engine is standard equipment on AT4X and Denali Ultimate rather than a standalone option — while the Duramax carries diesel and DEF requirements.

NHTSA awarded the 2022 Sierra 1500 crew cab a 5-star overall NCAP rating in both 2WD and 4WD, though the frontal (4 stars, driven by a 4-star passenger result) and rollover (4 stars, 19.1-19.8% risk) sub-scores are short of perfect.

Good in driver-side small overlap, moderate overlap, roof strength and head restraints, but Marginal in the passenger-side small overlap test with a Poor structure/safety-cage sub-rating, and only Acceptable in the updated side test. No IIHS award for 2022 while the F-150 and Ram 1500 earned Top Safety Pick and the Tundra earned TSP+.

The 2022 refresh made GMC Pro Safety standard on every trim from the Pro work truck up — forward collision alert, automatic emergency braking, front pedestrian braking, lane keep assist with lane departure warning, following distance indicator and IntelliBeam auto high beams. Blind-spot monitoring is standard from SLE up, but rear cross-traffic braking is a paid package on every trim and adaptive cruise control is optional everywhere, which is exactly the "core standard, key items optional" band.

IIHS rates the platform's vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention Superior, with collisions avoided outright in both the 12 mph and 25 mph runs, and the standard pedestrian system earns Advanced in both the day and night pedestrian tests — nighttime pedestrian detection included, which is the top band's requirement. Held just below 80 because the pedestrian result is Advanced rather than Superior and the published pedestrian ratings sit on the 2023 page for this generation rather than the 2022 page.

Lane Change Alert with Side Blind Zone Alert is standard from SLE up (packaged on the Pro), but rear cross traffic braking and rear pedestrian alert are a paid Sierra Safety Plus Package on every trim, and the genuinely useful trailer-aware coverage — Trailer Side Blind Zone Alert, which extends the monitored zone along the trailer's length — is optional on SLE, Elevation, SLT and AT4. No safe-exit alert is offered. Good coverage available, but the active-intervention and trailer-aware pieces are all extra-cost.

Lane Keep Assist with Lane Departure Warning is standard on every 2022 trim, but it is a corrective nudge system rather than continuous lane centering — true centering arrives only with Super Cruise on Denali models. Reviewers describe the standard system as functional and unobtrusive without being confidence-inspiring on its own.

Full-speed-range adaptive cruise with stop-and-go is available, and the 2022 refresh added Adaptive Cruise Control with Trailering so it stays usable with a trailer attached — a real capability advantage in this segment. It is held back by being an extra-cost package item on every trim and by reviewer reports of abrupt braking in stop-and-go traffic.

Super Cruise arrived on the Sierra for 2022 — optional on Denali, standard on the new Denali Ultimate — covering roughly 200,000 miles of mapped North American highway, with automatic lane changes and, uniquely at the time, hands-free operation while towing a trailer. The system is mature and broadly capable; the only real limitation is that it is locked to the Denali trims.

IIHS rated the headlights on the mechanically identical 2022 Sierra 1500 Limited Poor, with inadequate visibility on all four curve tests, and no 2022 Sierra trim offers curve-adaptive headlights. The refreshed 2022 truck received revised LED headlamps but IIHS published no separate headlight rating for it, so the Poor result is the best evidence available. Standard IntelliBeam automatic high beams across the whole lineup are the one clear positive.

Typical full-size-truck sightlines — tall hood and high beltline create a large forward blind zone, though the upright glasshouse, big door mirrors and crew-cab rear glass give decent over-the-shoulder and rearward views. Camera compensation is extensive but largely optional: a rear vision camera is standard, while High Definition Surround Vision with its multi-view and Transparent Trailer functions is standard only on the top trims and packaged elsewhere.

IIHS rates LATCH ease of use Marginal for this generation: only two rear positions carry complete lower-anchor hardware, with a third offering a tether anchor only, and the anchors are buried in the seat bight. The crew cab's wide-opening rear doors and flat, full-width bench make the physical act of installing two or three seats straightforward, which keeps this in the workable band rather than the bottom one.

The representative 2022 configuration — an SLT Crew Cab 4WD as most are ordered, with the SLT Convenience Package's front buckets and center console — seats five, while the 40/20/40 split bench that makes it a six-seater is the standard front seat on Pro through SLT and is deleted on AT4X, Denali and Denali Ultimate. The 2022 refresh reworked the dashboard, console and seats but changed no cab structure or published interior dimension.

43.0 in of front headroom sits at the very top of the 38–43 in truck band and is unchanged by the 2022 refresh, which touched the dashboard and front sheetmetal rather than the cab structure. Identical to the mechanically twinned Chevrolet Silverado 1500.

44.5 in of front legroom is generous even by full-size truck standards, landing high in the 41–45 in band, and the refreshed 2022 cabin gained a power-rake/-telescoping column on the upper trims to make more of it. Unchanged from the 2019 fourth-generation launch.

Second-row headroom in the volume Crew Cab is comfortable for adults and sits about two-thirds up the 38–41 in truck band — a step behind the tallest-roofed half-tons rather than a limitation. Unchanged by the 2022 refresh.

43.4 in of second-row legroom makes the Crew Cab a genuine four-adult vehicle, level with the F-150 SuperCrew and the Silverado twin, and high in the 33–45 in truck band. The Double Cab gives up more than eight inches and is a materially different proposition.

The Crew Cab's default pairing is the 5'8" Short Box, which sits low in the 54–98 in truck band — the price paid for the long cab. A 6'6" box is orderable on the Crew Cab (all trims except AT4X and Denali Ultimate) and the 8'2" box on the Regular Cab only, so the buyer who needs bed length gives up cab or trim.

GM's wide, tall bed extracts more volume from the short box than any half-ton rival's comparable box — 62.9 cu ft against the F-150 SuperCrew's 52.8 and the Ram 1500's 53.9 from beds of near-identical length. Carried unchanged through the 2022 refresh, which reworked the interior and front fascia rather than the box.

The Sierra's storage case is the strongest in the GM pair: the six-function MultiPro tailgate is standard on every 2022 trim (not an option as on most rivals), the standard 40/20/40 bench adds a covered armrest bin plus lockable under-seat storage, the refreshed dash adds a shelf above the 13.4-inch screen with a redesigned console beneath, and 120-volt outlets in the instrument panel and the bed are standard on everything but Pro. It is held out of the top band by the absence of a RamBox-style in-bed trunk or fold-flat work surface, a 400-watt shared power budget that is nothing like Ford's Pro Power Onboard, and the refresh's odd deletion of 12-volt sockets on every trim above Pro.

2022 is the year the seats improved along with the rest of the cabin: better-shaped front chairs, a 16-way power driver and passenger seat with massage on Denali and Denali Ultimate, and a Crew Cab rear bench that is roomy with a usable backrest angle. It stays out of the top band because reviewers still rate the cushions a notch behind the F-150's and Ram 1500's, the standard 40/20/40 bench on Pro through SLT is flat and short in the cushion, and 10-way power adjustment only arrives at SLT.

The 2022 refresh was an interior and equipment exercise, not a chassis one, and the leaf-sprung rear axle tuned for load robustness defines the unladen ride: smooth and absorbent on good highway, stiff and snappy over closely spaced bumps, and clearly behind the coil-sprung Ram 1500. Denali Premium Suspension with Adaptive Ride Control genuinely fixes it, but that is Denali and Denali Ultimate content a volume SLE, Elevation or SLT buyer cannot order.

Quietness is the refreshed Sierra's clearest comfort win — the pre-refresh truck already had one of the segment's most hushed cabins and reviewers judged the 2022 interior quieter still, helped by improved sealing, active noise cancellation and acoustic-laminated front side glass on the upper trims. It stays mid-band because the 5.3L V8 turns coarse under hard throttle, wind rush around the big mirrors persists at speed, and the 2.7L Turbo High-Output that is standard on Pro, SLE and Elevation is noticeably buzzier than the V8s.

The comfort menu is deep and reaches well down the ladder: dual-zone automatic climate control is standard from SLE up, heated front seats and a heated leather-wrapped steering wheel are available from SLE, ventilated fronts and heated second-row outboard seats from SLT, and remote start is broadly available. Two things keep it off the top band — ventilated and heated-rear seats remain package or upper-trim content rather than standard, and 2022 ran through the worst of the semiconductor shortage, with GM shipping trucks built without heated and ventilated seat and heated-wheel hardware.

The Pro is GMC's fleet/work trim and anchors the ladder at $32,495 delivered, a few hundred dollars below the mechanically identical Silverado 1500 WT's launch price because the Sierra Pro is more sparsely equipped at the very bottom. As with the Silverado, this figure did not hold: GM raised full-size truck MSRPs repeatedly through 2022, and aggregator pricing snapshots taken later in the model year show the Pro near $34,600 delivered. Weight 0 — reference only.

Sierra's retail mix skews well above the Silverado's — SLT, AT4 and Denali carry a much larger share of GMC's volume than LT does at Chevrolet — so the representative truck is an SLT Crew Cab 4WD with the 5.3L V8 rather than a mid-trim work configuration. SLT opens at $50,895 for the lower cab/drive configurations; adding Crew Cab, 4WD, the 5.3L V8 and the usual convenience/appearance packages lands a delivered truck near $56,000. That sits about $1,000 above a comparably equipped 2022 Silverado LT and just under the equivalent 2023 Sierra, which is consistent with both GMC's premium positioning and the price increases layered on through the year.

Edmunds' True Cost to Own puts five-year maintenance for the 2022 Sierra 1500 at $6,991, and RepairPal's $727 average annual repair cost places the nameplate 3rd of 17 full-size trucks with a 3.5/5.0 reliability rating — repairs are infrequent but severe when they land. That is mid-pack for the class: commodity parts and the largest dealer service network in the segment pull costs down, while the Sierra's premium-heavy trim mix (20-inch tires on SLT and up, Denali/AT4 wear items, adaptive dampers on Denali Ultimate) pulls them back up. The 2022 truck also carries GM's 5.3L V8 lifter/AFM history and the MY2022-specific transmission control module service campaign, both of which surface as repair spend once the 3/36 bumper-to-bumper term lapses.

The Sierra 1500 is the stronger-holding half of the GM twins — iSeeCars measures 38.2% five-year depreciation against a 36.6% full-size-pickup class figure and against the Silverado 1500's 40.5%, with the Denali sub-brand doing most of that work. The 2022 model year specifically avoids the penalty its Chevrolet sibling carries: KBB places the 2022 Sierra 1500 in the 25–75% percentile for depreciation among 2022 pickups (average), where it flags the 2022 Silverado 1500 as 'Higher Loss of Value' in the 75–100% percentile. Blending iSeeCars' 61.8% against CarEdge's more pessimistic 57% gives ~59%, still short of Tundra residuals but ahead of Ram and Silverado.

GM's standard bumper-to-bumper term, identical on every 2022 Sierra 1500 trim from Pro to Denali Ultimate and on the carry-over Sierra 1500 Limited. It is the segment floor — matched by Ford, Ram and Toyota, far behind Hyundai/Kia's 5/60,000 in the wider market — and GMC's premium positioning buys no extra coverage over the mechanically identical Silverado 1500.

GM's standard 5/60 powertrain term — again the segment floor, matched by Ford, Ram and Toyota but well behind Nissan Titan's 5/100,000 and nowhere near Hyundai's 10/100,000. The 3.0L Duramax LM2 turbodiesel's emissions components carry the federally mandated 8-year/80,000-mile coverage, but that is regulatory rather than a GMC benefit and does not extend the base term on the gas trucks scored here.

GMC covers exactly one scheduled maintenance visit — oil change, tire rotation and multi-point inspection — within the first year or first visit of ownership, the single-visit program GM has run since MY2019. Around it sit 5 years / 60,000 miles of OnStar-backed roadside assistance matched to the powertrain term, courtesy transportation, and short OnStar and GMC Connected Services trials, with the refreshed truck's Google built-in adding a data allowance on the trims that carry it. That is one free oil change against Toyota's two years of ToyotaCare on the Tundra, but marginally more than Ford bundled with a 2022 F-150, and Denali buyers pick up a modest concierge layer on top.

$56,000 volume-trim price minus its estimated resale value after 5 years (59% retained, or about $33,040) leaves about $22,960 in depreciation. Add the projected $7,000 in 5-year maintenance and repairs, and owning this vehicle for 5 years costs about $29,960 in total.

The sources split on the 2022 Sierra the same way they do on its Silverado twin, and the split is wide. Consumer Reports rates the 2022 Sierra 1500 less reliable than the average 2022 vehicle, with owner-reported trouble spots across fuel system/emissions (engine flutter and stalling, one failure at 37,000 miles), transmission (slipping, metal shavings), in-car electronics (screens freezing), noises and leaks, engine electrical, suspension/steering and brakes — a broad rather than narrow complaint pattern. Against that, J.D. Power's consumer quality-and-reliability score for the 2022 Sierra 1500 is 86/100, inside the 81–90 'great' band and the highest rating in the category, and GMC's three-year dependability standing is better than industry average. The 585 NHTSA complaints on file for the model year are concentrated in exactly the areas CR flags — lifter and engine failure, transmission valve body, infotainment and ADAS electronics. Sits marginally below the Silverado, which took the outright segment win in the 2025 Vehicle Dependability Study that surveys 2022 vehicles at three years; the Sierra earned no such award.

GMC's multi-year dependability standing is solidly mid-pack, better than the industry but behind its own sibling brands. In the 2025 Vehicle Dependability Study — the one that actually surveys 2022 model-year owners at three years — GMC placed seventh overall at 181 PP100 against a 202 PP100 industry average, better than average but behind Chevrolet and Cadillac (169) and well behind Buick (143) and Lexus (140), in a year when industry dependability hit its worst level since 2009. GMC's initial-quality record for this model year is stronger than its long-term one (seventh at 162 PP100 in the 2022 IQS against a 180 average), which is the usual GM pattern: good out of the gate, average by year three. Consumer Reports continues to place GMC in the lower-middle group of mainstream brands. Half a step behind the Chevrolet badge on the mechanically identical truck.

Six NHTSA campaigns apply to the 2022 Sierra 1500, and the important detail is that none of the serious ones reach the scored gas 5.3L truck. The 6.2L connecting-rod/crankshaft defect (25V274000) is engine-specific, and the transmission control valve program with its later corrected re-do (24V797000, 26V083000) is diesel-only. What is left for the volume configuration is light: a daytime-running-light software fix (22V903000), a chrome grille deflector that can fracture and detach (25V060000), and a dealer-accessory sport bar whose brake light can malfunction (22V463000). Notably the Sierra escapes the sensing-diagnostic-module campaign that hit the Silverado, where airbags could fail to deploy — a real assembly-process defect the GMC build avoided. What holds this to mid-band is the bulletin record rather than the recall count: GM's valve-lifter service work on the EcoTec3 V8s, a 2022-Sierra-specific service update for poor 10-speed shift quality issued in January 2023, long-running torque-converter shudder bulletins, and blackout and glitch faults on the new 13.4-inch infotainment screen are the ordinary ownership experience for this truck.

The scored volume configuration is the 355-hp 5.3L L84 EcoTec3 V8, unchanged through the 2022 refresh. The small-block architecture under it is proven and serviceable anywhere, but the Dynamic Fuel Management version is this generation's documented weak point: collapsed and separating lifters with bent pushrods, which at worst score a camshaft or destroy the engine, with repair bills commonly quoted at $4,000–$8,000 and the failure mode well documented through 2022 builds rather than ending with 2021. Engine and transmission are the two largest complaint categories for the model year. The paired Hydra-Matic 10-speed carries persistent torque-converter shudder and shift-flare bulletins, and GM issued a service update specifically for 2022 Sierra shift quality. Two things keep it off the floor: some early-2022 trucks were built under the chip-shortage provision with cylinder deactivation deleted, sidestepping the DFM failure mode outright, and the 2.7L Turbo High-Output alternative has no DFM at all — though its diesel-derived internal upgrades did not arrive until 2024. Only the 3.0L Duramax inline-six, outside the scored gas class, has a clean durability reputation here.

2022 is the model year GMC fixed the cabin, and the Sierra got more out of the refresh than the Silverado did. The mid-cycle update brought a real dashboard architecture with a 13.4-inch center touchscreen and 12.3-inch digital cluster, a redesigned console and new seats, and on the upper trims material content that reviewers took seriously for the first time — Autoblog's verdict was that GM's 'premium truck' is finally actually premium, and the new Denali Ultimate's full-grain leather with embossed Denali topography drew praise as arguably the nicest leather in a mass-produced GM vehicle. The scored SLT/Elevation configuration gets the new architecture and the big screens but not that material content, and Edmunds' reservation applies squarely to it: well built and much nicer than years past, yet with enough downmarket materials to keep it from fighting Ram's 1500 on equal terms. A clear step above the sibling Silverado's version of the same refresh, short of class-leading in the volume trim. Note that the separate Sierra 1500 Limited sold alongside it early in the model year is the pre-refresh cabin — this score describes the refreshed truck.

The measured initial-quality evidence for this model year is good: GMC placed seventh of 33 brands at 162 PP100 in the 2022 Initial Quality Study against a 180 PP100 industry average, in a year when new-vehicle problems hit an all-time high, and the Sierra was a segment runner-up behind the Silverado. Structural assembly at Fort Wayne and Silao reads as segment-normal — panel gaps and sheetmetal alignment are not what owners complain about, and unlike the Silverado there is no assembly-process safety recall against the truck. What pulls the score back to the middle is the electronics side of the launch. The refreshed truck's new 13.4-inch Google-based system drew heavy complaint volume for screens going black intermittently or permanently, radio and Bluetooth cutting in and out, auto-mute and wrong-station faults, and display freezing shows up in Consumer Reports' own trouble-spot list for the year. Solid hardware, launch-year software.

GMC runs roughly 1,650 US franchised locations, mostly paired Buick-GMC stores — a good deal thinner than Chevrolet's ~2,900–3,000 and thinner than Ford's, but still near-nationwide and comfortably dense in the rural and exurban markets where full-size trucks sell hardest. The trade against that smaller footprint is service satisfaction, which is genuinely better than the Chevrolet channel's: GMC finished fifth among mass-market brands at 853 in the 2022 Customer Service Index study, above the mainstream average rather than at it. That matters for a 2022 Sierra, because the lifter, shift-quality and infotainment work above all runs through those service lanes during the warranty period. Density, not quality of experience, is the only thing keeping this out of the top band.

The Sierra shares its T1XX platform, 5.3L small-block and 10-speed automatic with the Silverado, Tahoe, Yukon, Suburban and Escalade, so OEM, reman and aftermarket supply is about as deep as it gets, and the volume powertrain is the most familiar engine in any independent shop in the country. RepairPal puts average annual repair and maintenance at $727 against a $936 full-size-pickup average and ranks the Sierra 1500 third of 17 full-size trucks at 3.5/5, with unscheduled shop visits at 0.2 per year versus 0.3 for the class — while noting repairs skew more severe than average when they do come, a fair description of the DFM lifter exposure. Slightly behind the Silverado only because Denali- and AT4-tier trim, wheels and lighting parts price higher and the nameplate sells in smaller numbers. Two 2022-specific caveats: this was a chip-shortage build year with lifter and electronics parts genuinely backordered during the warranty period, and the 13.4-inch display is a dealer-channel part with a real replacement cost.

2022 is the year the 13.4-inch landscape touchscreen arrived, replacing the 8-inch unit used from 2019 through the carry-over Sierra 1500 Limited, and GMC fitted it one rung further down the ladder than Chevrolet did — standard from SLE rather than from the third trim. It is a big display in absolute terms but only mid-band against a truck field that now includes 17-inch-plus electric pickups.

The new Android Automotive-based system is logically laid out with sharp graphics, and — importantly in a truck — the refresh kept real volume and tuning knobs and hard climate buttons rather than burying them in the screen. It sits solidly mid-band rather than higher because 2022 is the software's first model year: reviewers of the launch trucks found actions could lag before registering, vehicle settings are buried several menus deep, and a Pro buyer gets an entirely different, much smaller and older-feeling interface.

Wireless Apple CarPlay and wireless Android Auto are standard equipment across the 2022 Sierra range from SLE upward, and are orderable even on the fleet Pro inside the Connectivity and Entertainment Package — effectively universal availability, which is the best a 2022 half-ton offers. It is held just below the top band because the Pro needs a package rather than getting it as standard.

Google built-in debuts on the Sierra for 2022, bringing Google Assistant natural-language voice control and Google Maps as the factory navigation — the strongest combination available in a mainstream pickup, because the maps are the ones owners already use and they update themselves. Short of the very top only because it reaches SLE and above rather than the whole range, and the connected services behind it run on a trial-then-subscription model.

GMC offers two steps of Bose above the adequate six-speaker base system — a Bose system with Richbass woofer available from Elevation and SLT, and a Bose 12-speaker Premium Series with Centerpoint surround available on Denali and standard on Denali Ultimate — which is more premium audio hardware than the parallel Silverado offers. The tuning is what keeps it mid-band: the reviewer of the range-topping 12-speaker truck found excessive bass and muddy lows, and the accessory MultiPro tailgate speaker system is a Kicker-branded add-on rather than factory content.

A 12.3-inch reconfigurable full-digital driver display arrives for 2022 as standard equipment on every Sierra that received the overhauled interior — SLE through Denali Ultimate — and it is crisp and genuinely configurable, including trailering-specific layouts. Only the fleet Pro keeps analog gauges with a small driver information center, which is what holds this just out of the top band.

The refreshed 2022 truck runs GM's Global B / VIP electrical architecture and does receive over-the-air updates covering infotainment, maps and some vehicle modules, with the Google built-in maps and apps refreshing themselves — real value over a truck that needs a dealer for every fix. It is still a maintenance channel rather than a feature-delivery one in this model year: the software platform was new, and 2022's most consequential software problem, the transmission control module reprogram, required a dealer service visit rather than an OTA push.

The myGMC app with OnStar covers the core set competently — remote start, lock/unlock, vehicle locate, tire pressure and fuel status, diagnostics, service scheduling and stored trailer profiles through the in-vehicle Trailering App. It stays mid-band because those remote functions sit behind the Remote Access plan once the included trial lapses rather than being free for the vehicle's life, and there is no phone-as-key or digital key on the 2022 Sierra 1500.

The refreshed interior provides USB data and charge ports front and in the second row of the Crew Cab, wireless phone charging from Elevation and SLT upward, and — better than the Silverado's arrangement — instrument-panel and bed-mounted 120-volt outlets as standard equipment on every trim above Pro. Two things hold it mid-band: the outlets share a single 400-watt budget, nothing like the F-150's Pro Power Onboard, and the refresh deleted the 12-volt socket from every trim except Pro, which reviewers and owners flagged as a genuine step backward.

Keyless Open with push-button start and remote start are standard from SLE upward, and the Sierra's signature convenience is at the other end of the truck: the six-function MultiPro tailgate is standard on every trim, with power lock and release, and MultiPro Power Steps are available higher up. It falls short of the top band because the fleet Pro still uses a conventional key unless the Convenience Package is ordered, and no phone-as-key is offered for 2022.

GM's camera provision is the deepest in the segment and the Sierra gets the full version of it: an HD rear camera on every trim, up to 14 distinct views with High Definition Surround Vision including the Transparent Trailer view that renders an attached trailer effectively invisible, plus a bed-view camera and a Rear Camera Mirror. It is held below the top band because surround view and front/rear park assist ride in the Sierra Safety Plus Package on the volume SLE, Elevation and SLT rather than being standard there.

The multicolor 15-inch diagonal head-up display is large and informative, projecting speed, navigation and safety alerts, and reviewers of the Denali Ultimate rated it among the cabin's highlights. It is squarely upper-trim content, though: orderable only on AT4 and Denali through the Technology Package and standard on Denali Ultimate, so an SLE, Elevation or SLT buyer cannot have it at any price.

Physically the Crew Cab is one of the easiest vehicles anywhere for car seats: 43.4 in of rear legroom and 40.1 in of rear headroom behind wide, near-square rear doors over a flat floor, so rear-facing seats and three-across installs fit without negotiation, and the rear seat bottoms flip up to swallow a stroller inside the cab. Two real frictions pull it back — IIHS rates the LATCH hardware itself only Marginal for ease of use, with anchors buried in the seat bight, and the step-in height means small children need a running board or a lift every trip.

The good news is real and reaches the affordable trims: a 5-star NHTSA overall rating for the Crew Cab, GMC Pro Safety — AEB, forward collision alert, front pedestrian braking, lane keep assist and IntelliBeam — standard on every trim including the Pro work truck, and blind-spot monitoring standard from SLE up, which is a rung better than the Silverado's arrangement. The IIHS picture is where a family should hesitate: Marginal in the passenger-side small overlap test with a Poor structure sub-rating, headlights rated Poor with no adaptive option to buy out of it, and rear cross-traffic braking a paid package on every trim.

The Crew Cab's second row is genuinely spacious for four-plus adults, the refreshed 2022 cabin is quieter and far better finished than the truck it replaced, rear vents are standard, and the bed will take any amount of luggage. Against that: the bed is open and unsecured unless a tonneau or cap is added, rear amenities beyond vents and USB ports are thin with heated rear outboard seats reserved for SLT and above, about 408 miles of range on the volume 5.3L 4WD means more fuel stops than a family wants, and 2022 builds went out with heated-seat hardware deleted for the chip shortage.

Low-speed manners should be better than the size suggests — the 5.3L V8 pulls cleanly from idle with no turbo lag, the commanding seating position makes lane changes easy, and the refreshed dash finally puts legible controls within reach. What holds this a full band below where the same truck sits in 2023 is a genuine 2022-model-year defect: the refreshed trucks drew widespread complaints of harsh or hesitant low-gear shifts, sometimes with the MIL lit, serious enough that GM issued a service update replacing the transmission control module. Auto stop/start roughness and adaptive cruise being an extra-cost package on every trim compound it.

This is the 2022 Sierra's weakest use case and the refresh made it worse rather than better: the volume 5.3L V8 4WD crew cab returns an EPA 17 MPG combined, down from 19 on the equivalent 2021 truck, costing about $3,650 a year in fuel at 15,000 miles — roughly double a commuter-appropriate vehicle and $600 a year worse than the same truck in 2023. The 2.7L Turbo High-Output reaches only 18–20 MPG combined, and the genuinely economical choice, the 24–26 MPG Duramax, is a costly option. Regular 87-octane on the volume engines is the one mitigation.

A Crew Cab Sierra is about 232 in long and 81 in wide and needs roughly 46 ft to turn around, which puts it over the line in most urban garages and parallel spaces; the longer-wheelbase Crew Cab Standard Box pushes past 50 ft. The camera provision genuinely helps — an HD rear camera is standard and the available surround view offers up to 14 views — but no camera shortens the truck, and both surround view and park assist are package content on the volume SLE, Elevation and SLT.

Work is what this truck is built around and it has capacity to spare: 13,200 lbs of conventional towing properly equipped — at the top of the half-ton class — up to 2,240 lbs of base payload, and the largest bed volume in the segment at 62.9 cu ft in the volume short box. Four genuinely distinct powertrains let a buyer match the tool to the job, and the 2022 revision of the base 2.7L to 430 lb-ft makes even the standard engine work-capable. It stops short of the very top because the volume 5.3L crew cab 4WD is rated 9,100 lbs as delivered, and the headline figures need the Duramax, the Max Trailering Package and 20-inch wheels.

The underlying hardware is about as proven as it gets — a fully boxed frame, the small-block V8 and 10-speed shared across GM's whole full-size range, roughly 241,500 US sales in CY2022, and a Pro trim with vinyl floors and cloth seats built for abuse. What holds 2022 specifically below the band the platform would otherwise earn is that it is the first year of the refresh: the model-year-specific transmission shift-quality defect, the Dynamic Fuel Management lifter history on the volume 5.3L, and chip-shortage build compromises are exactly the early-run risks a fleet buyer avoids.

The Sierra is the better-provisioned half of the GM pair for jobsite duty: the six-function MultiPro tailgate — inner gate step, load stop, full-width step and standing workstation — is standard on every trim rather than an option, fixed bed tie-downs and the CornerStep bumper are standard, a bed-mounted 120-volt outlet is standard above Pro, and spray-on bedliner, snow plow prep, a 220-amp alternator and the whole GM upfit ecosystem of racks, toolboxes and service bodies are a catalog order away. It falls short of the top band only because the onboard power budget is 400 watts shared between the outlets rather than the multi-kilowatt generator Ford offers.

As a mile-eater the refreshed Sierra is genuinely good: reviewers rate the cabin quieter than the already class-leading previous truck, the driving position is commanding, the seats are comfortable for long stints, it tracks straight at speed, and Super Cruise — hands-free over roughly 200,000 miles of mapped highway, and uniquely usable while towing — is the segment's best fatigue-killer. Three things cap it: about 408 miles of range on the volume 5.3L 4WD, adaptive cruise being extra-cost on every trim, and Super Cruise being locked to the Denali trims, so the volume SLE/Elevation/SLT buyer gets none of it.

2022 is the year the Sierra's off-road ladder got a real top rung: four-wheel drive with a two-speed transfer case is available on every trim, the AT4 adds a 2-inch factory lift, monotube shocks and a rear locker, and the new AT4X brings Multimatic DSSV spool-valve dampers, front and rear electronic lockers, 32-inch mud-terrains and 11.1 in of ground clearance. Add up to 13,200 lbs for toys and 120-volt bed power for camp. It sits below its Silverado ZR2 twin because GMC kept the AT4 front bumper — 25.5 degrees of approach against the ZR2's 31.8 — with smaller tires and skid plating that stops at the transfer case.

Bulky, dirty or oddly shaped gear is where a pickup simply wins, and the Sierra's version is the most flexible in the GM pair: 62.9 cu ft in the volume short box — more than any half-ton rival's comparable bed — with 71.7 and 89.1 cu ft boxes available, the six-function MultiPro tailgate standard on every trim for loading long items, rear seat bottoms that flip up over a lockable under-seat bin, and a hitch, bed racks and tonneau covers a catalog order away. It is not perfect: everything in the bed is exposed and unsecured until a cover is bought, and the volume short box is the shortest of the three at 69.9 in.

The 2022 refresh was an interior and equipment exercise, not a chassis one: the fourth-generation T1 truck keeps its independent front suspension, leaf-sprung solid rear axle and fully boxed frame, tracks straight and contains body roll better than its footprint implies. Mid-corner bumps and quick direction changes remain the weak point — reviewers describe it leaning and feeling ponderous through turns, with the leaf-sprung rear skipping where the coil-sprung Ram 1500 stays planted. Adaptive Ride Control fixes much of it but is Denali-only.

The electric power steering is light in effort, accurate on-centre and stable at highway speed, which makes a 232-inch truck genuinely easy to place — reviewers rate it better than the vagueness common in the class. Feedback through the rim is still essentially absent, described as numb, and nothing about the 2022 refresh changed the steering hardware or tuning.

Four-wheel discs with Duralife rotors standard across the range give strong, fade-resistant stopping power that reviewers single out as better than most pickups', with no regen blending to complicate modulation. What keeps it mid-band is pedal feel rather than capability: the pedal is firm but short on feedback, which makes smooth low-speed stops harder than it should be, and no independent 70–0 mph figure is published for a 2022 Sierra crew cab with the volume 5.3L V8.

The volume 5.3L EcoTec3 V8 with GM's 10L80 10-speed is normally well calibrated — crisp tip-in, abundant low-end torque, no gear hunting — and it should sit a band higher than this. It does not, because of a genuine 2022-model-year defect: the refreshed trucks drew widespread complaints of harsh or hesitant low-gear shifts, sometimes with the malfunction indicator lamp lit, serious enough that GM issued a service update replacing and reprogramming the transmission control module. Dynamic Fuel Management cylinder deactivation and the auto stop/start restart add further roughness at light throttle.

The small-block V8s produce a pleasant muted rumble under load and go genuinely quiet at cruise, and the 2022 cabin overhaul improved isolation enough that reviewers rated the refreshed Sierra quieter than the already class-leading truck it replaced. Mid-band placement reflects the other end of the pedal: the 5.3L turns coarse under hard throttle, and the 2.7L Turbo High-Output — the standard engine on Pro, SLE and Elevation for 2022 — is consistently described as buzzy at exactly the revs a loaded truck uses.

About 46 ft to swing around is mid-band for a full-size truck — tighter than an F-150 SuperCrew's 47.8 ft and level with the Ram 1500's 46.2 ft — and it is the figure that makes a Crew Cab Sierra merely awkward rather than unusable in a parking structure. The longer-wheelbase Crew Cab Standard Box pushes past 50 ft. Unchanged by the 2022 refresh, which altered neither wheelbase nor steering geometry.

2022 is the year the Sierra's cockpit stopped being the generation's liability: the 13.4-inch touchscreen and 12.3-inch digital cluster sit high and legible from SLE up, physical climate and audio controls were retained, Electronic Precision Shift replaces the column lever from Elevation up, and a power-rake/-telescoping column and 16-way seats arrive higher in the range. The commanding H-point is a genuine asset. Held mid-band by a high step-in without running boards on most trims, a tall hood and bed sides that reviewers say compromise sightlines, and power seat adjustment that only begins at SLT.

The volume SLE/Elevation/SLT Sierra with the 5.3L V8 is a competent, comfortable workhorse rather than something an enthusiast seeks out on a back road — the V8 soundtrack is most of the character, roughly 7.0 seconds to 60 mph is adequate rather than exciting, and the 2022 changes were to the cabin, not the chassis. The lineup does contain genuinely entertaining machines in the 420-hp 6.2L V8 and the new-for-2022 Multimatic-damped AT4X, but neither is what most buyers drive home.

The 2022 refresh is the year GMC's equipment story turned, and it reaches further down the Sierra ladder than the parallel Silverado's: the 13.4-inch center touchscreen and 12.3-inch reconfigurable digital cluster are standard on SLE, Elevation, SLT, AT4, AT4X, Denali and Denali Ultimate — every trim except the fleet-oriented Pro, which keeps a 7-inch screen — where Chevrolet starts the big screen at LT. GMC Pro Safety (automatic emergency braking, forward collision alert, front pedestrian braking, lane keep assist with lane departure warning, following distance indicator, IntelliBeam, Buckle to Drive) became standard on every trim including Pro, closing 2021's largest gap. What holds it out of the top band is that Sierra charges a premium for that content, Super Cruise is locked to Denali and Denali Ultimate, and a large share of MY2022 production was sold as the carry-over Sierra 1500 Limited with none of the new interior at all.

The content itself is strong — the refreshed cabin, a 430 lb-ft 2.7L TurboMax base four, four engines including the 3.0L Duramax I6, and the segment's best hands-free system in Super Cruise — but the Sierra asks noticeably more money for hardware it shares outright with the Silverado, and 2022 was the worst year to pay it. GM raised full-size MSRPs three times between January and May, shortage-thinned inventory meant buyers negotiated almost none of it back, and the halo trims climbed steeply: AT4X at $74,995 and Denali Ultimate at $80,395 delivered. The Denali Ultimate's open-pore wood and full-leather cabin genuinely earns its price against a Ram Limited, but mid-ladder SLE/Elevation/SLT buyers get weaker bang-for-buck than an equivalently equipped F-150 XLT/Lariat or Silverado LT/RST.

Eight trims for 2022 — Pro, SLE, Elevation, SLT, AT4, the new AT4X, Denali and the new Denali Ultimate — across Regular, Double and Crew Cab, three bed lengths, 2WD or 4WD, and four powertrains (2.7L TurboMax I4, 5.3L V8, 6.2L V8, 3.0L Duramax I6 diesel), spanning roughly $32.5K to $80.4K with no meaningful gaps. The two trims added this year fill the extremes rather than the middle: AT4X gives the lineup a factory-serious off-roader with Multimatic DSSV dampers and front/rear lockers, and Denali Ultimate a genuine luxury flagship. Only the F-150 and the Sierra's own Silverado sibling — which fields nine trims — offer more.

The Sierra sold roughly 241,500 units in the US in CY2022 — a large, healthy number in absolute terms and enough to finish fourth in the full-size class behind the F-Series, the Silverado and the Ram pickup, with volume roughly flat against 2021 in a supply-constrained year. Momentum was building rather than fading: Sierra sales grew about 25 percent in Q4 2022 as the refreshed truck reached full production, and combined with the Silverado, GM's full-size pair outsold the F-Series over the year. Fourth place on its own badge and a flat full-year line keep it out of the top band.

GMC's 'Professional Grade' positioning and the Denali sub-brand carry real cachet in full-size trucks, and 2022 is the year GMC pushed hardest on it — Denali Ultimate arrived as an explicit answer to Ram Limited Longhorn and F-150 Limited, with a cabin reviewers judged the best in a mainstream pickup. The lift is measurable in money rather than sentiment alone: the Sierra depreciates 38.2% over five years against the Silverado's 40.5% on identical hardware, and KBB rates the 2022 Sierra average for class depreciation where it flags the 2022 Silverado as a higher-than-average loser of value.

2022 was the hardest year of this generation to get a deal on a Sierra, and worse than the Silverado's. GM's national money on the refreshed truck stayed minimal all year — GM Authority logged just $1,500 on select configurations in June, against $2,550 on the carry-over Sierra 1500 Limited, where the parallel Silverado bulletins ran $2,500–$3,500 — and thin chip-shortage inventory meant dealer markups over MSRP were common on Denali, AT4X and Denali Ultimate stock on top of the three in-year MSRP increases. What keeps this out of the bottom band is that interest-free financing was genuinely available on 2022 Sierra models through much of the year, plus $500–$750 Buick/GMC loyalty cash for returning owners, so a well-timed buyer got something back.

2022 is the mid-cycle refresh itself and the single largest content change in the fourth-generation T1XX Sierra's life: an entirely new dashboard with the 13.4-inch Google built-in touchscreen and 12.3-inch digital cluster on everything but Pro, a 15-inch head-up display, revised exterior styling, Super Cruise arriving on Denali and standard on Denali Ultimate, two brand-new trims at both ends of the ladder, and a base 2.7L lifted to 430 lb-ft. Buyers were getting current-generation cabin tech with no known replacement on the horizon. What keeps it below the ceiling is that the underlying platform still dates to MY2019 and much of the model year was actually sold as the carry-over Sierra 1500 Limited while the refreshed truck waited on production.

Reviewers agreed the refresh fixed the generation's defining flaw — the 2019–2021 interior — and rated the result a genuinely premium full-size truck, but they did not hand it the class. US News ranked it #4 among 2022 full-size pickups at 8.0/10; The Car Connection scored it 6.0/10, crediting the 2022 improvements; Cars.com's AT4X review landed as 'Beautifully Built for Things It Will Never Do.' Reliability sentiment was decent (RepairPal 3.5/5.0, 3rd of 17 full-size trucks), and the Denali Ultimate cabin plus Super Cruise drew consistent praise, but the Sierra won no comparison tests and no major award for 2022 — MotorTrend's Truck of the Year went to the Rivian R1T and North American Truck of the Year to the Ford Maverick — and capability shootouts kept pointing buyers at the F-150.