For the first week of June our family was able to test out a GMC Sierra Denali for free. Opinions of the experience and the vehicle are 100% our own.

When the GMC Sierra Denali arrived on Monday morning I was thrilled to see that it was black. That is my favorite color for a car or truck. The guys dropping it off went over a few things with me and told me that it was a diesel engine. I’m glad that they did because I had no idea and I wouldn’t have wanted to put in the wrong gas. I didn’t have to worry though because even through I drove the truck for every errand for a whole week plus two trips back and forth to work I still only managed to use 3/4 of a tank.

This was a good sized truck that took up over half of our tiny driveway. I had to park my car on the side yard for the week. I had attempted to clean out the garage before the truck got here so I could park my car there, but I needed the GMC Sierra Denali to help with the cleanup.

We were asked to use the truck in our everyday life and so we did.

I drove Eva to school every day in the truck. she nicknamed it Ironhide after the Transformers character which is an even bigger version of this truck, it is a GMC Topkick. She was excited to be sitting up so high in the truck and being able to see so much more than she does in my tiny car. She would tell her friends at school that her daddy had a big truck for the week. I talked with many of the other parents about the truck, some of them are even following my blog to find out what we did with the truck while we had it. I have to admit, I felt really good driving the truck around for the week.

Two days into our loan we took Allison’s car in to the mechanic. Our mechanic came out to see the truck and he was so impressed. He was telling me all about the truck and asked how I liked driving it. I figure if the truck impressed our mechanic, a guy who knows vehicles than I was driving something pretty great.

Back to our garage. So, I get a lot of products sent to me, and with that a ton of cardboard boxes. Add to that, the boxes that we still had from the movie and the two TVs from last year, one bought and one won, and we’re looking at a garage full of cardboard and Styrofoam. If I was to bring all of that stuff over to the recycling center in my car, I would have had to make roughly 50 trips.

So, I loaded up the truck two times with flattened boxes, Styrofoam and a couple of bags of leaves to bring to the recycling center. I had even brought along a large bucket and shovel to pick up some compost for the yard but there were too many people getting compost and I didn’t want to get the truck scratched.

We took the truck on a little family trip to Bass Pro Shops. While I was there I was eyeing the trailers of boats and dreaming about what it would be like to own one of them and a GMC Sierra Denali so I could take the family out fishing. I picked up my fishing license and a few other items and then we drove over to the Eagle Brook Saloon for dinner. I choose that place because it felt like a great place to go with a truck. The restaurant looks like an Old West saloon complete with the railing porch and the plate glass windows in front. The kind of place to go with the family and get a nice big steak.

I took the family to the park in the truck, we played out in the big field there and were able to carry around a bunch of things in the bed of the truck.

Later in the week I took my daughter for a special picnic with the truck. We picked up some sandwiches from D’angelo and then went to the World War I Memorial Park to eat those sandwiches.

I picked her up and put her into the bed of the truck. I put the tailgate down and we hung out there before her swimming lesson and talked and ate our sandwiches together. She really liked that special time with Dad.

I took the truck to work and loved being able to connect my iPhone to the radio so I could listen to my podcasts in perfect sound from the Bose speakers. The leather seats and Denali package brought some luxury to the vehicle. I could feel the power of the truck as I drove down the road and being able to see everything coming up ahead was a big plus. while it was a truck, I loved how it drove and how it handled.

I loved how it had a ton of room and I could install both of the carseats in it and not have to push the passenger seat so far forward that it is uncomfortable to ride. I certainly did not want to give up the truck on the Monday a week later. I just enjoyed driving it so much.

Although, we do have to replace Allison’s car by September 1 and the guys who picked up the truck were driving a GMC Terrain. I’d love to see if that vehicle would suit our family’s needs. Maybe I could drive that one next.