2023 GMC Sierra 1500 AT4X AEV Edition Is a Silverado Bison by Another Name
It’s armored with steel and looks even better than before.
The 2023 GMC Sierra 1500 AT4X was already the most off-road-capable half-ton truck to ever wear those three letters on its grille. It makes for a strong base with a 6.2-liter V8 as standard, not to mention front and rear e-lockers and those marvelous Multimatic DSSV dampers. That gave the team at American Expedition Vehicles a lot to work with, and now, they've added a plethora of four-wheeling goodies to build this truck.
It has the same name as before, just with "AEV Edition" tacked onto the end. It's surely similar to what's coming from Chevrolet with the Silverado ZR2 Bison, which itself is a continuation of the rough-and-tumble theme we've seen on the Colorado ZR2 Bison. Essentially, it wears a lot of armor from front to back so you can make it through whatever the heck without dinging your rig.
Both bumpers are stamped steel and have five boron steel skid plates between them covering the front approach, steering gear, transfer case, fuel tank, and rear differential. That doesn't leave much to chance, which is exactly what you want when crawling over big ol' rocks in the desert or the forest. The front fascia looks a little different as a result since it had to be tweaked to accommodate the new chin, which is also designed to accept a winch.
All of the GMC's off-road angles benefit from these changes, with the approach angle climbing 27 percent to 32.5 degrees. The breakover, meanwhile, goes up to 23.4 degrees from 23 flat before while the departure angle is now 23 degrees compared to 22.7 previously. Importantly, ground clearance totals 11.2 inches, which is about half an inch more than the non-AEV AT4X.
This Sierra wears 33-inch Goodyear Wrangler Territory MT tires, whose tread is plenty aggressive without being hyper-specific to one type of terrain. They're wrapped around 18-inch AEV Salta wheels that have a recessed valve system so the stem doesn't get torn off or snagged. These rollers look great, if you ask me—something about them just works on a full-size pickup like this.
With the added weight of all these accessories, max payload is down slightly to 1,290 pounds while towing peaks at 8,700 pounds. That's not much of a decrease from the regular AT4X's 1,420 and 8,900 pounds, respectively.
There aren't any engine upgrades, so the truck still makes 420 horsepower and 460 pound-feet of torque. That V8 gives it a more traditional truck feel than you get in EcoBoost-powered Fords, which are plenty capable in their own right. Still, paired with a Borla exhaust from GM's accessories catalog, the 6.2-liter just sounds sweet.
Pricing is yet to be announced, but we know the AT4X AEV Edition will be offered later in the 2023 model year.
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