Schedule a Test Drive View Sierra 1500 Inventory Value Your Trade Most Sierra 1500 test drives run fifteen minutes on a straight four-lane and tell the buyer almost nothing. The truck is quiet, the seat is comfortable, and everybody goes home. Then the new owner finds out in month two that the bed is nine inches shorter than the one they needed, or that the standard-bed Crew Cab does not fit the garage the way they assumed it would. A good test drive is a series of specific checks, and around here the roads to run them on are already outside our door. We have been selling trucks at 4573 Central Ave since 1967, and this is the route and the checklist we walk buyers through. If you want the full spec picture before you drive, start with the 2026 Sierra 1500 research hub — everything below assumes you are past the reading stage and ready to get behind the wheel. Before you show up: narrow it to two trims Eight trims span the 2026 Sierra 1500, from the Pro at $38,300 to the Denali Ultimate at $84,400. Driving all eight is a wasted Saturday. Driving two well-chosen ones tells you everything. The fastest way to narrow the field is by engine, because that is what you feel. The 2.7L TurboMax makes 310 hp and 430 lb-ft and comes standard on Pro, SLE and Elevation. The 5.3L V8 is 355 hp and 383 lb-ft and is standard from SLT up. The 6.2L V8 steps to 420 hp and 460 lb-ft. And the Duramax 3.0L Turbo-Diesel makes 305 hp with 495 lb-ft — the torque number that matters if you tow. Our trim-by-trim comparison lays out which engines pair with which trims and what each one includes. Call ahead with the two you want. We will have both pulled up front and warmed instead of you standing in the lot while somebody hunts for keys. The first ten minutes: low-speed manners on Central Avenue Start where trucks actually struggle. Head north on Central Avenue toward the bathhouse district, where the lanes narrow, the parking is angled, and there is always a delivery van half in the road. This is the single most useful stretch of pavement for a truck shopper in the county. What to check: how tight the turning circle really is, how much of the hood you cannot see, and whether the camera views resolve fast enough to be useful rather than decorative. Try one parallel park. Try one backing maneuver with someone walking behind you. This is also where cab and bed choice stops being an abstraction. A Crew Cab with the short bed is 231.92 inches long; step up to the standard bed and it grows to 242.45 inches on a longer wheelbase, which widens the turning circle noticeably. Both are excellent trucks. They are not the same truck in a parking garage. The cab and bed configuration guide breaks down which combinations exist on which trims, and it is worth a look before you commit. The four-lane running east toward the interstate carries commuter traffic that stacks up fast at the county line, so the difference between a truck that parks easily and one that doesn't shows up every weekday. Then open it up toward Benton Get the truck to highway speed and leave it there for ten minutes. Highway manners are where the engines separate. Listen for how often the transmission hunts on rolling grades — the TurboMax runs an 8-speed, everything else runs a 10-speed. Notice the wind noise at seventy. Check whether the seat still feels right twenty minutes in, because that is the honest test, not the showroom impression. If the truck has Super Cruise, this is the stretch to try it; it is standard on Denali Ultimate and available on Denali. Numbers for the details you notice on this leg — fuel economy by engine, exact dimensions, the driver-assistance breakdown — are all in the full technical specifications. Drive first, look them up after; the order matters. Take the grade north on Highway 7 Run north on Highway 7 for a few miles and let the truck climb. The grades out this direction are short but steep, and they load an engine in a way flat pavement never does. What you are feeling for: whether the truck downshifts early and holds it, or hunts between gears under load. The Duramax pulls from low in the rev range and stays settled on a climb. The 6.2L wants revs and rewards them. Neither is better in the abstract — they are two different driving characters, and ten minutes on a real grade tells you which one you want to live with. If a trailer is in your future, this is the moment to ask about the hitch. Bring your trailer specs, or the tongue weight if you know it, and we can talk through what your build actually needs. The towing capacity guide covers ratings by cab, bed and engine, including what the Max Trailering Package changes. The cab test almost everyone skips Before you head back, park it and get in the back seat. Actually sit there. Crew Cab second-row legroom is 43.40 inches, which is more than a lot of midsize sedans give you up front. Double Cab is 35.24 inches — fine for kids and short trips, tighter for three adults headed to Lake Hamilton for the day. If car seats are part of your life, bring one and install it in the lot. It takes four minutes and it has changed more buying decisions than any spec sheet. Same idea in the bed. Width between the wheelhousings is 50.63 inches, which means a four-foot sheet of plywood needs the tailgate down or an angle. If you haul something specific and regular, bring it, or bring its measurements. The MultiPro Tailgate is standard from SLT up and worth opening all six ways while you are standing there. Ask the ownership questions while you are here The drive answers how the truck feels. It does not answer what owning it costs, and that is the half most buyers forget to ask about until the first service light. Worth asking before you sign: what the oil change interval is for the engine you picked (it differs between the gas engines and the Duramax), what the first-year scheduled maintenance visit covers, and what the warranty runs on the powertrain. Our maintenance and reliability guide has the intervals and warranty terms in one place, and our service department is the same building you bought the truck in — which matters more over a ten-year ownership run than most people weigh at signing. If you are cross-shopping, say so. We would rather you drive the Sierra 1500 back to back against the truck you are actually considering than wonder later. We have written up how it lines up against the Ford F-150 and the Ram 1500, spec for spec. Which Sierra 1500 should you actually drive? Pick the two that match how you will use the truck, and the drive will sort it out: You tow a boat or a trailer most weekends: drive an SLE or SLT with the Duramax, and drive it on the Highway 7 grade. The 495 lb-ft is the whole argument. The truck is a daily driver that hauls occasionally: drive an SLE or Elevation with the 2.7L TurboMax in Crew Cab short bed. Run the Central Avenue leg twice. You need it to work — materials, jobsites, real payload: drive a Pro or SLE Double Cab with the standard bed. Bring what you haul. You want the nice one and you drive a lot of highway: drive a Denali or Denali Ultimate and spend the whole highway leg on Super Cruise. Still deciding between two trims: drive them back to back the same afternoon, same route. Comparing memories a week apart does not work. More questions before you come in? The 2026 Sierra 1500 FAQ page covers what buyers ask us most. Book the drive at Allen Tillery Buick GMC We are family-owned, we have been at this since 1967, and we would rather you take a long test drive and buy the right truck than a short one and buy the wrong one. Bring your trailer specs, a car seat, a tape measure — whatever your version of the truck actually has to do. Tell us the two trims you want waiting and we will have them ready. Buyers come to us from Benton, Malvern and Hot Springs Village, and Oaklawn season weekends fill up fast, so a heads-up helps. Schedule Your Sierra 1500 Test Drive Browse Sierra 1500 Inventory Get Pre-Qualified Call (501) 881-4160, stop by 4573 Central Ave, or send us a message. Already know what your current truck is worth to you? Get a trade appraisal and we can have numbers ready when you arrive. Financing questions are easiest to answer in person, but we can start them online. MSRP excludes destination freight charge, tax, title, license, dealer fees, and optional equipment. Dealer sets final price. Capability figures require properly-equipped configurations as defined by GMC.
Best Compact SUV for Race Season Parking in Hot Springs
If you are trying to park downtown on a race day, the 2027 GMC Terrain is the easiest thing we sell to put in a Hot Springs space: 181.0 inches long and 74.5 inches wide, with a 37.1-foot turning circle. That is roughly two and a half feet shorter than a Yukon and it is the difference between taking the first spot you see and circling Central Avenue for twenty minutes. Race season turns this town into a parking problem. The lots near Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort fill early, the side streets off Central fill next, and everything left is a parallel space sized for 1962. Below is the honest case for a compact SUV in that specific situation, and what a 2027 Terrain gives up and gains against the bigger GMCs on our lot. Everything else about the model lives on the Terrain guide. Quick Answer The 2027 GMC Terrain measures 181.0 inches long and 74.5 inches wide excluding mirrors. Its turning circle is 37.1 feet curb to curb at every published wheel size. Cargo room is 29.8 cu ft behind the back seat, which holds a cooler, four folding chairs and a bag. Pricing opens at $30,400 before a $1,995 destination charge. All-wheel drive is available on Elevation and standard on AT4 and Denali. Why race weekends punish a big vehicle here Hot Springs was laid out long before anybody was parking a three-row SUV in it. The blocks are short, the older lots have tight aisles, and when the meet is on, the good spaces are gone by mid-morning. What is left tends to be a parallel slot between two cars that were themselves parked optimistically. Ice, not snow, is what closes roads in this part of the state, and it arrives on bridges and shaded grades before it touches open pavement. That matters on a February race day: the drive in can be fine and the ramp out of a lot can be glazed. It is the main reason we stock all-wheel-drive Terrains rather than ordering them one at a time. What 181 inches actually buys you downtown A Terrain is about fifteen feet long. A parallel space that a full-size SUV has to pass on is usually a two-move park in a Terrain, and the 37.1-foot turning circle is what makes the second move unnecessary most of the time. Width matters as much: at 74.5 inches excluding mirrors it fits an older lot's aisle without folding anything. If you want the whole dimension set rather than the three numbers that matter for parking, the Terrain specs and dimensions page has curb weights, GVWR, fuel capacity and interior measurements by row. It still holds a race-day worth of gear Behind the second row there are 29.8 cubic feet, which in practice is a full-size cooler, four folding chairs, a blanket bag and still room for what people come home with. Fold the 60/40 rear seat and it opens to 63.5 cubic feet, which covers the trip to the National Park afterwards with bikes in the back. There is an underfloor bin under the cargo floor for the things you would rather not have sliding around. The Terrain cargo and interior guide works through what fits in each configuration if you are trying to plan a specific load. Which Terrain makes the most sense for this If you are mostly downtown and on pavement The Elevation, from $30,400. Heated front seats, a heated steering wheel and the 15-inch screen are standard on it, so nothing about the entry trim feels like an entry trim. If race day sometimes ends on a gravel lot The AT4, from $39,100. All-wheel drive is standard, and so are the all-terrain tires, the lifted ride height and the skid plate. If you want the quiet one The Denali, from $42,200, with ventilated leather-appointed front seats, heated rear outboard seats and HD Surround Vision standard, which is worth having in a tight lot. The full walk with the step-up costs is on the Terrain trims comparison, and the Terrain FAQ page answers the questions that come up at the desk. See the Terrains we have in stock now If you need more vehicle than this, we will tell you Plenty of families genuinely need three rows, and a Terrain does not have one. If you carry more than five people or tow more than a light trailer, the Acadia or the Yukon is the better buy and we would rather sell you the right one. Both comparisons are written to send you to whichever fits: Terrain versus Acadia for the three-row question and Terrain versus Yukon for the full-size one. If you are cross-shopping the Chevrolet side, the Terrain versus Equinox comparison lays out where those two actually differ. Buying one before the meet We are at 4573 Central Ave and we sell Terrains to people driving in from Benton, Bryant, Malvern, Arkadelphia, Hope and Little Rock, most of whom are in and out the same afternoon. Start the financing application online and the paperwork stops being the long part of the day. Get a trade appraisal before you come in, book a test drive in the trim you want, or message us and we will tell you honestly what is on the ground. The 2027 Terrain overview covers pricing and equipment, and everything else lives on the 2027 Terrain guide. Once it is yours, long humid summers and short ice-storm winters age batteries and wiper blades faster here than the odometer suggests, so the Terrain maintenance schedule is worth a read, and you can book service with us at any point. The technology and safety page sets out what the driver aids do and what the rating bodies publish. Frequently asked questions How long is a 2027 GMC Terrain? 181.0 inches, just over fifteen feet, and 74.5 inches wide excluding mirrors. Its turning circle is 37.1 feet curb to curb. Will a Terrain fit in a small downtown parking space? In most of them, yes. At about fifteen feet it fits a standard parallel space, and the 37.1-foot turning circle usually makes it a two-move park rather than a three-move one. How much can you fit in the back for a race day? 29.8 cubic feet behind the second row, which handles a full-size cooler, four folding chairs and a bag. Folding the 60/40 rear seat opens 63.5 cubic feet. How much does a 2027 GMC Terrain cost? The Elevation starts at $30,400, the AT4 at $39,100 and the Denali at $42,200, each excluding the $1,995 destination charge. Should I get all-wheel drive? If you drive in during an ice event or park on gravel, it is worth it. All-wheel drive is available on the Elevation and standard on the AT4 and Denali. Allen Tillery Auto Buick GMC — family-owned in Hot Springs since 1967, 4573 Central Ave. Questions about a specific Terrain on the lot? Call (501) 881-4160.