In a long-ago universe, General Motors was the world’s leading automaker. In our particularly turbulent current era, GM is struggling to mix volume and profit with a no-longer-popular tilt towards total electrification, ending up with some varied results – though certainly still a wide body of other vehicle choices for buyers.

This week alone, GM announced it’s literally pumping the brakes on its “everything electric by 2035” mantra of the bygone Biden era, instead directing $4 billion to the development of largely gas-powered vehicles. That follows the major investments it announced this year in new V-8 engines, an old-fashioned solution that also echoes Ram/Jeep/Chrysler parent company Stellantis’s decision last week to bring back its own V-8 Hemi engines, and to delay the deployment of electric versions of the Ram 1500 and other vehicles.

And curiously, at the same time, GM has explained that it is slightly fast-tracking the development of the new, as-cheap-as-$30,000 2027 version of the Chevy Bolt, whose first edition disappeared off the face of the earth when GM’s electric focus instead went to the neither-efficient-nor-affordable Hummer EV direction. That comes as perhaps good news given that the next closest thing, the Equinox EV, was $50,000 as I drove it, though a $34,000 super-base-version model is apparently available. 

I don’t know what to make of any of this, other than to say that car buyers will eventually figure out what they want. And for mountain-based drivers, that still seems to be a bunch of larger, non-electrified SUVs, so let’s take a moment to circle back to a few GM models I’ve neglected during the recent drama.

It had been a long time since I’d been in a large Buick and the 2025 Enclave Avenir edition I drove, priced at $65,000 with the $3,700 Super Cruise and AWD added, was an interesting, Mexican-assembled effort. It’s an imposing, three-row SUV that’s parked on gleaming 22-inch wheels and packed with a streamlined, drama-free cabin and floating console, and tech that included the absolute loudest and most sustained butt-buzzing warning system found in any GM product.

For all of Buick’s emphasis on silent motoring, the newer, 328-hp 2.5-liter turbo engine is not exactly that, though the 24 highway mpg exceeds the mileage from bigger engines powering this size of SUV in the past.

That same engine also appeared in the chunky but perhaps more versatile GMC Acadia AT4 edition I drove, whose slightly more utilitarian interior also meant a $50,000 base price (the standard model starts at $43,000), though mine had Super Cruise, a panoramic sunroof and heated and ventilated seats for an additional $6,000.

Like other AT4 versions, Acadia’s added Wrangler Territory tires mean an easier job of weekend trails – they didn’t magically transform my winter ice experience – but are still smooth enough for highway travel, with the same mileage as Enclave. And, the same minor parking issues, given the bulk, though a 360-degree camera helps.

Somewhere between those two vehicles, the 2025 Acadia Denali edition also emerged, with its own 22-inch wheels and a glossier, chrome-heavy array of details (plus a performance-tuned suspension system) pushing the total price to $64,000. Still capable of carrying seven passengers, the additional leather and a fancy 8-inch color head-up display pushes the Denali in more aspirational directions.

It was, as a result, a literal jump up to the 2025 Chevrolet Tahoe Z71, with a 6.2-liter V-8, chunky tires and an entirely different experience – not to mention an $84,000 price. That included almost all of the bells and whistles, from the Z71 off-road package’s magnetic ride control and air suspension to a Cadillac-styled second row with dual 12.6-inch monitors and heated and cooled seats.

With 420 horsepower (another jump up from Tahoe’s standard 355-hp 5.3-liter V-8), mileage is more in the 16 mpg range overall, but presence and performance are definitely more military parade vehicle in nature. Mine was the eye-blasting Radiant Red and so big that cyclists disappeared from view – the stout brakes here compensated as front pedestrian and cyclist braking did not, for some reason. I was also nearly bankrupted hitting a car wash to get rid of a winter weekend trip’s mag chloride, as there is a lot of surface area on a Tahoe.

Having spoken about the electric Equinox, I should also mention an outing in the gas-powered Activ model, where the addition of the literally most-aggressive General Grabber A/T truck tires somewhat painfully transformed the more affordable experience – just $38,000, including a two-tone color scheme with a white roof, or $30,000 at absolute base price.

The non-electric Equinox gets far chunkier style to reflect a few of the aforementioned bigger vehicles, but rocks a 175-hp 1.5-liter turbo and an eight-speed transmission when AWD is added, and up to 29 highway mpg. At the right speeds, the tires smoothed out; off-road excursions were certainly more capable, as a result.   

Andy Stonehouse’s column “Mountain Wheels” publishes Saturdays in the Summit Daily News. Stonehouse has worked as an editor and writer in Colorado since 1998, focusing on automotive coverage since 2004. He lives in Golden. Contact him at summitmountainwheels@gmail.com.