No one makes the six-passenger full-size sedans Americans used to take for granted that also had room in their trunks for six peoples' things, and — if there wasn't enough room for that — could also pull it behind them.

Today, you need a truck to do that.

That probably explains why trucks, which used to be a relatively small slice of the market and bought mostly for work, are now the bestselling vehicles on the market and bought by people who use them as cars, as well as for work.

Some — like the GMC Sierra — are still available in a work-truck configuration, too.

What It Is

The GMC Sierra 1500 is essentially a Chevy Silverado 1500 with some styling, trim and pricing differences.

It's a half-ton truck available in regular cab, double cab and crew cab configurations, with beds lengths varying from a short (5.5-foot) bed to a long (8.1-foot) bed. It's also available with four different engines, ranging from a turbocharged 2.7-liter four-cylinder that makes as much power (and torque) as the truck V8s of not that long ago to a 6.2-liter V8 that makes as much power as Ferrari V12 made not all that long ago.

There's also an available diesel inline six that splits the difference between pulling power and fuel economy.

Prices start at $36,600 for the base Pro trim with a regular cab (two doors, seats three across) with an eight-foot bed, 2WD and the 2.7-liter four.

There are six other trims, including the off-road-ready AT4 and the even more off-road-ready AT4X, with the $82,295 Denali Ultimate (which seats six) and which comes standard with the 6.2 V8 at the top of the roster.

What's New

GMC raises the off-road bar even higher with a new AEV Edition available exclusively with the AT4X that adds 33-inch Goodyear M/S-rated tires on 18-inch wheels, exposed steel bumpers with recovery hooks and a winch up front, plus almost 11 inches of ground clearance and additional underbody skid plates to protect the gas tank, transfer case and rear differential.

What's Good

Not just the increasingly common crew/double cab (and short bed) only.

Multiple engine options.

Regular cab comes standard with 28.3-gallon fuel tank.

What's Not So Good

Double and crew cab trims have a smaller (24-gallon) tank.

Regular cab is restricted to base Pro trim.

Diesel engine is restricted to higher-cost trims.

Under The Hood

This truck's standard engine is interestingly a 2.7-liter four-cylinder engine. It is interesting because no half-ton truck in modern history has comes standard with anything less than a six-cylinder engine. You used to need at least that much engine to move a half-ton truck, let alone whatever it was expected to carry or pull.

But this four-cylinder engine makes as much horsepower (310) and — far more importantly, for truck purposes — torque (430 foot-pounds) as most of the V8s that were available in half-ton trucks from the '70s through the early 2000s.

If you want a more traditional engine, you can select a 5.3-liter V8 engine — at no additional cost. GMC lets you pick either engine as the standard engine in the lower trim Sierras. This engine makes more horsepower (355) and a bit less torque (383 foot-pounds). But it's under less pressure because it isn't turbocharged. Tow capacity kicks up to 10,900 pounds with this engine.

The next two engines offer the same things — and different things.

A 3.0-liter turbodiesel inline six offers 460 foot-pounds of torque — and so does the available 6.2-liter gas-burning V8. Equipped with either engine, a Sierra is rated to pull a 13,000-pound trailer. The difference is the turbodiesel makes its torque — all 460 foot-pounds — at just 1,500 rpm, basically a fast idle, while the V8 doesn't make its maximum torque until it reaches 4,100 rpm.

That makes the six the likely better option for pulling a 13,000 lb. trailer.

On The Road

Because big trucks have replaced big cars, they are designed to be as comfortable to drive than the big cars they have replaced.

The main driving issue in this truck is outward visibility, especially to the rear and sides, which is limited by the height of the hood and the bed walls and the abbreviated height of the side and rear glass. This is a point of major difference between the trucks of the past, which typically had very squared-off cabs with lots glass all around them, and the trucks of the now, which almost look like they're "chopped" — an old hot-rodding term for lowering the roofline by cutting it down a couple inches relative to the body.

At The Curb

A metric of the changing role of trucks can be seen in the changing of forms. Half-ton trucks used to almost always come standard in regular cab form — with an eight-foot bed.

But this GMC still comes standard with a regular cab - and it's available with an eight-foot bed.

However, the regular cab configuration is only available with the base Pro trim — and that trim isn't offered with either the turbodiesel six or the 6.2 gas V8.

The Rest

The Denali Ultimate trim comes with a version of the Super Cruise self-driving feature that GM first offered with some Cadillac models. It's designed for "fully hands-free" operation — but only on "select" highways (those being ones adequately mapped to work with the system).

The Bottom Line

Drive this big truck and you'll be reminded what it was like to drive big American cars, once.

And now you can, again.

View the GMC Sierra this week.

Eric's latest book, "Doomed: Good Cars Gone Wrong!" will be available soon. To find out more about Eric and read his past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.