 2015 Cadillac Escalade. Click image to enlarge |
The Premium edition comes with a larger-than-before drop-screen of nine inches to sedate passengers in the back with front-loading disc, USB, SD card and RCA jacks. (It’s available with Luxury trim.) So sitting in those heated seats in the second row, they need never be bored — or bothering you. Everyone else enjoys near boundless connectivity, including support of up to ten Bluetooth devices, five USB ports, five 12-volt power ports and a 110-volt outlet. Use the Escalade as a traveling office during your next bid for mayoralty.
Safety — Protecting Your Investment and Other Loved Ones
Popular with gangstaz, the Escalade has always required advanced antitheft technology but the 2015 variant exceeds for the truly discerning. Assorted sensors detect motion, breaking glass and even imbalance in case miscreants try to steal your wheels and tires, tow it away — or, say, lift it with a crane onto a truck! (Testing fresh-from-factory units, we were discouraged from smashing glass and lifting these SUVs with tow motors.) And — this is so cool — there’s a self-powered horn. Cutting the cable no longer silences the alarm sounding. An anti-theft package even includes door shields that block those slim-jim tools from sliding past the window to the locks.
Remember, too, with this much bling at stake, the safety features are as much about keeping your Escalade out of the repair shop as yourself out of hospital, starting with front and rear park assist. However, for nervous parents, the available Driver Awareness and Driver Assist Packages check all the boxes on your list: a series of alerts, much of whose feedback is delivered by a tickle to your gluteus maximus, includes blind spot, lane change, rear cross traffic and forward collision. It also has automatic collision preparation, safety belt tightening and adaptive cruise control, which can be frustrating if you’d like to move closer to and get the attention of a slowpoke clogging the fast lane, plus automatic front and rear braking. Yes, it’s safe.
  2015 Cadillac Escalade. Click image to enlarge |
Performance and Power
For the entire hour and a half I drove this truck, it never once, as many driving enthusiasts crave and love to write, felt like an extension of myself. Make no mistake. This is a truck in shearling’s clothing. At heart is a jumbo engine whose quietness attests the GM engineers’ skills: a 6.2L direct-injected V8. For better fuel economy it has variable valve timing and active fuel management, which shuts down half the cylinders if conditions are optimal. Mind, the curb weight for the ESV, which is 518 mm longer than the already long 5,179-mm Escalade, is 2,761 kg. Vernacular would have us say the Escalade ‘weighs a ton’ but it’s actually over two and a half! On the other hand, it’s hearty enough to tow a 3,492-kg trailer.
So, between that active fuel management system and sheer bulk, the acceleration was noticeably less responsive than the true Cadillac cars mentioned earlier. There are plenty of hills leading up to Lake Simcoe and we gunned it, albeit quietly.
Then there’s the costs of fuel: Escalade 4WD 16.2 city / 11.4 highway / 14.0 combined L/100 km; Escalade ESV 4WD 16.8/11.7/14.5. These are the new 2015 ratings, so they should be reasonably accurate for typical usage. Moreover, the big engine prefers to drink single malt (premium gasoline). It will take regular but the manufacturers tested with premium to arrive at those best-case-scenario numbers, and therefore must recommend the top shelf stuff. Either way expect an expensive date.
Still, if you have a lot of passengers who expect pampering or want to tow something in comfort, the Cadillac Escalade is a beefy contender for the gig.
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Pricing: 2015 Cadillac Escalade
Trim base price: $93,500
Total options & packages: $1,980
A/C tax: $100
Freight: $1,700
Price as tested: $97,280
Competitors:
Audi Q7
Infiniti QX80
Land Rover Range Rover
Lexus LX 570
Mercedes-Benz GL-Class/G-Class
Crash Test Results:
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS)
