In today's automotive world, many ideas and traditions are being smashed with
urgency and determination by the makers themselves in an attempt to gain a larger
foothold in the American market.
The biggest example of this new paradigm shift can be found with the new Porsche Cayenne…an SUV from the world's premier sports car builder and sacrilege to Porsche enthusiasts around the globe.
On these shores, one has to look no further than the eternal purveyor of luxurious decadence to find how the mighty SUV has swayed them into a sales race with the rest of the automotive world.
The Cadillac
Escalade began life in the late '90s as an answer to the question that no one
but the marketers asked: Where is the Caddy of SUVs?!
Based on the corporate architecture underpinning the Chevy Tahoe and GMC Yukon,
the Escalade has only recently gotten itself a new face and more defined mission
from the higher-ups at GM.
The first thing you may notice about the '03 Escalade is its new nose. The "plastic" surgeons made a tuck here and a lift there and produced a front fascia that resembles the corporate design philosophy of "Art & Science".
We like the change mostly because it gives the Escalade a bigger differentiation from its corporate cousins, the aforementioned Yukon and Tahoe. Unfortunately, that's about the most different the outside of the Escalade gets from the other two; side panels and rear hatch are pretty similar across the board. Of course the biggest difference in the rear is the HUGE Cadillac emblem on the rear liftgate, which is repeated at front, natch.
When you first step into any Cadillac, you notice a few things: The smell of the leather permeates your very being with richness and euphoria. The comfort of the seats rival many recliners. The attention to detail is painstakingly on target and the fit and finish, with the more recent entries at the forefront, are top notch.
We enjoyed getting to know all the power accessories associated with the front seats. First was the adjustment choices; the seats had 10 ways-yes, we said 10- to adjust, not counting the moveable pedals. Then there was the multizone heat for the front seats: back and bottom cushions had heating options and, if you so chose, you could heat just the back or both back and bottom; nice choices for those of us that enjoy heat on our backside. It's a great way to stay away from the chiropractor as well.
Second row seating was almost as nice, with heated seat cushions for the bucket-style rears and climate and radio controls for the rear passengers…it is close to heaven for busy parents and a lot of fun for anyone else who gets the privilege of sitting back there. The third row was of the small-but-livable-for-short-periods-by-an-adult variety. We found it to be quite comfy for a flexible adult (of which we are not) but watch that head, the headliner comes down rather sharply back there, ready to smack the noggin of those brave enough to sit way back there.
Getting the rearmost seats in and out of the truck was another story. We found the numbers on the handles intuitive for which one to hit first, second, etc…but the weight and awkwardness of reaching into the truck and yanking them out would be a deterrence for us if we owned the rig.
A little more on the operation of putting the seats down to get them out: We found hitting the levers marked one, two and three was easy to get the seats folded and flipped for more space or removal. The difficult part was getting the seats upright again; the awkwardness (that word again!) of holding the number two lever and pulling up the seat back was difficult but not impossible. We would like to see a spring-load or other means to help get the seat upright…especially in an expensive "luxury" SUV like the Escalade.
The dash and surrounding areas are well appointed and feel great to the touch. We especially like the "Bulgari-inspired" clock on the lower portion of the center console; it lent a more old-school touch to the luxury-ness of the Escalade and was not pretentious or overdone. Good job kudos go to Caddy's engineers on this one.
A review of a GM vehicle equipped with XM Satellite Radio just wouldn't be complete without some gushing on our part about the virtue and wonderful content of the service…consider us gushed, for now.
Our Escalade came with only a few options to speak of for its $56,599.00 list price. There was the almost obligatory rear seat DVD entertainment system ($1295); 17-inch chrome wheels ($795); XM Satellite radio (a well-spent $325); and a towing package ($169).
Factor all that with the base price of $53,205.00 and the destination charge ($770) and you get the picture.
Is the Escalade really worth a $10-$15k premium over the proletarian Tahoe? This is a similar question we asked between the Avalanche and Escalade EXT and we found in that test that if you like the extra luxury features and prestige of the Caddy it would not disappoint.