What makes elephants endearing? Mostly their good nature. And what makes them frightening? Their anger. If one gets enraged — better run. Our subject today turned out to be just like that. At first, the Escalade feels like a huge, clumsy giant with a soft suspension and vague handling. But there's another side… Its appearance, especially the massive, faceted "face" in the style of recent Cadillacs, the color, and the abundance of chrome will leave no one indifferent. Just press the gas a little — and this heavy beast lunges forward with a noble roar. Move aside, or it'll crush you! Imagine that face looming in your rearview mirror.
What's inconvenient about elephants? They're cramped in the city, taking up too much space. You can't stock up enough for such a giant — his appetite is voracious, and he eats quickly. Just consider the hundred-liter tank. You really believe in its bottomlessness at the gas station. You stand, pour, pour… And then — the cutoff, but still not enough…
But our giant is handsome. True, that beauty is relative. However, Americans have a special view of cars. In their version, a car must be big, heavy, soft, and unwieldy. But who is it intended for, and why is it even needed? I still can't understand that.
Although the Escalade could easily pass for a "family man." It takes many people on board, so taking a big family on a picnic out of town with a bunch of stuff is a breeze. But you shouldn't rely on its "off-road" capabilities — more on that later. So, Camel Trophy is off. But something tells me that Cadillacs aren't bought for conquering rivers.
Looking at the instruments is a pleasure: they're both informative and beautiful at the same time. But one thing: the fuel level sensor is clearly lying. The quality of the finish is top-notch, and the entertainment system includes a DVD player, a six-disc multi-format changer, and a ceiling-mounted LCD monitor.
By the way, what about the interior? Well, finally a decent cabin! Although, of course, for $103,000, I've seen better. But the Cadillac folks seem to have outdone themselves and brought the interior finish quality up to par. I recall that neither the CTS nor the STS were known for that. The driver's seat has good anatomy, and thanks to a huge range of adjustments, it can be perfectly tailored to a driver of any build. Rear passengers, of course, are guaranteed maximum comfort and enjoyment of the ride — they have a climate control and multimedia unit at their disposal. But only the most petite can climb into the third row of seats.
One must also praise the three-zone climate control and seats with perforated leather inserts with ventilation. The second-row seats fold electrically. And it happens quite amusingly. Press a button — bang! — the backrest falls. Press again. And the folded seat cushion stands on edge, freeing up space for cargo.
And what about the herd of 403 "horses"? Oh yes, it doesn't let you relax. The old Escalade's naturally aspirated engine was increased by another 200 cubic centimeters and equipped with a variable valve timing mechanism. True, they left two valves per cylinder. But that's nothing. The maximum 565.4 Nm of torque from the Vortec 6.2L V8 SFI, developed at 4400 rpm, speaks for itself. And the fact that this monster under the hood has as many valves as a Ford Focus 1.6 somehow gets forgotten.
A black cat clearly ran between the face and the sides, but overall the look is quite balanced.
The automatic transmission in the SUV is also new — six-speed. It's far from modern "rapid-fire" units, but, in my opinion, the eight-cylinder Vortec doesn't care. Because the engine pulls from any rpm, and you always know you have a hundred or two "horses" in reserve, ready to accelerate at any moment. Speed builds very powerfully across the entire speed range. By the way, the "top speed" of the Escalade is limited to 180 km/h. And rightly so — heaven forbid, a tippy, heavy, and inert SUV on high-profile tires would turn into a downright deadly projectile.
The seven-layer chrome will outlive the car itself. So you can admire your reflection in the grille even at a scrapyard.
The suspension with pneumatic elastic elements always keeps the body at one level. It keeps it, but it doesn't resist body roll at all. True, its stiffness, thank God, can adapt to the quality of the road surface. Interesting, but how does it handle off-road? First, let's try driving on a broken dirt road. Reinforced concrete slabs peek out in places. A bit of sand, dust, and gravel — the rally broth is ready.
No matter how you look at it, the SUV feels like the king of the road only on a straight and smooth highway.
A turn. We pick up speed slowly and sedately. The black hulk only gently sways on the waves, the suspension willingly digests frighteningly sized bumps and potholes. Come on, let's spur our "burger." As before, there's a certain detachment from reality. But the body doesn't bother with strong rocking — praise be to the adaptive Road Sensing air suspension.
Hey! Steering the elephant, especially in extreme conditions, isn't too convenient. Of course, it's mass and inertia. But what spoils the picture isn't that, but the tandem of the steering and brake systems. While the former lacks power steering performance during intense maneuvering, the latter suffers from low informativeness. But the "safety" electronics work great.
Fortunately, all attempts to fool around with drifts and understeer are ruthlessly suppressed by the non-switchable stability control system, and that's right — the price of these experiments is too high. But the traction control can be turned off if desired. How about some rally? Probably not. Better to just cruise calmly in a straight line and not bother anyone. This elephant is no warrior.
Why not try a soggy field? We simply couldn't miss that opportunity. We'd rather get dirty than eat — give us a chance to mess around in the mud. Although no, before taking mud baths, we walked around for a long time, scratched our heads, thinking whether it was worth it. Because there's such a swamp there that you literally sink ankle-deep into the ground under your own weight. We stood, hesitated… But curiosity won. You won't believe it, but we did dive into that mess. Honestly, we didn't even expect to crawl back onto the road on our own. We were just curious to determine the moment when the SUV would stop moving.
Before taking mud baths, we still read the owner's manual. From the chapter "Preparing the Vehicle for Off-Road Driving," we learned that the notorious front bumper spoiler, with which we marked all the curbs in the city, can be removed. So we did. But we found no words about differential locks in the manual, although we really hoped for it.
We set off. Gently press the gas. Wonderful. The Escalade floated. The traction control chokes the engine and grinds the calipers, selectively "grabbing" the runaway wheels. It crawls, the rascal. A little acceleration? No way — we moved, and that's fine. A turn, another turn. The Cadillac understeers to the outer radius, but the car digs in and continues to grind the brakes, now under the guidance of the StabiliTrack system. We stopped again, started again. Wow! Miracles.
Then we decided to get a bit bolder. I turn off the "anti-slip" and start ruthlessly tormenting the gas pedal. And what? The Cadillac, with great reluctance, still gains speed, and like a glider on a water surface, it writes loops, throwing its tail. And then what had to happen happened. Oh gods! The Cadillac began to slowly sink under the water, that is, into the ground. The soil couldn't withstand the colossal pressure and began to subside.
That's it, we've arrived. The Escalade ran aground, barely touching the ground with its axles. At the same time, one wheel under quadrupled traction continued to flounder helplessly, churning the soil. Without thinking long, we concluded that all our attempts to get out of the trap were futile… It's bad without locks, bad. We didn't discover America. The traction control system helps, but only up to a point. Although, wait. We're wrong. The engineers, to please off-road conquerors, did equip the rear differential with an automatic lock. But will it save in such a swamp? Here you need a proper four-wheel drive or a tractor.
While we were testing the car off-road, a yellow Caterpillar 428D was working nearby — it was waiting for its moment. And it came. To avoid sinking the heavy machinery into the ground, the tractor driver used the only correct tactic: holding our "burger" with the boom, he stood on hydraulic outriggers.
So, after all, why do you need such an elephant? To drive around the city? For a metropolis, it is too massive — on narrow streets in the center, difficulties will surely arise, as if not to hit someone, and parking the Escalade is quite a task. There are plenty of engines here, that's a fact. But in corners, you will regret that this Caddy can accelerate so briskly. For the role of an off-road vehicle, the SUV is also not suitable. Yes, it is huge and glossy, but at the same time absolutely helpless and clumsy. Perhaps only on the highway it is good. But what this off-roader can truly boast of is excellent comfort. After all, forget about the heavy steering wheel and weak feedback. Forget about the dimensions — let others think about how not to end up under the wheels. And even more so about everything else! Except for curbs — it is known that elephants are terrified of mice.
Technical specifications
| Specifications | Cadillac Escalade 6.2 |
|---|---|
| Body | |
| Number of doors/seats | 5/7 |
| Length, mm | 5143 |
| Width, mm | 2007 |
| Height, mm | 1887 |
| Curb weight, kg | 2609 |
| Gross weight, kg | 3221 |
| Trunk volume, l. Third row seats folded/second and third rows folded | 1708/3084 |
| Engine | |
| Type | Petrol, with injection and variable valve timing |
| Location | Front, longitudinal |
| Number and arrangement of cylinders | 8, V-shaped |
| Number of valves | 16 |
| Displacement, cm3 | 6,199 |
| Max. power, hp/rpm-1 | 403/5700 |
| Max. torque, Nm/rpm-1 | 565/4400 |
| Transmission | |
| Gearbox | Automatic, six-speed with trailer towing mode |
| Drive | All-wheel drive, permanent, with automatic locking rear differential |
| Chassis | |
| Front suspension | Independent with double A-arms, springs, electronically controlled shock absorbers, and anti-roll bar |
| Rear suspension | Dependent, five-link with springs, electronically controlled shock absorbers, and anti-roll bar |
| Front brakes | Ventilated disc |
| Rear brakes | Disc |
| Tires | 265/65R18 |
| Ground clearance, mm | 229 |
| Steering | |
| Type | Rack and pinion with power steering |
| Number of steering wheel turns from lock to lock | 3.4 |
| Performance characteristics | |
| Maximum speed, km/h (per speedometer) | 180 |
| Acceleration time from 0 to 100 km/h, s | 6.5 |
| Fuel consumption, l/100 km | |
| combined cycle | 22 |
| Emission standard | Euro-4 |
| Fuel tank capacity, l | 98 |
| Fuel | AI-95 |
Equipment of the tested car Standard equipment
Price of the base version — $97,250
Price of the tested car $103,200
The car for the test was provided by
General Motors LLC.
- Airbags: dual-stage front for driver and front passenger with automatic passenger detection system
- Inflatable curtains for side impact protection for passengers of the first, second, and third row side seats with rollover sensor
- ABS
- StabiliTrack dynamic stability system
- TRC traction control system
- Road Sensing surface detection system, electronically controlled shock absorbers
- Automatic body leveling system
- Power steering
- Adjustable pedal assembly
- Height-adjustable steering column
- Memory for power settings: mirrors, driver's seat, pedal assembly
- Leather interior trim
- Leather steering wheel with wood insert
- Heated front seats
- Ventilated front and rear seats
- Three-zone climate control
- Power tailgate
- Heated windshield washer
- Fog lights
- Power and heated exterior mirrors
- Power windows front and rear, with automatic mode
- Cruise control
- Remote control for audio and climate for rear passengers.
- Bose 5.1 Studio Surround Sound audio system with 10 speakers
- Retractable cargo cover
- Light sensor
- Rain sensor
- On-board computer
- Rear parking sensors
- Full-size spare tire 265/70R17
- PASS-Key III Plus anti-theft system
- Towing hitch
- Roof rails
- Alloy wheels
- Multimedia system with ceiling monitor CD-, DVD-, MP3-player and 6-disc changer
- Heated steering wheel
- Heated front and rear seats
- Driver information center with on-board computer and programmable personal functions such as door locking and unlocking
Price of the base version — $97,250
Price of the tested car $103,200
The car for the test was provided by
General Motors LLC.
Above are the native brothers of the Escalade — Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon 2007 model year. The body and basic platform are the same, engines and equipment are more modest, trim is simpler. But the transmission is more advanced, and there are differential locks. Below them is the Escalade family in full — regular, extended ESV, and EXT pickup.
Behind the scenes 