2025 Cadillac Escalade Pushed & Reviewed: Is It Price $125,000?

Enter an oasis

Throughout my time with the 2025 Cadillac Escalade Platinum, I by no means understood what made it distinctive till I drove it out on one of many worst wet days North Jersey has seen in fairly some time. 

I forgot an umbrella, however strolling as much as the Escalade on a darkish, gloomy wet day seems like strolling as much as salvation. When you get inside a number of meters of the automotive, the LED lights that line the Cadillac badge and the massive grille that surrounds it flicker on and name on you want an illuminated beacon of goodwill, recognizing that you simply, the particular person holding its key, are searching for that place of consolation—and what a spot it’s.

Not your granddad’s Caddy

The Cadillac Escalade has a wealthy historical past that dates again to 1998, when it was launched as a extra luxury-focused variant of the GMC Yukon Denali. All through its 25-year-plus historical past, it has turn out to be a VIP chariot for the celebrities and an emblem of extra on the display, particularly because the second and third generations of the automotive earned starring roles in all the pieces from rap movies to cult TV exhibits like The Sopranos and Entourage.

In the present day, the Cadillac Escalade is a contemporary, large-and-in-charge machine whose presence is felt each on the within and outdoors. For 2025, the Cadillac Escalade will get a smattering of upgrades, together with revised styling that features a larger grille, newly revised LED headlights and taillights, and obtainable 24-inch wheels, which this automobile had. I discovered that many of those styling selections had been made to reflect its electrical sibling, the Escalade IQ, which I feel added some futuristic touches to a modern design that previously leaned extra conservative than placing.

Beneath the hood of nearly all of the trim ranges of the 2025 Cadillac Escalade (excluding the V-Sequence) is a 6.2-liter L87 V8 pumping out 420 horsepower and 460 lb-ft of torque. The facility comes by means of all 4 wheels by means of a responsive and smooth-shifting 10-speed automated transmission. One caveat that I noticed all through my time was that the powertrain was fairly thirsty; the EPA estimates the 4WD variant I drove at 14 miles per gallon within the metropolis, 18 mpg within the freeway and 16 mpg mixed metropolis and freeway.

Although it’s highly effective and thirsty, the Escalade’s redeeming components actually come into play whereas I traversed the pothole-ridden, tough roads round North Jersey and New York Metropolis. The 2025 Escalade Platinum got here with adaptive air suspension, in addition to GM’s personal Magnetic Experience Management, which absorbed bumps, cobblestones, and different street blemishes with ease; a formidable feat on condition that it rode on the elective 24-inch wheels. 

Like its mechanical cousins, the Chevy Suburban and GMC Yukon, it has an unbiased rear suspension. Nonetheless, if I had been to explain the dealing with of the Cadillac Escalade, I wouldn’t use phrases like swift, sporty, or every other buzzwords that point out that it handles like something inside a breath of being a efficiency or observe day automotive. To be fully straight to the purpose: it doesn’t, it doesn’t fake to, and it doesn’t have to. 

King-sized consolation

Inside, the cabin of the Cadillac Escalade Platinum is a cushty setting loaded with ornate particulars, smooth and strong touches, and high-tech toys. Sitting within the driver’s seat of the Cadillac Escalade feels such as you’re the exact opposite of what Lewis Hamilton does; it is a spot the place driving can really feel as stress-free as it will probably, even while you’re caught in gridlock visitors. 

Up entrance, each the motive force and entrance passenger sit on plush 16-way power-adjustable heated and ventilated entrance seats that really feel extra like leather-based La-Z-Boys than Recaros. The inside itself is an announcement of luxurious, as most seating surfaces are completed in semi-aniline leather-based seats, whereas the dashboard and choose trim items lining the door playing cards and heart console are completed in a parquet-looking wooden trim. Moreover, an influence panoramic sunroof provides a bit of little bit of solar to an in any other case cavernous inside. Not like the glass roof of a Tesla, it’s a correct sunroof that tilts and slides out for a style of outdoor air.

Although the Escalade feels nice behind the wheel with its driver-oriented setup, that is the sort of automotive you’d a lot moderately be pushed in than drive. This 2025 Cadillac Escalade Platinum got here with the Govt Second Row Seating bundle, and for the $7,500 it prices on the choices record, it’s price completely each penny. 

This bundle replaces the 2nd row bench seat with two power-reclining, heated, ventilated, and massaging captain’s chairs that make automotive journeys, lengthy drives, and street journeys really feel like touring in top quality. Between the 2 seats is a middle console containing airline-esque stowable tray tables, a small touchscreen that acts as a rear command heart, in addition to twin wi-fi cellphone charging pads and audio system within the headrests.

The Escalade packs in a variety of tech between the entrance and the again seats. Up entrance, a 55-inch display spans the whole dashboard. On first thought, the concept of a panoramic display in entrance of the windshield seems like overkill, but it surely oddly is sensible behind the wheel. The display itself supplies three features: as a display for the instrument cluster, infotainment system, and as a private display for the entrance seat passenger, which may be configured with downloadable apps like YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, in addition to an web browser. 

Included with the Govt Second Row Seating bundle are 12.6-inch private screens behind the entrance seat headrests that act very like the non-public display in entrance of the entrance seat passenger. Altogether with the 40-speaker AKG speaker system and the 5G Wi-Fi hotspot, the backseats can doubly operate as a correctly comfy place to get some work carried out. 

Last ideas 

As examined, this 2025 Cadillac Escalade Platinum was $132,615, together with vacation spot. I admit that a big chunk of my expertise behind the wheel was attending to grips with the intensive studying curve that comes with driving an enormous, heavy SUV like this. It was exhausting to get acquainted, but it surely was {smooth} crusing afterward. 

Regardless of its measurement, thirsty engine, and ubiquity in comparison with competing SUVs, the Escalade nonetheless does what it is designed to do: transport you, your loved ones, and all their stuff in absolute, blissful consolation. As I received extra acquainted with how the Escalade behaved, I discovered that the driving expertise was nothing however magnificent. The L87 V8 below the hood supplies sufficient energy to haul you and your passengers round, whereas its air suspension could make even the worst roads really feel freshly paved.

There have been a number of tough edges to handle. As an illustration, the heads-up show had patterns of working and never working. In an period of open-pore wooden trim, the parquet-esque trimmings on the dashboard really feel an excessive amount of just like the plastic it sits subsequent to, and the power-assisted doorways really feel like escaping a vault when getting out and in.

However regardless of these comparatively small, little gremlins, the Escalade is in a league of its personal in a world the place luxurious SUVs are the brand new standing symbols and sure automakers are like style manufacturers. Regardless of this, there’s an harmless, coy, and eager high quality, a sort of “unapologetic brashness” in its character that I do not discover from different similarly-priced SUVs from BMW, Mercedes, and Land Rover. In a world the place different huge luxurious SUVs attempt to shed their “huge automotive” picture with sculpted styling and faux-sporty dealing with traits, the Escalade is characteristically uncanny, and that is okay. It leaves a heartfelt gooey feeling for many who wish to be totally different.