2025 Cadillac Escalade IQ Is An Outrageous Moveable Electric Feast: First Take

Forbes

18-05-2025

Attendees view the Cadillac Escalade IQ 1000E4 full-size electric luxury SUV during the AutoMobility ... More LA 2024 auto show at the Los Angeles Convention Center on November 21, 2024. US auto giants signaled November 20, 2024 that they could further slow the ramp-up of electric vehicle production as Detroit awaits the arrival of a Trump administration eager to reverse key Biden climate initiatives. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP) (Photo by ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images)
Cadillac has a new, more elegant take on the shamelessly big EV – the 2025 Cadillac Escalade IQ. The Tesla Cybertruck and GMC Hummer SUV now have some company in the bigger-than-life EV department.
The new electric version of the Escalade – a first for the iconic Cadillac nameplate – is a gilded beast, tricked out with every luxury feature you could desire. I'm not used to this much luxury in a car (but I could easily get used to it). I'm driving the Escalade IQ Luxury 2 for a week. The following is a brief first-take review.
As a yardstick, I'll compare it to two other giant high-profile electric vehicles, the Cybertruck and GMC Hummer EV.
Before the IQ arrived, I had just finished a test drive of the Cadillac Optiq, a compact crossover EV at the other end of the size/weight spectrum. So, I expected a step down in speed and torque. Nope. Despite the 9,000 pound+ weight and three rows of seats, the IQ keeps up with the much smaller (5,000-pound) Optiq. That's with the acceleration features toggled on (Velocity MAX and sport mode). That was a surprise considering its size. Cadillac says the IQ does 0-60 in under 5 seconds. I believe it now. It produces 750 hp and 785 lb.-ft. of torque with Velocity Max.
The IQ is rated at 450 miles of range. I have never test driven an EV with this kind of range. It changes everything. No more ABCs (always-be-charging) – a state of mind that afflicts every EV driver. And, when you do need a charge, the charging rates are very fast based on my testing at Tesla Superchargers. GM estimates 100 miles of range in about 10 minutes at a public DC Fast Charging station. So far, I've been charging at between 300 and 350 miles, so I haven't gotten the rates that GM publishes. (With EV charging, when the battery's charge exceeds 70-80 percent, charging rates drop off.) But even when I charged from 350 to the max of 450, it was fast. As fast as the rates on a Lucid EV I drove last year.
2025 Cadillac Escalade IQ getting a fast charge at a Tesla Supercharger.
The Escalade IQ I have came with a Tesla NACS adapter. I've been charging exclusively at Tesla Supercharger stations. Pure plug-and-play, i.e., you plug in and it just works. As a rule, I avoid Electrify America (when I can) based on years of frustration.
A 55-inch curved LED display makes navigating information easy.
Curved Pillar-to-Pillar LED Display: A 55-inch curved LED display makes navigating information much easier than other EVs I've tested.
AKG Studio Reference Audio System: The Escalade IQ offers an available 36-speaker AKG Studio Reference audio system.
Rear-Seat Entertainment: Dual 12.6-inch displays with streaming to keep rear passengers entertained.
Air Ride Adaptive Suspension & Magnetic Ride Control: this adjusts the vehicle's height and damping for handling various driving conditions. And Four-Wheel Steering improves maneuverability at low speeds and stability at high speeds.
I've tested the most recent Tesla Full Self Driving (FSD) updates 3 times in the past two months on the new Tesla Model Y 'Juniper" and once on the Cybertruck. Tesla's FSD is amazing. It's basically a robotaxi = the driver is the passenger. The problem is, it's not flawless. That always makes me a little nervous – and I've had few mishaps with FSD in the past. I like the middle ground that GM has settled on with Super Cruise. GM leaves the local driving to you while offering true hands-free driving on the highway. Once you're on the highway, Super Cruise will take over the driving – steering, acceleration, braking, and lane changes. In my testing of the IQ's Super Cruise on Los Angeles highways, it does 90 percent of the driving on 118, 405, and 5.
Think of Super Cruise as a tedium reliever. Let's say you're taking a long trip that involves hours of yawn-inducing highway driving. That's where Super Cruise takes over. It does the dull driving for you. I know people who have resisted any kind of driver assist until I explain to them what it's for. Then they actually try it and are immediate converts.
The Escalade IQ Sport 1 starts at about $130,000, while the Luxury 2 that I'm driving is just shy of $158,000.