17-03-2025
Cadillac Escalade IQ Is GM's Fourth Brawny Electric SUV
The Escalade IQ is Cadillac's all-electric take on the same architecture that supports the GMC Hummer, GMC Sierra, and Chevrolet Silverado EVs.
The Escalade IQ can go up to 460 miles on a charge, enough to silence most skeptics.
It's in showrooms now starting at $129,900, soon to be joined by the larger Escalade IQL.
On the spec sheet, the new, all-electric Cadillac Escalade IQ is impressive, indeed:
460 miles of range in extended IQL trim, longest of any electric SUV, thanks to a ginormous 205-kWh battery
Over 100 miles of range recharged in just 10 minutes thanks to its 800-volt architecture
750 hp and 785 lb-ft of torque, the latter available from just above zero rpm
0-60 mph in 4.7 seconds
8,000 pounds towing capacity
It has a really cool 55-inch infotainment touchscreen that will blow yer mind
So what's the drawback? Are there any drawbacks? Well, there is the $129,900 starting sticker price, which you can easily crank up to $150,640.
Potentially cross-shopped competitors are less than that, though smaller: Mercedes EQS SUV offers just 536 hp for between $106,000 and $134,900; the Rivian R1S makes as much as 1,050 hp (in the coming Quad Motor configuration) with a price that starts at $75,900 for an R1S Dual Standard and tops out at $105,900 for an R1S Tri; the Lucid Gravity—on sale now—sports 828 hp and starts at $94,900; the BMW iX xDrive 50 has 516 hp for $87,250, or the iX M60 has 610 hp for $111,500.
The list goes on, and while those competitors aren't as commodious as the Escalade, many if not most people in this end of the market are buying to impress their friends in the bridge club or the guys at the golf course parking lot. Aren't they?
And then there's the Escalade IQ's 9,000 pounds of mass. The four big electric bruisers from GM are all heavyweights, and all tip the scales way up at the end of the chart that approaches five-figure curb weights. But they are all remarkably capable given all that heft.
Despite that weight, you still get from 0-60 mph in 4.7 seconds in the Escalade IQ, more than enough to thrill you on the way to the grocery store, or when you hole-shot that smack-talkin' mom or dad as you both exit the Wee Tots dropoff zone.
And the Escalade IQ does it all with a sense of luxury and practicality that might not leave you wishing for something smaller.
Think of it as the most luxurious of GM's quadratic equation of heavy electrics: the GMC Hummer EV, GMC Sierra EV, Chevy Silverado EV, and now the Cadillac Escalade IQ (the 'IQ' means 'EV,' but Cadillac has to be different). Soon, this luxurious beast will get even bigger, with arrival of the stretched Escalade IQL.
'It's the halo for the Cadillac brand,' said Donnelley Baxter, IQ's global marketing manager. 'Escalade has been a cultural icon. The right vehicle for customers. The luxury of choice. Over 1 million Escalades have already been sold globally.'
The Escalade is already the prestige choice among a certain demographic: moms and dads on the Upper East Side picking up private school kids, Manhattan Beach matrons and masters who want luxury but whose spouses insist on 'buying American,' and didn't Tony Soprano drive an Escalade ESV? Yes he did.
And so did we. On an improvised route in The Bay Area in northern California, we cut off from the traffic-clogged route Cadillac had planned for us and deviated over Skyline Boulevard, the road where every Ducati-owning tech tycoon goes on Saturdays between lawsuits.
What is the IQ like behind the wheel? First, like all EVs, it's as quiet as a secret, its dual motors barely humming as they produce those 750 hp—a figure available only in Velocity Max mode.
But once in VMax, it'll stay there as long as you want, unlike competitors whose peak power is only for short bursts. It makes 680 hp in Normal Mode, which is still plenty enough.
The beast rides on air suspension, controlling high-baller-shot-caller 24-inch wheels—rims so large we don't even know the young-person slang for them (quadruple dubs? Two-By-Fours? Ask a nearby youngster).
The IQ sports four-wheel steer, too, with the rears going in synch with the fronts at high speeds and opposite in parking maneuvers. There's something called Arrival Mode that exaggerates the rear steer to ridiculous degrees and which will probably scare you to death the first time you try it, like some kind of giant clown car. But once you get used to it, you'll probably forget how you ever parked anything without it.
The Adaptive Air Ride features Magnetic Ride Control to minimize body roll and its resultant 'head toss,' keeping the IQ seemingly upright no matter what. Gone are the days when large vehicles cornered on the door handles.
You can also adjust the regenerative braking to the point of one-pedal driving, something I myself prefer and find quite convenient, but some do not.
I did not try any 0-60 launches but will trust Cadillac's 4.7-second to 60 figure, as it feels quite eager off the line.
On the twistier sections of Skyline Boulevard, followed by a way-too-narrow road to lunch called Kings Mountain Road that I do not recommend for anything wider than a slip of paper that says 'car'—let alone the 94.1-inch-wide Escalade IQ—we squeegeed down into the lower Silicon Valley for lunch. I have only recently, several days since returning from the launch program, relaxed the pucker.
And let's not forget the wild, wide, 55-inch digital infotainment touchscreen that spans from A-pillar to A-pillar inside, providing everything from driver info on the left to video-watching on the right, the latter on a screen that is invisible from the driver's point of view.
I tried that out, with my co-driver watching a YouTube video while I drove. I could see an outline of what was going on in the YouTube vid, but there was not enough definition to amount to a distraction.
In between was what might be a standard infotainment section. In front of all that, a separate screen was in place for HVAC and car-related adjustments like outside rearview mirrors and even a submenu-mounted tag to open the glove box.
Super Cruise is also standard, and you can get up to 42 speakers with the AKG Studio Reference audio system (speaker counts long ago replaced cupholders as the measure of interior magnificence).
Overall, assuming you have room in the driveway, the garage, and most roads you're going to drive it on (and assuming you have at least $129,900 to spend on it plus tax, etc.) you could be very happy with one of these. I was, and I only had it for one day. I can only assume I'd like it even more if I owned it.
If you like big SUVs, does the Escalade IQ hold much appeal? Do you need the larger IQL? Please comment below.
