Nothing exceeds like excess. From the gratuitous cinematic destruction of Michael Bay’s blockbusters to the finned land yachts of the ’50s, America has spent most of the post-war era thumping the concept that more equals better. Clearly, it’s not stopping now, for the Cadillac Escalade IQ has just been unveiled. It’s a massive electric luxury SUV that’s bigger, more ostentatious, and more luxurious than anything else in its segment. Take that, Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV.
Think of the Escalade IQ a bit like an ultra-luxe version of the Hummer EV SUV, and you’re not far off. After all, we’re talking about 750 horsepower, a truly enormous footprint, four-wheel steering, and more than 200 kWh of claimed battery pack capacity. It’s a violently American electric highway cruiser that can still dash from a dead stop to 60 mph in a claimed five seconds. Charging is facilitated by an 800-volt architecture, meaning this behemoth can take full advantage of 350 kW charging stations. With a pack this big and a claimed range of 450 miles, it’s going to need them. Oh, and let’s not gloss over how Cadillac claims this thing can tow 8,000 pounds. That’s a proper full-size SUV number, and one that should help with launching the boat, hauling the horses short distances, or whatever rich people do with a trailer hitch.
Admittedly, the Escalade IQ isn’t the most handsome SUV in Cadillac’s lineup, but perhaps it doesn’t have to be. Maybe, like the BMW i7, it’s more about making a statement than being conventionally attractive. The front end is busier than a Starbucks during the morning rush, the rear end is weirdly slabby, and although the bodyside surfacing is mostly alright, details like the floating pillars are overwrought. The regular Escalade looks as intimidating as Mike Tyson in a tuxedo, while this just doesn’t have the same boxy, monolithic presence. Still, how ’bout them 24-inch wheels?
The real draw of the Escalade IQ is on the inside, where substantial real estate is dedicated to keeping you as divorced from the driving experience as you could possibly imagine. The driver gets an ultra-wide screen covering gauges and infotainment, there’s another screen down in the center console for ancillary vehicle functions, and the front seat passenger gets their own screen for the sake of entertainment. Cadillac claims 55 diagonal inches of total screen space, which is more than the amount of TV I have in my flat. Needless to say, it’s for the best that the Super Cruise hands-free Level 2 advanced driver assistance system tracks the driver’s eyes. Sadly, there is no word on Apple CarPlay availability, which is something customers are sure to balk at if it’s absent. After all, how many new Escalade owners have you met that use Android phones?
In back, passengers can be treated to available new executive-class rear seats that have more in common with a full-size Range Rover than a Chevrolet Tahoe. With a fixed console, yet another set of screens, and all the comfort functions you could shake a stick at, there really isn’t a bad seat in this house-sized luxury EV. Speaking of rear seat entertainment, imagine how a Nolan flick would sound pumped through the available 40-speaker AKG Studio Reference sound system. A 36-speaker AKG system is available on mid-range, which is still an absurd number of speakers to have in a car, while base trims make do with a still impressive-sounding 19-speaker AKG system. Oh, and in case cargo room is a concern, the Escalade IQ also has a proper frunk.
The Escalade IQ marks the third time Cadillac has used those two little letters in a different pronunciation — Lyriq doesn’t end in the same sound as Celestiq, and neither of those end in “IQ” pronounced like the test. However, all three electric Cadillacs thus far have shown a brighter future for Cadillac, a certain ambition to really return to the “Standard of the World” days. With plenty of tech, a Texas-sized footprint, and absurd EV powertrain specs, the Escalade IQ should make itself part of celebrity entourages very, very soon. Expect to see it on sale sometime next year with a starting price around $130,000.
(Photo credits: Cadillac)
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The ugly ass black-light-up-grille trend continues at Cadillac and Mercedes. So, damn, ugly.
ICK might be a better descriptor…
You know, I was just thinking the other day that the problem with the Escalade was that it wasn’t heavy enough or garish enough.
The Electric Canyonero. Just what the world needed.
If the UAW get’s their demands met, Escalade IQ buyers will need a subscription to NOT get targeted ads randomly popping up on all those screens.
Soon, one quarter of us will have to get their CDLs to drive the EV pleasure barges for the wealthy quarter. The other half will need to report to the Martian cobalt mines.
“The other half will need to report to the Martian cobalt mines.”
Expect a strong uptick in people holding “Will Work For Air” signs.
TANSTAAFL!
well, someone had to
The moonMarsis a Harsh Mistressa Great Place to Mine Rare Earth Minerals! Sign up for the O24U rewards points to save big on organic oxygen from Tahiti!So, does “doesn’t look like and Escalade” mean it doesn’t look like a Suburban laden with chrome and crap?
I just have to say…. What the actual f*ck? Even if I had the money to buy this I wouldn’t. This thing is going to weigh like what, 9000 lbs? I really hate that EVs are trending this way. If the goal is to reduce emissions by getting more people into EVs, how is this helping? Honestly, I think automakers should be fined for selling shit like this instead of something remotely affordable. This whole world has some messed-up priorities.
Its ok, they are much safer to those inside while everything outside will get destroyed. Found this article trying to understand vehicle weights over time, article is horrible because its written to justify larger vehicle is safer for driver.
https://www.iihs.org/topics/vehicle-size-and-weight
The average weight of all new vehicles is low 4k pounds, cars about 3.8k. How long will our crappy US roads last if they are full of 9k pound EVs.
Agree they should not allow things like this to be made. It’s 3x everything of my i3; 3x the battery size, 3x the cost, 3x the weight, and gets about 1/3 the efficiency.
It’s interesting that the big vehicles are safer myth continues. They aren’t and haven’t been for a long, long time. Regardless, the top dudes at car manufactures simply don’t give a rip about anything other than profit. I’m not positive that even Henry Ford, the anti-semite, Nazi loving crank would have ever produced something like this unless FOMOCO was a publicly traded company during his time.
It is simply ridiculous that something like this is being produced at a time when the world is heating up like never before, wealth disparity is out of freaking control and damned near 50% of the US wants to re-elect a shit-talking assclown. (You decide who I’m referencing.)
There is a slim chance that we can make things better before it’s too late. This is not a step in that direction.
I just thought a way to fix the whole EV cluster f*$# environment. Instead of tax credits on EVs, for every $100K EV monstrosity sold, the Govt will gift a cheap BYD EV to a poor. Perhaps they can come close to the 2030/35 goals that way. Go further and every $60-80K EV sold, a poor gets an EV scooter for free, also cheap Chinese import.
Last thought(s) on this.
So we, the taxpayer, bailed out these manufactures because they were making vehicles that nobody could afford or didn’t want. Oh, housing crisis/market crash. Boohoo.
So how do they repay us? Get rid of affordable models, or like Ford, get rid of cars all together! And then comes Covid….. let’s just screw everybody harder. Supply chain issues, no toilet paper, blurf. Watch THIS! We are making a new hybrid small truck for $19,995!
That will be more like $35k if you can actually get one.
Thanks, benevolent car companies, for pledging to go full EV in 10 years with vehicles that nobody can afford. They all need to be punched in the dick. But I get it, “greed is good.”
My dearly departed Dad owned a pizza joint back in the day. I don’t think he was out to feed the world or save anyone. But he made good food for a fair price. His main competitor/rival charged about twice what pop did for the same thing. But that guy marketed it as “premium”. My Dad asked him how he could make money selling just a few pizzas for twice the price. He responded, “Johnny, I don’t have to sell many pizzas at that price.”
And here we are. On our way to saving the planet by going to EVs, we have a 9000 pound road crusher for $135k. And nothing below about $40k for the plebes who make things actually work in the world. Nice. Very, very nice.
The Hummer EV already weighs 9000lbs, I’d expect this to clock in higher.
The goal was never to reduce emissions, the goal is to look like you care because you have an EV.
If anyone with power actually gave a shit about emissions we’d be looking at industry that emits way more than personal cars.
With GM’s Mag-neato suspension, the inherent quiet smoothness of electric propulsion, 40 speakers, and that surprisingly gorgeous interior, this does have to be quite the modern luxo-barge experience.
Now it just needs some moar-awesome color choices. “Lightening Sky” blue would be cool. I’d want one in “Electric-Chair” burnt orange. “Pedestrian Pants-Piss” yellow? Or, perhaps “Mucho Meadow” green to indicate its electric=environmental cred.
Also, IQ seems a bit pretentious. GM should’ve went with truth in advertising and named it the Futuristic Appliance – Quest edition. Yep, Escalade FA-Q.
Joking aside, I do like the party-trick of this looking like a normal-sized SUV, yet having a bigger footprint than a freakn’ Escalade ESV (the big one). I’ve always enjoyed spectacle, and I’ve always been a fan of Cadillac, so I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t looking quite forward to seeing one of these battery-op behemoths in person.
A guy down the street gets a new luxury trim Escalade every year (he’s currently in the Escalade-V) and I reeeeeally hope to see one of these rolling down the street somehow days before the actual release date.
Pedestrian blood red.
I was just talking a couple weeks ago how this was inevitable. How, the Hummer and it’s popularity + Escalade and it’s popularity make it a money printing no brainer. Using the Hummer as a base and building something luxury off it means cheaper R&D so more profit when you add the Caddy Tax on top of it. That all said, I like how it looks and really like the interior, which I wasn’t expecting. Sure it’s a bit of wasted space, but at the same time, it looks quite comfortable.
Not worth giving two shits about one way or the other, frankly. A hundred and thirty grand? Might as well be a hundred and thirty million. This ties in so well to the “trimflation” idea it’s not even funny. If this is their “solution,” US automakers deserve to get their asses handed to them by Dacia or BYD.
No more bailouts…
Spoken like a true plebeian!
Sincerely, General Motors ( ͡ᵔ ͜ʖ ͡ᵔ )
Dacia is playing the same game. Cheaper car with A/C is 15k€ now. Used to be 8
The Cadillac Escalade Ick was always bound to happen. People like big vehicles, you can fit a lot of battery in them, and the Escalade name is worth something.
But I hate it so much anyway. Make smaller, lighter, more efficient EVs, and you can stretch the resources much farther. If these companies are going to complain they don’t have the resources for enough battery packs, they shouldn’t be cramming as many of them as they can fit into Hummers and Escalades.
I guess I should feel glad they modified the design enough to make it a bit more efficient than the ICE Escalade body.
Is $130k estimated price? As that is about the same as the ICE version, was expecting more like $175k price. Surely they will be on BaT soon after rolling into dealers for $250k…. The lux EV market is hot and never going to end… until we sell 200 of them!
$130k is the ‘launch price’, but we all know how the game is played these days:
IDK why GM thought that they needed to deviate from the ICE Escalade design so much. People buy an Escalade so that they can be seen in one
Cadillac was the standard of the world. It’s hard to be the standard of the world when you’re a re-badged suburbalanche XL.
The rear end on this reeks of Chevy design.
It’s so nasty
The Escalade is Cadillac’s strongest brand BECAUSE of its design.
Yea, I couldn’t quite tell if the comment was denigrating the EV design or the ICE design. The ICE design is wildly successful
And then order the extra-dark tinted windows so that they can’t be seen in one.
275/50/R22 factory rubber…that is basically a 35″ tall tire, you know a size we generally say is big enough to do some serious off-roading. This vehicle makes that tire look proportional and not oversized which means it is friggen massive! God help the sports car drivers on the road, and not even just the miata’s, GM’s own corvette would be pummeled by this thing with no trace. Heck, I imagine even being in something like a RAV4 and getting hit by this could end badly.
275/50R24 is the correct size, too late to edit
That’s even taller! That’s a true 35 right there.
We only have to look at train (or semi) vs vehicle videos to get an idea. It will take somewhere around 2.5 vehicles getting hit to use up all the kinetic energy from a Hummer or IQ.
In order for such a heavy monstrosity to get 450 miles range on a 200 kWh pack, its drag coefficient must be in the upper 0.2X range. Which for a large SUV, would be quite impressive, but not at all impossible.
$130k though? Who the hell is buying stuff like this and can afford it? I suspect GMAC is handling financing for nearly all of them that will be sold…
I agree, Toecutter.
That’s crazy range for a 200kWh pack and such a huge frontal area.
I am fully aware that I am on my own island here, but as far as EVs go, I like this.
Best looking of GM’s efforts so far (a low bar to be sure), reasonable if not perfect capability, and a very nice looking interior. You could do a lot worse.
If they made a 500 mile version with smaller wheels and tires, I might actually take a look at one.
This might come across as more rude than I intend it, but I have no idea how 450 miles is not enough for people. That’s like 7 hours of highway driving
I’LL HAVE YOU KNOW THAT I DRIVE 72 HOURS STRAIGHT WITHOUT SO MUCH AS A PISS BREAK SO UNTIL THEY START PUMPING OUT EVS WITH 4,000 MILE RANGES, I WON’T BE INTERESTED!
There, I think I covered the comments people will give you.
Hey now, until you can tow four jet skis while doing that, still won’t be enough.
I assume those jet skis are stacked on the deck of a 40ft catamaran?
You do NFL picks too?
Even at a worst case of say 1.6 mi/kWh, it’s 320 miles of highway range. That’s more than enough.
I was talking to my dad, who drives for a living, and told him about test driving the EV6. When I told him it had a 310 mile EPA range, so less in straight highway driving, his response was that it sounded like a good amount. His words were something along the lines of needing a break after that long anyway.
My magic number for EPA range is probably about 350. That should still give me enough for highway use without much inconvenience. The only sticking point left for me is how many of them remove physical controls for things I use too often.
“His words were something along the lines of needing a break after that long anyway.”
How would he feel if that “break” lasted over an hour because of charging/charger issues?
Probably not great, though his personal trips are predictable enough that I suspect he would find places with consistent chargers. And he already plans for potential delays in his travels. Personally, I’d plan to stop in at chargers well before I get down to 20%, so I’d have some wiggle room to move on if needed.
While we’re asking these questions, let’s imagine we have solid charging stations. How much range would you need if you knew chargers consistently worked? You drive a certain distance and stop for 20 minutes or so?
For me, a person who takes a couple longer car trips a year, I think I would be okay with about 210 usable highway miles in that case. That’s 3 hours at 70, 3.5 at 60. A couple breaks in a day of driving. Charge at home and never have to think about fueling up for my local driving.
I’ll take this question as posed in good faith, even though it may not be, and simply say:
-With some admirable exceptions, range decreases from EPA numbers in steady state highway cruising, sometimes drastically. Examples here from C/D:
https://www.caranddriver.com/shopping-advice/a32603216/ev-range-explained/
-Range decreases significantly in the type of winter weather that I take a lot of road trips in.
-I don’t make long stops during my trips, don’t want to wait in line at a charger, etc. 250 miles of range would be sufficient with 5 minute recharges.
In other words, driving this on the highway in winter time, 300 miles would probably be the absolute best case, followed by a lengthy recharge, then doing it again. Why would I put up with less than that? I don’t ask for any more or less from an EV than I do from a gas car.
To put an even more specific point on it, the absolute number one criteria for me in a family oriented vehicle, so simple and universal that I never needed to think about it in the pre-EV times, is the ability to travel from the Chicago exurbs to Minneapolis (480 miles) in 7-7.5 hours no matter the temperature outside.
The first EV capable of that trip will be the first EV I consider.
You’ll add 20 minutes to a 7.5 hour trip, which is a 4% increase in time, yet gain time from the dozens of gas fill ups that you’ll no longer need during the year. That seems like a fair enough win for this to be a non-issue
That is the absolute best case, and basically any even-handed account of electric road trips will mention delays, broken equipment, waits, searches for chargers, and so on.
Example from this website:
https://www.theautopian.com/heres-what-it-cost-to-drive-a-dirty-diesel-760-miles-vs-an-ev-500-miles/
Even assuming perfection at every charger and no wait, time wasted on a road trip with my kids is a lot more valuable to me than time alone at a gas station during the course of normal daily driving. If it doesn’t bother you, then it sounds like an EV is fine for you. Spending $60-130K on something with those types of limitations isn’t something I’m interested in.
While I agree, different people see the use of time differently. If you get a short vacation each year, the time you spend there might be more valuable to you. For me, not having to stop and fuel up after work is a bigger benefit than avoiding an occasional half hour charging stop, so I’ve been strongly considering an EV for my next vehicle. But that’s not everyone’s situation.
“the ability to travel from the Chicago exurbs to Minneapolis (480 miles) in 7-7.5 hours no matter the temperature outside.”
There’s a bus for that:
https://www.wanderu.com/en-us/depart/Chicago%2C%20IL%2C%20USA/Minneapolis%2C%20MN%2C%20USA/2023-08-10/?cur=USD&dpid=ChIJvbt3k5Azs1IRB-56L4TJn5M&opid=ChIJ7cv00DwsDogRAMDACa2m4K8
Takes a bit longer but its cheaper than the gas to DIY and you can relax along the way.
There are airplanes too, it doesn’t mean I have any interest in taking my family and luggage on public transit or renting a vehicle once I arrive.
People are free to find my vehicular preferences as irrational as they like; the question was posed to me why I want a vehicle with more than 450 EPA rated miles and I answered it as honestly as I could.
The caveat is, this thing is designed to tow 8000 pounds. Cut the range in half, at least, while doing that, and you’re really going to want that 450 mile range figure. Especially if you want to do so at highway speed.
I am sure it can happen, but I have never seen an escalade tow anything. Ever.
1) people don’t tow nearly as much or as often as sales of vehicles with solid towing capacity indicate 2) nobody tows in an escalade
The real question is what button is that gentleman pressing?
He’s probably buying another rocket ship company or summoning a helicopter to deliver some caviar.
Or just turning on the heated seat.
That’s the one where the Hookers and Cocaine show up at the next stop.
I think you have found the secret sauce for long charge times!
Shh! (It’s actually a trunk monkey in a dress with a baggie of chalk powder).
You could buy 2 or 3 Kia Sorentos for that price. The interior is wonderful though and that’s what it’s really all about with these luxury crossovers.
You can’t show up at the country club in a Kia Sorento. That would be like getting caught in last years fashions.
Screw Kia plastic junk, should be trashed…would rather buy hundreds of junk cars that are real cars than this garbage. Can’t believe you like the interior? All the screens should be smashed to pieces
The price seems OK. Just get a 15 year loan at 4.5% and it’s an easy $994 per month payment.
Not innovative enough in our trying times. When are adjustable rate auto loans?
Booooo $130,000 5 ton luxury EV boooooooo
Man, you’re not far off. Estimated curb weight is 8500lbs. Load it up with a family and some gear and it’ll be likely 9200-9300. Even a single person driving it it’s likely to be 8650+.
Reminds me of an interview with some Honda Pilot engineers when they said they redesigned the space frame with the goal of taking 40mph side impacts from 5000-7000lb vehicles.
We live in hell
We do live in hell, but at least the popcorn is fresh.
Don’t know about anyone else, but that’s the most cogent comment I’ve seen or heard this month—at least.
Scion iQ > Cadillac IQ
Having driven some BEV crossovers shockingly hard — plus giving a friend with a RAV4 Hybrid a ‘code brown’ moment while deliberately demonstrating a stability control quirk in an older firmware version — you know what I’d like manufacturers to brag about more?
Stopping distances, not acceleration times.
Some of these barges I would not want to have to do an emergency stop in if I had just done one a few minutes prior. I’ve roasted the brakes on enough sporty crossovers friends have owned at this point, and some I’ve had to cool it to not set the brakes on fire.
Average driver has no concept of stopping distance. Just ask the guy tailgating my S5 at 85MPH in an F350 dually if he thinks his grille won’t end up in my backseat if I have to make a panic stop.
As someone whose last two times he’s been hit have been in cars that could vastly outbrake the vehicle behind him when an emergency stop situation came up, I’m aware!
Imagine being not even at half the maximum braking force of your vehicle, when you watch the driver behind you in a complete panic when they realize their truck cannot stop in time. Not hard hits, but still. Them trucks/crossovers don’t have the hardware to support the 85-95mph cruising speeds I see far too often.
Last time was 9 years ago, and I’ve since learned I need to try to get into a better lane before getting on the brakes at all, or I’m getting hit. That and nowadays I’m just the person doing 7mph over he posted limit on highways in the right-hand most or 2nd-right-hand-most (depends if 3 or 4 lanes) lane and let all the trucks and performance crossovers go on by at 20-35mph over the posted limit.
I had a big F3-fiddy dually riding my ass one time and I almost didn’t see the line of stopped cars in front of me. I stopped with about a foot of space left. The truck stopped sideways about 4 cars ahead of me in the ditch. The f-wit came running up to my window screaming spit, “Why did you hit your ‘flipping’ brakes so hard?!?”
I gave him my most credulous stare and pointed with both arms at the line of cars still stopped in front of me. He looks at the cars and back at me. I ask, “Are you blind or just stupid?!?” His reply was for me to perform a sex act on myself, then he stormed off to his truck, giving each of the drivers ahead of me an evil stare. To this day he probably thinks he did nothing wrong and all of us stopped on the highway just to mess with him.
Did you perform the suggested act on yourself?
If you set brakes on fire and keep getting hit, maybe that’s a sign your driving needs a second look.
I commuted in LA/OC 3 hours a day for years have never been hit in my life.
it’s always jerkasses driving oversized trucks
Don’t forget random panel vans. They’re entirely invisible to state police, so they go at whatever speed they damn like. You want to talk about something that can’t stop? A loaded Ford E series or Chevy Express takes the cake, and yep, a Chevy Express with over a ton of stuff in it is what tagged me one of those 2 times.
*raises hand*
For work I drive an E350 SuperDuty with the Quigley 4wd conversion. I took it to a local recycling facility and it ticked 8,380lbs with me, my normal tools, and a full tank of gas. That’s not counting nitrogen or refrigerant tanks—or the 100-gallon water tank I had in it during PM season last year.
So, yeah: my normal following distance is 6 to 8 cars in perfect weather. At least I can see a fair bit ahead—I don’t want to kill somebody driving a 3000lb 20yo shitbox like I do off the clock
i hate it so much
People: I would buy an electric car but they’re all still so expensive even with credits.
Automakers: Here’s a $130,000 steamroller with a TV in the dashboard, get fucked plebs.