2024 Cadillac Escalade and Escalade ESV Review: The Bigger, The Better

The full-size SUV market segment is populated by the biggest type of car you can buy in the USA - a three-row SUV with seating for up to eight people. The Cadillac Escalade has been a regular player in this segment since the '90s, and the latest iteration is a premium SUV with a digital cockpit, all the features you can wish for, and a good old 6.2-liter pushrod V8 producing 420 horsepower. It's offered in a long-body ESV, too, offering vast amounts of space for people and things. At a base price north of $80k, it rubs shoulders with the home-grown Lincoln Navigator, as well as sophisticated Europeans such as the even more expensive Mercedes-Benz GLS-Class and the smaller but sportier BMW X7. Also tempting is the GMC Yukon, which does a fair impression of luxury on the same underpinnings but for way less money.

What none of these except the Yukon can offer is a thrifty diesel option - a 277-hp Duramax six-cylinder that equals the big V8's torque output. The Escalade might not quite match the Europeans on cabin quality and handling, or the Navigator on performance, but it's still a vast luxury cocoon on wheels. Now with Super Cruise semi-autonomous tech standard on most trims, it's a better choice than ever.

New for 2024

The 2024 Escalade and Escalade ESV are left essentially unchanged, save for a few tweaks to the standard features and specifications. The Premium Luxury, Premium Luxury Platinum, Sport, and Sport Platinum trims now come with the semi-autonomous Super Cruise driving-assistance package as standard. The package contents include adaptive cruise control, enhanced automatic emergency braking, automatic reverse braking, automatic seatbelt tightening, and a three-year OnStar Premium Plan subscription. At the top of the range, the Escalade V gets a new paint color and a 20th Anniversary package, but look out for those details in our separate Escalade V review.

2024 Cadillac Escalade Price: Which One to Buy

For 2024, the price of a new Cadillac Escalade starts at $81,895 for the Luxury trim. This is followed by the Premium Luxury at $93,195, the Sport at $96,195, and the Premium Luxury Platinum and Sport Platinum, both at $110,695. These prices are valid for the trims in their base configurations - with the standard-length body, the 6.2-liter V8 engine, and rear-wheel drive. Upgrading any of these trims to the ESV long body will cost you $3,000 - the same amount that 4WD will cost you over and above the standard RWD. Opting for the 3.0-liter turbo-diesel engine attracts a charge of only $100. Keep in mind that these prices are MSRP and don't include the $1,995 destination fee.

We think the sweetest ride in the Escalade lineup is the Sport. It comes with all the desirable features the Premium Luxury adds to the Luxury, such as leather upholstery, ventilated front seats, a power panoramic sunroof, a head-up display, and the Super Cruise technology. All of this is dressed in a sporty-looking package with dark exterior treatment while also adding a bit more driver-assist kit in the form of additional trailering tech and an electronically locking rear differential. Adding the Touring package with its adaptive air suspension and soft-close doors adds the final layer of ride refinement, and even in this guise, the car will still squeak in below the $100k barrier.

Interior and Features

The luxurious interior treads a fine line between high-quality, classy furnishings and information overload, with leather and wood combined with huge screen real estate and plenty of stretch-out space for all passengers.

Inside, you'll see this is a far cry from the traditional Caddys of old. There's still lots of leather and wood, but the dashboard is topped by 38 inches of curved OLED digital displays that drag the ladder-frame SUV kicking and screaming into the 21st century. You have to prod and poke to find any substandard materials in here, and mostly, the cabin is a haven of tasteful furnishings and luxury features. Even right down at the base level, you get heated power front seats, three-zone climate control, a hands-free power liftgate, and a 19-speaker audio system. Interior space is abundant, even in the third row, and you can fit a truckload of luggage with eight people on board - if you opt for an ESV. Higher trims add a ton of additional features, and the mid-range trims are so well-equipped that there's no need to go for the flagship. With its ample ground clearance, you'll appreciate the handy assist steps and grab handles to help you climb aboard. You have a truck-like vantage point to peer down onto lesser traffic, but the vast body presents a few blind spots looking back. Luckily, a surround-view camera and all-round parking sensors are standard fare. Above the base spec, the Escalade will even park itself.

Space

The Cadillac Escalade plays in the biggest SUV class - you don't get anything bigger than this. With an overall length of nearly 212 inches sitting on a wheelbase of nearly 121 inches (227 inches length in ESV variants), there is space for eight adults inside the Escalade - or seven if you specify the second-row captain's chairs. Even the third row will accommodate adults, and since its reveal three years ago, this fifth-generation Escalade can now trade blows evenly with the Lincoln Navigator on interior space. But unlike the Navigator, which offers the same interior space for both body lengths, the Escalade has a bit less legroom in the third row with the standard body. The seats aren't exceptional, given how important comfort is in this class, but they offer good support nevertheless, and there are no comfort complaints with the air suspension specified. Getting into the third row is made easier by a second row that tumbles and folds at the touch of a button.

Cargo

Trunk space is exceptional, and here the Escalade easily trounces its Navigator rival, not to mention the smaller Germans. Even with the short body and all three seating rows in use, the available trunk volume is 25.5 cu-ft. Fold down the 60/40-split third row, and 72.9 cu-ft is liberated. With the second row's 60/40-split bench (or captain's chairs) folded down as well, a maximum of 121 cu-ft is available. And this is just for the regular body. Opt for the ESV, and these three figures grow to 41.5, 94.1, and a cave-like 142.9 cu-ft, respectively, that latter figure surpassing even the cavernous Navigator L by over 20 cubes. An available collapsible cargo organizer helps you make the most of the available trunk space.

In-cabin stowage spaces are generous, as they should be in a family hauler. The roomy glovebox's lid is damped, and the inside felt-lined to stop items from rattling around on the move. Big door pockets that will accommodate bottles are found in all four doors, and there are cupholders for all three rows, those for the second row popping out of the back of the center console and those for the third row found in the side moldings. The center console contains storage bins of two different sizes. In its place, a refrigerator/freezer can be specified on the upper trims. On either side of the center console, there are storage nooks for small items, and seatback pockets are fitted to the front seats.

Materials and Colors

The base Luxury trim gives you the fewest choices in terms of materials and interior colors. The seats are trimmed in high-quality Inteluxe leatherette, and you get a Jet Black color scheme only, with wood trim on the dash, console, and doors. From the Premium Luxury and up, leather upholstery is standard, and this trim gives you the additional color choice of Parchment (dark beige) with Jet Black accents. Quilted Brandy (tan) leather with Very Dark Atmosphere accents is a $2,000 option. In the Sport, your no-cost choices are Jet Black and Whisper Beige with Gideon accents or the same Brandy extra-cost option. The Premium Luxury Platinum and Sport Platinum get quilted semi-aniline leather, and the available color choices are Jet Black, Whisper Beige, and Dark Auburn with Jet Black accents. The steering wheel is premium-wrapped in all trims and only leather-wrapped in the Platinum trims, which are also the only trims to get a leather-trimmed dashboard, console, and upper doors, and a sueded microfiber headliner.

Features and Infotainment

Every Escalade trim is equipped to a very high standard, and although you only get Inteluxe leatherette upholstery in the base Luxury, and not the real thing, almost all the other features are present and accounted for. These include 12-way power front seats, heated front and second-row seats, power-release second and third-row seats, a heated steering wheel, and three-zone climate control. Higher trims get leather upholstery, more comprehensive power-seat adjustment, massaging front seats, a panoramic sunroof, soft-close doors, and more.

All Escalade trims get a huge curved OLED display composed of a 7.2-inch Control Panel display, a 14.2-inch digital gauge cluster with augmented reality overlays, and a 16.9-inch touchscreen, making for nearly 40 inches of screen real estate. The infotainment system on the Luxury incorporates navigation, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, Connected Apps, HD Radio, SiriusXM with a six-month trial 360L subscription, Bluetooth audio streaming, and a 19-speaker AKG audio system. From the Premium Luxury and up, a 36-speaker AKG audio system is optional; it's standard on the Platinum trims. On all trims above the Luxury, a three-year OnStar Premium Plan subscription is now standard to go along with the freshly standard Super Cruise semi-autonomous driver-assistance suite. The two Platinum trims get a rear-seat entertainment system with dual 12.6-inch touchscreens, two HDMI and two USB-C ports, and two sets of Bluetooth headsets.

Performance

Performance doesn’t lead the class, but it's swift - if thirsty - in V8 guise. The availability of a torquey and economical diesel engine is unusual, but welcome.

The default engine in the Cadillac Escalade is a direct-injected, naturally aspirated, 6.2-liter pushrod V8 developing 420 hp and 460 lb-ft of torque. The standard drivetrain configuration is rear-wheel drive, but four-wheel drive is optionally available on all trims. Power is transmitted to the wheels via a ten-speed automatic transmission. This powertrain gives the Cadillac Escalade a 0-60 sprint of around six seconds. This translates to swift performance for this class, but it's beaten by a number of turbocharged rivals, such as the X7 and Navigator. Optionally, a 3.0-liter six-cylinder Duramax turbo-diesel engine is available, with 277 hp and 460 lb-ft. The diesel is significantly slower, getting to 60 in around eight seconds, but wins on fuel economy and is still great at trailering thanks to its V8-equaling torque output. Top speed is unimportant in a behemoth such as this, but it's limited to 125 mph, for what it's worth. More important is the towing capacity, which maxes out at an impressive 8,200 lbs (or 8,000 lbs for the ESV) with the factory tow hitch fitted. Although the 4WD trims can traverse tricky terrain and slippery roads, the Escalade is not a true off-road vehicle. Its ground clearance is decent, but that long wheelbase and huge 22-inch alloys prevent it from tackling the rough stuff.

The current Escalade might be the first one with independent rear suspension, but it still sits on the same GMT T1XX ladder-frame truck chassis shared with the lesser GMC Yukon and Chevy Suburban, so it doesn't match the car-like driving experience and sharp handling of its European rivals. The standard suspension generates a lot of lean yet isn't all that smooth, allowing typically body-on-frame shudders and tremors to filter into the cabin. It's a lot more comfortable on the optional adaptive air suspension, and we regard this as a must-have on an Escalade. It tightens up the handling a little and improves ride quality noticeably, and although it never turns the Escalade into a sharp-driving tool, it's better than the all-at-sea Navigator. In this format, the Escalade is agreeably refined and comfortable and best enjoyed at a sedate pace because pushing on will just elicit howls of protests from the understeering front tires and spoil the ride for the passengers. The V8 always has some power in reserve and sounds lovely, but the mostly slick ten-speed auto can get a little flummoxed at times and botch a shift. The steering is very light and precise but offers little feel.

Fuel Efficiency

The direct-injected 6.2-liter V8 can switch off half of its cylinders to save fuel, but gas mileage is still poor. The EPA's estimates for the Cadillac Escalade's mpg figures in its basic gas V8 RWD format are 14/19/16 mpg for the city/highway/combined cycles, with the 4WD model only doing a single digit worse on its highway figure (14/18/16 mpg). The 3.0-liter turbo-diesel is in another league altogether, returning excellent figures of 21/27/23 mpg with RWD and 20/26/22 mpg with 4WD.

The regular Escalade has a 24-gallon fuel capacity - good for a range of 384 miles for the V8, to a best of 552 miles for the diesel. The ESV has a larger 28.3-gallon tank, increasing these figures to 452 and 650 miles, respectively.

Safety

Crash-test scores aren’t all that good, but many driver assists are standard, including a surround-view camera and automatic braking. The base trim doesn’t get the others’ automated parking and Super Cruise tech.

The NHTSA's safety review of the Cadillac Escalade produced middling results, with only the side crash garnering a full five stars. The overall rating of four stars isn't great, nor is the rollover rating of only three stars, though that isn't an entirely unexpected result for a tall body-on-frame SUV. The IIHS hasn't evaluated the current-generation Escalade.

The general standard of safety features is high, and all Escalades come with seven airbags, ABS, stability control, tire-pressure monitoring, and a backup camera. Additional driver assists are generous and include, from the base level, front-collision alert, tailgating alert, front and rear pedestrian alert, automatic emergency braking, hill-start assist, a teen-driver function, OnStar and Cadillac Connected Services, lane-keep assist, lane-departure alert, and a surround-view camera system with a recording function. The Premium Luxury adds blind-spot monitoring (including trailer blind-zone alert) with rear cross-traffic alert, automated parking, reverse automatic braking, blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic and trailer blind-zone alert, a head-up display, and Super Cruise semi-autonomous highway driving tech with hands-free driving on compatible roads, lane change on demand, and more.

Reliability

The JD Power rating of the 2024 Cadillac Escalade's reliability is very good, with a score of 83 out of 100 for the agency's Quality & Reliability survey. Things look good on the recall front as well, with no recalls so far for the 2024 Escalade. Last year's Escalade was recalled for suspension bolts that may break and running lights that may not deactivate. The 2022 Escalade was also recalled for the running-lights issue, as well as for improperly assembled seatbelt buckles.

The standard bumper-to-bumper warranty on the 2024 Cadillac Escalade covers it for four years/60/000 miles, and the powertrain warranty for six years/70,000 miles. Complimentary maintenance is included for the first visit.

Warranty

Design

The sheer size of the Escalade is immediately obvious, and its intimidating frame casts a huge shadow. The styling details are well-resolved and keep it from looking too severe, although such a large box on wheels could hardly be called beautiful. Slim LED headlights are standard, and they sit on either side of a huge grille that differs by trim; it's chrome studded on Luxury/Premium Luxury trims, black mesh on Sport trims, and adorned with chrome slats on the Premium Luxury Platinum. All trims run on some or other style of 22-inch alloy wheel, so for once, none of the trims in an SUV lineup look all spindly on its small footwear. The Sport trims' exterior brightwork is blacked out. A hands-free power liftgate is a standard feature, but the base Luxury doesn't get access to the other trims' standard panoramic sunroof.

Verdict: Is The 2024 Cadillac Escalade A Good SUV?

The Escalade is not the best SUV in the full-size class if you're looking for a blend of luxury and driving dynamics. The Germans do that far better and make the Escalade feel like the truck it's based on, while using far less fuel than the big Caddy. But when it comes to acres of space for passengers and, especially, luggage, there's nothing to touch the Escalade. Of course, there's also the street cred you get from driving one of these. Opt for a mid-range trim with air suspension, and you'll bag yourself a very capable and extremely well-equipped SUV - complete with Super Cruise semi-autonomous driving tech - for less than $100k.