For a big vehicle the new Escalade looks sleek, especially given its frame, and handles the way it looks; that is, it's surprisingly nimble and responsive. This isn't a lumbering SUV that requires you to sacrifice all driving enjoyment for the sake of grandness of scale and passenger cabin spaciousness. Of course, you do have to sacrifice any hope of saving money on fuel. With a 403hp V8 we averaged a little over 15mpg. But if you're paying for a vehicle priced at around $55,000, are you really worried about 5mpg less than what you get in your luxury sedan? Considering the size and performance, the mileage is acceptable.
That's about the only crucial aspect of the SUV that is merely acceptable. Inside our Escalade had a second row of captain's chairs and bench seating in the third row, leaving some room for light luggage in the rear. We loved the room and spacing, which was perfect for a long trip. Access to climate and entertainment controls was well thought out too with appropriate redundancy of controls on the steering wheel for the entertainment system. The only negative here is a minor inconsistency in terms of aesthetics. The overall dash would have benefited from similarly styled buttons on the center stack and those found on the rest of the dash. Given Escalade's status as a luxury vehicle, it might have been worth reconsidering the design in this area. The bottom line, though, is that it works well in terms of ergonomics.
The navigation system functioned almost flawlessly. Beyond its performance, the graphics were also pleasing to the eye with a map that was easy to read. More important, though, was that the menu windows were intuitive to use, and it was a simple matter to go from setting your destination to changing a route to finding POIs. Only one time did the system fail to provide proper directions. Why it directed us to exit a freeway and go locally for a couple of miles before re-entering the freeway left us wondering about some mischievous ghost in the machine. We double-checked our route preferences and still couldn't make sense of it. Aside from this weird anomaly, the navigation worked very well.
For the most part, the same can be said for the 10-speaker Bose 5.1 audio system. First, we have to applaud Cadillac for going with a discrete surround sound setup. Second, kudos to Bose for their execution of the 5.1 in the Escalade. When listening to regular CDs the system staged a little low and, not uncommon in OE systems, there was an issue with resonance on some tracks. Playing the new Primus disc, They Can't All Be Zingers, we turned up the volume during "Tommy the Cat," but unfortunately detected some distortion and resonance from around the door panel speaker area. On "Boxenkiller" from the JmLabs' disc, the system ably reproduced the live feel, giving you a very good sense of the drums and the room in which it was recorded. Still, the track lacked a little in dynamics, detail and bass response. Overall, however, there was nice depth to the soundstage, above average imaging and good separation.