2024 Cadillac Escalade Platinum 4X4 Review

This week I am reviewing the 2024 Cadillac Escalade.  It has not gone through a lot of change since it stormed American luxury buyers back in 2021.

My review vehicle is the Premium Platinum trim level and equipped with 4-wheel drive, but a two-wheel version is available.  You can also get an extended version, roughly the size of a Suburban, called the ESV.  You can keep going up to the Escalade-V, a 682-horse, $155,000 SUV.

Exterior 

The exterior is very in-your-face with a massive grill and huge 22” polished 10-spoke wheels. It has a lot of chrome trim around the sides, a rear spoiler with the rear wiper neatly tucked away, and two large square dual exhaust tips.

 

 

 

Powertrain

 Under the hood lies a 6.2-liter V8 putting out 420-horses and a strong 460-pound feet of torque that really gets this beast moving.  It is mated to a 10-speed automatic.  The exhaust system sound fantastic, especially under heavy acceleration.

Interior

You’ll be amazed when you open the door to get in.  You are met with an opulent interior and seating that rivals the lobby of a Ritz Carlton.

The magic really happens when you push the start button and three different screens appear in front of you, stretching almost three quarters of the way across the entire vehicle.  All total, there are 38-inches of screens.

 

The touchscreen above the center console is almost 17” by itself and controls everything including the amazing 36-speaker AKG sound system, navigation, Bluetooth, trailering, rear media system, and more.  A swipe to left gives you wireless Apple Car Play and Android Auto, Sirius XM, Alexa, ambient lighting, rear climate and more.

The large gauge screen is highly configurable, or you can make it a huge map that shows your exact position.  There is a small third screen to the left of dash to configure the driver’s screen, turn on night vision, and adjust the terrific head-up display.  There is an Augmented Reality that you can choose to give you a full view of what is in front of you.  It is impressive, but a bit confusing when you are driving.

The dash is heavily stitched and there is some beautiful wood that runs across it. 

The center console features your gear shifter, two cupholders, USB ports, a wireless charger, a round knob if you prefer not to operate everything by touch, a brake hold button, and a button to turn off start/stop.

The Semi-Aniline leather seats are bolstered and incredibly comfortable, they are 12-way power, and they are heated, cooled and of course will massage you. 

Moving to the center row are heated-but not air-conditioned captain chairs. These occupants get their own A/C controls, air vents in the ceiling, USB ports, a power outlet, and two 12” screens to watch DVDs, play games, or search the web for YouTube or all the other popular sites online.

To access the massive 3^rd row seat, there are switches to power fold the 2^nd row seats down quickly. The third row will easily seat three adults and has plenty of leg and head room, and unlike many 3^rd row seats, they are actually soft and comfortable.

There is a power liftgate that offers up a lot of cargo area, a power outlet if needed, and switches to fold down the 3^rd row that give you a totally flat load floor.  There is underneath storage also for hiding valuables.  If you don’t want to open the entire liftgate, you can just open the rear glass, always a nice touch.

Standard Features

Escalades come completely loaded with remote start, keyless entry, a panoramic moon roof, heated power tilt steering wheel, an amazing rear camera system with cross traffic alert, rear seat entertainment, a head-up display, and trailer towing package. 

Super Cruise

You also get GM’s fantastic Super Cruise self-driving system as standard equipment in 2024.  However, Super Cruise comes as part of a package including adaptive cruise control, enhanced automatic emergency braking, and reverse automatic emergency braking. It requires a subscription to GM’s OnStar service to keep it running. The first three years are included with the purchase. After that, you’ll pay a monthly subscription fee, and I can’t tell you what it will cost three years from now.

Safety 

On the safety side, you get automatic emergency braking, automatic reverse braking, trailer blind-spot alert, safety alert seat, front and rear pedestrian alert, lane keeping assist with departure warning and a lot more.

Options

My tester has $5,625 in options, including the Night Vision (most will never use it), power deployable running boards with entry lights underneath them, the $1,225 optional Radiant Red paint, and a jiffy refrigerator in the center console that works great.  

Optional Night Vision available on the 2024 Cadillac Escalade Platinum. 

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Ride and Drive

All-in-all the 2024 Escalade is an amazing, very large SUV, and thanks to the independent rear suspension system, air-ride suspension, and magnetic ride control, this heavy beast rides like a dream but stays really composed in turns and fast stops.

Fuel Economy

Fuel economy, well, it’s what you would expect:  14 in town and 18 on the highway, with a rating of 16 overall.

Verdict 

As always, all this wonderfulness comes with a hefty sticker price of $121,315.  Sounds like a lot but the reality is even after the Escalade has been out for four years, they are still selling like crazy and somewhat hard to get.