The 2023 Cadillac Escalade V is a truly remarkable SUV mostly because of its 682-hp supercharged V8 but there’s more to it. During an in-depth tour of the vehicle, Doug DeMuro shows off some of its more obscure features and gives us some insight into its overall value proposition. What he comes away with is not as sure of a bet as you might think.
On paper, there’s no question that the Escalade V is the one to have. It literally has every major aspect that a luxury full-size SUV buyer could want from power to comfort to technology. It makes even more power than the CT5-V Blackwing, has three full-sized rows, and can even go down the highway hands-free thanks to SuperCruise.
That’s not where the cool stuff ends though. DeMuro shows off some of the SUV’s tech like the Stealth mode for the exhaust which quiets things down so as not to disturb small animals or children. In addition, the key fob will be color-matched to whatever brake calipers you end up selecting. He even demonstrates the excellent augmented reality gauge cluster with its turn-by-turn directions.
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Despite all of those great highlights, the Escalade V might not be as special as it could seem outwardly. Notably, the V doesn’t have much more in terms of features than the Platinum trim which starts out at $105,840. The interior for example is almost identical aside from quite a number of V badges strewn about.
What’s worse is that many of the interior pieces don’t actually feel or look all that luxurious. Sure, the massive infotainment and driver information display is cool but the switchgear itself could’ve come out of a Bolt and we wouldn’t know the difference. Apparently, Cadillac knows where to cut corners and where not to.
DeMuro points out that the automaker told him some 60 percent of Escalade buyers don’t even cross-shop other performance SUVs. That means that there’s no need to offer even more because people will want the top-of-the-line model even if it means paying around $50,000 more just to have the most powerful version with the same features.