After years of dreaming, Cadillac finally gave the public what so many have been asking for: an Escalade V. But if you aren’t able to get your hands on one, or perhaps just don’t feel like shelling out the $151,090 base price, Hennessey has just come out with a supercharger kit for the regular Escalade that will allow you to essentially make one yourself.
Called the “H650” upgrade, the kit includes a 2.9L supercharger, an intercooler, upgraded pushrods, an enhanced engine management, and a stainless steel cat-back exhaust system. This all helps to take the Escalade’s stock 6.2L V8 from 420 hp (426 PS / 313 kW) and 460 lb-ft (624 Nm) of torque to 650 hp (659 PS / 485 kW) and 658 lb-ft (892 Nm) of torque, which is shy of the real Escalade V by 32 hp (32 PS / 24 kW), but actually up by 5 lb-ft (7 Nm) of torque.
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As a result of this added power, the sprint from 0-60 mph (0-96 km/h) takes 5.3 seconds, which is 0.8 seconds faster than stock, but 0.9 seconds slower than the V. So yes, there are some compromises in the ways of speed and power compared to the actual Escalade V, but at a price of $27,950 for the kit, you could make something very close (that’s still incredibly fast for an SUV of this size) for a staggering $38,950 less, assuming you’re using a base 4WD Escalade as the donor vehicle. Even if you were to use an Escalade Sport 4WD with air suspension as the donor, probably the closest thing to an Escalade V save for the engine, you’d still be saving $20,685.
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On top of that, Hennessey mentions the upgrade can be applied to other vehicles that use GM’s 6.2-liter V8, such as the Chevrolet Suburban, Chevrolet Tahoe, and GMC Yukon. So in theory, you could put this kit on a Tahoe RST 4WD (the cheapest Tahoe with the 6.2L V8) and get a vehicle that’s mechanically similar to an Escalade V for $50,325 less than the real deal. You’d just have to be okay with the fact that it isn’t a Cadillac.
