2025 Cadillac Escalade IQ First Test: So Large, So in Charge
Could this be the best luxury machine Cadillac has ever built?
Pros
- Devastating good looks
- Fast charging plus massive range
- Easy to park
Cons
- How much?
- Crazy heavy
- Braking distance needs work
There’s a new Escalade in town, and its massive bulk is only bested by its colossal spirit. Tipping our scales at 9,134 pounds, the 2025 Cadillac Escalade IQ is not only the heaviest passenger vehicle we’ve ever tested, but it’s unapologetically larger than life, unabashedly electric, and unquestionably American. However, questions do remain. Among them: “Should consumers consider this over a gasoline-powered ’Slade?” And “Is the new IQ worth the $129,990 base price, or its $151,115 as-tested price?” “How on earth can anything be so heavy?” “When did Cadillacs get so good-looking?” And, finally, “Why do we like this luxury tank so dang much?” All of these deserve answers, and we oblige below (and also in our long range test of the Escalade IQ).
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What It Is
The Escalade IQ—which we were derisively calling “Escaliq” before we drove it—is the latest behemoth built on GM’s BT1 skateboard platform. Its siblings include the GMC Hummer EV pickup truck and SUV, GMC Sierra EV, and the Chevrolet Silverado EV, as well as the upcoming Chevy Tahoe/Suburban EVs and the Yukon EVs. All are as heavy as the heaviest heavy-duty conventional trucks. Why? Counterintuitively, range.
Big batteries weigh tons, and in this huge pack’s case, you get 205 kWh UBE (that’s "usable battery energy” or the rough amount of a pack’s total capacity you can expect to use, even though the gross size of the pack is larger). This is directly correlated to the 4.5-ton curb weight. However, the benefit is that Cadillac quotes a hefty 460 miles of range. There’s no EPA rating since the Escalade IQ’s GVWR exceeds 10,000 pounds; as such, the EPA doesn’t care. However, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the other states that follow its rules require a number, so Cadillac reports 460. The EPA website lists this number, for what it’s worth.
The 24-module battery powers two motors that together pump out 680 horsepower and 615 lb-ft of torque. Escalade-V fans might be quick to smirk and point out the V’s supercharged 6.2-liter V-8 makes 682 hp and 653 lb-ft. But hold on a second—hit the red V button on the IQ’s steering wheel, and you unleash Velocity Max mode, and suddenly the IQ makes 750 hp and 785 lb-ft.
The Escalade IQ also steers all four of its 24-inch wheels (wrapped in 35-inch tires!). But sinceCaddy’s engineers had to worry about third-row packaging, the maximum angle achieved by the rear wheels is 7.5 degrees, not 10 as in the Hummer. However, akin to the Hummer’s Crab mode, where all four wheels turn the same direction, the IQ features Arrival mode. Couple that with Low Ride mode where the air suspension drops the Escalade to the curb, and you can make quite an entrance/exit at the Montessori pickup lane. The air springs are teamed with GM’s latest MagneRide dampers in pursuit of a plush ride.
To put a finer point on this thing’s size, the standard Escalade has a 120.9-inch wheelbase and a length of 211.9inches. The longer ESV has a 134.1-inch wheelbase and stretches to 226.9inches long overall. The Escalade IQ has a 136.2-inch wheelbase while the length is 224.3inches. Need more? The Cadillac Escalade IQL drops for 2026, and although its wheelbase is the same as the regular IQ’s, this one is 228.5inches long, with all 4.3 additional inches going to third-row passengers. The roofline is also more formal and about an inch higher, which equates to more luggage space behind the third row. So yeah, the IQ is huge, but because of four-wheel steering, the turning radius is less than 39 feet, making the Caddy much easier to park and maneuver than, say, the2-feet-shorter Rivian R1S. Also, you can fit three 22-inch rollaboards in the frunk. We checked.
So Good-Looking
Visually speaking, the Escalade IQ is a knockout. Starting with the handsome Lyriq, Cadillac has stepped up its design game with its new EV family. The Escalade IQ is the best of the five—Optiq, Lyriq, Vistiq, Escalade IQ/IQL, and Celestiq—by far. Like, really far. Proportionally, it’s practically perfect. An old rule of thumb in car design is to make the roof about twice as high from the ground as the tops of the tires. Thirty-five times two is 70, and the Escalade’s roof peaks at 76inches. From its highest point, the roof slopes fastback-style starting at the B-pillar. Just aces. Cadillac also incorporated another classic design cue: a long dash-to-axle ratio. That’s the sheetmetal between the front wheel arch and the door. An ICE Escalade looks frumpy by comparison.
Part of the overall goal for the Escalade IQ was to mask its sheer size. From a distance, the Escalade IQ looks almost normal and no larger than your run-of-the-mill full-size SUV. Walk up to it, however, and you suddenly realize the DRLs are the size of your torso. Gigantic. Yet it still somehow looks athletic. That’s quite the visual trick, and the design aids efficiency, too. While mega-sized, the IQ has a respectable stated drag coefficient of 0.321, which is why even though it uses the same battery pack as the blunter Hummer SUT while weighing about 200 pounds more, the Cadillac gets about 80 more miles per charge. In both form and function, the Escalade IQ nails design.
Not counting the upcoming $340,000-plus Celestiq, this is the finest interior ever found inside a General Motors vehicle. Full stop. Period. The ICE-powered Escalade is pretty dope inside, too, but drop your vision below steering wheel height, and you see a whole lot of Silverado parts. Not here. The massive 55-inch A-pillar to A-pillar curved screen (8K resolution for the driver, 4K for the passenger) takes center stage, but customers will find dozens of little flourishes to make them admire Caddy’s design team. For example, the 42(!) speaker grilles are exquisite. The cabin is spacious (duh), much more so than an ICEEscalade’s. Not just because it’s larger, but because there’s no big 10-speed truck transmission or exhaust pipes or fuel lines to cut into passenger space. Also, the massage function in the front seats is top shelf, and if you go for the $9,500 Executive Rear Seat package, the occupants in the second row can get the same treatment.
Give Us Numbers
We can’t expect any luxury tank that clocks in at over 9,000 pounds to be any sort of performer, can we? Hold our Krug. In a straight line, the Escalade IQ beats the mighty Escalade-V. (The electric model is cheaper to start, too.) The V hits 60 mph in 4.7 seconds, whereas the MotorTrend test team got the IQ there in 4.6. Not a big margin, but considering the 2,854-pound weight difference between the two, it’s not bad. In the quarter mile, the gasoline-powered model achieves 13.1 seconds at 108.3 mph; the kilowatt-swilling IQ noses ahead again, laying down 13.0 at 109.1 mph. The extra weight does hurt the IQ in braking distance, as it required 133feet to stop from 60 mph versus 120 for the V.
Charging performance is, generally speaking, excellent.Cadillac claims you can add more than 100 miles of range in 10 minutes, and our experience bore that out. On an informal, non-testing road trip we added 110 miles in 10 minutes and 204 miles in 20 minutes. Our testing showed 149 miles added in 15 minutes, 262 miles added in 30 minutes, 341 miles added in 45 minutes, and 384 miles added in an hour. Similarly impressive was the IQ’s peak charging rate of 352 kW and average charging rate of 254 kW from 5 to 80 percent. Right now, this is about as good as it gets. As for range, in the official MotorTrend Road-Trip test, the Escalade IQ fell 10 percent off Cadillac’s claim, which is pretty good. Oh, and it can tow8,000 pounds.
The Lowdown
There’s a reason so many wealthy people in America own Escalades: It’s the SUV that hews closest to the American “bigger is inherently better” notion of luxury. As such, U.S. buyers love the things. Escalade sales are up more than 3 percent year over year, and 2024 was the best sales year for model since 2007. If you’ve ever wondered why the Rolls-Royce Cullinan is as large as it is, when Rolls was showing an early model to potential customers, the rest of the world liked the smaller design. However, American customers said some version of, “You call that an SUV? Shoot, I got an Escalade back home twice that size.” The designers reportedly went back to Goodwood and added 1 foot in length and 8 inches in height.
The Escalade IQ just adds to the big Cadillac’s legend. The feeling inside is less like a truck and more like a big luxury car. The ride quality is excellent. Chief engineer Al Oppenheiser said his team’s goal with the IQ was “isolated precision.” We believe this means you’re cocooned away from the outside world in the way all luxury connoisseurs have become accustomed to, but not in a barge. You’re not even riding around in a truck. No, with the Escalade IQ you’re driving something else entirely. We’re reluctant to go so hyperbolic as to say it’s a new definition of luxury, but there’s not yet been a high-end premium EV anything like it. We can compare it to the equally pricey Mercedes-Benz G580, another new luxury SUV. Who would choose the Benz in this instance? It’s missing a row of seats, is less roomy, is less comfy, has about half the range, has less power, charges slower, hauls less, tows less, and is—believe it or not—harder to park. Sure, the G580 will whoop the IQ off-road, but no one cares.
So Cadillac built a better Escalade. Only pundits and anti-EV crusaders will give two hoots about the weight. Owners will appreciate the huge range and quick charging such big, fat batteries allow. The IQ is quiet, well mannered, strikingly handsome, and great to road-trip (we haven’t even mentioned the class-leading and MT Best Tech–winning Super Cruise hands-free driving, which is standard). It’s also quick when you need it and more practical than your average full-size SUV, and taken together, we believe Cadillac has a bonafide hit on its hands. We can’t recall a better Cadillac we’ve experienced, and the Escalade IQ is about as good as luxury machines get. If it’s this good, we’re really looking forward to driving the Celestiq.
When I was just one-year-old and newly walking, I managed to paint a white racing stripe down the side of my father’s Datsun 280Z. It’s been downhill ever since then. Moral of the story? Painting the garage leads to petrolheads. I’ve always loved writing, and I’ve always had strong opinions about cars.
One day I realized that I should combine two of my biggest passions and see what happened. Turns out that some people liked what I had to say and within a few years Angus MacKenzie came calling. I regularly come to the realization that I have the best job in the entire world. My father is the one most responsible for my car obsession. While driving, he would never fail to regale me with tales of my grandfather’s 1950 Cadillac 60 Special and 1953 Buick Roadmaster. He’d also try to impart driving wisdom, explaining how the younger you learn to drive, the safer driver you’ll be. “I learned to drive when I was 12 and I’ve never been in an accident.” He also, at least once per month warned, “No matter how good you drive, someday, somewhere, a drunk’s going to come out of nowhere and plow into you.”
When I was very young my dad would strap my car seat into the front of his Datsun 280Z and we’d go flying around the hills above Malibu, near where I grew up. The same roads, in fact, that we now use for the majority of our comparison tests. I believe these weekend runs are part of the reason why I’ve never developed motion sickness, a trait that comes in handy when my “job” requires me to sit in the passenger seats for repeated hot laps of the Nurburgring. Outside of cars and writing, my great passions include beer — brewing and judging as well as tasting — and tournament poker. I also like collecting cactus, because they’re tough to kill. My amazing wife Amy is an actress here in Los Angeles and we have a wonderful son, Richard.Read More
