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After I revved the snot out of the Cadillac Escalade V in Gary’s driveway, his son, Philip, said, “We heard you long before we saw you come down around the curve.” Of course they did. I had the electronic dumps open, even though it was 7:05 a.m. The Escalade V disturbs the peace while sporting a crisp suit.
The 2025 Cadillac Escalade V arrives with heavy tech and front-end design updates, along with minor other tweaks. Most of the essential bits that make it stand out, including but not limited to an abundance of power, loud noises, eye-watering price tag, and of course, a big-gulp-sized thirst for fuel, all stand pat.
I don’t need it, you don’t need it, but I’m not about to blame anyone for wanting one of these all-American bruisers. The bus stop will never be quiet again with one of these around.
The Basics
From the rear it’ll be hard to spot the tweaks made to the updated Escalade. The smallest changes have been made inside the taillight lenses, but don’t look too hard. This monster now rolls on 24-inch wheels instead of 22 like before, but somehow these oversized pizzas don’t look that big. Perhaps because this thing is over 17 feet long. The Cadillac logo’s been wiped away from the C-pillar, but pretty sure no one will notice that. It’s the front end that grabs your attention. The horizontal LED headlights are gone. The grille somehow possibly grew, but it definitely looks larger thanks to the new vertical LED headlights. It puts on quite a show when it “wakes up” with a thin strip of LED lighting lighting up around the grille emblem, grille surround, and then bleeding into the DRLs and headlights. Dramatic? You betcha.
Joel Feder
Inside, the Escalade V harmonizes with the standard Escalades and the electric Escalade IQ. That means a pillar-to-pillar 55-inch curved dashboard display augmented by an 11-inch touchscreen rising from the center console, which controls everything from the power opening and closing doors (at the swipe of a finger) to the four-zone automatic climate control system, massaging front seats, and other vehicle functions. It’s not all screens, though, as the center console retains a volume knob and a scroll wheel that can control the interface as well.
Joel Feder
The second row of the Escalade V tested featured the $7,500 Executive package, which added two heated, cooled, and massaging captains chairs, a center console with an 8-inch touchscreen to control the seats, doors, and climate control system, a pair of 12.6-inch screens mounted to the front seats backs, and perhaps most importantly, nearly non-existent access to the third row. Families are going to want to skip this option. Gary and Philip? They liked their massaging seats during our 12-hour road trip. The third row? It’s a bench with quilted leather big enough for adults, but good luck getting back there with those bucket seats.
Joel Feder
Driving the 2025 Cadillac Escalade V
The Escalade V’s powertrain is a carryover and familiar. The formula remains a hand-built 6.2-liter supercharged V8 producing 682 horsepower and 653 lb-ft of torque. All-wheel drive is standard, and a two-speed transfer case for low-range is nowhere to be found. A 10-speed automatic transmission slurs through the gears and tries to keep up with the blown V8, but it’s a challenge with all that power at times.
Push the start button and the supercharged V roars to life. A cold start is like waking the devil from its sleep with a thunder clap of American pride. The dual exhaust (quad tips) settles after a minute into a low, deep, guttural burble. Throttle tip-in is sensitive and the V doesn’t just roll off the line, it leaps. The rear end squats and the front end lifts as if the wheels might come off the ground with the torque shift. It’s like a rollercoaster. Sprinting from zero to 60 mph only takes 4.4 seconds, which is only a mere 0.3 seconds quicker than the silent and electric Escalade IQ, which weighs about 3,000 pounds more than the V. But the Escalade IQ doesn’t have a thunder clap coming out from beneath the rear bumper. The steering is light and accurate, but man, the 10-speed transmission struggles to keep up. Under full throttle, if feels as if shifts take a full second pause between gears as if to protect the transmission itself from grenading itself. That pause can be both felt and heard through the exhaust.
It didn’t take more than a few hours on the highway for Philip to notice that the 2025 Escalade V is noticeably quieter inside at speed than the outgoing model we drove on the same road trip back in 2023. That’s because it is. A Cadillac spokesperson confirmed that the updated 2025 Escalade V features the same exhaust system and active noise cancellation, but both systems have been refined. “We turned down to an 11,” they said.
Joel Feder
GM’s segment-leading Level 2 hands-free driver-assist system, dubbed Super Cruise, is standard here. It now works on over 700,000 miles of roads between the U.S. and Canada. This meant that I probably had to steer and manage the throttle and brakes physically, maybe two or three hours, maximum, of the about 12 hours combined on our road trip.
Efficiency? That’s Not the Point
I have to admit, every time the Escalade V started there was part of me that wanted to giggle. But every time I was sitting idling at the bus stop waiting to pick up the kids there was a moment of regret. Climate change is real, and this isn’t helping. With EPA ratings of 11 mpg city, 17 highway, and 13 combined, it’s really cringe in terms of efficiency, but suppose that’s not the point. Or maybe it is? Either way, not good, Bob.
Those ratings are accurate. Over the course of 118 miles of mixed suburban driving, the Escalade V’s onboard trip computer showed an average of 10.9 mpg. Things didn’t improve much from there as the Escalade V averaged 16.5 mpg over the course of 696 miles during a road trip. It guzzles the good stuff, too: premium. Fuel card not included with purchase.
Verdict
The 2025 Cadillac Escalade V costs $169,995, including $2,595 destination. The cost of fuel is the least of concerns. That’s for a black one, as every other color option costs $625 or $1,225. Optioning that Executive Second-Row Seat Package adds another $7,500, bringing the Radiant Red Tintcoat Escalade V tested to a now eye-watering $178,720. It’s worth noting that it includes an apparent mid-year price increase, as the window sticker for the Escalade V tested reads $170,715. It wasn’t expensive enough.
The reality is the electric Escalade IQ costs about $40,000 less, is basically as quick, ironically goes further before needing to be charged, and is, in almost every way, a more luxurious road tripper thanks to the electric powertrain’s silence. But value isn’t the point of the Escalade V. Power, noise, and presence are, and this thing has it in spades. It makes no sense, and that’s the point.
Philip is one of the most prudent friends I have, putting long-term reliability and safety over everything else in every purchase he makes. He’s the opposite of a Cadillac Escalade V buyer, and yet, he sheepishly admitted that he kind of wants one now. If Cadillac can make someone like him giggle and want an Escalade V, it has pulled off what most other automakers can’t: justify a truly unnecessary purchase.n
2025 Cadillac Escalade V SpecsBase Price (as tested)$169,995 ($178,720)Powertrain6.2-liter supercharged V8 | 10-speed automatic | all-wheel driveHorsepower682Torque653 lb-ftSeating Capacity7Curb Weight6,361 poundsTowing Capacity7,000 poundsCargo Volume25.5 cubic feet behind third row | 72.9 cubic feet behind second row | 120.5 cubic feet behind first rowGround Clearance6.9 inches0-60 mph4.4 secondsTop Speed125 mphEPA Fuel Economy11 mpg city | 17 highway | 13 combinedScore8/10
Quick Take
Dripping with excess, the 2025 Cadillac Escalade V can make even the most prudent buyer giggle with desire.
Cadillac provided The Drive with a seven-day loan of this vehicle for the purpose of writing this review.
As Director of Content and Product, Joel draws on over 15 years of newsroom experience and inability to actually stop working to help ensure The Drive shapes the future of automotive media. He’s also a World Car Award juror.
