(c) Jeffrey Doun

“Now with bold, new styling and a bank of standard equipment, the Escalade looks and feels really different.”

(c) Alexander Brin

“Also, the Escalade’s high-intensity-discharge lights bother drivers coming toward the vehicle and they irritate those driving immediately in front of it.”

(c) Iren Gordon

“Though they differ in body style, the Cadillac Escalade, ESV, and EXT share drivetrains, chassis architecture and styling cues.”

(c) John

The Cadillac Escalade is a large and luxurious SUV that exudes the image of a successful lifestyle. Classy and powerful, it has everything one needs for a night on the town or hauling your favorite weekend toys.

The Escalade returns with more enhancements both inside and outside the SUV. Standard equipment includes a power liftgate, stability control, remote start, and side curtain airbags. Some new options are 22-inch chrome wheels, a rear-view camera, and power running boards. It is powered by a 403 hp 6.2-liter V-8 that is mated to a six-speed automatic transmission.

The look is no deception. Under its imposing skin, the Escalade offers all the comfort and convenience features of a top-dollar luxury sedan, including automatic climate control, a premium Bose sound system, ultrasonic parking assist, power adjustable pedals, and heated leather seats. Navigation and DVD entertainment are available, as are a rearview camera and retractable running boards.

The Escalade is offered in three body styles: The standard Escalade is a full-size sport utility sharing the same architecture and roughly the same dimensions as the Chevy Tahoe. The Escalade ESV is a long-wheelbase version, roughly the same dimensions as the Chevy Suburban. The Escalade EXT is a sport utility/pickup combination that quickly converts from a pickup with an enclosable eight-foot bed to a five-passenger luxury SUV with a short bed; it is Cadillac’s version of the Chevy Avalanche.

All three pack a high-performance, 403-hp 6.2-liter V8 mated to a six-speed automatic transmission that offers manual shift control.

Built on GM’s robust full-size truck platform, the Escalade, ESV, and EXT make excellent tow vehicles. They share their platforms with the Chevy Tahoe, Suburban, and Silverado, as well as the GMC versions.

At the same time, they’re roomy and luxuriously appointed, letting them haul family or friends or business associates in real comfort. The 6.2-liter V8 supplies serious power for surprisingly quick acceleration. On the road, all three Escalade versions are smooth and stable. They ride smoother than the Tahoe or Suburban; but are at the same time taut and well-controlled for surprisingly good handling by full-size SUV standards.

For 2008, both the standard Escalade and ESV come with rear-wheel drive (2WD) or optional all-wheel drive (AWD), while the EXT pickup comes with all-wheel drive as standard equipment. Late in the 2008 model year, a gas-electric hybrid version and an ultra-luxury Platinum Edition will be available. Otherwise, the 2008 Escalade is not significantly changed from last year.

NHTSA rates crash-tested vehicles by assigning them one to five stars, with five stars indicating the most injury protection and one star indicating the least protection.

* Driver Front: 5 points (Max.)
* Passenger Front: 5 points (Max.)

2008 Cadillac Escalade ESV Safety

Anti-lock brakes

ABS brakes automatically sense when a tire has stopped rotating under extreme braking, and will modulate the brake pressure to allow the tire to rotate. This increases the vehicles ability to turn while braking.
Stability control

Stability control automatically senses when the vehicles handling limits have been exceeded and reduces engine power and/or applies select brakes to help prevent the driver from losing control of the vehicle.
Front-impact airbags

Front-impact airbags for the driver and passenger have been designed to protect the head during a frontal crash.
Overhead airbags

Overhead airbags are used to protect the occupant’s heads in the event of a side collision or rollover.
Pretensioners

Seatbelt pretensioners automatically tighten seatbelts to place the occupant in the optimal seating position during a collision.
Security system

The vehicle is equipped with a means of anticipating and/or detecting unwanted vehicle intrusion. The vehicle is equipped with an ignition disable device that will prevent the engine from starting if the correct original manufacturer key is not used.

2008 Cadillac Escalade ESV

The 2008 Cadillac Escalade ESV is a full-size SUV that’s offered in one supremely loaded trim level. Explore its standard features and you’ll find xenon headlights, 18-inch alloy wheels, leather upholstery, power-adjustable heated front seats with memory settings for the driver, and tri-zone automatic climate control.

Pros : Beefy V8 engine,  relatively tight turning circle, relaxing highway ride,  class-leading cargo capacity, sharp interior design.

Cons : Lacks a fold-flat third-row seat, cabin marred by a few low-end plastics.

For the first half of 2007 year, overall sales of full-size SUVs were down relative to the previous year’s figures, but it was a different story for a subset of this group. Full-size luxury SUVs, a glamorous bunch that includes the Cadillac Escalade ESV, saw a slight sales increase.

Benefiting from a redesign last year, the 2008 Cadillac Escalade ESV is the extended-wheelbase sibling of the Escalade, with a 130-inch wheelbase that eclipses the Escalade’s by 14 inches.

This attribute contributes to its huge cabin; the SUV easily seats up to eight passengers, offering enough room for the neighborhood flag football team, or perhaps a hip-hop mogul and his entourage. Of course, schlepping eight people means toting their gear, and with 46 cubes of luggage capacity behind the third-row seats, the Escalade ESV is up for this challenge.Power is another of this SUV’s strengths.

The ESV, like the regular Escalade, comes with a 403-horsepower V8. Of course, with a curb weight approaching 3 tons, the Escalade ESV is most definitely a plus-sized model, and you’ll never find yourself bragging about fuel economy. Still, acceleration is vigorous, and there’s enough towing capacity to make short work of most hauling tasks.Given its deluxe price tag, you expect lots of luxury from this Caddy, and for the most part, it delivers. Its interior scores high marks for comfort.

Overall materials quality is respectable and ergonomics are spot on, with user-friendly controls — particularly the large, optional navigation touchscreen.

Though the 2008 Cadillac Escalade ESV is awash with convenience features (standard amenities include a power liftgate, surround-sound audio and three-zone climate control), it’s missing one very useful feature: fold-flat third-row seating.

This is something the ESV’s main competitor, the Lincoln Navigator L, happens to offer. But given the Escalade’s superiority in terms of engine performance and handling, we think it’s a better choice overall.

Luxury SUVs still might run counter to America’s changing consumer tastes for 2008, but for this group, the Cadillac makes plenty of sense. The 2008 Cadillac Escalade ESV is a full-size SUV that’s offered in one supremely loaded trim level. Explore its standard features and you’ll find xenon headlights, 18-inch alloy wheels, leather upholstery, power-adjustable heated front seats with memory settings for the driver, and tri-zone automatic climate control. Additional standard amenities include a 10-speaker 5.1 surround-sound Bose audio system with a CD/DVD changer and satellite radio, a power rear liftgate, power-folding mirrors and a remote start feature. Second-row passengers will never be less than toasty in the Escalade ESV, thanks to its heated second-row captain’s chairs.

A second-row bench seat is also available.

Choose to upgrade with the V8 Ultra Luxury Collection Package and you’ll get adaptive headlights, 22-inch wheels, a heated steering wheel, multilevel cooling for the front seats, a navigation system with a rearview camera, a rear DVD entertainment system, a sunroof and power-folding second-row seats. Of these, only the rear DVD entertainment system and sunroof are available as stand-alone options. Power-retractable running boards are also available, but only when the Ultra Luxury Collection Package is ordered.

Much of the base model’s optional equipment comes standard on the new Escalade ESV Platinum. Ponying up for this special-edition trim level gets you unique 22-inch chrome wheels, a CTS-inspired front grille, upgraded interior leather upholstery and a special rear-seat entertainment system with additional video monitors. It’s also GM’s first SUV to sport Magnetic Ride Control, a suspension system that utilizes electronically controlled fluid-filled shocks to continually adjust the damping. Platinum-edition Escalades produced after the summer of 2008 will feature LED headlights.

The Escalade ESV is available with either two-wheel drive (late availability) or all-wheel drive. All models are powered by a 6.2-liter V8 that boasts 403 hp and 417 pound-feet of torque. The standard six-speed automatic transmission features both a tow/haul and a manual shift mode. According to revised EPA fuel estimates, the 2008 Cadillac Escalade ESV gets 12 mpg in the city and 18 mpg on the highway — figures that are right in step with those offered by others in its segment. This Cadillac tows up to 7,800 pounds.

Standard features in this area include antilock disc brakes, stability control, traction control, full-length side curtain airbags and the OnStar communication system. Airbags inflate not just in side-impact collisions and rollovers, but in major frontal-impact collisions as well. The Cadillac Escalade ESV employs a sensor that identifies rear impacts and activates the seatbelt pre-tensioners to help front-seat occupants avoid whiplash. All Escalade ESVs come with rear parking sensors, and those equipped with the optional navigation system also feature a rearview camera system.

In National Highway Traffic Safety Administration crash tests, this Caddy scored a perfect five stars in all frontal- and side-impact categories.

Within the Escalade ESV’s doors lies a sleek two-tone dash with a large, colorful navigation screen. Faux walnut inlays are attractive enough, but given its price range, there should be some real wood in evidence. Working with the nav screen is easy, thanks to its user-friendly touchscreen interface, and all controls are ergonomically placed and a snap to operate. Soft-touch surfaces proliferate, but the picture is sullied by a few low-grade plastics.

The Escalade may accommodate six, seven or eight occupants, depending on the configuration of second- and third-row seats. A power fold-and-flip for the second-row seats is offered, to enhance access to the third row. Fold-flat third-row seating isn’t available; removing the third-row seat’s 50/50 sections boosts capacity, but these sections are large and heavy to work with. At 137 cubic feet, cargo capacity is class-leading, and there are a generous 46 cubes up for grabs behind the third row.

The 2008 Cadillac Escalade ESV weighs nearly 3 tons, but with prodigious torque on tap, acceleration is effortless in pretty much all situations. Its six-speed automatic transmission offers shifts that are crisp and well-timed, and when traversing slick or winding roads, the manual mode proves quite useful.

The SUV’s suspension endows it with a ride that’s controlled and smooth over all but the most compromised surfaces, though selecting the optional 22-inch wheels reduces the suppleness somewhat. Handling and steering are predictable around corners, and at 39 feet, the Escalade ESV’s turning circle is among the tightest in its segment. Nevertheless, care has to be taken when parking this vehicle, even when it’s equipped with the rearview camera system, as the Escalade ESV’s size and heft causes it to fall short of feeling nimble.