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Cadillac Escalade Diesel Road Test Review | Winning us over

"Nope, I don't like it," I declared to my large son sitting in the 2021 Cadillac Escalade 600D's second-row captain's chairs. “Why?” he asked, staring in awe at the opulence around him and with his very own touchscreen staring back. “ItÂ’s too big. This thingÂ’s gonna suck to park,” I replied. And it did. Even with multiple camera angles, including a 360-degree view, the big Cadillac was a pain to navigate in parking lots. But, slowly, the big lug — the car, not my son — began to grow on me. Sometimes I had to remind myself that this was the diesel Escalade. I couldnÂ’t really hear the clunking of the motor up front or the exhaust running out the rear. I double-checked the tach for the telltale lower redline, and was reassured that I was driving the vehicle I was told would be delivered. Under the hood is GMÂ’s Duramax 3.0-liter inline six-cylinder turbodiesel engine providing a somewhat meager 277 horsepower – considerably less than the standard 6.2-liter V8Â’s 420 hp. But the Duramax boasts a robust 460 pound-feet of torque, the same torque figure as the V8. The advantage here is that peak torque is accessible from a low 1,500 rpm, while the V8Â’s full twist doesnÂ’t arrive until much higher in the rev range, at 4,100 rpm. The result is an SUV that feels eager to jump off the line and scoot about the neighborhood (if “scoot” is a word that can be applied to such a behemoth). That initial torque hit is almost instantaneous, but the dieselÂ’s staying power does have its limits. ItÂ’s on expressway on-ramps that the Duramax finally seems to labor under this EscaladeÂ’s 6,015-pound curb weight. The numbers on the speedometer just donÂ’t tick away with urgency once you approach highway speeds. That tends to happen with only 277 horsepower. While the sound deadening does a fabulous job of hiding the motor's sound when inside the Escalade, standing outside with the Duramax running leaves no doubt about the diesel mill powering this dressy brute. ItÂ’s not particularly loud or harsh, but the clatter is distinctive when youÂ’d normally expect to hear the humming of a V8 at idle. The 10-speed automatic transmission feels like a good fit for this powertrain. With a redline just over 5,000 rpm, the extra gears minimize time spent at the top of the rev range — a good thing in a vehicle for which low-end torque is king.

Cadillac's Blackwing V8 was the best engine at the worst time

It should be clear that GM knows how to innovate and engineer excellent products when it wants to. Cadillac's 4.2-liter twin-turbo Blackwing V8 is recent proof of that. Yet, as related in an extensive Road & Track piece, the Blackwing became victim to some of The General's bugbears, like the reticence to — for whatever reasons — unleash its excellence everywhere, fund that excellence, and be consistent with that excellence over the long term beyond the Corvette and full-sized pickups and SUVs. The R/T story relates tales told by "several people deeply involved with the Blackwing project" about how an engine 18 years in the making was deprived of its reasons for being in less than three. Starting around 2000, GM spent a dozen years building Cadillac up to the point where the American luxury brand could rationally flip to the chapter called, "Taking the Fight to the Germans, but for Real this Time." The first steps in the plan meant an exclusive platform and an exclusive engine. The platform was called Omega. You know the engine's name. They were going to be the aluminum-blocked fist and velvet glove enabling Cadillac to break on through to the other side of luxury — proper luxury to global standards, that is — with a range of beautiful and dynamic crossovers and sedans. An engineer involved in the project estimates GM poured $16 million into the Blackwing's clean-sheet development. Many more seven-figure sums went into creating the first sedan on the Omega platform, the CT6. The automaker dropped millions again poaching ex-Audi and Infiniti chief Johan de Nysschen, and moving Cadillac's headquarters to New York City in 2014. Further pallets of cash funded the development and debut of the Escala concept at Pebble Beach in 2016. In 2018, GM revealed its dramatically named DOHC twin-turbo V8. Considering what came before, the Blackwing clearly wasn't designed for cars. It was designed for world domination. However, against the backdrop of plummeting sedan sales, the CT6 didn't sell like GM had hoped. The automaker hesitated to marshal another fleet of Brinks trucks to fund entries into a cratering bodystyle. Removing sedans from the world domination equation created more difficult math for the crossovers and the Escala.

Cadillac Escalade reportedly getting 200-hp bump from supercharger

Cadillac is preparing to supercharge the Escalade, according to a recent report. The body-on-frame General Motors SUVs that it shares its basic underpinnings with are allegedly in line to receive a big increase in power, too. Released for the 2021 model year, the fifth-generation Escalade eschewed downsizing and launched with a 6.2-liter V8 as its standard engine. It develops 420 horsepower and 460 pound-feet of torque when it's naturally aspirated, and Motor Trend learned from an anonymous source that the optional supercharger will increase the first figure to anywhere between 600 and 625. The eight's torque output will undoubtedly go up, too. The supercharged Escalade won't outgun the sold-out Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat, which gets 710 horses, but it will pack a serious punch. It doesn't sound like the V8 will require significant modifications to handle the extra power because the supercharger kit will likely be installed by dealers, not on the assembly line. This strongly suggests that it's more of a bolt-on job than one that requires taking the engine out and apart to install stronger connecting rods and forged pistons, for example. ECU tweaks will be part of the package, too, and the fuel delivery system may require some upgrades. Interestingly, Motor Trend learned from Texas-based Hennessey that the SUV's ECU is locked to tuners, which adds credibility to the report. Motorists who want more power will need to go through official sales channels, then. Bigger brakes and a firmer suspension won't be part of the package — at least not yet. The same source outlined a true high-performance evolution of the body-on-frame behemoth that will be quicker and tighter to drive. Oddly, it's not being developed by the engineers in charge of Cadillac's V-branded models, according to the report. If the report is accurate, we'll learn more about the supercharged Cadillac Escalade in the coming months, and it might go on sale in time for the 2022 model year. Expect the supercharger to come with a four-digit price tag. Chevrolet's Tahoe/Suburban and GMC's Yukon/Yukon XL will reportedly be available with a supercharger, too.