2025 Cadillac Escalade Review

Tweaks and tech keep the Escalade at the top of the full-size luxury SUV heap.

Benjamin Hunting | 

Jul 16, 2025 | 8 min read

Benjamin Hunting

Craving a V8 engine under the hood of a big, body-on-frame luxury SUV? If so, then a General Motors model may be a path to satisfaction, with the GMC Yukon Denali and Cadillac Escalade standing as some of the last high-end haulers offering eight-cylinder power. Other rivals — including the Infiniti QX80, Jeep Grand Wagoneer, Lexus LX, and Lincoln Navigator — have switched to turbocharged six-cylinder drivetrains.

Despite the Yukon Denali's popularity, it's clear that the Escalade rules the roost, as its eye-watering purchase price tops the GMC. If bank account bragging rights aren't enough to lure customers, the 2025 Cadillac Escalade receives styling upgrades, interior improvements, and new tech goodies to further appeal to those with deep pockets. That's layered on top of an insulated and opulent driving experience that maintains most of the previous Escalade's most positive attributes.

The changes aren't radical, but they don't have to be. At its core, the 2025 Escalade remains a remarkably versatile sport-utility vehicle, boasting the kind of badge recognition that few others in its class can claim, along with a hulking road presence that's impossible to ignore.

Benjamin Hunting

About the 2025 Cadillac Escalade Review Vehicle

The 2025 Cadillac Escalade is available in two sizes: standard and long-wheelbase ESV. Trim levels consist of Luxury, Premium Luxury, Sport, Premium Luxury Platinum, Sport Platinum, and V-Series. Buyers can choose between rear-wheel drive and four-wheel drive (4WD) for every trim level, except for the high-performance Escalade V, which comes standard with all-wheel drive.

Prices for the 2025 Cadillac Escalade start at just over $90,000 and escalate to nearly $170,000. That includes the destination charge to ship the SUV to a dealership from the Arlington, Texas, assembly plant.

I spent a week behind the wheel of a standard-wheelbase 2025 Cadillac Escalade Sport Platinum with 4WD, crawling through Montreal traffic and traipsing along the two-lane roads that wind through Quebec's mountainous Eastern Townships. Factoring in my tester's optional 24-inch wheels and Argent Silver Metallic paint, the manufacturer's suggested retail price came to $125,020, including a $2,195 destination fee. Cadillac provided the Escalade for this review.

Benjamin Hunting

Nips and Tucks Outside, a Whole New World Inside

The most noticeable design change for the 2025 Escalade's exterior is the move to vertical headlights at the front corners. Cadillac also puts slim running lights just under the hood. The changes result in an effective squint, and you can dress it up with an illuminated grille frame if you want to add even more LEDs into the mix. Changes to the exterior trim and rear lighting are more subtle.

The Escalade's revised cabin makes a significantly more impactful impression, as it adopts similar interior styling to what's found in the new-for-2025 Escalade IQ electric model. Most prominent is the reconfiguration of the SUV's dashboard, which now features a trio of LED displays that work together to suggest 55.0 inches of continuous screen. The revamped center console now includes a tablet-sized touchscreen of its own, which, as I found during my test drive, serves as the controls for climate adjustments, seats, and other vehicle settings.

Cadillac finishes the interior in a gorgeous mixture of wood and leather. While there's more fingerprint-smudging piano-black plastic than I’d like, the overall effect is impressive.

Benjamin Hunting

That plush aesthetic goes for every row. The second-row bucket seats are comfortable, with excellent legroom, and the gap between them made it easy to access the third-row bench. It's a bit tight back there for adults, but there's decent headroom, and you can slide the second row forward to stave off any claustrophobia.

There's the option for a second-row bench seat providing eight-occupant capacity. Upper trim levels are available with an Executive seating package, which you'll want to avoid if leveraging the Escalade's maximum 120.5 cubic-feet of cargo space is a priority. That's more than you'd find in most any other full-size, standard-wheelbase luxury SUV. It's almost identical to the stretched Lincoln Navigator L, which offers 121.6 cu-ft.

Benjamin Hunting

The Big Screen May Have You Reaching

The 2025 Escalade's new dashboard is the SUV's party piece, I found during my test drive. The panel directly in front of the driver shows vehicle-information readouts (speed, safety systems, media), while the center display of the triple-screen layout handles most of the vehicle's infotainment, navigation, and communications menus. You can set up the gauge cluster to also show the navigation map and several other configurations if desired.

That's a good thing, because the steering wheel blocked at least part of the dashboard display, no matter how I had it tilted. I found a screen setup that showed the most important details, but I never had a clear view of everything in front of me. Instead, I kept my eyes fixed on the head-up display while driving.

Another source of frustration with Cadillac's new triple-screen approach is the reach required to access the far corners of that center-mounted touch-sensing display. Fortunately, there's a rotary knob on the center console to use when parsing through menus. Voice commands are also on hand to help deal with the vastness of the Escalade's digital real estate.

The right-most screen is opaque to the driver when being used by the passenger to watch a movie or otherwise stream something from their mobile device over its HDMI connection.

I was initially skeptical of the console-mounted tablet and its embedded functions but gradually warmed up to the design. A lot is going on, I found: controls for the massaging seats, the heating and cooling system, and even the lane-departure system live here. The main drawback is that I had to look down from the road when using it.

Benjamin Hunting

Every version of the Escalade has Super Cruise as a standard feature. This advanced driver-assistance technology is my preferred advanced adaptive cruise control system, and one of the few hands-free offerings I have no anxiety about using, even in heavy traffic.

Super Cruise automatically steers, accelerates, brakes, and even passes and returns to the original lane of travel without any drama, time and time again. I've also towed trailers using the Escalade's hands-free Super Cruise, and everything went according to plan. It is a truly impressive accomplishment from General Motors.

However, I'd stick to highways when Super Cruising in a vehicle the size of this SUV. The system will activate on a two-lane road (if Cadillac has mapped it). Still, tighter lanes, eroded markings, and the possibility of encountering pedestrians or cyclists mean you're better off steering yourself rather than having to intervene to stay on course.

Benjamin Hunting

The V8 Is a Perfect Match for the Escalade

The Cadillac Escalade goes V8-only for 2025 — the diesel engine that was offered in years past is no longer an option. Every 2025 Escalade model except the supercharged V-Series is now equipped with a 6.2-liter engine that produces 420 horsepower and 460 pound-feet of torque. A 10-speed automatic transmission is standard, and my test vehicle came with 4WD.

Most of these details carry over from 2024, but that's not a knock against the Escalade. I am a big fan of the 6.2-liter V8, which is smooth, responsive, and more than capable of scooting this big and heavy SUV wherever it needs to go without ever feeling like it's under strain.

Nevertheless, it's disappointing to lose last year's turbo-diesel six-cylinder option, which matched the V8 for torque while providing better fuel economy than the V8 (22 mpg combined versus 16 mpg combined with 4WD, according to the EPA). I achieved the EPA's estimated rating during my time with the Cadillac.

Benjamin Hunting

Keep in mind that having extra cylinders under the hood doesn't make the Escalade the most powerful or quickest luxury SUV out there. The twin-turbo V6 in the Lincoln Navigator and the turbocharged inline-six-cylinder found in the Jeep Grand Wagoneer are mightier than the Escalade's standard V8, and each of those models is also quicker in a straight line.

I don't think that will matter to most luxury SUV shoppers, given how competent the Escalade's drivetrain feels in the real world. And if you need a more muscular sport-utility, the V-Series obliterates every big-boned three-row around.

Regardless of engine output, few other full-size, truck-based SUVs that I have driven can match the Cadillac Escalade's combination of calm handling and a softer-than-expected ride. There's an adaptive air suspension system at work here, and it cancels out road roughness and unwanted body lean in corners.

Self-leveling helps when towing, too. The Escalade can tow up to 8,100 pounds, which is less than the Jeep Grand Wagoneer, Infiniti QX80, and Lincoln Navigator.

Benjamin Hunting

Is the 2025 Cadillac Escalade a Good SUV?

Aside from losing its turbo-diesel engine option, the 2025 Cadillac Escalade's updates make an already dominant luxury SUV that much more appealing. Although the Lincoln Navigator and Jeep Grand Wagoneer outshine it in certain areas of the spec sheet, and the Infiniti QX80 is more affordable, the Escalade's total package is the most impressive when it comes to traditional, full-size extravagance.

Benjamin Hunting

Nearly two decades into his career as an automotive journalist, Benjamin has had his hands greasy, his hair blown back, and his heart broken by more than one project car. In addition to his work at Capital One, he has contributed features and reviews to Motor Trend, Car and Driver, Hagerty, Driving Line, Inside Hook, Super Street, European Car, Roadkill Magazine, Motor 1, The Drive, the Toronto Star, the National Post, Business Insider, NAPA, Autoblog, Automotive News Canada, and AutoGuide. He is also cohost of the Unnamed Automotive Podcast and cocreator of the Code 45 and Dead Air graphic novels. In his spare time, he's a friend to vinyl and enjoys keeping the shiny side up during track days.