Part 1 – Overview
Part 2 – Design and Technology
Part 3 – Ride and Performance

Image galleries – CTS Sport Wagon Review Pics | CTS Sport Wagon Pics from Cadillac

This completes the tCE trifecta of Cadillac utility vehicle reviews. We started with the new SRX turbo, moved into the behemoth that is the Escalade Platinum Hybrid, and now we spent some time in what is the sportiest Cadillac of utilities – the CTS Sport Wagon.

Our test car had AWD and was wearing the Performance Collection trim, which means automatic transmission (Cadillac still refuses to go gunning for Audi with an all-wheel drive/manual transmission combo – though we can’t really argue with their rationale, as much as we’d want one) and sport suspension tuning while leaving such luxury items as the UltraView sunroof and heated and cooled seats on the option list (see the Premium Collection trim that is a level up the line if you want these items without adding option packages).

Speaking of options, our car also had the Performance Luxury pack that brought the interior ambient lighting, cargo shade, the heated and cooled seats we just mentioned, power adjustable steering wheel, keyless access (auto lock/unlock as well as keyless start), remote start, parking assist, wood trim (standard on Premium trim), and a cabin air filter – this list of nice-to-haves brings a $2645 price tag.

Also included on our tester is the navigation system that includes the signature power-up/down screen in the dash as well as the Bose 5.1 Surround audio with 40GB hard drive, XM satellite radio, and the XM Nav Traffic system (XM is free for the first 3 months and requires a subscription thereafter). This goodie will pinch your wallet for $2145.

Other onesie-twosie options included the rear view/backup camera for $355 and the Thunder Gray premium paint for another $995.

All in , the wagon you see here was stickered at a cool $52690.

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Categories: News, CTS, Reviews
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Part 1 – Overview
Part 2 – Design and Technology
Part 3 – Ride and Performance

Image galleries – Escalade Review Pics | Escalade Pics from Cadillac

So, how does the Escalade Platinum Hybrid drive?

Well, that depends on what you expect of a Cadillac.

If you are expecting a full-size, body-on-frame, SUV experience – then this will be about the most impressively composed, high-tech version of that breed you’ve ever driven. Finding out that you can get fuel economy into the 20’s in day-to-day driving (caveat below) while still being able to tow almost 3 tons and being able to pack 2-3 little kids in the rear-most seat, and 3 average-sized adults in the second row will just be icing on the cake.

However, if you are looking for the BMW hunting heart of the new Cadillac in large SUV form…um, may I show you something else?

The Escalade hybrid drives as well as any big SUV has a right to with more body control than you can buy in a lesser GMT900-based SUV (though the magneto-rheological shocks are also available on the GMC Denali Hybrid).

There is a reason, though, that you don’t see that many on the roads that comprise the tCE test loop – nor do you see many big SUV’s up here, period. They are not well suited to mountain driving unless you happen to be pulling a camper up to Rocky Mountain National Park. The weight and high CG of this type of truck don’t mix well with all the sharp turns.

That said, in anything but full-on mountain driving, the Escalade is comfortable, quiet, but in no way sporty – making it a throw-back to Cadillacs of old (or at least Cadillacs of several years back). It would be the perfect vehicle for someone who needs a full-size tow vehicle but would like to save a few hundred gallons of gas during their ownership – with most of the Cadillac tech toys layered on top. However, if you have bought into the new direction Cadillac is taking – one where sporty driving is as much a part of the Cadillac mystique as comfort and features, then you’ll find yourself craving more.

However, if you are in need of a tow-capable vehicle and also are a fan of hybrids – you can have a lot of fun in-town. We found ourselves playing the standard hybrid tricks of, ‘how far can I get and how fast can I go on all-electric power’ (several blocks and 30mph, respectively, in our testing). So, for in-town driving, we found it to be an absolute hoot. It is also a kick to see how many levels up in a parking garage you can make it before the engine fires – in a few instances, we ran out of garage before we ran out of electric propulsion.

We did take note of one issue…’hybrid’ is not a silver bullet for fuel economy where you buy this technology and will see magical fuel savings with no further effort. If you drive this as you might any conventional car – there is a good chance you will never run in electric from a stop. Any more than a feather-light throttle foot will immediately engage the engine and negate most of the fuel economy benefit of the hybrid system. It helps to switch the DIC over into its instantaneous fuel economy display, which shows if you are in ‘auto-stop’ (i.e. electric drive) or V-8 vs. V-4 mode. Only by attempting to keep it in the auto-stop during take-off and V-4 on the highway will you see the better part of the hybrid benefit. If that sounds like torture to you – this isn’t the vehicle for you. Hybrid power allows you to do things no conventional car can do – but you have to be a willing participant.

Almost as fun as running in electric as long as possible was being able to sit in a parking lot, with the key to ‘on’ and enjoying listening to the entertainment options with the engine in ‘auto-stop’ but the A/C blasting (the A/C, like other accessories like power-steering, are electrically driven to allow for engine-off driving).

So, ultimately, the Escalade Hybrid is what it set out to be – the Cadillac of full-size, body-on-frame SUVs – just not the Art & Science Cadillac of SUVs. To the people who love them, that is all they could ever want.

Categories: News, Escalade, Reviews
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Part 1 – Overview
Part 2 – Design and Technology
Part 3 – Ride and Performance

Image galleries – Escalade Review Pics | Escalade Pics from Cadillac

Before we can fully understand the Escalade, much less the Escalade Hybrid, and where it fits in the Cadillac hierarchy, we need to spend a little time with the history of this truck and to put things into context.

The Escalade is, in many ways, the oldest vehicle in the Cadillac stable – not in the sense of when it was designed and brought to market or even the technology and chassis it is built on. No, the Escalade is the oldest in the sense that it is the latest version of a decade old idea. It is the third generation of, and the spiritual successor to, the original Escalade. As such, it is saddled with the hit it became in pop culture (remember that GM actually focus-grouped this Escalade with professional athletes and A-list Hollywood types prior to its launch). The original Escalade debuted in 1999 as a thinly restyled version of the GMC Yukon Denali. It received more differentiation in its next generation in 2002 and then again in the GMT900-based 3rd generation in 2007. Along, the way, it became the vehicle of choice for a good number of celebrities. It is for that reason alone that it is stuck in a type of market limbo – it can’t be altered or re-thought too much without risking its success, even if that success means it ends up somewhat out of touch with the modern Cadillac.

This helps answer why this is the one vehicle in the line that has kept a actual name, though you can see some moves toward the direction of the rest of the brand with Escalade sub-models like the EXT and ESV.

So, after all these years, while we’ve seen literally every other model in the Cadillac line-up go through massive changes, from shared GM platforms to Cadillac specific (and back again, if you count the new SRX), and a deliberate move to match the German and Japanese competition in many ways – the Escalade is the same basic formula that it started with over a decade ago.

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Categories: News, Escalade, Reviews
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Part 1 – Overview
Part 2 – Design and Technology
Part 3 – Ride and Performance

Image galleries – Escalade Review Pics | Escalade Pics from Cadillac

What you need to know about the 2010 Cadillac Escalade Hybrid Platinum:

• As tested, this rear-drive version stickers at a heart-stopping $86000+
  
• The Platinum trim comes with nice cut-and-sew dash topper, door panels, and even the trim down the sides of the center console.
  
• It has 3, count ‘em, 3 entertainment screens – even before you count the in-dash navigation/infotainment screen up front. There is a center drop-down screen as well as a screen in the rear of each front headrest.
  
• The front console cup holders are both heated and cooled.
  
• The front and second row seats are both swathed in a rich, dark-chocolate brown leather (trust us, it looks better than you might originally think).
  
• The two-mode hybrid powertrain means that you not only get to play the Prius trick of driving in parking lots and in stop-and-go traffic on electric only power, but you also get a power boost to the 6.0l V-8 when at speed. It not only gives a power boost for passing, but also helps let the engine do its V-8 -> V-4 cylinder deactivation trick more often, boosting highway mileage.
  
• It is rated at 21 city, 22 highway and we managed in mixed driving to get over 20mpg…not a bad trick for this size truck.

What you also need to know…some nits we pick:

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Categories: News, Escalade, Reviews
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We’ve had the privledge of driving around for the week in Cadillac’s Escalade Hybrid in Platinum trim. This is 86k of rear wheel drive (?!) GMT900-based goodness.

We’re currently seeing about 20-21mpg in mixed driving – not bad given that we aren’t spending that much time in hybrid friendly stop and go. Credit the 2-mode nature of the hybrid powertrain that seems to allow the truck to run in cylinder deactivated V-4 mode much more than might otherwise be the case without battery assist at non-city speeds. Given the V-4 mode seems to be resulting in an indicated 10+ mpg improvement over the same speed, same gear, V-8 mode – it seems to be a worthy result to the cost of giving electric boost.

It is as fun as you might have heard to try to keep in electric only mode for as long as possible in town – though it takes a mighty light foot to do so (which takes a conscious effort).

While we work on the review – feel free to feast your eyes on our tCE Review gallery.

Enjoy.

Categories: News, Escalade, Reviews
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Part 1 – Overview
Part 2 – Our test car
Part 3 – Exterior and Design
Part 4 – Interior and Electronics
Part 5 – Ride and Performance

Image galleries – SRX Review Pics | SRX Pics from Cadillac

Finally, we are about to cover a lot of nitty-gritty on the systems and features that come together to make up the result we would generically call the SRX’s ‘ride and handling’. This includes things like a 2.8l turbo V-6 engine, Haldex AWD system, ZF/Sachs adjustable performance shocks, and Cadillac’s handling and safety systems like StabiliTrak traction and stability control.

But, what you really need to know is this:

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Categories: News, SRX, Reviews
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Part 1 – Overview
Part 2 – Our test car
Part 3 – Exterior and Design
Part 4 – Interior and Electronics
Part 5 – Ride and Performance

Image galleries – SRX Review Pics | SRX Pics from Cadillac

It is important to note how we approach an evaluation of electronics in any car – to put not too fine a point on it, we’re demanding. In this world of top-notch consumer electronics, it is unacceptable for any automaker to put a product out that is clunky to use, doesn’t do what it needs to do with minimum study of the owners manual, and/or isn’t completely intuitive to use.

We spent a week with the SRX and it had every electronic goodie that it could have. So, this allowed evaluation of every feature and, given the relatively short time we were with the car, highlighted any features that were not immediately easy to use. A long-term owner might find some of these annoyances fade with time, but we won’t make that assumption here.

Most of our complaints (and really, our only complaints about the SRX as a whole) center around the electronic features – not that they don’t work, just that they could be better at what they do – but first, let’s go over the interior itself. As expected of any Cadillac, this is a nice place to spend some serious seat time.

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Categories: News, SRX, Reviews
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