Cadillac Escalade IQ review

The inside of the Escalade IQ has been given plenty of attention to make it as opulent as possible. Surfaces that aren’t wrapped in leather are either laser cut steel accents or laminated wood trims, with the black glossy plastic parts limited to display bezels and the physical buttons. Up front, a large center console conceals a deep, forget-me-forever pit of storage with a passthrough chamber beneath the cupholders for quick handbag storage.

That’s quite a display.

Oh noticed that, did you? The 55in pillar-to-pillar digital display? It certainly hammers home the feeling that you’re piloting a massive Star Trek-worthy shuttle pod, particularly with its multitude of menus. Look, as with any modern Escalade, there’s a lot going on, between car functions, driver aids and entertainment options. They all have to go somewhere, right?

Overwhelming as it seems, it’s fairly easy to use and mostly functional, unlike what you’d get in something like a Mercedes-Benz hyperscreen. A more apt comparison would be the screen featured in Lincoln products such as the Nautilus, though the Cadillac packs in more functions and utilizes the screen real estate to its fullest.

The section behind the steering wheel has all the necessary driver displays and can switch seamlessly to showcase other data such as driver assists and maps while the middle screen does it all - music, nav, car menus and so on. The third passenger-facing screen houses a number of baked-in entertainment apps that take advantage of the connected services for streaming YouTube, Hulu and web browsing.

Cadillac was smart to have the screen polarize when the Escalade is in motion to prevent the driver from being distracted by whatever their co-pilot is watching.

Lots of tech then?

Loads – all the aforementioned driver assists, a number of wireless charging pads that goes with the rear executive seating, the rear seat entertainment displays, massage seats, integrated Google software and way too many more to list here because, unlike the IQ, we’re running out of space.

Yeah, what’s that amount to?

Even in the ‘standard’ Escalade IQ, there’s lots of space. In terms of cargo volume, there’s 23.7 cu ft (671 litres) of space, increased to 69.1 cu ft (1,957 litres) with the third row folded, and maxed out to 119.2 cu ft (3,375 litres) if the captain’s chairs are able to fold. Various European vans are smaller.

The buck kind of stops there with the executive seats, but if you have those, you’ve probably got an entourage following you in a second or third Escalade, so space isn’t at a premium anyway. Those, by the way, maximize the already ample second row legroom by encroaching on the third row space, which is also mounted slightly further back because rockstars need to stretch out. There’s also a 12.2 cu ft (345-litre) ‘frunk' to take advantage of.

And the Escalade IQL?

The “bigger” IQL adds less than five inches of legroom and an inch of headroom to the cabin. Designers know how to make a little seem like a lot, but it sure sounds like a modest increase in capacity.