M/T large SUV comparo: Escalade vs. QX80 vs. Range Rover, etc., etc.

[Lebowski]

Maybe down there. Up in NYC a privately owned & chauffered Escalade in Manhattan = big money. I dont think they were liverys. ESV washes all its competitors in space and reliability and isnt far behind in luxury IMO. I find the whole segment silly... they all have the vertical interior room of a sedan. But Escalade got it locked

Lol a privately chauffeured car anywhere in the U.S. means big money.

Yes, if you're going to have a chauffeur I agree the escalade is the choice out of this group. I don't think all that many consumer escalade buyers have private chauffeurs.

[r0tor]

So you haven't driven one, because the car is all new for 2015.

Ok, I don't give a fuck enough about the Tahoe to know its been updated this year.  Shame the exterior now looks terrible.

[Lebowski]

Ok, I don't give a fuck enough about the Tahoe to know its been updated this year.  Shame the exterior now looks terrible.

Yeah, the current gen is the worst looking ever IMO.  A shame as I've always liked them.

[SVT666]

I didn't like the new truck when it first came out, but it's really grown on me.  The previous gen Tahoe is definitely the best looking one ever made though.

[Submariner]

I've driven the new Suburban and spent time in the new Escalade.

As far as materials and assembly goes, everything is quite nice in the suburban from the waste up but is fairly downmarket below that, not that it matters a whole lot.  The ride is floaty but quite comfy and the power (I think the one I drove had the 5.3) was pretty impressive.  If I needed a big family car, I'd definitely take a look at it.

The escalde, on the other hand, is not a 90k vehicle.  It's a suburban with a mildly nicer dashbord.  Every single surface I touched in the rear seat area, save for the seat surfaces, looked and felt downmarket.  It was a Suburban with CUE for 30k more.  No thanks.

As for why they're so popular in NYC.  They're big and comfortable and have lot of space for luggage (they're popular on the midtown/downtown to JFK route).  It's a great replacement for the Town Car, but it's not a great vehicle (for the price)

[SVT666]

I've driven the new Suburban and spent time in the new Escalade.

As far as materials and assembly goes, everything is quite nice in the suburban from the waste up...

Sooooooo...from your asshole up?

[Submariner]

Sooooooo...from your asshole up?

Top of my legs...that's another 6 inches at least!

[Gotta-Qik-C7]

Ok, I don't give a fuck enough about the Tahoe to know its been updated this year.

[TBR]

FWIW, I love the new Tahoe. I think it looks much better than the previous version, the front of which always looked a little unfinished to me for whatever reason. And the Tahoe actually has decent proportions for the first time since the first generation.

[GoCougs]

Well, gotta hand it to GM. All other vehicles in the test had most if not all of modern design attributes - boosted motors, unit-body construction, IRS - and here comes GM with body-on-frame, pooprod motor, and live axle, and wins the test + has the best performance. No wonder r0tor hates it.

[Gotta-Qik-C7]

Well, gotta hand it to GM. All other vehicles in the test had most if not all of modern design attributes - boosted motors, unit-body construction, IRS - and here comes GM with body-on-frame, pooprod motor, and live axle, and wins the test + has the best performance. No wonder r0tor hates it.

[r0tor]

Well, gotta hand it to GM. All other vehicles in the test had most if not all of modern design attributes - boosted motors, unit-body construction, IRS - and here comes GM with body-on-frame, pooprod motor, and live axle, and wins the test + has the best performance. No wonder r0tor hates it.

"The Cadillac, Infiniti, Lexus, and Lincoln are all body-on-frame designs."
"The GL is a unit-body, though it has vestigial frame rails"

"That said, five of these dudes run our figure eight in the 27-second range. (The GL's the quickest at 27.3 seconds,"

"Is there an outright ride quality winner? No, but four — the QX80, Range Rover HSE, LX 570, and GL450 — are very good."

"while the quickest is the Escalade, which gets it done in a tidy 5.9 seconds. The Cadillac also wins the quarter-mile battle, doing so in 14.4 seconds at 96.8 mph,"

Oh but...

"The only thing I'll add is that this isn't the Range Rover's top engine. If power is what you seek, pony up for the 510-horsepower, supercharged, 5.0-liter V-8. Same (of course) goes for the Mercedes. Not only is there the 429-hp GL550 but also the whack-a-doodle, overkill GL63 AMG that kicks out 550 hp of unnecessary fun. "

"The Escalade has the worst braking performance (133 feet to stop from 60 mph)"

"The Mercedes-Benz is closest to its EPA numbers (17/21/19 mpg)—we got 16.7/20.7/18.3 mpg."


Love that "Best performance"

[Gotta-Qik-C7]

"while the quickest is the Escalade, which gets it done in a tidy 5.9 seconds. The Cadillac also wins the quarter-mile battle, doing so in 14.4 seconds at 96.8 mph,"

Oh but...

"The only thing I'll add is that this isn't the Range Rover's top engine. If power is what you seek, pony up for the 510-horsepower, supercharged, 5.0-liter V-8. Same (of course) goes for the Mercedes. Not only is there the 429-hp GL550 but also the whack-a-doodle, overkill GL63 AMG that kicks out 550 hp of unnecessary fun. "

And those cost how much?

[r0tor]

And those cost how much?

These things all cost ~$100k as tested... Price really matters?

[GoCougs]

"The Cadillac, Infiniti, Lexus, and Lincoln are all body-on-frame designs."
"The GL is a unit-body, though it has vestigial frame rails"

"That said, five of these dudes run our figure eight in the 27-second range. (The GL's the quickest at 27.3 seconds,"

"Is there an outright ride quality winner? No, but four — the QX80, Range Rover HSE, LX 570, and GL450 — are very good."

"while the quickest is the Escalade, which gets it done in a tidy 5.9 seconds. The Cadillac also wins the quarter-mile battle, doing so in 14.4 seconds at 96.8 mph,"

Oh but...

"The only thing I'll add is that this isn't the Range Rover's top engine. If power is what you seek, pony up for the 510-horsepower, supercharged, 5.0-liter V-8. Same (of course) goes for the Mercedes. Not only is there the 429-hp GL550 but also the whack-a-doodle, overkill GL63 AMG that kicks out 550 hp of unnecessary fun. "

"The Escalade has the worst braking performance (133 feet to stop from 60 mph)"

"The Mercedes-Benz is closest to its EPA numbers (17/21/19 mpg)—we got 16.7/20.7/18.3 mpg."


Love that "Best performance"

O, ye, of so much hate-filled wrongess, "performance" means more than one thing, and "best" doesn't mean in every stat/category but across all:

1st in 0-60
1st in 1/4 mile
Tied for 1st in passing
2nd in figure 8
Tied for 2nd in mpg

Equipped the same as in this test it's a ~$20k upcharge for the upgraded motors/trim levels on the Range Rover and GL (and ~$40k in the case of the GL63).

[GoCougs]

These things all cost ~$100k as tested... Price really matters?

Is this kinda like how horsepower overcomes torque?

[r0tor]

O, ye, of so much hate-filled wrongess, "performance" means more than one thing, and "best" doesn't mean in every stat/category but across all:

1st in 0-60
1st in 1/4 mile
Tied for 1st in passing
2nd in figure 8
Tied for 2nd in mpg

Equipped the same as in this test it's a ~$20k upcharge for the upgraded motors/trim levels on the Range Rover and GL (and ~$40k in the case of the GL63).

Its fastest when its competition uses their base engines... Only a GM fanboy would be proud of that

[68_427]

Its fastest when its competition uses their base engines... Only a GM fanboy would be proud of that

Sorry the Escalade has the most powerful "base" engine.   

[Lebowski]

Its fastest when its competition uses their base engines... Only a GM fanboy would be proud of that

If they're comparably priced as tested (as in this case they are) I don't see how it matters whether it's base or not.

[r0tor]

If they're comparably priced as tested (as in this case they are) I don't see how it matters whether it's base or not.

The 'Slade was $90k base and $95 as tested.

The GL450 was $66k base and $88k as tested.  Had they chose the GL550 which has the same $90k base price as the Cadillac, the GL would have been the fastest, retained its handling advantage, retained its ride quality advantage, and had a comparable price.

[SVT666]

Top of my legs...that's another 6 inches at least!

Oh, you meant "waist" not "waste".  My bad.

[RomanChariot]

I've driven the new Suburban and spent time in the new Escalade.

As far as materials and assembly goes, everything is quite nice in the suburban from the waste up but is fairly downmarket below that, not that it matters a whole lot.  The ride is floaty but quite comfy and the power (I think the one I drove had the 5.3) was pretty impressive.  If I needed a big family car, I'd definitely take a look at it.

The escalde, on the other hand, is not a 90k vehicle.  It's a suburban with a mildly nicer dashbord.  Every single surface I touched in the rear seat area, save for the seat surfaces, looked and felt downmarket.  It was a Suburban with CUE for 30k more.  No thanks.

As for why they're so popular in NYC.  They're big and comfortable and have lot of space for luggage (they're popular on the midtown/downtown to JFK route).  It's a great replacement for the Town Car, but it's not a great vehicle (for the price)

"The Escalade Platinum's interior is the group consensus for best in test."

I guess that means that the rest of the vehicles in the test are even less worthy of being $90K vehicles.

[Lebowski]

The 'Slade was $90k base and $95 as tested.

The GL450 was $66k base and $88k as tested.  Had they chose the GL550 which has the same $90k base price as the Cadillac, the GL would have been the fastest, retained its handling advantage, retained its ride quality advantage, and had a comparable price.

I was looking at the target price and must have misread it.  I can't imagine paying more for an escalade than a comparably equipped GL.

[shp4man]

I've got a great idea. Let's weld a station wagon back onto the full size pickup, put in leather seats and every option known to man and sell it for three times what it's worth!
I deserve a promotion for that one!

[Submariner]

"The Escalade Platinum's interior is the group consensus for best in test."

I guess that means that the rest of the vehicles in the test are even less worthy of being $90K vehicles.

Meh - maybe this one has substantially better interior materials because it's the platinum, but in the one I rode in, the console for the cue controls felt noticeably cheap and flimsy, as did the HVAC vents.  There was plenty of horrible hard plastic trim on the sills running all the way up to where the seatbelt was mounted on the B-pillar.  In the back seat, almost everything felt or looked like it came straight out of a Suburban.  There wasn't anything spectacular about it at all, especially at 95k.  I'm amazed they thought it to be nicer than the RR - the last one I was in felt and looked leagues better. 

[RomanChariot]

Meh - maybe this one has substantially better interior materials because it's the platinum, but in the one I rode in, the console for the cue controls felt noticeably cheap and flimsy, as did the HVAC vents.  There was plenty of horrible hard plastic trim on the sills running all the way up to where the seatbelt was mounted on the B-pillar.  In the back seat, almost everything felt or looked like it came straight out of a Suburban.  There wasn't anything spectacular about it at all, especially at 95k.  I'm amazed they thought it to be nicer than the RR - the last one I was in felt and looked leagues better. 

You can get an Escalade starting at $73k and since all of the trim levels have the same powertrain and suspension it would seem the difference in cost is almost entirely in the interior upgrades.

[GoCougs]

The 'Slade was $90k base and $95 as tested.

The GL450 was $66k base and $88k as tested.  Had they chose the GL550 which has the same $90k base price as the Cadillac, the GL would have been the fastest, retained its handling advantage, retained its ride quality advantage, and had a comparable price.

You have to apply a measure of the differential in base MSRP between the GL450 @ $66k and GL550 @ $90k which means a similarly equipped GL550 would be ~$105k.

[r0tor]

You have to apply a measure of the differential in base MSRP between the GL450 @ $66k and GL550 @ $90k which means a similarly equipped GL550 would be ~$105k.

Putting aside the massive flaw in your argument ( the 550 contains more standard shit and needs less options), I still can't imagine the buyer that says "Oh, I can only afford $95k for a car purchase - $105k is just out of our price range".

[12,000 RPM]

Putting aside the massive flaw in your argument ( the 550 contains more standard shit and needs less options), I still can't imagine the buyer that says "Oh, I can only afford $95k for a car purchase - $105k is just out of our price range".

Problem is this argument could continue ad infinitum. Whats another 30, 40, 100K... "they can afford it"

If someone doesnt want to lease (nobody is buying these cars) beyond some dollar amount thats rational. 6 figures is a big psychological barrier.

Take the L like a man

[Lebowski]

Problem is this argument could continue ad infinitum. Whats another 30, 40, 100K... "they can afford it"

It's a stupid argument. There's a (wrong) assumption made sometimes where once you get passed a certain price, value no longer matters.  That's not really how it works, $10k is $10k.

That said, I still think the GL is overall a better value than a $95k Escalade.