2025 Cadillac Escalade iQ Review: A Huge Dose of the iQ

Over nine thousand pounds.

I know, the curb weight is one of the first things everyone is talking about with the 2025 Cadillac Escalade iQ. This is a vehicle built around excess in a way only America can do: nearly nineteen feet long, over 82 inches (2,093 millimeters) wide, and—largely thanks to a 205-kilowatt-hour battery pack—a density approaching that of a collapsed star.

The good news is that there’s much more about the Escalade than its obscene weight: a high-style cabin, impressive road manners, and serious, no-more-anxiety range. For better or worse, the Escalade has made the transition to the electric age with one message still firmly in place: “get behind me, peasants.”

Everything, even though this is the only electric Cadillac to wear an established name instead of a new one. Okay, technically not everything: we’ve seen this truck-esque platform do duty under the Hummer, Silverado, and Sierra EVs too, though with different proportions. The 205-kW capacity of the battery is the useable amount, and while Cadillac suggests a range of 460 miles (740 kilometers), there is no official EPA- or NRCAN-certified one—because that curb weight means there doesn’t have to be.

If for some reason the largesse isn’t enough, Cadillac will sell you an Escalade iQL with an additional 4.2 inches (107 mm) of length.

Imposing. That’s the only way to possibly describe the Escalade iQ, especially in VIP-convoy black. There’s a geometric party of lighting elements up front, while retaining the vertical, outer-edge LED signature that makes the Escalade so immediately identifiable on the road. It sits noticeably lower than the ICE model, both in terms of ride height and overall height. The reason is two-fold: aerodynamics, and hiding all that lithium ion.

A single shoulder line carries the length of the vehicle, terminating at the taillights which are now bifurcated by bodywork. The top elements frame a rear glass set at a distinctly un-Escalade rake, which might eat into available cargo space if you ever actually planned on filling the SUV to the brim. But that’s not really a ‘Slade’s jam, is it? Enormous 24-inch alloys round out the package.

Is it silly? Yep. Do I dig the look? Also yep.

In regular day-to-day driving, the iQ is putting down an Escalade V-matching 680 horsepower, along with 615 pound-feet of torque. Even with the weight of three Civic Type Rs to haul around, that’s plenty, and the power arrives with a smoothness befitting a luxury flagship. No EV all-or-nothing here: the engineers have smartly metered out the power, regardless of the one-pedal drive mode setting too. Yes, having the latter on the most aggressive setting can feel initially odd given the size and heft of the ‘Slade, but it took less than a day to judge the slow lift-off necessary to roll smoothly to a stop at lights.

A Velocity Max mode bumps outputs to 750 hp and 785 lb-ft, enabling runs to 62 mph in under five seconds. A party trick to show friends once and never again, it nonetheless messes with one’s sense of physics, because this much leather and glass should not out-sprint a GR Corolla.

This was the first EV I’ve personally had in for testing that never needed a mid-week juice-up. In a mix of highway and city driving, the Escalade’s usage suggested Caddy’s estimates are bang-on, if not slightly conservative. How? My guess is the smooth SUV shape versus the rest of the vehicles on this platform. Mind you, the enormous battery pack does mean a full recharge at a DC fast-charger will be expensive. A 19.2-kW AC adapter is standard with this Sport 2 trim (as well as the Luxury 2).

What does a 9,000-pound SUV feel like to drive? A lot like a 6,000-pound one—usually.

The IQ’s low-slung battery pack helps keep the big rig feel planted and predictable when milling about on daily errands. Cadillac has a good handle on appropriate steering feel, too: light but not too light, so that drivers can feel confident without being overworked. The tougher challenge is simply fitting the thing most places in the city. With a hip point roughly where a CR-V’s roof is, it’s challenging to place exactly where the far-side wheel is, and I sure don’t want to be the person responsible for curbing two feet’s worth of alloy.

Navigating tight parking lots isn’t as hard as one might think, thanks to standard rear-axle steering. It gives the Escalade a similar turning circle to the much smaller Lucid Gravity, and yes, allows for TikTok-friendly crab walk demonstrations.

It’s at anything above city speeds where the weight makes itself known. Find a corner suddenly tightening and all the adaptive suspension tech in the world can’t rewrite the laws of physics. The Escalade leans and for a moment you feel immense guilt for putting that poor far-side corner, 275-width Michelin through such an ordeal. Don’t worry, it’ll pass.

If you really do want to hustle your three-row luxury SUV, the supercharged V8-powered Escalade V is still available.

I expected the Escalade iQ to judder and buck as soon as I clocked that enormous rolling stock. Nope. Sure, the biggest potholes sent shockwaves into the cabin, but nothing short of a hover car could avoid that. Everything else, the Escalade simply sailed over, quickly returning to equilibrium if it even ever left it. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: electrified powertrains and luxury vehicles make great bedfellows. With none of the powertrain vibrations to fight and only the slightest of hums coming from below, the iQ is a serene cruiser—or at least, as I’ll get to in a bit, it can be.

Seat comfort is stellar in the first two rows, with plenty of power adjustments and very effective heating and ventilation. Massaging? Also on the menu, with a variety of programs.

An important note, however: if you ever plan on actually using the third row, do not spec the second-row executive package. While it certainly turns the middle row experience into a swanky one, with the massive center console and accompanying touchscreen, it makes accessing the way-back all but impossible, as the seats can only shift so far forward. The package should probably just delete the third row and lean into it.

It’s been years since American luxury brands were trying (and largely, failing) to match the Europeans. Instead, they’ve embraced their roots, and nowhere is this more apparent than the high-style cabin of the Escalade iQ. Cadillac has built a space that exudes confidence without being too shouty about it. The two-tone leather is buttery soft, and the sprinkle of gold flake in the wood trim is way classier than that sounds. Extra points for the pretty pinstriping and remixed classic logo down in the front center storage cubby: it’s so nice I don’t even want to put anything there to block it. Physical controls have a satisfying weight to them, though I will ding the second-row console for having so much piano black.

If only there weren’t so. Many. Noises. There’s no other way for me to say it: the Escalade iQ elicited more creaks and rattles than any other new car I’ve driven in years. The AKG speakers in the headliners made such a constant squeak on the highway that I’d have to crank the music to distract from it…

Thankfully, that AKG (Studio Reference) setup is fantastic. With 36 speakers, it’s a rich and powerful way for the rich and powerful to enjoy their chosen audio. It’s standard on the “2” trims.

With its pillar-to-pillar screen setup, the Escalade could be a tech overload, but most of the functions are helpfully straightforward. Yes, there’s still no Apple CarPlay or Android Auto and yes, that’s still silly. I’ll mention it in every single GM EV review because it’s still a bone-headed move. Thankfully the native system is at least intuitive enough to navigate easily, and it’s all snappy in its responses.

There’s an additional screen in front of the passenger that is as useful as it is in any other vehicle with such an option: barely. This tester also has screens for the second-row folks, and it can display all sorts of trip details in the way you’d find in a plane, which feels very appropriate. There are also no less than four (four!) wireless chargers.

Speaking of questionably-useful features, the additional lower console screen features one menu just for the power-operated doors. While it’s certainly swanky to have the driver door glide shut when putting foot to brake, I found every other aspect of the door operation cumbersome. Opening any door never seemed to result in the same final angle or opening speed, and tap-sliding on the screen is in no way simpler than pulling a handle.

Like other GM EVs, the Escalade iQ exhibited far more lurch at parking than expected, enough to have me second-guessing whether park was actually engaged. I’ll always argue in favor of an actual on/off button in a vehicle too; the touchscreen alternative is not the same.

Supercruise remains a standout feature, the best-behaved and most predictable of the hands-free highway drive assists.

The Escalade iQ starts at $130,090 in America, or just a bit above the top non-V trims for the ICE model. Like its sibling, there are two versions: Sport and Luxury, which means less or more chrome, essentially. The move to the top “2” trims costs a cool $20,000 and brings in the power-close doors, nearly doubles the speaker count, and opens up access to other, even more pricey options. This tester has the $9,495 combo of executive second-row seating and the rear-seat entertainment, plus the Onyx package ($3,995) for some additional blacked-out trim and wheels, plus perimeter lighting. Finally, light-up sills ($625) because of course. All in it’s $164,705; funnily enough, just $10 above where an Escalade-V starts, a comparison which suddenly makes this seem a good deal.

In Canada, the Escalade iQ kicks off at $159,999 CAD including destination for either the Sport 1 or Luxury 1 trims; as is the case in America, bumping either to a 2 adds another 20 grand. With the selected options it stickers for $197,904 CAD.

The Escalade iQ competes with vehicles as varied as the Alpina XB7,  Lucid Gravity, high-end Range Rovers, and whatever else basketball players enjoy.

The 2025 Cadillac Escalade iQ spent a week sending mixed messages. Its cabin is sumptuous, but the constant noises from trim bits would be unbecoming of a Corolla, never mind a Caddy. Something this big and heavy essentially only seating four feels like the ultimate gotcha in greenwashing, too.

Yet like the second-generation Escalade did over 20 years ago, the Escalade iQ undeniably makes a statement wherever it goes. It is a new era of luxury and, should Cadillac iron out the kinks, I would see little reason for anybody to settle for the gas model.

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