Used 2016 Cadillac Escalade ESV Consumer Reviews
Used Escalade ESV for sale
See Edmunds pricing data
Has Your Car's Value Changed?
Used car values are constantly changing. Edmunds lets you track your vehicle's value over time so you can decide when to sell or trade in.
We have a limited number of reviews for the 2016 Escalade ESV, so we've included reviews for other years of the Escalade ESV since its last redesign.
GM reliability destroying once great Escalade
Adam S, 05/13/2019
2016 Cadillac Escalade ESV Luxury 4dr SUV 4WD (6.2L 8cyl 8A)
11 of 12 people found this review helpful
Bought a certified 2016 Escalade ESV because we just had our 3rd kid and needed something with extra room for 3 car seats and 2 strollers. Traded in my 2013 Infiniti JX35 with 90k trouble free miles. Loved that SUV, but too small for my needs. Day 1 of owning Escalade heard tranny slipping and truck bangs and thumps with every shift. Dealer replaced tranny fluid and that made a huge difference. Took back possession of vehicle and right away, heard an engine ticking. Took it back and needed a new belt. Now when I put truck into AUTO from 2WD in rain and snow it sounds like the front differential(?) is slipping. Truck sounds rough, feels like crap and I’m trying to get another appointment with the dealer. These trucks looks gorgeous, don’t get me wrong and I love the Kona leather interior with the Captains seats. It’s comfortable and fast, but the reliability is so bad that after 3 months I can comfortably say I won’t buy Cadillac again. Also the dealer experience has been less than stellar, but I realize that depends on individual dealerships. I wish Lexus or Infiniti would build an XL Luxury SUV. With as many Escalades and Suburbans on the road, I have to assume there’s a solid business case. In either case, check out the Navigator or Expedition, because GM has self destructed with their horrendous reliability. But if you must get GM, please get an extended warranty. Cadillac certified warranty is crap. My Fidelity warranty has covered more than $3,700 worth of fixes that Cadillac wouldn’t cover.
- Safety
- Technology
- Performance
- Interior
- Comfort
- Reliability
- Value
Stay Away, Transmission complete garbage
bbtx1987, 10/18/2019
2016 Cadillac Escalade ESV Luxury 4dr SUV 4WD (6.2L 8cyl 8A)
11 of 12 people found this review helpful
We bought our 2016 Escalade ESV new 3.5 years ago and have been PLAGUED with issues. Drove it off the lot and brought it back within 3 weeks complaining of rough transmission shifting at low speeds, steering wheel vibrations and a whining noise at high speeds. Car always 'within spec' so nothing the dealer could do. If we would of just returned the dang thing. Since then, we've had the car in over 12 times complaining about the transmission alone. I've also had to have the rear HVAC controls replaced twice for controls not responding and rear seat warmers turning on by themselves, drivers seat replaced for failing controls, steering week column replaced, rear lift gate motor replaced as it died, the battery died and stranded me, rear shocks leaking and replaced at 33k miles, wood paneling replaced from bending out of place, lane assist recalibrated.... And the kicker... all those times I complained about the transmission, I had GUNK in the transmission fluid at 33k miles - that needed replaced. Now we are ditching this hunk of junk for something more reliable given we believe the transmission is faulty and irreversibly damage given we've been complaining since we drove the car off the lot. DO NOT WASTE YOU MONEY, we are pissed at the quality of this crap GM product with how much we spent. We filed a complaint with GM and they just wanted to 'assist us with getting it fixed with the dealer.' Thanks, but no thanks. I can schedule taking my car into the dealer for the 20+ time on my own, as I have for the entire 3.5 years we've owned the thing. Worst car I've ever owned - never had this many issues on my other cars combined!
2016 Cadillac Escalade ESV for sale near you
3 of 235 listings
- Platinum 4dr SUVMSRP: $32,99922 mi away
- Premium 4dr SUVMSRP: $33,97729 mi away
- Platinum 4dr SUVMSRP: $17,90038 mi away
See all 235 listings
Last Cadillac I will own
22jrm, 06/16/2016
updated 12/17/2018
2016 Cadillac Escalade ESV Luxury 4dr SUV 4WD (6.2L 8cyl 8A)
31 of 37 people found this review helpful
Purchased a $90,000 2016 Cadillac Escalade ESV only to find engine coolant on garage floor. Ended up finding out engine was sent out of the factory with bad left engine head. Ended up with motor of the Brand new engine stripped down to motor block in small town GM shop with parts laying all around to be fixed. Asked Cadillac to exchange vehicle since I will never trust this engine and didn't not purchase used or refurbished and told warranty fixed it and that is all they will do. So I spent all this money to have a dependable family vehicle thinking I had the best customer support since it was Cadillac. I was wrong.
- Safety
- Technology
- Performance
- Interior
- Comfort
- Reliability
- Value
Transmission shifting is still not great.
Griselda C. Gaytan, 03/22/2017
updated 09/25/2017
2016 Cadillac Escalade ESV Luxury 4dr SUV 4WD (6.2L 8cyl 8A)
22 of 26 people found this review helpful
My husband and I have purchased brand new GM vehicles for many years now. Needles to say we have invested a great deal of money in our trucks and suvs. In 2015 we decided to purchase a 2016 Cadillac ESV because we liked the look of it. Well, not everything that glitters is gold, that's for sure!! Shortly after purchasing we started noticing the shifting was rough, the gears shift so rough all the passengers feel the rough shifting especially when taking off and on and off during a ride. The roughness of the shifting gets worse after time. As the problem with the shifting gets worse and worse the truck eventually won't even turn on, it just goes dead. We had to use cables to start it up so we could drive it to the agency and hope it would not leave us stranded. We expected so much more from a Cadillac vehicle being that our investment was a total of 94,000 dollars. The truck has been in the shop a total of six (6) times and it almost feels as if I've been driving a loaner more than my vehicle. Our family loves to take road trips in the summer months but we we have not been able to take summer road trips since we do not trust this truck to keep our family safe. We have no faith in Cadillac products and will never, EVER invest in Cadillac again!! We contacted GM to informed them of our concerns and expected GM to stand by their product but the best they could do was inform us that the shifting pattern is a new one with these new Cadillacs and the customers are not used to it. Whaaat??? No vehicle that we have ever driven shifts as rough and in such unpredictable patterns as this Cadillac ESV. Plus every time we get our vehicle back and new parts such as , gear box, are replaced and computer is reprogrammed it rides much better but eventually the problem starts once again until it gets so bad it eventually goes dead again! We will be trading this useless piece of JUNK for a real quality suv. Obviously GM does not care enough about their customers to keep them satisfied. Never Again!! It's been a while since my first review and a lot has changed. After filing the lemon law documents through the BBB and getting our lawyer involved GMC offered to exchange our vehicle for any other vehicle we wanted. We paid a fee of approximately 10,000 dollars which in the lemon law is called a usage fee. The usage fee is basically what you have to pay for the time the vehicle was used based on a formula. We chose another Cadillac Escalade ESV. it was great at first but now just two months and a half driving the vehicle we are starting to notice the modulator acting up. We will be calling the agency to get it serviced. This truck is much, much better. We are hoping it just needs adjustment. The interior assembly of this new 2017 model seems to be much sturdier since I don't hear rattling of panels like with the last one. It's too soon to tell though. If you are thinking of spending high dollar on a luxury vehicle I don't recommend it. Try Lexus or Range Rover.
- Safety
- Technology
- Performance
- Interior
- Comfort
- Reliability
- Value
2016 Cadillac Escalade Esv Platinum
M. Curry, 10/01/2020
2016 Cadillac Escalade ESV Platinum 4dr SUV 4WD (6.2L 8cyl 8A)
6 of 6 people found this review helpful
$130,000, seriously for this POS... AC stopped getting cool, replaced condenser $650 Entertainment center "Cue" $1150 Hard shift, replaced fuild then heat sensor $$1400 Fuel injectors, $1980 Bubbled dash, pending Adapative Cruise control module $950 Hard brake pedal, but the said I need 4 rotors and all new pads, expensive, over $1,000 Seat massage, warranty Door handle, warranty Front Suspension, from 2017 miles to Aug 2019 to figure out the bolts was loose. "Right front adjuster nuts" $108 Camera realigned, 3 times and they still don't operate correctly, $100 plus each time I am afraid to start it up, the manager at the Cadillac dealership said my vehicle has 103,000 miles and needs to be replaced, what do you expect from a 100,000 mile vehicle. My complaints started in 2017, around 35k miles, they purposely put a band-aid on the vehicle until my warranty expired.
- Safety
- Technology
- Performance
- Interior
- Comfort
- Reliability
- Value