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2021 Cadillac Escalade First Look -- New Diesel, Hands-Free Driving, and OLED Display! | Chicago Auto Show

SPEAKER: When it comes to big luxury, and I mean really big luxury, the Cadillac name has been hard to beat. But they're at it again with this, the all new fully redesigned fifth generation 2021 Escalade. After 21 years and nearly 900,000 units sold, it's safe to say that the Escalade has matured, but it's kept its core principles intact. And we'll get to those in just a bit. Do me a favor right now. Hit Subscribe, below. We have a lot of great content coming your way.Style is understandably important when it comes to Escalade, and it has tons of it. Literally, tons of it. It's more refined. It's a lot more graceful than before. It's less chunky than before, but still has all that presence we've come to expect from an Escalade, even in this regular wheel-based version. It's a safe bet that the long wheelbase ESV version will have even more presence. Returning are power deployable running boards. But new are soft close doors. Also returning, the 6.2 liter V8 that puts up 420 horsepower and 460 pound feet of torque. The kicker is, there's going to be a six cylinder turbo diesel available that puts out 277 horsepower, but has the same torque specs as the gas engines. There was also a rather veiled hint at something on the sporty side in the future. My hope is maybe a V variant. Whether or not that happens, the Escalade will have a 10 speed automatic transmission and be offered an all-wheel drive and rear-wheel drive. Like the related models from Chevy and GMC, the new Escalade will have a independent rear suspension. And that has several benefits. It'll have a more refined ride quality. It'll have better handling characteristics. And also, opens things up on the interior. There'll be three suspensions available-- the standard steel suspension, a fourth generation magnetic ride suspension, and new for 2021, an air ride suspension. The air ride suspension will have four inches of travel. It can drop two inches down for better passenger access and easier cargo loading. And it'll increase its ride height for better ground clamps if you go off roading. The giant killer for the Escalade, though may be the inclusion of super cruise. It's the only truly hands-free driving system out there. And it's received some updates for the Escalade. One of them being a lane change feature that's similar to Tesla's Autopilot. The super cruise system is also eligible for 200,000 miles of roadways across the country. As important as the exterior and underpinnings are, the interior is also supremely important. The new Escalade has just as much style inside as it does outside. I'm struck by this beautiful horizontal layout that a lot of other manufacturers have gone to. But if you haven't noticed it yet, the most striking is this beautiful curved piece of glass. It's an OLED, which means it's super sharp, and has really great levels of contrast. That means it'll be easy to read in any light. It can be controlled via touch screen, but there's also a dial right here where your hands should normally rest. And that's actually my preferred method of control while I'm driving. It creates a lot less distraction than trying to wobble around with a touch screen. Maybe taking a page out of the Mercedes-Benz playbook, the Escalade will now offer night vision. But it will also offer an augmented reality overly for navigation. That means when you're driving along and there's a turn coming up, it will overly these animated arrows to show you where to turn. It's especially helpful when you're in a city that maybe you're not so familiar with. For 2021, there will also be a lot more color choices for the interior. That includes the colors of leather and a lot of different textures and colors for the wood trim. My favorite may be the one I'm in right now, which has these lovely fabric elements that lended a luxury feel that is, quite frankly missing from a lot of the German manufacturers. The other big news comes in the form of three letters, AKG. AKG has been synonymous with professional recording equipment. And this is their first foray into automotive, and it's exclusive to Cadillac. There will be two systems available. The standard will be a 19 speaker system. And the upgrade, 36 speakers. And there are also some really cool features built in. For example, the front passenger has their own volume control. And it doesn't really affect the overall experience for the driver. So that means it might actually save some marriages. There's another cool feature, and that's related to navigation. The voice prompts for navigation will actually change their staging as it appears to the driver. If you have a turn that's further up, it's going to sound like the voice prompting you to turn is further away. As you get closer, it's going to seem like that voice is getting closer and even kind of shift around, depending on where you need to turn. There are microphones strategically placed throughout the cabin. So as the front passenger or driver, you can have a conversation with someone in the back row and hear them just fine without having to shout. Another cool feature is a fridge and freezer that will go right here in the center console. It means everybody here can enjoy a nice cold beverage, including the second row, where we're headed next. In addition to the typical luxury features we expect from the second row, there are some new additions. Obviously, there is a new 12-inch rear entertainment screen with some cool features. It has USB as well as HDMI input, but they can be independently operated. So you can have two different movies playing. And if you want to share it with the other person, you just kind of swipe it over, and it'll appear on theirs. The sound can also be broadcast through the speakers or through headsets. One convenience item that I found particularly interesting is navigation. You can have someone co-piloting for you back here, find a place you want to go, and send that navigation information up to the front. Thanks to that smart packaging of the new rear independent suspension, there's a lot more space in the third row. 10 inches more of leg room. I fit perfectly back here. It's no longer the penalty it once was. You also have these convenient USB C ports to keep everything charged. Another benefit to that new rear suspension is cargo capacity. There's now 25 and 1/2 cubic feet behind the third row. That's an increase of 68% over last year. Damn impressive. When the Escalade goes on sale this summer it will have the style, presence, and features to do better with our favorite in the class, the Lincoln Navigator. All I can say is, it'll be a hell of a shootout. For more information on the Escalade, the Navigator, and all their competition, head on over to edmunds.com. To see more videos like this, hit Subscribe.

The all-new 2021 Cadillac Escalade addresses previous drawbacks and keeps the improvements coming with impressive results. With the addition of Super Cruise, an available diesel engine and more interior space, it has the chance to reclaim its spot at the head of the class.

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