Escalade ESV looks big but doesn’t act it
The 2003 Escalade ESV joins the regular Escalade sport utility vehicle and Escalade EXT sport utility/truck to give Cadillac a trio of vehicles to satisfy well-heeled big families.
All have the same look with a bold chrome grille, but the Escalade shares the Chevrolet Tahoe platform while the ESV is built off the 22-inch-longer Chevy Suburban platform. This gives the ESV what consumers asked for: a third-row seat to hold more passengers and massive cargo room behind it.
With size comes the ability to hold seven people in comfort. Of course, with size also comes a 12 miles per gallon city/16 mpg highway rating for the 6-liter, 345-horsepower V-8. The ESV comes with a 31-gallon tank to allow for about 500 miles of travel before the need to fill, though with the price of gas, waiting for “empty” to flash calls for yet another sacrifice from pocket or purse.
The ESV looks big but doesn’t act it. Steering and suspension are tuned to deliver a smooth, sedan-like ride and precise handling. Better yet, ESV doesn’t feel top heavy and eliminates unnecessary lean in turns. The ESV feels very secure on the road.
Safety and security features include dual-stage air bags whose deployment speed is based on the occupant’s position in the seat and the speed of impact. Front passenger-seat sensors determine whether someone is on board. If not, or if a small adult, child or child safety seat is there, the bag is deactivated. Nice touch, though children and child safety seats belong in back.
It also comes with traction control and StabiliTrak as standard. Traction control senses wheel slippage at takeoff and applies the anti-lock brakes to the offending wheel to get you moving.
StabiliTrak senses wheel slippage while moving and applies the anti-lock brakes to the offending wheel or reduces engine power to keep you traveling in the desired direction.
Road-sensing suspension eliminates the jolts over rough pavement; automatic level control ensures balanced braking even when the cargo hold is loaded; and rear-park assist beeps when backing up to warn of objects behind you.
Other features include power-adjustable brake and gas pedals; all-season 17-inch radial tires with a wide paw print for optimum road grip; four-wheel ABS; and full-time all-wheel-drive.
I also appreciated the nonslip, perforated leather seats (the front and second rows are heated); running boards for easy entry and exit; “puddle lamps” on the outside mirrors; and a massive cargo hold with a storage compartment and a 12-volt power plug.
The new Escalade has some drawbacks. Second-row seats flip and fold to provide an aisle to the third row. But I had to remove the headrests to fold the backs flat, and even then there’s not much of an aisle. The tailgate window opens separately, but the reach-in height is rather high.
With the tailgate lifted, you can reach in and pull a lever to quickly fold the third-row seat backs to expand cargo capacity. But you need more muscle and dexterity to pull another lever to flip up the third-row seat bottom to expose even more cargo area or to remove the seat. A power folding third seat such as the one the Lincoln Navigator offers would solve the problem.
One other gripe: The Bulgari analog clock is to the right of the console and difficult to see.
Other standard equipment includes power seats, a Bose sound system with a cassette and CD player, automatic climate control, power folding and heated mirrors and one-year free OnStar emergency communications system service.
The ESV has a base price of $55,370. Buyers can add a rear-seat DVD entertainment system for $1,295 to keep the kids quiet on trips and XM satellite radio for $325 to keep the adults entertained.
