2025 Cadillac Escalade IQ Review: Setting a New Standard

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The latest Cadillac is a laundry list of achievements the likes of which no other automaker can tout, and it now sets the bar in many ways. The 2025 Cadillac Escalade IQ is a vehicle for the future, with all the power, glitz, tech, luxury features, range, battery, and of course, the weight one can pack into a vehicle. The $340,000 Celestiq might be the brand’s hand-built flagship, but the Escalade IQ is the new “It” car that presumably everybody who is anybody will line up to buy.

No other vehicle in this segment combines everything the Escalade IQ does, and it further shows why Cadillac is having its best moment in 20 years.

The Basics

Despite the appendage to the name, the IQ still looks like an Escalade. No one’s mistaking this thing for anything else. At 18.7 feet long, the Escalade IQ is 12.4 inches longer than an Escalade thanks to its 15.3-inch longer wheelbase.

The front features a massive panel with embedded LED lights instead of a grille, flanked by a cascading waterfall of LED lights that act as the headlights. It’s quite a light show at night when this thing powers up. The Cadillac logo slowly comes to life as if each piece needed to boot up, followed by other light animations. With a smaller rear glass window than the gas-powered SUV, the IQ looks a bit squattier, sportier, and more pinched in the rear than the gas-powered model. The dip in the roofline is for aerodynamics, of which this probably has those of a lead-lined brick. Chrome bits on the front fenders that bleed into the front doors with the Cadillac logo act like cufflinks on this luxury suit. It’s bold. It’s audacious. It has more presence, especially at night, than any other luxury SUV, and when all four 24-inch wheels turn up at the club, people are going to stare.

Inside the electric SUV is a rolling amphitheater of screens, leather, and shiny bits. A 55-inch screen spans the dashboard pillar-to-pillar, augmented by an 11-inch screen rising from the center console for climate, door, and seat controls. There’s a volume knob, scroll wheel, and quick-access keys to bring up essential infotainment system functions. The second row of the Escalade IQ tested featured the $7,500 Executive Rear Seat Package, which added 12.6-inch touchscreens to the front seatbacks, heated, ventilated, and massaging captains chairs split by a center console hiding fold-out tables, all augmented by an 8-inch touchscreen to control the seats.

The materials are mostly top-shelf, wrapped in leather, and the wood trim glistened with gold-like flake embedded under the shiny lacquer. The leather wasn’t as soft as the hides found in a Bentley or even the hand-stitched stuff from Mercedes-Benz, but it was easily among the best found in a GM vehicle this side of the Celestiq.

Driving the 2025 Cadillac Escalade IQ

Every Escalade IQ has a dual-motor powertrain that sends 750 horsepower and 785 pound-feet of torque to all four wheels. There’s no tri- or even quad-motor option in sight. A giant 205-kWh lithium-ion battery pack and 800-volt electrical architecture feed the beast and allow it to go from zero to 60 mph in 4.7 seconds. It rides on adaptive air suspension that’s paired with a rear-wheel steering system to shrink its massive footprint.

At no point does the Escalade IQ feel light on its 24-inch feet. The 9,334-pound mass is ever-present, but in a “this thing is a tank” sort of way. Despite weighing as much as 37 baby elephants, it glides down the road in a mostly controlled manner. Attacking a roundabout isn’t in this EV’s toolbox, but racking up highway miles while you sip a (non-alcoholic) drink because Super Cruise is driving down the freeway for you is an ideal Friday afternoon. There’s less head-toss here than in a Mercedes-Benz GLS when going around a corner, although it weighs nearly twice as much.

While 4.7 seconds is quick but not out-of-this-world quick nowadays, the 0-60 sprint still rearranges your gut from all the mass being shifted with force. However, it’s not as insane as the softly sprung, tri-motor Hummer EV that’ll do it in less than 3.0 seconds. Launching the IQ requires full power and enabling Velocity Max mode via the V button on the steering wheel. Tour mode only delivers 680 horsepower and 615 pound-feet of torque—yet still feels very quick.

Visibility is a mixed bag. Forward visibility is similar to the gas-powered Escalade, but the hood feels even higher and larger, making you feel like you can’t see what’s in front. The A-pillars are massive, which means large blind spots. The small rear glass offers even worse rear visibility, though a video-based rearview camera is standard and solves that issue.

The Highs and Lows

The ohh and ahh factor can’t be denied here. After hosting poker night, a group of guys stopped short of forcing me to light up the Escalade IQ and give them a walkaround. From its size to the screens, and of course, the fact that the doors open and close themselves, this electric flying carpet brings all the boys who wish they were high rollers.

Buyer beware: That Executive Rear Seat Package ruins third-row access. Moving the second-row seats forward is so slow it’s painful, there’s barely any room to squeeze past them to the third row, and even if there was, the second row’s seat belt is completely in the way. Don’t opt for this expensive package unless the third row isn’t needed. The third row’s a write-off here—as the first and second rows have plenty of room, the third is compromised both in leg and headroom. It’s an occasional use case at best, even without the Executive Rear Seat Package option. The other flaws in this luxury SUV include the black trim piece on the center console that wiggled when pushed, and a huge panoramic roof that doesn’t electrochromatically tint.

2025 Cadillac Escalade IQ Features, Options, and Competition

The base 2025 Cadillac Escalade IQ costs $130,090, including $2,390 destination. That huge sum offers everything from 24-inch wheels and a 55-inch pillar-to-pillar dashboard display to a 21-speaker AKG sound system, a five-zone automatic climate control system, and Super Cruise. Stepping up to Luxury 2 trim for $150,715 adds a more powerful 19.2-kW AC onboard charger for faster home charging (vs. the standard Luxury 1 models’ 11.5-kW unit), an integrated trailer brake controller and in-vehicle trailering app, power-operated doors, a 38-speaker AGK Premium Studio Reference sound system, and a massaging front passenger seat.

Frankly, there is no direct competitor. There is no other electric three-row full-size SUV at this level, beneath or below the Escalade. The closest vehicles might be the Rivian R1S and Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV, or even the Mercedes-Benz Maybach EQS SUV. But none of these vehicles are as large or carry this level of presence, regardless of price.

Range, Charging, and Efficiency

GM says the Escalade IQ has 460 miles of range, though that’s not EPA-rated because this thing is so heavy it’s not required to be subjected to such standards. Make no mistake, it has all the range, but not because it’s efficient; it has a massive battery. Throughout 150 miles of highway driving, I averaged 1.8 mi/kWh, which is just bad. That’s the same efficiency as a Hummer EV. Ironically, both roll on 35-inch tires, but obviously not the same tires. Notably, despite the horrendous efficiency, the Escalade IQ will easily go over 400 miles on a single charge at over 70 mph. In a more mixed driving test, Edmunds was able to eke out 558 miles.

The 800-volt electrical architecture enables the Esclade to gain 100 miles of range in 10 minutes when hooked to a 350-kW charger. Charging that huge battery from 0-100% on an 11.5-kW Level 2 home charger will take nearly 18 hours, though the available 19.2-kW onboard charger will slash it down to 10 hours—but your home has to be equipped for it.

Value and Verdict

At $36,795 more than a gas-powered Escalade, it’s hard to say the IQ is a good value. But at roughly $31,000 less than an electric Mercedes-Benz G-Class, and about $50,000 less than an electric Maybach EQS 680 SUV, all while easily delivering more presence than both, a value argument could actually be made here.

For Escalade buyers seeking speed, it’s worth noting a gas-powered Escalade V is $40,000 more expensive than the IQ, and it’s just 0.3 seconds quicker from zero to 60 mph.

There’s no world in which I would rather daily drive a gas-powered Escalade than an Escalade IQ, which is cooler looking, smoother, quicker, and more impressive in nearly every way. It’s an Escalade from the future with a presence that no rival can match today.

Quick Take

No other vehicle today combines this level of range, people and cargo hauling capability, and presence for any money.