Price Range: $42,000 - 48,000
Engine: 2WD OHV 5.3-liter, V8, 285 hp; 4WD OHV 6.0 liter V8, 345 hp
Configuration: Front Engine, Rear 2WD and 4WD; Brakes, Power 4-disc / ">ABS/TCS, 4WD: StabiliTrak; Steering, Power recirculating ball
Dimensions: Wheelbase: 116.0 inches, Overall length: 198.9 inches
Maximum Trailer Towing: 2WD: 7700 pounds; 4WD: 8500 pounds
Fuel Efficiency: 2WD: MPG 14 city / 17 highway, 4WD: MPG 12 city / 16 highway
Safety Features: Driver, passenger and side airbags; ABS, standard
MONTEREY, Calif. -- Check that aggressive face.
With a thick but flat bumper lip, squarish glimmering lenses in corner headlamp clusters and an egg-crate grille reflecting bright chrome, that hard-edged prow of the new Escalade sport-utility wagon looks like it's raring to roll over a nasty stretch of rough pavement.
Sharp lines on body panels that follow the face also look serious, with a thick monotone slab of armor low at the sides and wheelwells flared around big all-season tires ringing shiny seven-spoke aluminum wheels.
It's definitely a different look for a big sport-utility vehicle, but that's the point.
The Escalade, redesigned for a new generational treatment built upon the full-size truck chassis of General Motors, carries a 2002 model-year designation and packs aboard its boxy structure every conceivable mechanical weapon for serious road combat, along with every convenience in a leather-wrapped passenger compartment that seats seven riders in the lap of luxury.
It's also charged with massive power.
The top edition, outfitted with an automatic four-wheel-drive traction device, totes an enormous V8 engine that produces 345 horsepower -- best of any sport-ute.
That's strong enough to propel almost three tons of hunky steel from a stoplight start to the mark of 60 mph in less than nine seconds.
With such high horsepower, so many mechanical features and so much gear for comfort and luxury, one might logically describe this new treatment of Escalade as the Cadillac of sport-utility vehicles, but its grille and all four wheels already wear the laurel wreath and crest of Cadillac.
A clean new design for the Cadillac crest marks its debut on Escalade with the bold face patterned after the Evoq concept car that establishes future styling points for the line.
The aggressive prow suggests strength and king-of-the-road power in the historical manner that the Cadillac brand once represented -- and its future products now in design or production will strive to reclaim.
This new execution of Escalade bears little resemblance to the predecessor, other than the name and basic format of a five-door wagon with full-size dimensions.
The original design, arriving in 1999 following a hasty development to match competition with a sport-utility vehicle sent to Cadillac's mix of products, essentially added leather and gloss to the existing full-size GM wagon already used for Chevrolet's Tahoe and the GMC Yukon.
New Escalade, built on the redesigned full-size GM truck chassis with the enhanced structure of subsequent full-size wagons that rolled out in year 2000, gains sophisticated new mechanical technologies not available on the other wagons, as well as a power boost from the high-compression treatment of a new Vortec 6000 V8 engine.
The 6.0-liter V8, with aluminum cylinder heads and streamlined intake and exhaust ports in a design borrowed from the Corvette engine, nets more power and torque than any other Vortec 6000 application in GM's fleet.
Output rises to 345 hp at 5200 rpm, with torque boosted to 380 lb-ft at 5200 rpm.
To translate all of that torque into propulsion, the engine employs a heavy-duty GM Hydramatic 4L60-E four-speed automatic transmission.
Then the power is applied to all four wheels through a new all-wheel-drive (AWD) mechanism that's always engaged. A magnesium-clad transfer case with viscous coupling distributes the torque between front and rear axles to maintain tire traction through varying pavement conditions.
On dry pavement, the device directs 38 percent of the power to the front axle and 62 percent to the rear axle. Yet slippage of any wheel on wet or icy pavement causes the system to redirect the power away from the axle of the slipping wheel in favor of the other axle where wheels have a better grip.
All of this torque distribution is instant and automatic, as there are no levers to lock or buttons to switch to keep it working.
Also automatic is the Z55 Autoride suspension with continuously-variable road-sensing damping and air-leveling shock absorbers for precise ride control.
And Cadillac's StabiliTrak operates automatically on the Escalade 4WD. The computerized stability control system integrates the continuously variable road-sensing suspension damping with throttle response, steering force, anti-lock brakes and input from sensors that detect lateral as well as linear slippage of the vehicle. It can think and act to correct potentially disruptive vehicle movements.
Big disc brakes corral Escalade, and an anti-lock system keeps it tracking straight during emergency stops.
Additional integrated safety gear includes frontal as well as side-impact air bags for front seat riders, a steel structural system around the cabin and OnStar communications equipment with a hands-free wireless link to personnel at the OnStar Center and 24-hour availability for in-vehicle safety, security and information services.
Further, Cadillac's Ultrasonic Rear Parking Assist is aboard using audio and visual signals as an aid when parking to warn about objects in the wagon's rearward path.
A two-wheel-drive variation of Escalade stocks a 5.3-liter V8 engine that musters 285 hp.
We drove prototypes of both all-wheel-drive (AWD) and two-wheel-drive Escalades on a hopscotch course from Moro Bay to Monterey through California's Coastal Range and Central Valley. The route included winding roads over the mountains, fast-paced runs on stretches of the 101 freeway in the flat valley and stop-and-go traffic leading into Monterey.
Through such varied venues, the Escalades we steered revealed an easy-to-drive attitude supported by smooth-ride sensations and, when prompted, gutsy performance uncommon for such a massive vehicle.
Of course, luxurious comforts lace through Escalade's vast cabin.
Three rows of leather-clad seats provide room for seven riders plus cargo space. Up front, plush buckets put power to seat controls and internal heat elements. Second-row seats split in 60/40 sections that slide forward or fold, and the third bench splits in the middle and flips forward.
A backlit instrument panel brings new analog gauges and there's a new Driver Information Center on the center dash, plus an automatic climate system and Bose Acoustimas audio system with 11 speakers scattered around the cabin and a dashboard CD changer that holds six discs.
New price points also come with new 2002 Escalade editions, as estimated in a range from $42,000 to $48,000.
