Or, phrased another way, the price of a base gasoline-powered 2025 Escalade and a 2025 XT4 – with money left over.
As is the brand’s recent strategy, the 2025 Cadillac Escalade IQ takes a two-pronged approach to trims, with Luxury and Sport models priced within a spit of each other but bringing different exterior aesthetics. The latter has a darker trim and different wheels but each have the good stuff like a 55-inch curved display screen in the cabin and an estimated driving range of about 460 miles on a fully charged battery.
It’s a $20,000 walk to the so-called Luxury 2 and Sport 2 trims, bringing even more sumptuous interior trappings such as a 36-speaker AKG Studi Reference sound system and massaging front seats. A choice of blue or tan leather upholstery is gratis but stepping up to the Executive Second-Row Seating package is a $7,500 proposition which adds 14-way massaging chairs, more screens, and dual wireless charging in that row. It also ups the AKG speaker count by two. In total, a check-all-the-boxes example will crest $170,000 including destination but before The Man takes his share of taxes.
For the unfamiliar, the 2025 Cadillaq Escaladiq uses GM’s don’t-call-it-Ultium battery platform with a capacity of cramming over 200 kWh into its case. A typical CCS port is on board for now, though The General is careful to point out that a ‘GM approved’ NACS adapter allows charging at the vast network of Tesla Superchargers. At full whack, it is apparently possible to replenish 100 miles of range in about 10 minutes.
Compared to an Escalade gasser, the IQ is about a foot longer but half an inch closer to the ground and approximately the same width. Weight of the EV is prodigious at roughly 8,800 pounds or more than a ton heavier than a loaded gasoline-powered variant. Standard Escalades make 420 horses from a 6.2L V8 while the IQ is good for 750 ponies when in a so-called Velocity Max mode.
For comparison, the Escalade V-Series belts out 682 hp and starts at $161,990. Given the price and power specs, that model is a better analog for any head-to-head Escy comparo – but then we wouldn’t have had such a clickable paragraph above the jump. Checking all the boxes on a V actually places its MSRP right on top of a loaded IQ.
[Images: GM]
Become a TTAC insider. Get the latest news, features, TTAC takes, and everything else that gets to the truth about cars first by subscribing to our newsletter.