1. We only get them for about a week, so we can’t assess long-term value.

2. They are usually loaded with more options than the average consumer would purchase.

This is where our friends at Dealer Auto Exchange have come in. They are allowing us to pick late-model cars from their selection to give an honest review. These are cars that were bought and used by real consumers.

Now we can mix our impressions of how the car was when new, and how it behaves after being used by actual consumers. We can measure results of what can be expected after a few years of real ownership, and/or what you can expected to find on a pre-owned car lot.



THE CAR

It is a 2005 Cadillac Escalade in black paint and grey leather interior. It has the 6.0-liter Vortec V8 engine rated at 350 hp and 380 lb-ft torque. This is the rear-wheel drive model with 109,000 miles on the odometer.

OVERVIEW

For those who need to use an SUV for real reasons such as carrying kids, towing a boat or moving heavy equipment, it is hard for us to justify laying out at least $60,000 for a new Cadillac Escalade. A brand new Escalade stays off our buying list for two very different, but compelling reasons:

First, it is one of the last automobiles to not hide too much of its brand engineering roots. It is hard to tell the difference between sitting in an Escalade and a fully-loaded Chevy Suburban without looking at the badge. In this case we have a hard time justifying spending $60k+ on a luxurious, but not thoroughly unique car.

The second reason is interesting because despite the first bit we mentioned about the Escalade being badge engineered, it is a badge that brings real status. The Escalade is the car that took Cadillac from the preferred brand for retirement communities and turned it into a modern status symbol. In this case we have a hard time justifying doing any truck activities in a vehicle where we paid a premium for prestige.

We chose this 2005 Cadillac Escalade for our Real World Test vehicle because it may have just eased our reservations about this large luxury SUV.   Our Escalade sells for less than a quarter then when new. If we spent this kind of money on a car, we’d feel a lot better about leaving this car at a job site or filling all three rows with sticky-fingered kids.  A five-year-old Escalade is still a status symbol, but when purchased at the right price, its functionality can finally live up to its size.

That is the approach with this Escalade.  Now that we are not afraid to use it, how user friendly is it?

DRIVE LINES

Our driving parameters are set to a different standard when driving an SUV. Where we wanted a very tight and heavy feeling in our Maserati test car, we want the exact opposite in a large SUV. When new, the Cadillac Escalade is known for being a soft riding vehicle with light, but responsive steering. So the question becomes, does this feeling hold true over time?…and the short answer is: yes. 

Our Escalade kept its light steering, but we also were very well aware of where all the corners were on the car. This Escalade was a surprisingly easy to park vehicle, even at over 16-feet long (and remember there is a longer version called the ESV.)

On the road our test car handles like a big vehicle that is comfortable with its weight. Like an offensive lineman, this Escalade is athletic and quick, but it is not up for high-speed maneuvers. Anyone who has driven any full-sized luxury SUV before knows this exact feeling. So an Escalade is not our first choice for backroads motoring, but it is a prestigious choice to have tow our toys.

Inside there is plenty of room for seven passengers, and the first two rows all have plush captain's chars.  There is a DVD player, dual-zone climate control and Bose stereo system, all of which help solidify this Escalade as a long-haul cruiser.

One feature that we found interesting, but relatively useless was that this car counts the engine’s hours in operation -- a feature usually found in boats. This Escalade showed about 3,400 hours of use, and when factoring the current mileage, this means our vehicle averaged about 32 miles per hour over its lifetime. This little fact became interesting because it is an indicator that our test car likely spent most of its life on the highway. After all for every hour this car idles in a grocery store parking lot, it then had to also spend an hour driving at 64 mph in order to obtain its current lifetime average.

MINDFUL ITEMS

Set aside a few extra hundred dollars to give a car like this a servicing.   From our time behind the wheel with our test car there were no detectible problems, but it gives piece of mind to whoever would buy this SUV. A couple of extra bucks now means worry-free driving until this Escalade hits 200,000 miles – and it will. 

The Vortec engine series had been the workhorse powertrain for GM trucks for almost twenty years by the time it was put into our test car. It is not overly sophisticated so they don’t go wrong very often, and when they do, the engine is easy to fix.

PRICING

Current price ranges for similarly equipped vehicles averages $19,600 – $17,500, this car is currently being offered by Dealer Auto Exchange for $17,500 For more details on this specific car visit Dealer Auto Exchange’s website.