2025 Cadillac Escalade IQ Review: Big Luxury, Bigger Power, No Gas Needed

The 2025 Cadillac Escalade IQ is a massive brute with pure luxury trimmings meant to show the world what can be achieved in a full-size electric luxury SUV.

With jaw-dropping style, 750 horsepower, a 460-mile range, and lightning-fast charging, the all-electric 2025 Cadillac Escalade IQ redefines what luxury SUVs can be. It’s massive, high-tech, and surprisingly refined—arguably the best vehicle Cadillac has ever built. Just don’t expect it to come cheap—or stop on a dime.

Its big

The Escalade, in nearly every form, has always been a big and imposing SUV that delivers luxury qualities and excellent driving manners wherever it goes. The new Escalade IQ shows how big you can really get with an electric SUV. It shouldn’t be too surprising that GM created this large SUV, considering they also created the GMC Hummer EV models, which are extremely large electric vehicles as well.

The new Escalade IQ dwarfs other electric SUVs with a wheelbase that is more than 15 inches longer than the regular Escalade, and an extra foot of actual overall length. The new IQ model is also wider than the original and it sits slightly lower, which makes it easier to enter and exit.

The electric Escalade is heavy

Few vehicles tip the scales at nearly 9,000 pounds, but this big Cadillac does. It has a huge lithium-ion battery pack that delivers 205.0 kWh of usable energy. That is more than enough power to propel this big SUV for up to 460 miles. The 2025 Cadillac Escalade IQ also has an 800-volt electrical system that can add 100 miles of driving range to the battery every 10 minutes using a 350 kWh charging port. These figures are similar to the GMC Hummer EV, which has set the standard for fast charging.

How much power does this SUV produce?

There are two permanent-magnet motors driving the Escalade IQ that team up to produce 750 horsepower and 785 lb-ft of torque. This power is what you’ll find in the Velocity Max version, which is the raciest model of this electric SUV. That means the IQ makes more power than the high-performance Escalade-V, giving you an incredibly high-powered electric vehicle to drive and experience.

The normal output of the Escalade IQ is 680 horsepower and 615 lb-ft. As you would expect, as soon as you hit the accelerator, this big electric SUV takes off and rockets forward. So far, this massive beast has set a claimed 0-60 mph time of 4.7 seconds, which is nothing to sneeze at. Strangely, the Escalade-V is a little quicker, hitting the mark in 4.3 seconds.

Lots of braking to control this power

As you would expect of a massive SUV with lots of power, the 2025 Cadillac Escalade IQ has strong brakes and three regenerative brake settings, including off. The other settings allow the energy lost during braking to be captured and sent to the batteries to extend the driving range and allow you to operate more systems inside the SUV with ease. The most dynamic setting, Regen, makes it so you never have to touch the actual brakes except in hard stop situations, making it easy to slow and stop without using the brake pedal.

Rear-wheel steering improves the turning

The rear-wheel steering system turns the rear wheels up to 10 degrees to ensure the turning circle can be reduced to less than 40 feet. This is incredibly tight for such a large vehicle, making it easy to put the Escalade IQ in parking spaces. There’s also Arrival mode, which turns the rear wheels in line with the front wheels to allow the IQ to crabwalk sideways. This is a fun feature but doesn’t really have any true purpose in this big Cadillac SUV.

The smooth luxurious ride

The 2025 Cadillac Escalade IQ has upper and lower control arms with air springs at all four corners, and this big SUV benefits from the latest generation of MagneRide with specific dampers to smooth out the ride and allow this electric SUV to glide over the roads. The IQ’s ride is stiffer in Sport mode, but when in its normal driving modes, it feels smooth and comfortable during your time on the road and behind the wheel.

The 2025 Cadillac Escalade IQ comes in two trims: Sport and Luxury. These SUVs have Super Cruise, a head-up display, and 12-cubic-foot front trunk to give you an added space to hold some gear during your drive.

Will you take this big, bold, and beautiful Cadillac electric SUV out for a spin?