Road Tripping Cadillac's Escalade IQL Made Me Feel Like a Kid Again

• Cadillac's largest-and-in-chargest SUV proved a fantastic chariot for a bachelor party road trip.
• The IQL's massive range meant the party never had to stop to make time for charging.
• We found a hack that gives it roughly 100 inches of rear legroom.

I got intimately familiar with the IQL's dimensions. The occasion for my road trip was a friend's bachelor party. Sounds great, right? The problem is that this friend lives in Brooklyn. That meant it was my job to start the journey by piloting the largest SUV on sale through the most densely populated metro area in the country.

And honestly? It wasn't that bad! Yes, the IQL feels massive behind the wheel, and the huge blind spots behind either rearview mirror made me nervous at every crosswalk, but the big Caddy is surprisingly easy to drive. I thank camera-aided visibility for helping me not crash into stuff, and rear-wheel steering for making the IQL's surprisingly tight turning circle comparable to that of a regular Escalade despite being 18 inches longer. 

Super cruising

When I picked up the gang to leave the city, everyone marveled at the size of the frunk. An unexpected bonus cargo hold the size of a regular sedan's trunk is a great party trick.

The actual party was taking place in Vermont, and with Friday afternoon traffic, that meant we had five-plus hours ahead of us. As a driver, Super Cruise made that a lot easier. GM's hands-free highway driving tech is standard on the IQ and IQL, and it (mostly) worked great. I encountered some odd sawing at the wheel at low speeds and surprise momentary dropouts in functionality, but still got lengthy stretches of hands-in-lap cruising that helped reduce fatigue. This is a system that only works on specific highways GM has mapped, and I was surprised at how many smaller regional highways were compatible.

My passengers had a wonderful ride. The IQ and IQL are full of screens, and although I think the dashboard-spanning display up front is something of a gimmick (the screens for the driver aren't configurable enough, and as a driver, I don't like being ignored for a passenger display) but the ones in the back are perfect. Thanks to the household outlet and shared HDMI input, my pals were able to set up Mario Kart in the back and reported none of the noticeable lag I've experienced with some rear entertainment displays. 

Here's the real pro tip we only discovered halfway through the trip: If there are only four people in the car, fold down the second-row seats and have your rear passengers sit in the way back. The IQL has more third-row headroom than the regular IQ, so there's plenty of space back there, and folding the second row effectively creates a pair of ottomans. 

I swear these guys had 100 inches of legroom; they said it was better than flying business class, cackling just like my sibling and I did when we stretched out in the back of that wafty Bush-era Chrysler. Plus, the Escalade was so quiet I nearly missed the siren of an approaching fire truck. Luxo? Check.

The battery trade-off

You know what doesn't feel luxe? Stopping to charge. But remember, this has the same unmatched battery capacity as the Escalade IQ that just set an insane 558-mile record on the Edmunds EV Range Test. Even picking up the car in New York without a full charge, I drove up to Vermont, drove everyone around for the weekend, used the car's outlets for little tasks like inflating my air mattress, and only finally stopped to charge on the way to my family home in Rhode Island because there isn't a fast charger in town. And that included generous use of V mode to unleash all 750 horsepower to make my friends giggle just like my dad did down in Florida 20 years ago. The range is unmatched.

That said, a battery that big means charging isn't quick. The IQL's battery achieves 500-plus miles of range the same way a gas Escalade with a 35-gallon fuel tank would; it's not efficient. Peak charge rate is super fast if you can find a rare 350-kW charging station, and I saw charge rates as high as 280 kW. GM says you can add up to 117 miles of range in 10 minutes on a 350-kW charger, but if you can't, you'll be stopped for a while.

This is an extreme example, but my parents have a slow charger plugged into a regular three-prong outlet at the house to top off the battery of my mom's RAV4 Prime. I plugged in the Escalade with 52% charge, and the computer told me it would be done on Monday, seven days from when I plugged in. 

High IQ thinking

Spending a full week with the car was enough to come across a couple of other learnings, too. First, you miss out on a few things by opting for the lower trim level. The lesser AKG audio option sounds boomy and imprecise at the low end. You have the door controls for massage but no massage feature. You don't get the super-baller power doors all around, and the ambient interior lighting is much more basic. As absurd as it sounds, the base 22-inch wheels look small on this behemoth. Oh, and I still don't like that there's no Apple CarPlay, no easy-access physical button for the 360 camera system, and that Cadillac put plasticky lacquer over the wood trim. 

I can overlook all that. The IQL delivers on vibe and swagger on a scale few other vehicles can even approach. It inspired giggles and awe in all its passengers, just like that silly Chrysler did for me two decades ago in Pompano Beach, and it played a key role in an unforgettable bachelor weekend for a dear friend. What more could you want?