After 8 years of GL ownership, and having skipped over to a Cadillac Escalade... here are my (hopefully ) unbiased thoughts:

The overal engineering of the GL is most likely superior

The luxury level of my Premium model Escalade is equal to that of the GL

The nav system, overall electronic interface of the Escalade is superior to the MB system

The 4WD of the Escalade is truly a more "aggressive" 4 wheel system than the AWD of the GL , particularly in the the fact that the rear diff will auto lock in truly awful situations ( which i get into in my winter trips to my Vermont place )

The 3rd row seating in the Escalade is a joke....the GL is WAY better!

Gas mileage of the Escalade is significantly better..... both city and highway

The "auto high beam system" on the GL is more "consistent" and reliable on the GL

The Adaptive cruise on the Escalade is just as good as the GL...works great!

The leather, the wood ( open pore walnut ) is as good or better than what I paid for on the GL 450

The V8 is 420 hp and is the same V8 they are using in the new Sting Ray Corvette ...... great power and amazing fuel mileage.... 8spd tranny as smooth as my GL?? no...

The Escalade is amazingly quiet inside....maybe more than my GL was!

Do I feel like I am driving a truck?? Yes... an amazingly comfortable and luxurious one! .....same feel as a GL ..NO...GL was approaching S class "feel"

Hands free lift gate....very nice! Outboard mirrors on the Escalade...WAY better than the GL.

So far.....that's my assessment .... if the Escalade turns to ***t will I be back to MB?? Absolutely....

 

Great follow up and completely fair and unbiased... (though I think the GL550 is more the competitor to the Slade (engine, and handling aspects of the 550 vs. a typical 450)

btw.. I hate the auto high beam system on our GLs!! and I do hear that the Slade is very quiet too.

 

ty for the comparison. gave some serious consideration to an esv, and may pick up that due diligence again down the road. your insights will be very helpful in the event i do

 

Good to hear back from you Brad. And I appreciate your views on the Escalade vs GL.


My wife and I drove a used 2014 S class over a weekend and got a chance to see if that would be a better fit for us. While it is a beautiful car, it just didn't do it for us like the GL. When we returned the S class and my wife was getting into our GL, see looked at me said "Now I'm home". I've owned several SUV's (Ford Expedition, several Lexus RX's, a Lexus LX570, and now the GL) and my experience the GL has the best ride, is fun to drive (our 550 has 429 HP), and the 3rd row seating is pretty good. I've never received as many compliments for any other vehicle I've owned. Onlookers just love the GL and give me a thumbs-up quite often. When the mid-cycle refresh hits we may order a GLS 63 with all the goodies.


Anyway, happy motoring and keep in touch. The message boards are not the same without you.

 

Thanks Brad, good to hear from you.

Nice thorough review. Your impressions are consistent with what we've surmised over the years. The GL is really the only 3rd row SUV for adults. It's COMAND is inferior to most any electronic console. The GL leans toward luxurious ride over true all terrain function.

I wonder about the safety of the Caddy? I have always thought the MB's tilted heavily toward safety. Does the Caddy have similar features? I guess I would lump electronics like presafe brake in addition to airbags, structure, etc.

 

Nearly went with the '15 escalade myself, but as stated, unless you get the ESV, the third row is a complete joke. Bells and whistles easily equal the GL's offering, but when all was said and done, I needed a usable third row.

The Escalade did ride and handle very well for a 3 ton vehicle.

 

Here are the issues that I had with the previous gen Escalade that I noticed after driving several rentals:

1. I could not place two large suitcases upright behind the third row when raised up as I can in the GL.

2. The steering wheel came out of the dash on an angle as if they forgot that someone had to drive it. The steering wheel itself did not point straight ahead!! Not really that big of a deal, just bizarre from an engineering/design perspective.

3. Crazy amounts of under steer and over steer based on how you applied the throttle which was easily noticed on exit ramps and freeway on ramps when accelerating and decelerating. There was nothing linear about it. This is what reminded me more than anything I was driving a pickup truck.

4. The cylinder deactivation was annoying to put it mildly. around 45-50 you could constantly feel the cylinders trying to decide if they wanted to stay on or off and you could feel the vehicle slightly accelerate and decelerate every time the engine would activate and deactivate. On a long stretch of highway with a 45 mph speed limit, it was like the engine could never make up its mind what it wanted to do. Every little change in grade would make the engine change modes. I've noticed this on every Escalade I have driven.

5. This is not from my experience with the current model, but my understanding is that the adaptive cruise only works above 15 mph. So, in traffic, it isn't as simple as just flicking the cruise stalk to resume from a stop. You have to accelerate and then wait until you are above 15 to resume. It will bring you to a stop, but it won't follow another car slowly and can't really help you out much in traffic.

Items 1-4 were all deal breakers for me. Have any of these things changed on the 2014-2015 Escalades? The previous gen literally didn't have enough storage because of how the tight it was behind the third row. Isn't there even less room now with the raised floor?

 

Thank you for stating this. I've always thought I'm crazy when I drove my son-in-law Tahoe, which is basically the same thing as Slade. I'd like to meet GM engineers and ask them if they ever tried to sit inside.

 

In theory....the Caddy should be as safe. It has all the same electronic intervention systems as the GL plus a couple of "different" ones.....the backup sensors will evaluate your backup speed, whether you have your foot on the brake, etc. and if it feels you are going to fast and it sees something it will stop the car. It also has a "center front" airbag to prevent the driver and the front passenger from slamming into each other in some sort of crazy side impact. They advertise the structural engineering....but of course who knows....MB has had the advantage on that for years!

 

1. Nope....you still don't have the room in the standard Escalade...in the ESV there is indeed the room

2. That would have been crazy....not an issue on the new model apparently

3. I find the steering on this one to be very "positive" and I can actually take the ramp curves at speed with a greater sense of "control" than I had on my GL's. Also....with the last two GL's that I had ... I noticed that if I hit standing water ( interstate driving ) you could feel the water ( or slush on snow covered roads) "pull" the steering one way or the other....sometimes was a bit scary....I've put the Escalade to that test several times over the last few days and it exhibited NONE of that.

4. I've been kind of fascinated by the cylinder deactivation thing because when GM first came out with this many years back....it created lots of issues. That being said....I don't even notice it....I have to look at the electronic info screen that tells me what mode the engine is in otherwise I wouldn't know....very smooth. Now what you CAN notice is the 8spd trans. moving through the low gears at slow speed, at cruise you don't notice anything until you punch it.....I hardly ever could tell when the GL was shifting.

5. You are correct....it works wonderfully on the highway, can be adjusted to maintain a further or closer distance from vehicle in front and will slow you down and speed you up just as the Distronic system...and it will bring the vehicle to a complete stop....but having done that, the driver must take over and bring the vehicle back up to speed over 15 to reengage the system.

 

Just a few more notes.....the "kona leather option" was worth it...very supple and a higher grade look to it than the standard leather in the GL. The front seats are very comfortable as are the 2nd row Capt. chairs, more "soft" than the GL....however, the GL side bolsters are more supportive.
The adjustable throttle and brake pedals are WONDERFUL considering i have a 5'2" wife!!! The OnStar remote app for your phone or tablet is terrific....can start the car, lock it, unlock...locate it, get remote diagnostics, etc.....( from anywhere in the country ) all stuff that Embrace promised but did not deliver at least on my 13 GL. The door, lift gate , and hood seals on the Escalade Premium and Platinums are phenomenal ... easily double what you see on the GL....makes things very quiet and , in the case of the engine compartment....virtually none of the road slop has intruded onto the surfaces of the hood or "engine room" components....I am actually someone who checks on thatI used to clean the GL engine compartment regularly because so much road salt slop and mud from my Vermont runs would find its way into there! Finally...Im not sure about the paint finish yet....I felt the GL's had the best body paint work of any cars I had ever owned....the Slade looks nice, but it might be thin....will know more after winter goes away!

 

Fyi- they just released a patch for the tranny issues you are describing. It is considered a temp patch as GM knows there is a problem with the new 8 speed but doesn't have a permanent solution. Some people have even been getting new trannys. I am actively looking into getting a Sierra Denali with the 6.2/8 speed and the forums are ablaze with it. I'll probably wait for a '16 to let them get the bugs out.

 

One thing that got me excited about the Escalade was the fact that it has 6 USB ports throughout, and a full-sized power outlet (complete with the grounding plug) which is great for laptops etc.

 

Just a note....they folks on this forum seem to know a great deal more about their vehicles than some of the folks on the Escalade forum...but then, it is the first year for the new gen Escalade so that may be the cause!

 

blittle, you should check your steering wheel again, I sat in a '15 Escalade and a '15 Denali today and they both still have the steering wheel coming out of the dash on an angle. It's pretty obvious if you look for it. In fact, you can stand outside of the vehicle and look through the window and see that the wheel is angled toward the driver's left shoulder. It's not really a big deal but bizarre from an engineering perspective.

Also, I noticed that you can indeed put a standard large suitcase behind the third row and sit it upright and it fits with just a gentle push of the liftgate when closing. You can tell they designed it to perfectly fit up inside of the rear window just like it does on the GL.

I'm in the market for another SUV and I can say that I was impressed with the interiors of both vehicles.

 

Resurrecting an old thread as we are in the market to upgrade the wife's ML350. Choices were limited to the Denali, Escalade, GL550 or the Lexus GX460. It has quickly narrowed down to the GL550 and Escalade

The Lexus came off of the list almost immediately due to the pitifully powered V8 @ ~306 HP. The Denali was next and while we liked the interior and new tech GMC is offering it still felt / rode / drove like a truck.

Next was the Caddy - WOW was our first impression. We looked at the Platinum which was decked out with every option imaginable. The interior was spectacular with a suede headliner and door accents. Basically anything that wasn't leather was suede. The Tech was much better than the Denali - atlas in presentation. The seats were a dream and the CUE infotainment system was very easy to navigate. The seats were very comfortable with a massage feature that rivals MB's. The only downside I could notice was it still felt somewhat truck-like. There is plenty of power and the magna ride suspension felt sporty and nimble - at least as much as it can with a 5800b vehicle. Power was steady and the exhaust note has a sweet rumble even with the Bose cabin noise cancelation system working. It just didn't feel like the GL with its effortless acceleration. The GL feels like it will go 150mph if you are brave enough to hold the accelerator down that long. The Slade on the other hand was starting to lumber a bit at 85mph. We can cruise in either the wifes ML or my E at 100+ all day long if we dare. Both feel like there are effortlessly carrying you down the road. Never had a car feel like that until we started driving MB's.

Cost wise the Escalade is ~$10k cheaper as we get GM employee pricing through a family member. The Slade comes with 4yr / 50k service includes as well so cost of ownership will be ~$3-4k less as well. I do worry a bit about a GM car holding up over time - we would be keeping either for ~7 years / ~100k.

Anyone going through or have already travelled this path between the GL550 / Escalade Platinum?

 

I went through the exact same comparison and decided on the GL550. Not sure it's the right decision unfortunately. While I love the GL, the Escalade definitely has better connectivity - 6 USB ports for example, than the GL550 and I really like the remote car start on the Escalade. The GL550 does ride better IMO, but for a family hauler, I think the Escalade would be better (although room behind the third seats for storage sucks on the Caddy - get a Skybox).

I've also had a couple issues with the GL550 like the rear door not locking (fixed under warranty), my MBRACE not working (needs to be reloaded next time at the dealership) and a weird clicking sound on startup with the car is not warmed up (I believe a timing belt TSB). I am at 25K miles now and questioning the reliability.

I honestly think it's a toss up. Captain chairs are really nice if you have kids and plan on using the third row. Can't beat that easy access on the Caddy.

 

Thanks for the comments. I've got the local Caddy dealer locating a black raven / jet black platinum trim for us which he thinks could be in tomorrow. If so, we have a serious decision to make.

The thing I struggle with on both sides of the GL decision is that it will be almost the same interior as the wife's current ML plus ~18 inches of additional space behind the middle seats and ~$60k to trade. No admittedly the GL has many of the options I tried to get her originally with an ML550 but she din't want the V8 back then.

There is no really difference in the rear seat leg room given the longer wheel base. My boys are 13/15 with the oldest being almost 6' tall. He gets a bit cramped back there in the ML to say the least and no way in hell am I going to ride in that back seat. At the same time the familiarity, MB smoothies of acceleration and handling and the interiors just wear well are all great features.

 

The grass may look greener, but...

Car and Driver rankings

 

What a crap list...

 

What is this based on? Not reliability....

 

Or popularity, sales or reality.

 

http://www.caranddriver.com/mercedes-benz/gl-class

 

I never realized how clueless they were. Thanks.

 

Glad to see you gave the Escalade a try.

There was a recall up for the new Escalades.

The guys at the Cadillac forum are figuring out the issues with the new one since it's the first years of the redesign. Hopefully the next year model make so more sense and they add more stuff to it as well.