Does Your Luxury SUV Handle Like This?

During the decades of the fifties, sixties and seventies large luxury cars would often be described as boats because of the way they floated down the highway. This could be said of cars like the one pictured along the side margin; a 1959 Cadillac I spotted at the Autofair in Charlotte this year. In order to drive one of these it seemed like you not only needed a driver's license, but also needed to get checked out by the Coast Guard.

Today, some luxury SUVs can leave you with this same feeling. The competition’s trucks provide little feedback to the driver and can dish out a harsh ride. The Cadillac Escalade Hybrid was developed with modern day technology that can also be found in today’s high performance sports cars.

First developed for the Chevrolet Corvette, the Escalade Hybrid comes standard with Magnetic Ride Control. Magnetic Ride Control uses small metal chips mixed in with the shock absorber fluid. The system is computer controlled to provide real-time suspension damping by magnetically charging the metal flakes. The front suspension uses coil over shocks while using a 5-link rear suspension. Also standard is StabiliTrak electronic stability control with rollover mitigation, all speed traction control and rack and pinion steering. All this sounds more like a sports car than a luxury sport utility vehicle.

The design of the rear suspension provides an excellent ride, but it does take up a bit of room under the rear of the vehicle. Because of this, the Escalade designers could not engineer in a fold flat third row seat system. The third row fold flat seats can be found on some of our competitors, but is done with the sacrifice of a smooth ride by using a solid rear axle and leaf springs.

The only way to travel down the highway and get the feeling you are numb, floating boat is to get the original luxury SUV the Cadillac Escalade Hybrid.

The ship at the top of the page is the battleship, USS North Carolina. The North Carolina is 728 feet long, weighs in at 44,840 tons and could carry her crew of 2300 up to 28 knots. She was commissioned in 1941 and saw action during World War II in the Pacific protecting shipping lanes. In 1961 BB55 came to Wilmington, NC where it is a museum and open to the public. The ship is open for self guided tours 8am – 8pm during the summer and until 5pm the rest of the year.