Cadillac Escalade vs Lincoln Navigator - Which American Luxo-Barge is Truly Nicer?

Hi folks and welcome to the Truck King YouTube channel. The battle that we are looking at today that is Cadillac versus Lincoln has been raging for over 100 years and even back then people knew if you wanted the best of the best in automotive technology you went to one of these two brands. Well is that really still the case? We're going to find out today when we compare that the Cadillac Escalade to that right there the Lincoln Navigator. Let's kick it off by comparing the powertrains. On my left in the Cadillac Escalade we have a naturally aspirated 6.2 liter v8 that thing is making 420 horsepower 460 pound-feet of torque and that is sent through a 10-speed automatic. Now the Lincoln Navigator over here also uses a 10 speed but that's where the similarities end. That is a twin turbo three and a half liter v6 and it is cranking out 440 horsepower 510 pound-feet of torque so yes the Lincoln is making more. Now when it comes to fuel economy pretty similar but the Cadillac is worse. Over here you're talking about 16 miles per gallon combined where the Lincoln is rated for two better 18 miles per gallon combined. The specific models we are looking at today are the Cadillac Escalade Sport Platinum and the Lincoln Navigator Reserve. These are basically top trim models and the prices speak to that. That Cadillac Escalade over there costs $130,000 here in Canada where that Lincoln Navigator is $114,000. Now usually I save the pricing till the end but hey if you're like me and you'll never be able to afford something like this I wanted to tell you up front so you can just click out of this video now and go watch us go off-roading or something because there's no doubt these things are crazy expensive but hey now we're going to dive into them and I'll show you what you get for all that money. And now it's time for another episode of Does Steve Fit and frankly if you can't fit in an Escalade you better find a new line of work. Yes this is a monstrous SUV and that's why you buy one of these things right to be a monster and to have a ton of space. This is just over 41 inches of second row legroom so I fit no problem. Now we do have the panoramic sunroof. I have just enough headroom but it is tight. I stand at 6'2". One of the things I like in these SUVs nowadays all of this adjustability for the second row passengers so you can really give the third row a lot of space or if they're not back there you can give yourself a lot of space. I do appreciate that and now let me hop in back there. So the third row of the Escalade is 34.9 inches of legroom which as third rows go it's pretty dang good. So I can climb in here pop this seat down in front of me and there we go. Now there is a nice kind of jut up into the roof here. I actually almost have more headroom in the third row and I legitimately fit back here. The floor isn't too high. This is exactly why you buy one of these monsters is because in the third row a real full-size adult can actually sit back here. It's not just reserved for kids and mother-in-laws. And I'm out. Out here at the back there are two different ways to open the hatch on your Escalade. There is a kick switch which is a little finicky and then and I appreciate all of you internet commenters who are watching us and making sure we do things correctly you can also press this emblem. This is something I didn't know before we did an Escalade review comparing it to the Jeep Grand Wagoneer. You should go check that out and I wasn't aware that this is a button but sure enough you press that and it opens. So behind the third row here that's 25 and a half cubic feet of storage space. Not a ton and this is really going to be your choice. If you are using the third row not a lot of storage or go ahead and fold those down. That's over 75 cubic feet of storage and now you have an absolute ton of storage space in the back of this SUV. So the important thing you need to know in the comparison is that in the second row the Lincoln has about half an inch less leg room than the Cadillac. In the third row the Lincoln has about one inch more. So now I'll climb in and see how that translates. Well this feels very similar. Once again panoramic sunroof. I have just enough headroom here but it is enough and then once again this seat like the Cadillac has tons of adjustability which is pretty nice and then you can't help but notice this monster console here too in the back. Lots of storage cup holders and then a little touch screen here too. Pretty neat. So now let me see if the third row is any bigger. Now here in the Lincoln you press this button on the side and the seats tumble forward so yeah just about as easy to get in as the Escalade. Let me fold my headrest up pull this guy back and yeah honestly on paper there's an extra inch and it feels like it if not more. I have enough headroom. I have enough knee room. The floor here might actually even be a little lower so I got to say for me this is actually the more comfortable third row over here in the Lincoln Navigator but it is safe to say that a full-size adult can sit in both of these third rows. Now for the back end of the Lincoln. First of all there's a feature both of these SUVs have I have to show you. The glass independently opens which is nice if you want to reach in and just toss something in or grab out your groceries. I do like having that option and then of course this also has a powered hatch. Now when you're talking about storage the Lincoln has less. Behind this third row there's about five cubic feet less than the Escalade and yeah that's not really a lot and then once you fold down these rear seats and yes they are powered as well you get about 10 cubic feet less than the Escalade with all of these folded down. Now still out here in the real world this is a ton of space so I don't think you're going to be left wanting but it is good to know that when it comes to storage the Escalade does have the leg up by a little bit. Both of these SUVs put on quite a show at night too with all the lights when you walk up to them take a look. Now it's time for us to go for a drive folks so here we are in the Lincoln Navigator. Now I'm going to drive the Navigator, Dad's going to drive the Escalade and that's because I've spent quite a few days with the Escalade vice versa for Dad so we're trying out the other SUV here. So this Navigator of course has the EcoBoost in it. We're already cruising at speed but put your foot to the floor and it delivers man. It is nice smooth power. It's not really anything exciting to listen to. This EcoBoost does not scream like the V8 does in the Cadillac but the power comes on strong there's no doubt about that. The other thing I noticed getting in here just sort of initial impressions are the seats Dad. The seats in here are a little more comfy than the Cadillac. They have like a million different adjustments. I don't know I think they're 32 way but it's ridiculous how many ways you can adjust these seats and they will massage you and there's something I didn't mention when I was in the back. The second row will massage you as well. Now that's about a $2,000 option but still that's pretty cool. You can get a second row of massaging seats and those are the kind of features they just kind of keep having to expand them because it's like what else are you going to do? These things have been so luxurious for so long what more can you add? Well there's one example they added second row massaging seats. So yeah I don't know those are my initial takeaways. What have you been feeling driving the Lincoln all week? First job of a vehicle like this is to accommodate a lot of people. So that said the back seat the massaging second row makes a lot of sense. Oftentimes I don't know these vehicles can be bought for corporate purposes. The guy driving is not necessarily the owner. True. You know the guy who's important is back there. So I think the emphasis on rear seat comfort also comes from that. And hell you know if you can show off to your buddies and say you know oh by the way you can massage your butt on the way to the golf course. Why not? Yeah no no doubt about that and that's exactly what these things are about showing off right. And that kind of leads me into this interior because when you get in you know right away you are pretty wowed by all the materials. Really nice kind of wood and the brown leather and the black leather and the stitching. But my once again the initial takeaway that initial feeling that I had stupid mosquito I almost got him now I did. Was and you can tell me if you felt this way. The Cadillac or the Lincoln here this feels a little bit like old man luxury. Like a nice old mahogany smelling library. Whereas the Cadillac feels like young man luxury. It feels like it's trying to be cutting edge and literally has a lot of sharp angles and then it has you know the night vision and all the technology and stuff. So that's that's sort of my feeling on it and that's not a bad thing about the Lincoln but it feels more upscale luxury. Would you uh you get those feelings? Well you know if you want to go old man young man I I'd rather go uh you know stately classic very very nicely appointed uh versus Cadillac which is loud and crass. Okay so you know if it's I guess it's more along the lines of what kind of a person are you? Yeah fair enough right yeah the the Lincoln would be in that classical music going to the opera commercial and the Cadillac would be in the rap music video. Yeah and we don't want to don't want to stereotype anybody. No but it's true it's it's the way that it kind of comes across. Another important aspect of these big SUVs is interior noise and they're both quite quiet in here but I want to see which one is quieter. So we're getting out the decibel meter on my phone and we're going to do a test. We're going to drive for a minute we're going to do the same section of road and we're going to see which one is quieter. We have the sunroof closed, windows closed, HVAC off and now we're going to be totally silent. I'm ready when you are dad. Okay well what was our what were our numbers there? 63 minimum 81 maximum for an average of 75. That's the most important 75 decibels average and I was running 70 kilometers an hour so once again we'll repeat the test exactly the same in the Cadillac and we'll see if it's any quieter or louder. Okay time for our sound test here in the Escalade. So once again we're going to hit the decibel meter we're going to drive for a minute and we're going to see what happens. Ready dad? Here we go and there it is that's the same one minute same stretch of road and the Cadillac was also or just slightly louder. Our average here dad was actually 76 decibels so one dB louder than in the Lincoln. I'm a little surprised at that but you know the decibel meter doesn't lie. Although I do think the overall takeaway is that they're both very similar and that is to say very quiet. And now we're here driving in the Escalade so first off dad why don't you nail it let's feel it. So it feels pretty good. Definitely a 6.2. It sounds so good. This is the optional performance exhaust on this Escalade so it's even louder than a standard Escalade but dang does it sound good. Sorry Ford you're just never gonna get that sound out of the EcoBoost. However I will say I do think I felt the power difference when the EcoBoost is going at full tilt. It feels a little quicker and it's got a little bit more jam there. Yeah as the mid-range comes on when those turbos spool up it really has a kick in the ass. Yeah no doubt about that but this thing does sound good. Now from the passenger seat dad my big takeaway man is these are very similar. They both drive big but they're also both super smooth and I don't think I could pick one to say one is smoother than the other or more comfortable than the other. They're both smooth and comfortable wouldn't you say? Does one of them stand out to you in the way it actually drives? Not really I mean they're they're you know they're long wheelbase excellent suspension it's it's all about comfort and they both have it in spades so if you want to try and pick one over the other you're you're really splitting hairs. Looking inside now that we're sitting over here uh yeah I mean the Cadillac interior is gorgeous as well. I like the stitching we have this deep brown leather here in our vehicle today and then this huge wraparound screen dad and this is sort of what I was talking about the difference between sort of the more upscale luxury and then this being the high-tech cutting edge luxury. This screen is massive and it's curved which is really cool it just it gives you that sense of high tech but overall again I don't think I'm saying one interior is better than another. I couldn't honestly say that and feel good about it it's just they're different and this is going to come down to what you prefer right? Each one kind of fixates on different options and what I'm seeing is in the Cadillac it's more along the lines of the electronics um and you know I don't see the point of having an option if I'm not going to use it and for instance this this uh augmented reality augmented reality real-time display whatever the heck it is I wouldn't use it um the only time it's really any good is when you've got the nav system operating it's certainly very good for that but just to have basically exactly the same thing I'm looking through the windshield at displayed on a screen below no yeah so distracted you know what for that reason alone I would go with the Lincoln now hold your horses there's a couple things in the Escalade you have to appreciate first of all something you would have loved when I was six years old is the conversation enhancement button so you hit a button on your steering wheel and then it pumps your voice into the back so even if your kids are in the rear row they're gonna hear you nice and clearly and I do have kids I'm using it all the time and actually really like that feature dad can you can you frighten them oh yeah oh yeah I mean I'm loud enough as it is and then you put that thing on and you really crank your voice okay well then maybe there's something there and then the other feature augmented reality I will agree that personally I don't think I would use it that much but the night vision and it's not just gimmicky hey I can see you know heat signatures at night it's actually going to help you detect animals in the ditch so it's if it's actually going to make me safer driving at night I'm all for it and I'm all for Cadillac coming up with systems like that so yes there's a ton of cool stuff going on in this Escalade there's even a rear view camera mirror up here which the Lincoln doesn't have and then dad you can't discount just the name Escalade it means a lot the Cadillac Escalade has been around for a while it has a reputation and people will be willing to pay for the name Escalade over Navigator at least in my opinion however what this review or this comparison really boils down to is these two American luxury SUVs are very similar they're both super powerful spacious and luxurious one of the biggest differences though is the price the Lincoln Navigator is going to save you $15,000 compared to this Cadillac Escalade so at the end of the day I like them both I love the features here in the Escalade but if I'm going to get the same amount of luxury for less money I find myself leaning towards the Lincoln just like you dad any other thoughts on it or you agree with me the only thing I'm going to say is that perhaps we're the wrong guys to review these vehicles because if you're really looking at buying one of these things maybe $15,000 don't matter that much to you in which case yeah name brand is going to sway you more so in addition to which Lincoln resale is not as strong as Cadillac so a couple of small things to think about but I mean these two behemoths are meant to move people comfortably and also to make a statement this when you pull into a parking lot in this thing everybody looks at you and goes oh that's somebody even if you're a nobody it looks like you're somebody and that's what you're paying for so end of the day that's where your money's going to go at least you know what it's going to be spent on and you have to decide is are you Lincoln enough or do you have to be the Cadillac yeah well there you go I think you've summed it up well and now of course we want to hear your thoughts so why don't you guys go into the comments right now let us know which one of these beasts you would buy Lincoln or Cadillac as always while you're down there don't forget to hit like hit subscribe hit join to become a member of the channel and then come right back here to Truck King to see what we are testing next see you guys bye now