The 2007 Cadillac Escalade has an all-new interior that is more spacious, refined, quiet and detailed, elevating its already enviable position at the top of the luxury SUV segment.
Escalade’s interior is upscale and harmonious, offering a variety of rich and warm colors including Cocoa-on-Cashmere and Ebony-on-Ebony interior color schemes. The upscale styling is complemented by premium materials such as brushed aluminum, wood and cast skin trim that are soft to the touch and have low-gloss finishes. Escalade’s instrument panel, upper door trim and armrests are covered and wrapped in a soft foam-backed cast skin covering that is durable and rich looking, while providing a luxurious, high-quality feel.
Escalade’s exclusive interior includes a unique instrument panel, instrumentation gauges with white needles and blue light inlays with continuously lit, white-LED backlighting, Nuance leather-covered seats, leather-covered door trim and center console, fabric-covered interior pillars and an available heated steering wheel.
An airy, more sedan-like environment is created by a lower, farther forward-positioned instrument panel – which also improves outward visibility – and the new, two-tone interior trim treatment. There are new comfort features, such as best-in-class cabin quietness and new, highly styled and supportive seats. Unique features, such as the innovative power fold-and-tumble second-row seat, ease access to the third-row seat.
Interior highlights include:
• Smooth flowing center console with flush mounted components
• Cocoa/Cashmere and Ebony/Ebony interiors
• Brushed aluminum trim plates
• New, streamlined European-styled, Nuance leather-covered seats with tailored appearance designed for increased support and comfort
• Premium soft instrument panel and interior trim materials
• White-LED continuously backlit gauges, with white gauge needles and blue light inlays
• Enhanced Driver Information Center with four-line, 16-bit display
• Unique steering wheel design with premium wood trim options
• Standard heated first- and second-row seats
• Available heated steering wheel
• Available heated/cooled front seats with perforated leather
• Available power release fold-and-tumble second-row seats
• Available touch-screen navigation radio with rear vision camera
• Power liftgate
• Rear-seat entertainment system with 8-inch DVD screen
• Increased front seat travel
• First- and second-row outboard safety belts mounted to door pillars
• Second-row seats moved rearward for increased legroom and seatback angle increased for more comfort
• Standard tri-zone automatic climate control system
• New center console design with segment’s largest storage capacity of more than 17 liters
• 25-percent larger glove box with spring-damped opening feature
• Standard power-adjustable pedals
• Larger available sunroof with express open/close feature
The rich look of the interior is complemented by improved quality and an enhanced attention to detail, including reduced gaps and tighter tolerances. Flush-mounted accessories and controls create the look of a single unit, rather than components stacked together. Close out panels around the side seat bottoms and cushions virtually eliminate all exposed metal hardware
Class-leading comfort
Escalade comes standard with Nuance leather-covered seating for all seating rows. A new, European-style low-profile front-row seat design, with firmer foam cushioning and more aggressive bolsters, enhances comfort. Door pillar-mounted first- and second-row three-point safety belts facilitate the slimmer designs (center seats in the second and third rows also have a three-point safety belt) and ease entry/egress.
Escalade has standard heated first- and second-row seats, and offers available cooled front seats that feature perforated leather designed to enable airflow. The heated/cooled seats are part of the Climate Package, which also includes a heated steering wheel feature. Escalade comes standard with a leather-wrapped steering wheel with redundant audio controls, cruise control, as well as an auxiliary control for the heated steering wheel (when equipped). The steering wheel has an upscale appearance and features a prominent wreath and crest insignia.
The front-row seats have one-inch more fore/aft travel, with a more comfortable driving position enabled by standard adjustable pedals. Second-row seats provide 0.4-inch (10 mm) more leg and knee room; the second-row seatback angle is adjusted an additional two degrees rearward for extra comfort. First- and second-row outboard seats offer increased shoulder room – a packaging feat achieved while also accommodating the standard roof-mounted head curtain side air bag system.
The industry-exclusive power-release fold-and-tumble second-row seat allows easy access to the third-row seat. With the push of an overhead console button or a rear-door pillar button, the seat unlatches, sending it into its folded and tumbled position. This greatly eases access to the third seating row, while also easing the burden of parent holding a child – there is no need to fumble with both hands to release and fold the seat forward. The third-row seats also have more headroom than previous models and offer improved outward visibility.
Power fold-and-tumble second-row seat
An industry-exclusive power release fold-and-tumble second-row seat is available and allows for easier third-row entry and egress. The feature remotely unlatches the seat to send it into its forward-folded and tumbled position. This greatly eases access to the third seating row, while also easing the burden of a parent holding a child – there is no need to fumble with both hands to release and fold the seat forward.
The power fold-and-tumble feature operates with the press of a button from the first-row overhead console or door pillar. The button activates a release mechanism on the seat latch, allowing the seat to fold forward into the tumbled position. (The seat must be returned to the original seating position by hand.)
Digital surround sound system
Escalade offers two radios, including an easy-to-use voice-assisted navigation radio. Both are equipped to receive XM Satellite Radio and are compatible with the enhanced Generation 6 OnStar system. A luxury-level 10-speaker Bose 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound system is standard. GM and Bose engineers worked closely together to design and configure the sound system, optimizing speaker locations and tuning the system specifically for Escalade’s interior. As a result, it provides superb imaging, stage and spectral response – reproducing the power and nuance of each instrument and voice and delivering music with clarity, spaciousness and detail.
The standard Dolby Digital 5.1 surround system takes crisp Bose sound to its ultimate level. Features include:
• Centerpoint signal processing circuitry – This sophisticated system allows passengers to enjoy synthesized surround sound from standard stereo CDs.
• AudioPilot noise compensation technology – To compensate for vehicle speed and outside noise, this feature automatically and continuously modifies the system’s volume and equalization.
• Customized digital equalization – Engineered specifically for Escalade, this digital signal processing (DSP) circuitry balances audible frequency output for fullness and detail, helping deliver natural tone timbre. Eight channels of complex equalization deliver smoother and more lifelike sound to each speaker so that all seating positions are “the best seat in the house.”
• Richbass base box woofer – This high-quality sound enhancer is located far forward in the center console to optimize low- and mid-low frequency output for front-row occupants, while eliminating the “booming” in the quality of the bass for rear speakers.
• Ported bass-reflex subwoofer with Dual Voice Coil driver – Excellent base reproduction is delivered in this compact component.
• Eight-channel digital equalization amplifier – A high-powered amplifier to support the audio system’s capability.
Navigation radio
Escalade offers an available navigation radio that instantly maps routes with the push of a button, using two-dimensional or three-dimensional full-color map views on a large 8-inch (203 mm) active matrix display screen. Once the navigation DVD is inserted and the address entered on the system’s screen, the route map is generated and audio commands – with step-by-step instructions in English, Spanish or French – are provided.
Verbal commands alert the driver when to turn and whether the driver has strayed from the calculated route. The system automatically recalculates a new route from the current position and can plan routes using the shortest path or major roads. The navigation system also contains a 150-entry address book or pre-stored locations. Forty entries can be voice-tagged for instant access while driving.
The navigation radio provides a simplified set of audio voice recognition commands that allows the user to change radio stations, track numbers, radio sources, or access voice tagged destinations.
Customers also have direct access to the standard Generation 6 OnStar system, for reaching OnStar services, emergency or the communications center.
Ergonomic controls
The center stack provides all-new audio and HVAC controls, including one-touch button control of rear-occupant temperature settings.
Eleven steering wheel-mounted controls contribute to hands-on-the-wheel, eyes-on-the-road driving safety. An additional control switch activates the heated steering wheel feature (when equipped). An overhead console conveniently locates switch controls for the optional sunroof, power liftgate and second-row remote seat release feature and the universal garage door opener.
Tri-zone climate control system
Tri-zone automatic climate control is standard. It offers simplified rear A/C settings and provides quieter operation, more effective cooling/air distribution for rear passengers and improved side-window defogging/defrosting. The system allows up to a 30-degree F difference between driver and front passenger settings, along with a separate setting for rear passengers. The HVAC control module controls the electric rear window defogger and Automatic Climate Preconditioning (provided with the new remote vehicle starting system). The automatic system provides six speed settings in manual mode, plus seemingly unlimited automatic mode adjustments.
Enhanced Rear Seat Entertainment system (RSE)
The available DVD-based Rear Seat Entertainment system (RSE) provides a flip-down, color screen for second- and third seat passenger viewing. The system includes an 8-inch-wide LCD screen with a 16 x 9 aspect ratio/screen format. To provide more parental control and ease of use, DVD discs are loaded into the Dual Play radio located in the instrument panel. This eliminates the need to reach behind the front seat to load or remove a DVD.
The Infotainment system supports the DVD system so audio can be heard throughout the entire speaker system, through wireless headphones or through rear speakers only. The RSE system provides one remote and two, two-channel infrared headphones.
New, spacious console and glove box
In the front seat area, the new center console offers the segment’s largest storage bin, at more than 17 liters. Escalade features a dual-opening console lid, with a soft, leather-like cover. The Escalade’s console opens with a chrome, spring-damped release button that fosters the vehicle’s refined nature. Multilevel storage within the console includes a smaller, contained space for delicate items like sunglasses and cell phones. Releasing the second lid opens up the console’s large storage compartment.
Also, Escalade’s glove box provides 25 percent more storage capacity than before – 5 liters of volume in total.
Increased cargo capacity
Escalade offers 4.2 cubic feet (118.9 liters) of increased cargo room behind the second-row seats and 2.3 cubic feet (65.1 liters) more behind the third row. This gives the vehicles a cargo capacity of 108.9 cubic feet (3,084 liters), when the second-row seat is folded and tumbled forward and the third-row seat is removed. There also is 60.3 cubic feet (1,707.7 liters) of cargo space with the second-row seat in place and the third-row seats removed. There is 16.9 cubic feet (478.6 liters) of cargo space behind the third-row seats.
The significant increase in cargo capacity is achieved despite vehicle length growing by only approximately 3 inches (76.2 mm). Engineers found the additional room by streamlining the cargo area with relocated and flush-mounted air conditioning ducts and slimmer liftgate trim.
Larger sunroof
Escalade offers a larger power sliding sunroof that is 36.1 inches wide (866 mm) by 24.6 inches long. The new sunroof is wider than the previous model. It has new express open/close and auto close features, as well as a hard composite wind deflector that reduces wind noise and interior buffeting.