The 2021 Cadillac Escalade is a major leap forward for the popular nameplate, introducing several major improvements such as an independent rear suspension, a 38-inch widescreen OLED display and available adaptive air suspension. The one change that has really captured the attention of many Cadillac fans, though, is the addition of General Motors‘ turbo-diesel 3.0L LM2 inline-six – part of the Duramax engine family – to the luxury SUV’s engine lineup.
It’s easy to see why Cadillac enthusiasts are excited about the addition of the 3.0L diesel engine to the Escalade’s powertrain portfolio. This is the first time a diesel has been offered in the full-size luxury SUV and, as Escalade Marketing Manager Dave Schiavone told GM Authority in a recent interview, it will offer some rather significant efficiency gains over the standard 6.2L L87 V8 engine.
“If you love Escalade, you love Escalade,” Schiavone explained to GM Authority’s executive editor, Alex Luft. “But for those people that also love fuel efficiency, they can get it in the diesel. We’re expecting some pretty good improvements in fuel economy on the diesel over the V8 gasoline. I don’t have numbers to share right now, but I will tell you that they’re significant.”
At this point, some readers may be asking themselves why fuel efficiency matters in a pricey luxury vehicle like the Escalade. After all, do rich people really care how much they are spending at the pump? We asked Schiavone the same thing, and his answer was an unequivocal “yes.”
As a reminder, the 3.0L diesel offered in the 2021 Cadillac Escalade is good for 277 horsepower and 460 pound-feet of torque. Meanwhile, the 6.2L V8 produces 420 horsepower and 460 pound-feet of torque. Both engines are paired with the GM 10-speed automatic transmission in the SUV.
The EPA has yet to release its fuel economy figures for the 2021 Cadillac Escalade. The EPA’s ratings for the outgoing 2020 model-year Escalade may give us a good idea of what to expect, though, as it had the previous-generation L86 6.2L V8 engine, which is closely related to the L87, and the same 10-speed automatic transmission. The 2020 Escalade was rated at 14 mpg city, 23 mpg highway, and 17 mpg combined with rear-wheel-drive, while four-wheel-drive models returned 14 mpg city, 21 mpg highway and 17 mpg combined.
Looking at other GM products with the same available engines as the 2021 Escalade may also give us a good idea of what to expect from the Escalade diesel. Let’s use the 2020 Chevrolet Silverado as an example. The Silverado with the L87 V8 and four-wheel-drive is rated at 16 mpg city, 20 mpg highway and 17 mpg combined. The Silverado with the LM2 diesel and four-wheel-drive, meanwhile, returns 23 mpg city, 29 mpg highway and 25 mpg combined.
Other GM products offered with the 3.0L diesel engine include the 2021 Chevrolet Tahoe, 2021 Chevrolet Suburban, 2020 GMC Sierra, 2021 GMC Yukon and 2021 GMC Yukon XL.
Customers may also be interested in the diesel-powered 2021 Escalade for reasons other than fuel economy. As Schiavone explained, the 3.0L engine also has impressive low-end grunt, giving the big SUV some rather impressive pick-up when accelerating.
“[The] torque curve is impressive on the diesel,” he said. “Max torque at 1,200 rpm and up, so it’s there instantly.”
The 2021 Cadillac Escalade will go on sale at Cadillac dealers later this year.
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This story was written in collaboration with our sister site, Cadillac Society.
Comments
Whether you like Diesels or not, I just don’t see a down side to giving buyers more choices.
the price difference between diesel (2.62) and gas (2.03) plus the premium paid for the option makes this a wash.
The 6.2 requires Premium fuel so added cost. The Diesel requires small amount of DEF, but the emission components for the diesel will fail sooner and be more costly to replace and maintain.
Actually the diesel option in the Silverado’s and Sierra’s is the exact same price as optioning the L87 6.2L Engine in those applications so I would think there shouldn’t be a premium to swap to the diesel in these Escalade’s. So really it’s the fuel economy vs pump price that you’d be looking at and if you’ve watched any videos showing real world fuel economy out of these new diesels in the pickups I don’t think the (current) discrepancy in price between gasoline and diesel can close the economy gap between these two options. Just my $.02
right on John! Where I live at, and the majority of heartland americans that is absolutely the case. This engine will need to make 40MPG for it to make sense over gas, but there are many places as well where the gas to diesel ratio are less or diesel is even cheaper, and that is going to make it a big sell! I am really curious to see the results! normally the SUV’s make 1mpg better because they have no bed drag, but Imagine what they might make now with active air suspension and an IRS that will reduce vibrations! I imagine city might not change much or go down, but in thinking close to 35MPG on the interstate and 50+ county road at 50mph
The 6.2L is supposed to be fed Premium gas, so that closes a lot of/erases the price gap for fuel/gallon.
With 143 less horsepower than the 6.2L V8, how much longer will the 0-60 time be for the diesel?
John, do you plan on racing an Escalade? Most vehicles nowadays have sufficient acceleration to get up to highway speed safely, so the only other reason to care about 0-60 times now is for competition purposes. Even if the time is a 1second difference, most people won’t be able to tell the difference.
The diesel in not more efficient. 6.2L gives you more HP per lb, or more HP per MPG. Also I question the reliability of the 3L Duramax. Look I give GM mad props for using an I6 instead of some feminine V6, but using a timing belt instead of a timing chain in the motor was not a very wise move at all IMHO. Still I question any modern SBC with engine management as well so I can’t pretend that the 6.2L is all good with no issues. The new DFM looks like it could potentially be even worse/more problematic than the older AFM syestem, and especially now that it uses start/stop BS I could see the new SBC motor getting into some costly reliability issues once out of warranty. I wish GM would do like Ford did on the GEN3 Coyotes and use both DI and port injection. That is one modern piece of technology I do like.
This would make the Escalade/Tahoe/Yukon an amazing road trip vehicle! Probably a great range and cheap travel costs.
Need to figure overall costs to include price of unleaded and diesel to get actual savings, if any.
Notice that the GM specs for the diesel engines is only if a full 100 percent synthetic engine oil is used along with a B20 diesel fuel. The B20 is 20 percent bio content with normal low sulpher diesel. In Canada, all diesel fuel is 3 percent bio content by federal mandate. In the USA, you will not get the max power or MPG numbers with normal diesel fuel.
That is, if GM decides to keep the 31 gallon fuel tank on the SUV’s. Currently some have a driving range up to 700 miles! Talk about a nice road trip vehicle!
I’m so disappointed they decided to go to a 24 gallon tank on the new trucks. Ford offers something as large as 36! RAM i believe, goes up to 30! WTF GM?! At the very least, they could’ve kept the 34 in the reg cab, LB trucks. We bought a Silverado 1500 to add to the fleet and the driver has to fill up twice a week sometimes.
The big advantage for the diesel is for a user that tows regularly. They won’t see near the MPG drop off that the gas engine will.
And don’t forget escalade has the 6.2 where premium is recommended.
IMHO… If it’s a family truckster for running around town…. Get gas. If it’s a working vehicle that is loaded with luxury for the inhabitants… Get the diesel.
Last night i watched a video the test between a loaded and unloaded tow test on Dodge Ram 1500 pickup truck with it’s 3.0 liter diesel, ( with the latest upgraded software to reduce emissions ) pulling an enclosed 16 foot long trailer. The MPG for towing were only about half for the loaded versus the normal unloaded. It was just 11.64 MPG loaded and over 20 MPG for the unloaded weight, with both tests pulling the trailer. This was highway miles for a trip of just over 60 miles ( 100 km ) in the winter.
Need to figure overall costs to include price of unleaded and diesel to get actual savings, if any.
Well with gas headed to .99 cents a gallon. Another brilliant idea by Mary Bara.
Which gas are you referring to? Gasoline or propane gas, which costs less than 50 cents per U.S. gallon this past couple of weeks. With the ultra high compression ratio on the gasoline 6.2 liter engine of 11.5 to one, the very high octane rating of propane ( 104 ) gives much better performance than cars of 6 years ago, with lower compression ratios..
You know when gas prices go down diesel goes down too because its a by product of gasoline production….you know what its just easier to call you a moron….
Like she or anyone else had any idea this was going to happen. Give it a rest.
What makes diesel shine is over-the-road performance and fuel economy. In other words imagine cruising 80 mph through western states with or w/o trailer, family etc and getting over 20 mpg with major torque. A gas or electric engine can’t match that no matter what the fuel price, as long as the maintenance is reasonable.
I agree.
I love my 5.3. Unloaded I can average as much as 24 MPG hwy on a nice warm day. I think that’s great for a full-size, V8, 4WD truck!
However as soon as I get a passenger or 2….or 5, and a few tools in the tool box, I only get around 17-19 hwy unless I drive like grandma!
I would’ve loved an I6 Duramax, however between the interior of the new trucks, and the increase in overall size, I didn’t end up going that route.
Should have had a PHEV option instead of the Diesel IMHO.
There is a plug in coming. Fact is they’ve had this diesel in the works for a long time and they are spreading it across the lineup. They sell so many of these things that even if they sell 5% that’s a ton of sales
When you’ve got over $100K to spend on a SUV; one has to wonder whether the price of gas is really a factor and whether potential consumers might like if their $100K SUV was capable of performing a sports car which the Escalade would be capable of doing if it was powered by the Chevrolet LT4 650 hp supercharged 6.2L V8.
If they want to offer more options so badly then GM needs to do the right thing and offer an engine worthy of being in their flagship. The Blackwing. Period.
There is literally no one that is expecting to get into an SUV this size and realistically expecting sports car performance. It’s too large. Now, if they had kept the XT6 on the Omega platform like they had initially planned, then you could see a different argument.
True, but I still wouldn’t mind the LT4 under the hood of this thing. Mercedes, Audi and BMW all have big SUV’s with big engines, why not Cadillac? If it would sell (and it would), why not? Same kind of concept as all those huge family sedans back in the 60’s with the big V8s. Didn’t really need it, but people bought it. Apply that to SUV’s today, same concept. The thrust would be ridiculous.
None are as big as the Escalade. Like I said, what you are suggesting would have been a better fit for the originally planned Omega platform XT6. That being said, I definitely would not be opposed to the Blackwing in the Escalade.
Right, I understand that. But seeing that a RWD XT6 doesn’t exist (though it should have…), I’d love it if they’d throw a blown V8 in the Escalade. It’d be cool to have a hi-po large SUV with RWD.
What I have not read once in any comments above is the elephant in the room IMO. Livery service!! Out here in LA, the black Escalade’s are one of the most popular. They are big, more durable than many sedans, can carry a lot and many “riders” love to be picked up in them. No matter how you slice it, with the miles these limo companies put on, getting the diesel and going from maybe 20 mpg up to maybe 25 mpg would save them a ton! And, if like most other “truck-like” diesels, it will run even more miles than the gas Slades already do. Double win for the livery services.
Unlike pickups that hardly get put to work full-size SUVs often see plenty of highway miles. If buyers are honest with themselves the diesel should find more homes than projected.
With diesel nearly 20% more expensive in So Cal, the efficiency proposition isn’t there. But the range and torque advantages are intriguing.
Keith, you’re using regular gas prices, which should be considered irrelevant here. The gasoline engine option in the Escalade is the 6.2, which recommends premium, which is very close in price to diesel. Swings the personal economic factor in favor of the Duramax. For those that are out there saying that the buyers of these vehicles don’t care about fuel efficiency, I think you’d be very surprised at the amount that do.
I’m actually very interested in the economy aspect of the new models. And good point about the gas prices if the choice is 6.2 or diesel. My personal take was comparing to the prices I see filling up my Yukon SLT with a 5.3 and looking at a Denali to replace it. But even then, if a can get high 20’s on the highway versus the 16 I get now, it may actually be sensible.
@Keith Thompson: One factor you didn’t mention is the miles driven. In your post above, you mention diesel being 20% higher (regular, not premium). So you have a point for the people who may only drive 7-15,000 miles per year. But look at those who may drive many more miles. Diesel, just like electric and/or hybrid must be based on the miles driven per year. So even if you look at the price differences at 20% higher (+/-) for diesel, if the vehicle in question is being driven 40,000 miles per year, then it makes all the sense in the world. Plus, a higher miles truck/SUV with a (good) diesel will always bring a premium over the same in gas.
For such an expensive vehicle, might as well go BEV if you want efficiency. An Escalade BEV would cost about the same as a Model X, and GM has good EV tech to pull it off, unlike other legacy OEM’s.
I don’t care about the price, I care about range. If I am towing, or I am doing a lot of driving in rural areas on a weekend, I don’t want to have to worry about filling up. I used to have a pickup with the biggest gas engine available, and it was a pleasure to drive. But you could almost see the fuel needle moving down and you were constantly looking for gas stations that were open. Even later pickups I bought with diesel engines had tanks that were too small, so I had to go after market.
Well this isn’t surprising considering how the EPA keeps dropping the mileage ratings on every newly introduced GM product, especially highway figures. At the rate they are going I wouldn’t be surprised to see the new Escalade rated at 12/17 by the time it finally comes out!
12/17 seems about right for a smooth Cadillac
What is the towing capacity for the diesel in the Escalade