Both the 2023 Cadillac Escalade and the 2023 Lincoln Navigator have a long history of satisfying luxury-SUV drivers. The Navigator emerged in 1998; the Escalade, the next model year. Since then, both full-size sport-utility vehicles have evolved from their truck-based roots to become legitimate players in the luxury world, catering to livery services and celebs alike.
Which one offers the best combination of fine features, advanced technology, powertrains, and useful space? Is it the Escalade with its ultra-widescreen infotainment system? Or is the Navigator, with its swanky interior themes?
In the end, the duo posted very close TCC Ratings—but one pulled away thanks to better safety ratings and more attitude. Here’s how the Escalade and Navigator stack up against each other.
2022 Cadillac Escalade
Escalade vs. Navigator price and trims
Base Navigator costs about $80,000
Base Escalade costs about $2,500 more
Best picks: Navigator Black Label, Escalade Sport or Escalade-V
Which Lincoln Navigator should I buy? How much is a fully loaded Lincoln Navigator?
For just under $80,000, the 2023 Navigator offers a wealth of luxury touches and equipment. It comes with leather upholstery, keyless start, second-row captain’s chairs, a power tailgate, 20-inch alloy wheels, and a 14-speaker infotainment system with a 13.2-inch touchscreen and Apple CarPlay/Android Auto. Options range from a 20-speaker sound system to Amazon Fire TV. Spend just over $91,000 and the Reserve model gains 22-inch wheels, a panoramic sunroof, a surround-view camera system, and options for 30-way power-adjustable front seats and 28-speaker sound.
We’d still take the Black Label versions: for more than $110,000, they open up interior themes that include a blue-and-white Yacht Club treatment that’s fabulous in either the standard Navigator or in the long-wheelbase Navigator L. Every Navigator comes with a 4-year/50,000-mile warranty, but only Black Label trucks get valet service with free car washes.
Which Cadillac Escalade should I buy? How much is a fully loaded Cadillac Escalade?
The 2023 Escalade carries a base price that’s a few thousand more than the Navigator, at $82,690. At present, Cadillac requires buyers to opt into three years’ worth of its OnStar telematics service, which costs $1,500, whether the Escalade is rear- or four-wheel drive, a standard SUV or the long-wheelbase ESV.
The rear-drive, standard-length Escalade comes with a power tailgate, 22-inch wheels, 12-way power front seats, an AKG audio system—but synthetic leather seating. A widescreen infotainment system incorporates wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.
The $97,615 Escalade Sport requires not only OnStar but the $4,000 Super Cruise adaptive hands-free cruise control system. It also gains a panoramic sunroof, adaptive dampers, and leather upholstery.
Other versions soar past $110,000 as they gain better leather, air suspension, and 30-speaker audio systems. The Escalade-V starts at more than $150,000—but does include Brembo brakes, a limited-slip differential, and Zebra Wood trim.
Advantage: The Navigator costs less and comes with free valet service—but Lincoln has no answer for the Escalade-V.
2023 Lincoln Navigator
2023 Lincoln Navigator
2023 Lincoln Navigator
2023 Lincoln Navigator
Navigator vs. Escalade interior and exterior design
The Navigator brandishes Brat Pack style
The Escalade’s tailored suit looks right, if somber
Both have statement-jewelry interiors
Is the Lincoln Navigator a good-looking SUV?
It’s a stylish vehicle that masks some of its mass with lots of blingy metallic trim. The Navigator is long, tall, and wide, but somehow designers have given it a slimmer look with lots of tasteful add-ons—maybe too many add-ons for some eyes. It starts with a massive Lincoln-logoed grille, which blends into gently curved fenders and a glassy cabin, then keeps going, and going, and going, until the rear end gets capped with LED taillights.
The exterior can’t hold a candle to the extroverted cockpit, though. A blend of modern tech and vintage cues, the Navigator cabin weaves it all together with leather, wood, and high-definition displays. The warm and inviting space reaches its peak in the Yacht Club Black Label trim, where blue and white leather reel off a retro vibe with panache to spare.
Is the Cadillac Escalade a good-looking SUV?
The Escalade has presence, no doubt. Its custom-tailored look creases and angles around its linebacker build. It’s more tasteful than in the past, but there’s nothing subtle about its size—it’s more than 212 inches long in base spec, and the ESV edition gains another 15 inches in overall length. Sport models wear somewhat less chrome, and Escalade-V vehicles get more body-color trim, which focuses attention on its big grille and its vertical taillights.
The Escalade interior makes its statement with 38 inches of curved-screen infotainment and displays; that’s the combination of a 14.2-inch digital instrument cluster and 16.9-inch and 7.2-inch displays in the dash. They light up the cockpit and integrate well into the dash with the glossy wood trim and soft leather that wraps around much of the Escalade cockpit.
Advantage: The Navigator’s more showy.
2022 Cadillac Escalade
2022 Cadillac Escalade
2022 Cadillac Escalade
2022 Cadillac Escalade
Lincoln Navigator vs. Cadillac Escalade size, comfort, and cargo capacity
Both Escalades are bigger than the Navigators
Both SUVs offer up to eight seats
Second-row captain’s chairs are available on either
How big is the Lincoln Navigator?
The Navigator interior spreads out far and wide to seat up to eight people, with lots of space for luggage, all wrapped in high-quality trim from the leather seats—power and cooled in row one, fold-down captain’s chairs in row two, power-fold-flat bench seats in row three. Lincoln offers 30-way power front seats in the Black Label, too. Everyone in the first two rows of seats gets exceptional headroom and legroom, not to mention USB ports and cupholders.
The middle seats slide forward for better access to the third row, which suits medium-size passengers fine—though it’s awkward to step into the back. Fold down rows two and three to expand the Navigator’s cargo space from 20.9 cubic feet to 103.3 cubic feet on the standard-length SUV; that number rises to 120.2 cubic feet on the Navigator L.
How big is the Cadillac Escalade? Is the Navigator bigger than the Escalade?
Both the Navigator and Escalade earn top marks for interior space and utility, but the Escalade leaves the Navigator huffing and puffing when it comes to overall volume.
It starts with expansive room around comfortable, wide bucket seats in front, separated by a wide center console. The Escalade can be outfitted with heated and cooled front power seats, and a bench or bucket seats in the second row. Most passengers will fit in the Escalade or Escalade ESV’s third-row bench seat, but getting into it can be more of a hurdle than in the Navigator, in part because passengers have to clamber further into the back.
The Escalade doesn’t quite have the vault-like headroom of the Lincoln, thanks to high-mounted power seats, but its passenger and cargo space outflanks the Navigator handily. Cadillac has 25.5 cubic feet of cargo space behind the third–row seat on the standard Escalade, which rises to more than 121 cubic feet behind the front seats; ESV editions net out at 142.8 cubic feet behind the first row. It’s enormous inside—and to our eyes, a little more subdued and a little less rich-looking inside, despite the vast infotainment screen.
Advantage: The Escalade, for its more expansive room.
2023 Lincoln Navigator
Navigator vs. Escalade towing, off-road, and performance
Turbodiesel Escalade’s a head-scratcher
Escalade-V is…not
The Navigator’s quick and steers well, too
How fast is the Lincoln Navigator?
The Navigator comes with a stout 3.5-liter twin-turbo V-6, rated at 450 hp and 510 lb-ft of torque. It propels the SUV with a torrent of power that flows through a confident, slick-shifting 10-speed automatic and either the rear or all four wheels. It’s good for a 0-60 mph run in under seven seconds and triple-digit top speeds—but it weighs in the neighborhood of 5,500 pounds, minimum, so all that power gets a somewhat muted feel.
Is the Lincoln Navigator 4WD?
The available four-wheel-drive system comes with drive modes that alter the traction and stability control to better power through mud, sleet, sand, and the like. Top tow ratings check in at 8,700 pounds.
All told, the Navigator is an exceptionally capable long-distance cruiser, thanks to its deep well of power and its adaptive suspension, which muffles deep potholes and pavement seams alike—not to mention the ride stiffness its 22-inch wheels might induce. It’s a big vehicle and not easy to navigate into a tight parking spot, but the Lincoln’s steering has pleasantly light feel with good feedback.
How fast is the Cadillac Escalade?
It’s quick, somewhat more so than the Navigator with its standard 420-hp 6.2-liter V-8, which couples to a 10-speed automatic for 0-60 mph times of about six seconds—for a vehicle that weighs just about 6,000 pounds. The V-8’s so good, it’s hard to find a use case for the available 277-hp 3.0-liter turbodiesel 6-cylinder, which costs more, tows less, and uses more expensive and difficult to find fuel. For the road-searing SUV of your dreams, check out the supercharged V-8 Escalade-V: it has 682 hp and 653 lb-ft, delivered in a raspy bark as it scoots to 60 mph in just 4.4 seconds thanks, in part, to a standard limited-slip differential.
The Escalade can be outfitted with four-wheel drive for more sensible driving in foul-weather states, and with the right configuration it can tow 8,200 pounds—500 less than the Lincoln.
With its comfortable suspension tuning and nicely weighted steering, the Escalade acquits itself very well on a wide range of roads. The available adaptive dampers file off pavement pockmarks even better; paired with the air suspension, the Escalade has an affable, calm ride that doesn’t go to pieces with the Escalade-V’s tougher tires, weightier steering, and bigger Brembo brakes.
Advantage: The Escalade by a nose for ride and handling, by a bigger margin for its powertrains.
2022 Cadillac Escalade
Escalade vs. Navigator fuel economy
Neither’s a winner
The turbodiesel Escalade gets up to 22 mpg combined
…but the Escalade-V only musters 13 mpg combined
Is the Lincoln Navigator good on gas?
It’s not. The EPA says it’s good for 16 mpg city, 22 highway, 19 combined at best, with rear-wheel drive in its standard-length body. With four-wheel drive, it’s 16/21/18 mpg, the same as the rear-drive Navigator L.
Is the Cadillac Escalade good on gas?
Also no. The EPA clocks the base versions at 14 mpg city, 19 highway, 16 combined, while the V version drops to 11/16/13 mpg. Turbodiesels get rated at 20/26/22 mpg, but consume costlier fuel.
Advantage: Navigator, just slightly.
2023 Lincoln Navigator
Lincoln Navigator vs. Cadillac Escalade safety
The Navigator scores five NHTSA stars
Automatic emergency braking comes standard on both
The Escalade’s scores fall short
How safe is the Lincoln Navigator?
The NHTSA gives the 2023 Navigator five stars overall, but a three-star rating for rollover resistance causes some concern. All models get automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, blind-spot monitors, and active lane control. Options include a head-up display, a surround-view camera system, automatic parking assist, and hands-free driving assistance formerly dubbed ActiveGlide, now dubbed BlueCruise (like its Ford cousins). With adaptive cruise control and 130,000 miles of mapped U.S. highways, BlueCruise keeps the Navigator on the right path and permits brief stints of hands-free driving.
How safe is the Cadillac Escalade?
With GM’s Super Cruise system, which has superior hands-free driving assistance, it should be the top vote-getter here—but the NHTSA gives it just four stars overall. It does come with automatic emergency braking and blind-spot monitors, with options for a head-up display and night vision.
Advantage: The Navigator.
2023 Lincoln Navigator
Which is better: Cadillac Escalade or Lincoln Navigator?
We give the 2023 Escalade a TCC Rating of 6.8 out of 10. It’s held back by its safety scores as much as by its lousy fuel economy, but it’s a handsome vehicle with a rorty V edition up its sleeve. (Read more about how we rate cars.) Still, we’d take the Navigator in most situations. It earns a TCC Rating of 7.2 out of 10, with good crash-test scores, natty threads, and good-enough performance and space to outpace the Cadillac.
Winner: The Lincoln Navigator, thanks to its styling and its safety.
Summary
Styling
Performance
Comfort & Quality
Safety
Features
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Fuel Economy – Combined City and Highway
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