Rants and Raves
JARED GALL
I needed a wedding bus over the weekend, and my choices were the Lincoln Navigator and the Escalade. I chose the Escalade because I'd rather drive it than the Gator, even though I knew my passengers—particularly those in the third row—would be far happier in the Lincoln. Call me selfish. A white Navigator would have made a great bridal chariot, but the more balanced proportions of the longer ESV sealed the debate in my mind.
Nobody cared. Pull up in anything that's tuxedo black, nearly nineteen feet long, and wearing 22-inch wheels, and people think it's a limo. Throw in flip-down TV screens in the middle and rear rows and power-folding running boards and nobody notices anything else. All I needed was a chauffeur's cap. And not one person complained about the legroom.
Speaking of room, though, I need more of it in all GMT900 trucks. I get it, I'm tall. (Mr. Gall here is six feet, seven inches tall - Ed.) I've hit my head plenty of times to have that figured out. But I am not so tall that I shouldn't have headroom in a 6000-pound SUV. Add a sunroof to any GMT900, though, and I have to drive around with my head cocked to the side. If there is any vehicle on the road I can be comfortable in, why isn't this it?
ERIK JOHNSON
I love the regular-length 'Slade, but this thing strikes me as pointless overkill. You want to pose? Buy the smaller Escalade, where the 22-inch wheels pack an arguably bigger visual punch. You want to haul extra crap? Buy a Suburban, or even a Yukon Denali XL, which will accomplish the same tasks and have interiors that will take the abuse better.
Download this car's window sticker for pricing information.
