Compared: 2023 Cadillac Escalade vs. 2023 Lincoln Navigator

These two full-size luxury SUVs have plenty of features to crow about, but you'll pay at the pump and at the dealership.

Emme Hall | 

Mar 12, 2024 | 3 min read

Cadillac | Lincoln

When looking at big three-row SUVs, two models tend to stay at the top of the list: the Cadillac Escalade and Lincoln Navigator. Both offer luxury features and powerful engines, with high prices and low fuel economy to boot.

Cadillac

Cadillac Escalade and Lincoln Navigator Can Command Six Figures

The Cadillac Escalade was all new for 2021. Now in the third year of its fifth generation, it's better — and more expensive — than ever. The Escalade is available in six trims. The base Luxury trim in rear-wheel drive (RWD) with a 6.2-liter V8 engine starts around $86,000.

A four-wheel drive (4WD) top Premium Luxury Platinum Escalade with the V8 starts around $115,000. The long-wheelbase ESV begins at around $84,000 in RWD, while the ESV Premium Luxury Platinum in 4WD starts around $115,000. If you want to go big, you can snag a 4WD supercharged gasoline-powered Escalade-V making 682 horsepower for $155,000, including destination.

Lincoln

The fourth-generation Lincoln Navigator got a bit of a refresh in 2022, but it has fewer engine options and trims compared with the Escalade. The Navigator comes in five trim levels, each with a 3.5-liter twin-turbocharged V6 under the hood.

The Standard-trim Navigator with RWD starts around $82,000. The Reserve RWD trim starts around $94,000, and the Reserve L RWD starts around $97,000. Add $3,000 to Standard, Reserve, or Reserve L RWD to upgrade to 4WD.

The ultra-luxe Black Label trim begins around $111,000, and the Black Label L starts around $114,000. Black Label models are 4WD only.

Cadillac

Cadillac Escalade Dash Display Stretches Out

The good news is you get plenty of features for these relatively sky-high prices. The Escalade includes a nifty curved 38.3-inch OLED screen, plus a navigation system that uses augmented reality.

Magnetic ride control is available for a smooth ride, while Cadillac's hands-free semi-autonomous driving aid Super Cruise comes into play on top trims. The Escalade-V gets some unique V series design cues, a revised suspension, drive modes, and standard 4WD. Cadillac reports that the V can sprint from zero to 60 mph in 4.4 seconds.

Lincoln

For its price, the Navigator gets a 13.2-inch touchscreen for infotainment. A rear-seat entertainment system is available with Amazon's Fire TV on a 10.1-inch screen. Supremely comfortable first-row and second-row seats are heated and ventilated, but Lincoln goes one step further with available first- and second-row massaging seats. The automaker's hands-free semi-autonomous driving aid, BlueCruise, is also on hand.

Cadillac

Fuel-Economy Ratings Low for Navigator and Escalade

With their high weights and bricklike exteriors, both vehicles take a hit in fuel-economy numbers. The Escalade V8 with RWD or 4WD gets an EPA rating of 14/19/16 mpg city/highway/combined. The diesel does better with 21/27/23 mpg in RWD, and 1 mpg less for 4WD. As for that supercharged Escalade-V, expect 11/16/13 mpg.

Lincoln

The Navigator is more efficient — at least compared with the gas-powered Escalade — with an EPA fuel rating of 17/23/19 mpg in RWD form or 16/22/18 mpg with 4WD.

All vehicle pricing includes MSRP plus destination charges (set at the time of publication) and will be rounded to the nearest thousand.

Emme Hall

Emme Hall loves small convertibles and gets out to the canyons in her 2004 Mazdaspeed Miata whenever she can. You can also find her in the dirt in her lifted (yes, that's right) 2001 Mazda Miata, or racing air-cooled Volkswagens in races like the Baja 1000. She's taken first place twice in the Rebelle Rally — once driving a Jeep Wrangler and then a Rolls-Royce Cullinan the second time. She was also the first driver to take an electric vehicle to the Rebelle Rally when campaigning the Rivian R1T to a top-five finish.