Cadillac finally gave the public what so many have been asking for: an Escalade V. But if you aren’t able to get your hands on one, or perhaps just don’t feel like shelling out the US$ 151,090 base price, Hennessey has just come out with a supercharger kit for the regular Escalade that will allow you to essentially make one yourself. Called the “H650” upgrade, the kit includes a 2.9L supercharger, an intercooler, upgraded pushrods, an enhanced engine management, and a stainless steel cat-back exhaust system. This all helps to take the Escalade’s stock 6.2L V8 from 420 hp and 624 Nm of torque to 650 hp and 892 Nm of torque, which is shy of the real Escalade V by 32 hp, but actually up by 7 Nm of torque.
As a result of this added power, the
sprint from 0-96 km/h takes 5.3 seconds, which is 0.8 seconds faster
than stock, but 0.9 seconds slower than the V. So yes, there are some
compromises in the ways of speed and power compared to the actual Escalade V,
but at a price of US$ 27,950 for the kit, you could make something very close
(that’s still incredibly fast for an SUV of this size) for a staggering US$ 38,950
less, assuming you’re using a base 4WD Escalade as the donor vehicle. Even if
you were to use an Escalade Sport 4WD with air suspension as the donor,
probably the closest thing to an Escalade V save for the engine, you’d still be
saving US$ 20,685.
On top of that, Hennessey mentions the
upgrade can be applied to other vehicles that use GM’s 6.2-liter V8, such as
the Chevrolet Suburban, Chevrolet Tahoe, and GMC Yukon. So in theory, you could
put this kit on a Tahoe RST 4WD (the cheapest Tahoe with the 6.2L V8) and get a
vehicle that’s mechanically similar to an Escalade V for US$ 50,325 less than the
real deal. You’d just have to be okay with the fact that it isn’t a Cadillac.
