Let’s face it; kids are embarrassed by everything that parents do. Having a cool SUV to pick everyone up from school probably isn’t a priority, but the 2023 Cadillac Escalade is the ultimate American vehicle. There are many luxury SUVs on the market, but not all make sense for families of seven. The Cadillac Escalade is a peak of coolness among luxury SUVs, offering a distinctive blend of style, comfort, and functionality tailored perfectly for families.

Who makes the best luxury SUV?

Like most vehicle segments in the automotive industry, there are almost too many luxury SUVs to choose from. If the 2023 Cadillac Escalade wasn’t on your list of the best large luxury family SUVs, perhaps it should be. This year, the base Cadillac Escalade in the rear-wheel drive Luxury trim starts at $79,925. A fully-loaded Cadillac Escalade-V costs $149,195, but most shoppers won’t need that much luxury or that much SUV.

Cadillac offers three engine choices: a 420-horsepower V8, a 277-horsepower turbo inline-six, and a 682-horsepower supercharged V8. The base V8 is sufficient for most situations, and the turbo V8 is seriously fast. Not necessary, but going from zero to 60 mph in 4.4 seconds in your family vehicle is pretty fun.

Those who opt for the base Luxury trim still get a pretty loaded vehicle. It comes with synthetic leather upholstery, heated first and second-row seats, and power-folding second-and third-row seats. Cadillac’s large vehicle fits seven passengers when equipped with captain’s chairs, but a bench row is available for an additional seat.

This trim level also gets a 16.9-inch touch screen, wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay (a must for the kids these days), navigation, and plenty of USB ports to keep everyone charged up. Tri-zone automatic climate control is helpful to keep everyone comfortable throughout the expansive cabin.

Which luxury SUV has the best safety rating?

There are many safe luxury SUVs on the road this year, and the 2023 Cadillac Escalade is one of those. Cadillac has many standard safety features that come on all trim levels, such as forward collision warning and automatic emergency braking. Lane-departure warning, lane-keep assist, and a surround-view parking camera system come on the Escalade. Higher trim levels like the Escalade-V come with standard four-wheel drive, night-vision assist, and blind-spot monitoring.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration gave the 2023 Cadillac Escalade an overall safety rating of four out of five stars. It protected the driver and passenger in the frontal and side crashworthiness tests. All of the safety systems on the 2023 Escalade also met the NHTSA’s performance criteria.

If there is a system not listed that you want on the luxury SUV, it is likely available as an add-on option. Upgrades are available on most trim levels that add more features, like the Performance and Touring packages.

Which large luxury SUV has the biggest cabin?

One of the reasons Cadillac’s luxury SUV is so great for families is its modern technology and cabin space. The interior is full of the newest tech, and the luxurious interior should suit any passengers you drive around. Well-appointed and premium materials are used throughout the cabin, and the build quality is very high. Those who have the need for speed might want to add a performance package or just go for the Escalade V with all of its power.

All trim levels get 25.5 cubic feet of space behind the third row and 72.9 cubic feet behind the second row. With all three rows folded, the Escalade gets 121 cubic feet of space. Those that opt for the long-wheelbase Escalade ES-V get 41.5/94.1/142.8 cubic feet of space, which is quite impressive.

Even though the kids won’t want to hear about how cool the Escalade was back in our day, it remains an impressive luxury SUV in 2023. Once everyone is charging wirelessly and forcing the driver to listen to a new song via wireless Apple CarPlay, a single nod of approval might make it in your direction—no guarantees, though, especially if you are trying to please a teenager.