This Cadillac SUV Pushes More Horsepower Than A Camaro ZL1

It's hard to fathom that we can now buy large SUVs with performance that's not too far off proper performance cars and sports cars. Experimental stuff like the Mercedes ML 55 AMG and the original BMW X5 4.8is paved the way for high-performance SUVs, which are huge moneymakers today. 

Huge moneymakers and undisputed bestsellers, actually; the Lamborghini Urus and Aston Martin DBX top sales charts for their respective manufacturers, way ahead of the actual supercars and sports cars that both of those brands also make. Meanwhile, stuff like the original Porsche Cayenne saved Porsche from a very sticky situation back in the day, and it continues to be a huge success for the brand, along with the smaller Macan.

This phenomenon of performance SUVs being more powerful, and often not too far off from actual sports cars, extends to General Motors as well. You can now buy a Cadillac SUV, and a massive one at that, that has even more power than the Chevy Camaro ZL1, a car that's no slouch, as we know. The SUV in question? The Cadillac Escalade V-Series. 

From just about every rational standpoint, the Cadillac Escalade V-Series doesn't make any sense. Leave the logic at the door, however, and it's one of the coolest and most absurd-in-a-good-way SUVs on the market today. It has the road presence and the immense dimensions of the standard Escalade, but with an added dose of horsepower. A really big dose.

Under the hood is, ironically, a version of the same LT4 V8 that powered the Camaro ZL1. It's a 6.2-liter supercharged unit that makes 682 hp and 653 lb-ft of torque, which edges out the ZL1 by quite a bit. Okay, the Escalade has only 3 lb-ft of torque more, but also 32 more horsepower. As a refresher, the ZL1 had 650 hp and 650 lb-ft of torque from a version of that same LT4 V8.

That's pretty impressive, and we can't knock the Escalade-V's 0-60 time of 4.3 seconds, according to testing conducted by Car and Driver. Sure, C&D found that the Camaro ZL1 is almost a second faster, but considering how big the difference between the two cars is, that's still impressive, and the difference between the two cars' 1/4 mile times of around two seconds is also pretty impressive.

While the Camaro will provide the proper performance car experience, the Escalade-V has the added benefit of being super luxurious, and also having room for the whole family and all their stuff. There's also, you know, the small fact that the Camaro has been discontinued. You can still buy a Cadillac Escalade-V, so long as you're ready to part ways with $170,000+.