2009 Cadillac Escalade Hybrid

The 2009 Cadillac Escalade Hybrid, with two electric motors backing up its 6L V8 Vortec engine, delivers a whopping 25% increase in fuel efficiency while retaining the features that make it exclusively Cadillac. The Escalade hybrid, a full-size, 4 door SUV, brings with it standards that rival some of the competition's best options.

New and Improved
The Escalade Hybrid, while retaining most of the features from its traditional version, delivers the latest in gas-saving technologies. With its two-mode hybrid system, the Cadillac hybrid saves gas by calculating power demands and then deciding on its own when to cruise entirely on electric power, when to use both its gasoline engine and its electric motors, and when to run completely on gasoline power. Light acceleration at slow speeds below 30mph, for example, or stop and go driving, would use only electric power, allowing the vehicle to cruise quietly and economically. Highway driving or highway merging, for example, would demand the use of the Escalade's combustion engine. This Cadillac hybrid even uses a regenerative braking system, which charges the car's batteries when its brakes are working to stop the car. Wrap all these power-train modifications up in the classic, unchanged Escalade exterior body, and you've got a Cadillac hybrid delivering an exceptional 20 mpg city and 21mpg highway.

Standard Features
Cadillac seems to make luxury standard. The 2009 Cadillac Escalade Hybrid appears to come nearly fully-loaded off the line. With standard features including seating for 8, DVD based navigation, a rearview camera, a Bose surround system, a backseat DVD player, a Bluetooth phone interface, and even a three-zone climate control system, this hybrid falls nowhere near short of its conventional, completely combustion-driven counterpart.

Special Features
New to Cadillac hybrid models is an eight-inch in-console touch screen, providing information on where driving power is coming from: the gasoline engine, the electric motors, or both. Drivers can see at a glance just what their hybrid powerplant is up to. Two special gauges also fill the dashboard: a tachometer and an economy gauge. The tachometer, which traditionally displays the revolutions per minute an engine is running at, will in the Escalade display an "auto-off" feature, allowing drivers to know when the gasoline engine has automatically shut down. The economy gauge will be represented with a green bar in a display. This will let drivers know when they are operating their hybrid at its most economical, and give fuel-conscious operators a way of immediately checking up on their own driving.

Why We Like It
The 2009 Cadillac Escalade hybrid is a huge step forward for style-conscious gas-saving technology. With drastic changes to its power train, it has boosted its fuel economy 25% ahead of its conventional, similar modeled predecessors. With its largely untouched exterior, this hybrid delivers the sleek style its already known for. With its advanced technologies, this hybrid delivers the gas-saving transportation automotive buyers are starting to demand.