Compare the2024 Lincoln AviatorVS 2024 Cadillac Escalade

Safety
Warranty
Reliability
Engine
Fuel Economy and Range
Tires and Wheels
Suspension and Handling
Chassis
Ergonomics

Safety

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For enhanced safety, the front and second-row seat shoulder belts of the Lincoln Aviator have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision and force limiters to limit the pressure the belts will exert on the passengers. The Cadillac Escalade doesn’t offer pretensioners for its second-row seat belts.

Both the Aviator and Escalade have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The Aviator has power child safety locks, allowing the driver to activate and deactivate them from the driver's seat and to know when they're engaged. The Escalade’s child locks have to be individually engaged at each rear door with a manual switch. The driver can’t know the status of the locks without opening the doors and checking them.

The Lincoln Aviator has standard driver and front passenger side knee airbags mounted low on the dashboard. These airbags helps prevent the driver and front passenger from sliding under their seatbelts or the main frontal airbags; this keeps them better positioned during a collision for maximum protection. Knee airbags also help keep the legs from striking the dashboard, preventing knee and leg injuries in the case of a serious frontal collision. The Escalade doesn’t offer knee airbags.

The Aviator has standard Post Collision Braking, which automatically apply the brakes in the event of a crash to help prevent secondary collisions and prevent further injuries. The Escalade doesn’t offer a post collision braking system: in the event of a collision that triggers the airbags, more collisions are possible without the protection of airbags that may have already deployed.

The Aviator has a standard blind spot warning system that uses sensors to alert the driver to objects in the vehicle’s blind spots where the side view mirrors don’t reveal them. Only the Escalade Premium/Platinum/Sport offers a blind spot warning system.

To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Aviator has standard Cross-Traffic Alert with Braking and automatically engage the brakes. Only the Escalade Premium/Platinum/Sport offers Rear Cross Traffic Alert and the Escalade’s Rear Cross Traffic Alert does not include automatic braking.

The Aviator’s driver alert monitor detects an inattentive driver then sounds a warning and suggests a break. According to the NHTSA, drivers who fall asleep cause about 100,000 crashes and 1500 deaths a year. The Escalade doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.

For better protection of the passenger compartment, the Aviator uses safety cell construction with a three-dimensional high-strength frame that surrounds the passenger compartment. It provides extra impact protection and a sturdy mounting location for door hardware and side impact beams. The Escalade uses a body-on-frame design, which has no frame members above the floor of the vehicle.

Both the Aviator and the Escalade have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, height adjustable front shoulder belts, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, rearview cameras, available all wheel drive and around view monitors.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Lincoln Aviator is safer than the Cadillac Escalade:

	Aviator	Escalade
OVERALL STARS	5 Stars	4 Stars
	Driver
STARS	5 Stars	5 Stars
HIC	125	146
Neck Stress	167 lbs.	312 lbs.
Neck Compression	26 lbs.	51 lbs.
	Passenger
STARS	5 Stars	4 Stars
Chest Compression	.4 inches	.6 inches
Neck Injury Risk	29.2%	47%
Neck Stress	187 lbs.	272 lbs.
Leg Forces (l/r)	380/405 lbs.	333/811 lbs.

New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does side impact tests on new vehicles. In this test, which crashes the vehicle into a flat barrier at 38.5 MPH and into a post at 20 MPH, results indicate that the Lincoln Aviator is safer than the Cadillac Escalade:

	Aviator	Escalade
	Rear Seat
STARS	5 Stars	5 Stars
HIC	86	88
	Into Pole
STARS	5 Stars	5 Stars
Max Damage Depth	12 inches	14 inches
Hip Force	573 lbs.	764 lbs.

New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.

Instrumented handling tests conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and analysis of its dimensions indicate that the Aviator, with its four-star roll-over rating, is 6.1% to 7.2% less likely to roll over than the Escalade, which received a three-star rating.

For its top level performance in IIHS driver and passenger-side small overlap frontal, moderate overlap frontal, side impact, roof strength and head restraint tests, its standard vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention system, its standard vehicle-to-pedestrian front crash prevention system, and its available headlight’s “Good” rating, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the Aviator the rating of “Top Safety Pick” for 2022, a rating granted to only 163 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Escalade has not been tested, yet.

Warranty

There are over 21 percent more Lincoln dealers than there are Cadillac dealers, which makes it easier should you ever need service under the Aviator’s warranty.

Reliability

The Lincoln Aviator’s engine uses a cast iron block for durability, while the Escalade’s engines use an aluminum block. Aluminum engine blocks are much more prone to warp and crack at high temperatures than cast iron.

For smoother operation, better efficiency and fewer moving parts, the Aviator has an overhead cam design, rather than the old pushrod design of the engine in the Escalade.

From surveys of all its subscribers, Consumer Reports’ January 2023 Auto Issue reports that Lincoln vehicles are more reliable than Cadillac vehicles. Consumer Reports ranks Lincoln 7 places higher in reliability than Cadillac.

Engine

As tested in Motor Trend the Lincoln Aviator is faster than the Cadillac Escalade:

	Aviator	Escalade
Zero to 60 MPH	5.4 sec	6.1 sec
Quarter Mile	14.1 sec	14.6 sec
Speed in 1/4 Mile	97.7 MPH	95.6 MPH

Fuel Economy and Range

On the EPA test cycle the Aviator gets better mileage than the Escalade:

			MPG
Aviator
	RWD	3.0 turbo V6	18 city/26 hwy
	AWD	3.0 turbo V6	17 city/24 hwy
Escalade
	RWD	6.2 OHV V8	14 city/19 hwy
	AWD	6.2 OHV V8	14 city/18 hwy

Tires and Wheels

The Aviator’s optional tires provide better handling because they have a lower 40 series profile (height to width ratio) that provides a stiffer sidewall than the Escalade’s 50 series tires.

Suspension and Handling

The Aviator AWD handles at .80 G’s, while the Escalade Sport 4WD pulls only .60 G’s of cornering force in a Motor Trend skidpad test.

The Aviator AWD executes Motor Trend’s “Figure Eight” maneuver 3 seconds quicker than the Escalade Sport 4WD (27.1 seconds @ .69 average G’s vs. 30.1 seconds @ .53 average G’s).

For greater off-road capability the Aviator has a greater minimum ground clearance than the Escalade (8.7 vs. 8 inches), allowing the Aviator to travel over rougher terrain without being stopped or damaged.

Chassis

The Lincoln Aviator may be more efficient, handle and accelerate better because it weighs about 900 to 1150 pounds less than the Cadillac Escalade.

The Aviator is 1 foot shorter than the Escalade, making the Aviator easier to handle, maneuver and park in tight spaces.

The Aviator is 7.1 inches shorter in height than the Escalade, making the Aviator much easier to wash and garage and drive (lower center of gravity).

Unibody construction lowers the Aviator’s center of gravity significantly without reducing ground clearance. This contributes to better on the road handling and better off-road performance and stability. In addition, unibody construction makes the chassis stiffer, improving handling and reducing squeaks and rattles. The Escalade doesn’t use unibody construction, but a body-on-frame design.

The Aviator (except Premiere) offers available computer-generated active noise cancellation to help remove annoying noise and vibration from the passenger compartment, especially at low frequencies. The Escalade doesn’t offer active noise cancellation.

Ergonomics

In case you lock your keys in your vehicle, or don’t have them with you, you can let yourself in using the Aviator’s exterior PIN entry system. The Escalade doesn’t offer an exterior PIN entry system, and its OnStar® can’t unlock the doors if the vehicle doesn’t have cell phone reception or the driver can’t contact the service.

Manual rear side window sunshades are available in the Aviator to help block heat and glare for the rear passengers. The Escalade doesn’t offer rear side window sunshades.

Optional air conditioned front and second row seats keep the Aviator’s passengers comfortable and take the sting out of hot leather in summer. The Escalade doesn’t offer air-conditioned seats for the second row.