2019 ESV vs Denali XL

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Zihmer001

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Hi all - been a while! I have a ‘14 Yukon Denali XL with everything but power running boards. It’s at 68k miles and I am tempted to upgrade to a 2019 CPO ESV premium luxury OR a 2019 CPO Denali XL.

What would the big differences be? I’m struggling to find any. Both have adaptive cruise, HUD, RSE. Am I missing something?

One other question - for CarPlay does that work over Bluetooth or must the phone be plugged in?

Thanks!
 

sickk23

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Escalade has LED headlights, a longer bumper-to-bumper warranty and a nicer interior by far. But its all preference.
 
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Zihmer001

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Definitely had not realized the longer warranty. I’ll do some homework on the mag suspension. Also looks like caddy has front and maybe side cameras?

I can’t / won’t shell for a platinum so massage seats are no go for me.

i feel like my current Denali is a suburban with AWD and a better engine. Which isn’t a bad thing. But I want to know any differences for the Escalade other than it being cool (my dad had an 83 Sedan deVille - I’ve always really liked Cadillac)
 

GTNator

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Agree with all the above. I considered both the Denali XL and Escalade ESV and ended up going with Escalade. But honestly, I would have been completely happy with the Denali too. There are differences, I recommend downloading the owners manual for both and compare. Then go drive them both. Bottom line, you can’t go wrong with either.


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GTNator

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Definitely had not realized the longer warranty. I’ll do some homework on the mag suspension. Also looks like caddy has front and maybe side cameras?

I can’t / won’t shell for a platinum so massage seats are no go for me.

i feel like my current Denali is a suburban with AWD and a better engine. Which isn’t a bad thing. But I want to know any differences for the Escalade other than it being cool (my dad had an 83 Sedan deVille - I’ve always really liked Cadillac)
Ha, my dad an an 84 Sedan DeVille, and I won’t lie, the nostalgia of riding in a Cadillac pops into my mind more than I expected.


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adventurenali92

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Drivetrain wise both trucks are identical. Both have the 6.2L V8 and 10 speed trans. At least from 2018^. Both come in 2WD and 4WD with the auto 4 mode. The major difference is the mag ride suspension like mentioned above. The Denali will have just standard mag ride suspension where as the ESV will mag ride with adjustable modes that can be selected on the fly while driving. The interiors are pretty different. I think the caddy does have more comfortable seats. It does have the surround view camera system, one front mounted camera, a camera under each side view mirror and then the rear camera. The Denali does not have this feature at least from the ones I have detailed for clients. I just detailed a platinum 2020 regular wheel base Escalade for a client and she had a neat feature I really liked. She had an extra camera on the tailgate that when selected turns the center rear view mirror into a full screen reverse camera. It’s pretty cool. I would guess that was designed so that if your rear hatch window was blocked like with luggage or other big items you could click that on and it would be like looking into the rear view mirror. Pretty cool I think. I have yet to see that feature on a denali package Yukon. I did not however like that on this 2020 platinum caddy the button to keep the running boards extended out while I was detailing is not where it was located on previous year trucks. It used to be right beside the gear shifter at the top of the infotainment set up. It wasn’t there in hers and I couldn’t find any setting that would allow me to keep the boards extended while I was cleaning. I really didn’t like that. Otherwise it was a really nice ride. As for your personal choice on which to go with it all comes down to what features you deem a must have and what you decided you don’t need. For the most part feature wise they are similar. But like mentioned above the caddy has a few things the Denali doesn’t.
 
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Zihmer001

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Drivetrain wise both trucks are identical. Both have the 6.2L V8 and 10 speed trans. At least from 2018^. Both come in 2WD and 4WD with the auto 4 mode. The major difference is the mag ride suspension like mentioned above. The Denali will have just standard mag ride suspension where as the ESV will mag ride with adjustable modes that can be selected on the fly while driving. The interiors are pretty different. I think the caddy does have more comfortable seats. It does have the surround view camera system, one front mounted camera, a camera under each side view mirror and then the rear camera. The Denali does not have this feature at least from the ones I have detailed for clients. I just detailed a platinum 2020 regular wheel base Escalade for a client and she had a neat feature I really liked. She had an extra camera on the tailgate that when selected turns the center rear view mirror into a full screen reverse camera. It’s pretty cool. I would guess that was designed so that if your rear hatch window was blocked like with luggage or other big items you could click that on and it would be like looking into the rear view mirror. Pretty cool I think. I have yet to see that feature on a denali package Yukon. I did not however like that on this 2020 platinum caddy the button to keep the running boards extended out while I was detailing is not where it was located on previous year trucks. It used to be right beside the gear shifter at the top of the infotainment set up. It wasn’t there in hers and I couldn’t find any setting that would allow me to keep the boards extended while I was cleaning. I really didn’t like that. Otherwise it was a really nice ride. As for your personal choice on which to go with it all comes down to what features you deem a must have and what you decided you don’t need. For the most part feature wise they are similar. But like mentioned above the caddy has a few things the Denali doesn’t.
I really appreciate this feedback.

Are the mag suspension modes noticeable? Just curious. I had a 2004 corvette, but it was z51 and therefore didn’t have the mag ride. Conceptually, it makes sense.

I’m surprised that I’m not seeing a huge difference in price between the two vehicles. Cadillac is more, but not as much as when I bought my current Denali. I’m also keeping my eyes on offers from Laura GMC on a potential new Denali plus if GMC brings back 84month / 0% like they had in May.

one other dumb question. Do the vehicles have mag suspension with airbags? My current Denali has the air ride rear. Is that still a thing?
 
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