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The 9,000-pound monster I don’t want to give back | TechCrunch

The 9,000-pound monster I don’t want to give back | TechCrunch

Before heading on a trip to Tahoe last weekend, GM offered me the use of the company’s 9,000-pound monument to excess – the new 2026 electric Escalade IQL (starting at $130,405) – for a week to test-drive. Before you continue, note that I’m not a professional car reviewer. TechCrunch has excellent transportation writers; I am not one of them. I do, however, drive an electric car.

I was immediately game. I’d first glimpsed one last summer at a car show, where some regional car dealers had stationed themselves at the end of a long field dotted with exquisite vintage automobiles. My immediate reaction was “Jesus, that’s enormous,” followed by a surprising admiration for its design, which, despite its enormous scale, shows restraint. For lack of a better word, I’m going to say it’s “strapping.” Its proportions just work.

My excitement waned pretty quickly when the car was dropped off at my house a day before our departure time. This thing is a monstrosity — at 228.5 inches long and 94.1 inches wide, it made our own cars look like toys. My first apartment in San Francisco was smaller. Trying to drive it up my driveway was a little harrowing, too; it’s so big, and its hood is so high, that if you’re ascending a road at a certain slope – we live midway down a hill; our mailbox is at the top of it – you can’t see whatever is directly in front of the car.

I thought about just leaving it in the driveway for the duration of the trip. The other alternative was doing what I could to grow more comfortable with the prospect of driving it 200 miles to Tahoe City, so I tooled around in it that night and the next day, picking up dinner, heading to an exercise class — just basic stuff around town. When I ran into a friend on the street, I volunteered as quickly as possible that this was not my new car, that I was going to possibly review it, and wasn’t its size ridiculous? It felt like a tank. I thought: other than hotels that use SUVs like the Escalade to ferry guests around, what kind of monster chooses a car like this?

Five days later, it turns out that I am that kind of monster.

Image Credits:Connie Loizos

Look, I don’t know how or when I fell for this car. If I’d written this review after two days, it would read very differently. Even now, I’m not so blind that I don’t see its shortcomings.

It was the Escalade’s performance in a terrible snowstorm that really won my heart, but let me walk you through the steps between “Ugh, this car is a tank” and “Yes! This car is a tank.”

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Just getting into it requires a little more exertion than would seem to make sense. I’m fairly athletic and I still found myself wondering if this thing shouldn’t come with an automated step stool.

Inside is where digital maximalism does its work. The dashboard opens with a 55-inch curved LED screen with 8K resolution that reads less like a car display and more like a situation room. Front passengers get their own screens. Second-row passengers also get 12.6-inch personal screens along with stowable tray tables, dual wireless chargers, and — with the most lavish version of the car — massage seats that will make them forget they’re in a vehicle at all. Google Maps handles navigation. And the polarized screen technology deserves its own praise: while one of my kids binge-watched Hulu in the front seat, not a frame of it leaked into my sightline from behind the wheel.

The cabin itself is built around the premise that no one inside should feel crowded, and it delivers. Front legroom stretches to 45.2 inches; the second row offers 41.3; even the third row manages 32.3 inches. Seven adults could share this machine for a long while without fraying each other’s nerves. Heated and ventilated leather seats with 14-way power adjustment come standard in the first two rows, and the whole operation runs on 5G Wi-Fi.

The car also comes standard with Super Cruise, GM’s hands-free driving system, which I’m not sure I quite figured out. True car reviewers seem to love it; when I tried it, the car felt like it was drifting to an alarming degree between the outer boundaries of the highway lane, and when that happens, it unleashes an escalating sequence of warnings. First, a red steering wheel icon materializes on-screen. Then your seat pulses haptic warnings against your rump. Ignore those and a chime — both reminder and reproach — fills the cabin. GM calls this impolite series a “driver takeover request.”

Did I mention the 38-speaker AKG Studio sound system? So good.

As for the exterior — this is a handsome giant, but it takes some getting used to. At first, I found the grille, which is just for show, almost comically imposing. This is definitely a car for people who are the boss, or want to be the boss, or want to look like the boss while privately dealing with existential crises. Pulling up to a glass-lined restaurant one night, I’m pretty sure I blinded half the patrons as I swung into a parking spot perpendicular to the building, the Escalade’s headlights flooding through the windows.

Then there is the light show the car launches whenever it detects you approaching via the key or the MyCadillac app. It’s as if it’s saying, “Hey, chief, where we headed?” before you’ve so much as touched a door handle. (In the vernacular of Cadillac, this is thanks to its “advanced, all-LED exterior lighting system,” highlighted by a “crystal shield” illuminated grille and crest, along with vertical LED headlamps and “choreography-capable tail lamps.”)

It is, objectively, a bit much. I loved it immediately.

Image Credits:Connie Loizos

Despite its size, the Escalade IQL is unexpectedly nimble. Not “sports car darting through traffic” nimble, but “I can’t quite believe something this colossal doesn’t handle like a battleship” nimble.

Now we arrive at the frustrations. The front trunk — or “frunk” in the lexicon of EV devotees — operates in mysterious and frustrating ways. Opening requires holding the button until completion. Release prematurely and it halts mid-ascent, frozen in automotive purgatory, forcing you to restart the entire sequence. Closing demands the same sustained pressure. The rear trunk, conversely, requires two distinct taps followed by immediate button abandonment. Hold too long and nothing happens.

Relatedly, twice, the vehicle refused to power down after I’d finished driving. The car simply sat there, running, even when shifted to park and opened the door (which tells the car to turn off). One clunky solution: open the frunk, close the frunk, shift into drive, then park, then exit entirely.

As for the software, it’s absolutely fine unless you’ve owned a Tesla, in which case, prepare for disappointment. This seems to be true across the board — everyone I know who owns both a Tesla and another EV, no matter how high end, says the same thing. Once you’ve internalized how effortlessly Tesla’s software dissolves barriers between intention and execution, every other automaker’s software feels like a compromise.

Which brings us to the nadir of the trip: charging in Tahoe during winter. For all its virtues, the Escalade IQL is, by any measure, a thirsty machine. The battery is a 205 kWh pack — enormous, and it needs to be, because the car burns through roughly 45 kWh per 100 miles, which is considerably more than comparable electric SUVs. Cadillac estimates 460 miles of range on a full charge, and in ideal conditions that holds up. Tahoe in winter, however, is not ideal conditions. We’d also arrived with less charge than we should have. A series of side trips on the way up, including an emergency detour to find shirts for a family member who had packed none, had eaten into the battery more than expected. By the time we needed to charge, we genuinely needed to charge.

We approached a Tesla Supercharger in Tahoe City that appeared on the MyCadillac app, but when we plugged in to the designated stall, nothing happened. We searched for answers, discovering that even Tesla stations that accept non-Tesla vehicles throttle energy to 6 kilowatts per hour anyway, but it was a frustrating experience. A nearby EVGo had shuttered a month prior. ChargePoint’s two units at the Tahoe City Public Utility lot were, respectively, broken and willing to connect but not to actually charge anything. We briefly contemplated a 35-mile drive to Incline Village, did the math on what stranded would actually look like, and decided against it. Then I discovered an Electrify America station 12 miles away. We drove through gathering snow, arrived shortly before 11 p.m., and it worked. We sat there for an hour fighting exhaustion before driving home.

The following morning revealed another issue via an app alert: tire pressure had dropped to 53 and 56 PSI in the front (recommended: 61) and 62 PSI in the rear (recommended: 68). I have no idea whether the car had been delivered that way or whether something else was going on — either way, it meant someone standing at a gas station filling tires while being pelted directly in the face with ice. (That someone was my husband.) The tires held steady after that, even as the week kept doing its worst. For a family trip, it was going great.

At this point, in fact, I would have told you that the Escalade IQL is unquestionably luxurious and ideal for families of four or more who value space and technology. I would tell you it came burdened by real tradeoffs: forward visibility obstructed by its commanding hood, parking challenges inherent to its dimensions, limited charging infrastructure for a machine this ravenous, and tires tasked with supporting 9,000 pounds. It’s a beautiful car, I would have said, but it’s not for me.

But the snow that had started to fall kept falling. Within two days, eight feet had accumulated, making it impossible to ski — the entire point of the trip — and terrifying to drive. Except I found that I wasn’t terrified because we had the Escalade, which, because of its weight, felt like driving a tank through the snow. What could have been harrowing felt serene. It was quiet, it was strong, it was taking charge in a bad situation.

I also adjusted to the size. By the end of this past week I had stopped mouthing “I’m sorry” to whoever who was waiting for me to figure out where to park it. I had stopped caring what it said about me that I was driving a car whose entire design philosophy is: the owner of this vehicle is not waiting in line. Eight feet of snow had fallen, we needed groceries, and I was the one with the tank, suckers! I could sense my husband falling for the car, too.

Image Credits:Connie Loizos

Then, as tends to happen in Tahoe, the snow stopped all at once and the sun came out, and the Escalade was just a very dirty car sitting in the driveway (sorry, GM!). It was in this moment that I realized: I still like it, and it’s not because of the emergency alone. I love riding high, with the speaker system flooding the car with a favorite soundtrack. That light show still gets me. The car’s long, curved LED screen is a marvel, among other features.

The frunk is still unhinged. I won’t soon forget the panic of not being able to charge the car where I thought I could. Parking this thing is truly an exercise in patience. I have strong opinions about unnecessary consumption. None of that has changed.

I just also, somehow, want this car, so when the GM middleman comes to collect it, I may hide it under a tarp — a very large tarp — and tell him he has the wrong address.

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#9000pound #monster #dont #give #TechCrunch

Tired of taking your action camera on an adventure, only to get home and find out you missed the action with a bad angle? One option is to switch to a 360-degree action cam, so you can capture all of the action and then edit down to just the good stuff later. One of our favorite options, the DJI Osmo 360, is currently available for just $390 on Amazon, a $209 discount from its usual price, and it comes with a selfie stick and an extra battery.

The DJI Osmo 360 achieves its impressive all-around video quality by leveraging a pair of 1/1.1-inch sensors, larger than some other offerings, and by supporting 10-bit color. You can really see that in the camera’s output, with colors that are vivid and bold, to the point that you may need to dial them back a bit in post if you want something more natural. With support for up to 50 frames per second at 8K when recording in 360 degrees, or 120 fps at 4K when shooting with only one sensor, you’ll have plenty of material to work with. In our testing, it ran for just shy of two hours at 30 fps, which is also around the time the internal storage had filled up anyway.

If you plan on catching any serious discussions with your Osmo 360, you’ll be pleased to know it connects directly to DJI’s line of wireless lavalier microphones, including the excellent and frequently discounted DJI Mic 2 and Mic Mini. If you want to mount it to something other than the included 1.2-meter selfie stick, it has both DJI’s magnetic attachment system and a more traditional ¼”-20 tripod mount. The DJI Mimo app lets you control the camera and adjust any settings, and there’s even a simple editor for on-the-fly production. For desktop users, DJI Studio has even more in-depth settings and editing options, in case you don’t want to pay for Premiere.

The DJI Osmo 360 is one of our favorite action cameras, and is particularly appealing at the discounted price point, but make sure to check out our full review for more info, or head over to our full roundup to see what else is available.

#Favorite #Cams #Percentcameras,shopping,deals,action cameras">One of Our Favorite 360 Cams Is 35 Percent OffTired of taking your action camera on an adventure, only to get home and find out you missed the action with a bad angle? One option is to switch to a 360-degree action cam, so you can capture all of the action and then edit down to just the good stuff later. One of our favorite options, the DJI Osmo 360, is currently available for just 0 on Amazon, a 9 discount from its usual price, and it comes with a selfie stick and an extra battery.The DJI Osmo 360 achieves its impressive all-around video quality by leveraging a pair of 1/1.1-inch sensors, larger than some other offerings, and by supporting 10-bit color. You can really see that in the camera’s output, with colors that are vivid and bold, to the point that you may need to dial them back a bit in post if you want something more natural. With support for up to 50 frames per second at 8K when recording in 360 degrees, or 120 fps at 4K when shooting with only one sensor, you’ll have plenty of material to work with. In our testing, it ran for just shy of two hours at 30 fps, which is also around the time the internal storage had filled up anyway.If you plan on catching any serious discussions with your Osmo 360, you’ll be pleased to know it connects directly to DJI’s line of wireless lavalier microphones, including the excellent and frequently discounted DJI Mic 2 and Mic Mini. If you want to mount it to something other than the included 1.2-meter selfie stick, it has both DJI’s magnetic attachment system and a more traditional ¼”-20 tripod mount. The DJI Mimo app lets you control the camera and adjust any settings, and there’s even a simple editor for on-the-fly production. For desktop users, DJI Studio has even more in-depth settings and editing options, in case you don’t want to pay for Premiere.The DJI Osmo 360 is one of our favorite action cameras, and is particularly appealing at the discounted price point, but make sure to check out our full review for more info, or head over to our full roundup to see what else is available.#Favorite #Cams #Percentcameras,shopping,deals,action cameras

DJI Osmo 360, is currently available for just $390 on Amazon, a $209 discount from its usual price, and it comes with a selfie stick and an extra battery.

The DJI Osmo 360 achieves its impressive all-around video quality by leveraging a pair of 1/1.1-inch sensors, larger than some other offerings, and by supporting 10-bit color. You can really see that in the camera’s output, with colors that are vivid and bold, to the point that you may need to dial them back a bit in post if you want something more natural. With support for up to 50 frames per second at 8K when recording in 360 degrees, or 120 fps at 4K when shooting with only one sensor, you’ll have plenty of material to work with. In our testing, it ran for just shy of two hours at 30 fps, which is also around the time the internal storage had filled up anyway.

If you plan on catching any serious discussions with your Osmo 360, you’ll be pleased to know it connects directly to DJI’s line of wireless lavalier microphones, including the excellent and frequently discounted DJI Mic 2 and Mic Mini. If you want to mount it to something other than the included 1.2-meter selfie stick, it has both DJI’s magnetic attachment system and a more traditional ¼”-20 tripod mount. The DJI Mimo app lets you control the camera and adjust any settings, and there’s even a simple editor for on-the-fly production. For desktop users, DJI Studio has even more in-depth settings and editing options, in case you don’t want to pay for Premiere.

The DJI Osmo 360 is one of our favorite action cameras, and is particularly appealing at the discounted price point, but make sure to check out our full review for more info, or head over to our full roundup to see what else is available.

#Favorite #Cams #Percentcameras,shopping,deals,action cameras">One of Our Favorite 360 Cams Is 35 Percent Off

Tired of taking your action camera on an adventure, only to get home and find out you missed the action with a bad angle? One option is to switch to a 360-degree action cam, so you can capture all of the action and then edit down to just the good stuff later. One of our favorite options, the DJI Osmo 360, is currently available for just $390 on Amazon, a $209 discount from its usual price, and it comes with a selfie stick and an extra battery.

The DJI Osmo 360 achieves its impressive all-around video quality by leveraging a pair of 1/1.1-inch sensors, larger than some other offerings, and by supporting 10-bit color. You can really see that in the camera’s output, with colors that are vivid and bold, to the point that you may need to dial them back a bit in post if you want something more natural. With support for up to 50 frames per second at 8K when recording in 360 degrees, or 120 fps at 4K when shooting with only one sensor, you’ll have plenty of material to work with. In our testing, it ran for just shy of two hours at 30 fps, which is also around the time the internal storage had filled up anyway.

If you plan on catching any serious discussions with your Osmo 360, you’ll be pleased to know it connects directly to DJI’s line of wireless lavalier microphones, including the excellent and frequently discounted DJI Mic 2 and Mic Mini. If you want to mount it to something other than the included 1.2-meter selfie stick, it has both DJI’s magnetic attachment system and a more traditional ¼”-20 tripod mount. The DJI Mimo app lets you control the camera and adjust any settings, and there’s even a simple editor for on-the-fly production. For desktop users, DJI Studio has even more in-depth settings and editing options, in case you don’t want to pay for Premiere.

The DJI Osmo 360 is one of our favorite action cameras, and is particularly appealing at the discounted price point, but make sure to check out our full review for more info, or head over to our full roundup to see what else is available.

#Favorite #Cams #Percentcameras,shopping,deals,action cameras

PRIME MEMBERS SAVE 20¢ PER GALLON: Instead of the standard 10¢ per gallon discount, Prime members can take advantage of Fuel Up Friday to save 20¢ per gallon when pumping gas every Friday through May. Locations include bp, Amoco, and participating ampm and Thorntons locations.


valid once every Friday through May 29

Fuel prices are up. How high will they go? No one knows, but Amazon is giving a bit of respite to Prime members who fill up the tank on Fridays until the end of May. Here’s how to cash in on the savings.

Prime members are eligible to save 20¢ per gallon when refueling on every Friday through May 29. You’ll need to swing by any bp, Amoco, or a participating ampm or Thorntons to get the savings. First, you’ll need to link your Amazon Prime account in the Earnify app and enter your phone number. After that, you’ll be able to use the app to save 20¢ per gallon once every Friday. If you need to refuel any other day of the week, you’ll get 10¢ off per gallon as a Prime member.

A Prime membership comes with plenty of perks. Throughout the year, members get special access to sales, discounts, free books, two-day shipping, streaming privileges on Prime Video, and more. Added to the list is now saving save 20¢ per gallon when filling up the gas tank on Fridays until the end of May.

Keep in mind this is valid only for U.S. Prime members and you can only use the discount once every Friday, so you won’t be able to fuel up vehicles for the entire family. Amazon mentions 7,500 gas stations are participating in this deal, so there should be one fairly nearby your home.

Since this deal is valid through May 29, you still have eight Fridays to refuel with while saving 20¢ per gallon. If you’re already a Prime member, there’s good reason to take advantage of this savings.

#Prime #member #savings #Save #gallon #fueling #Fridays">Prime member savings: Save 20¢ per gallon when fueling up on Fridays until the end of May
                                                            PRIME MEMBERS SAVE 20¢ PER GALLON: Instead of the standard 10¢ per gallon discount, Prime members can take advantage of Fuel Up Friday to save 20¢ per gallon when pumping gas every Friday through May. Locations include bp, Amoco, and participating ampm and Thorntons locations.
    
    
    
        
                                        
                                                    valid once every Friday through May 29
                    
        
    

Fuel prices are up. How high will they go? No one knows, but Amazon is giving a bit of respite to Prime members who fill up the tank on Fridays until the end of May. Here’s how to cash in on the savings.Prime members are eligible to save 20¢ per gallon when refueling on every Friday through May 29. You’ll need to swing by any bp, Amoco, or a participating ampm or Thorntons to get the savings. First, you’ll need to link your Amazon Prime account in the Earnify app and enter your phone number. After that, you’ll be able to use the app to save 20¢ per gallon once every Friday. If you need to refuel any other day of the week, you’ll get 10¢ off per gallon as a Prime member.
        
            Mashable Trend Report
        
        
    
A Prime membership comes with plenty of perks. Throughout the year, members get special access to sales, discounts, free books, two-day shipping, streaming privileges on Prime Video, and more. Added to the list is now saving save 20¢ per gallon when filling up the gas tank on Fridays until the end of May. 
        SEE ALSO:
        
            Amazon is reportedly moving its annual Prime Day sale this year
            
        
    
Keep in mind this is valid only for U.S. Prime members and you can only use the discount once every Friday, so you won’t be able to fuel up vehicles for the entire family. Amazon mentions 7,500 gas stations are participating in this deal, so there should be one fairly nearby your home. 
Since this deal is valid through May 29, you still have eight Fridays to refuel with while saving 20¢ per gallon. If you’re already a Prime member, there’s good reason to take advantage of this savings. 

                    
                                            
                            
                        
                                    #Prime #member #savings #Save #gallon #fueling #Fridays

Fuel Up Friday to save 20¢ per gallon when pumping gas every Friday through May. Locations include bp, Amoco, and participating ampm and Thorntons locations.


valid once every Friday through May 29

Fuel prices are up. How high will they go? No one knows, but Amazon is giving a bit of respite to Prime members who fill up the tank on Fridays until the end of May. Here’s how to cash in on the savings.

Prime members are eligible to save 20¢ per gallon when refueling on every Friday through May 29. You’ll need to swing by any bp, Amoco, or a participating ampm or Thorntons to get the savings. First, you’ll need to link your Amazon Prime account in the Earnify app and enter your phone number. After that, you’ll be able to use the app to save 20¢ per gallon once every Friday. If you need to refuel any other day of the week, you’ll get 10¢ off per gallon as a Prime member.

A Prime membership comes with plenty of perks. Throughout the year, members get special access to sales, discounts, free books, two-day shipping, streaming privileges on Prime Video, and more. Added to the list is now saving save 20¢ per gallon when filling up the gas tank on Fridays until the end of May.

Keep in mind this is valid only for U.S. Prime members and you can only use the discount once every Friday, so you won’t be able to fuel up vehicles for the entire family. Amazon mentions 7,500 gas stations are participating in this deal, so there should be one fairly nearby your home.

Since this deal is valid through May 29, you still have eight Fridays to refuel with while saving 20¢ per gallon. If you’re already a Prime member, there’s good reason to take advantage of this savings.

#Prime #member #savings #Save #gallon #fueling #Fridays">Prime member savings: Save 20¢ per gallon when fueling up on Fridays until the end of May

PRIME MEMBERS SAVE 20¢ PER GALLON: Instead of the standard 10¢ per gallon discount, Prime members can take advantage of Fuel Up Friday to save 20¢ per gallon when pumping gas every Friday through May. Locations include bp, Amoco, and participating ampm and Thorntons locations.


valid once every Friday through May 29

Fuel prices are up. How high will they go? No one knows, but Amazon is giving a bit of respite to Prime members who fill up the tank on Fridays until the end of May. Here’s how to cash in on the savings.

Prime members are eligible to save 20¢ per gallon when refueling on every Friday through May 29. You’ll need to swing by any bp, Amoco, or a participating ampm or Thorntons to get the savings. First, you’ll need to link your Amazon Prime account in the Earnify app and enter your phone number. After that, you’ll be able to use the app to save 20¢ per gallon once every Friday. If you need to refuel any other day of the week, you’ll get 10¢ off per gallon as a Prime member.

A Prime membership comes with plenty of perks. Throughout the year, members get special access to sales, discounts, free books, two-day shipping, streaming privileges on Prime Video, and more. Added to the list is now saving save 20¢ per gallon when filling up the gas tank on Fridays until the end of May.

Keep in mind this is valid only for U.S. Prime members and you can only use the discount once every Friday, so you won’t be able to fuel up vehicles for the entire family. Amazon mentions 7,500 gas stations are participating in this deal, so there should be one fairly nearby your home.

Since this deal is valid through May 29, you still have eight Fridays to refuel with while saving 20¢ per gallon. If you’re already a Prime member, there’s good reason to take advantage of this savings.

#Prime #member #savings #Save #gallon #fueling #Fridays

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