CADILLAC ESCALADE
Escalade. The name alone has presence. It’s a pop-culture icon, and the sheer size of the thing has created an aura around Cadillac’s flagship SUV for us European folk. And now, unbelievably, it’s even bigger. This is the new 2021 Escalade – the fifth generation of the monster-SUV – and while the standard version is 5.3m long and over 2m wide there’s now a long-wheelbase ‘ESV’ version – 5.7m nose to tail.
The interior is dominated by a massive 38 inches of display screen up on the dash. Said screens are curved
OLEDs, though, and have twice the pixel density of a 4K TV. Impressive.
Just like the old Escalade, propulsion comes from a 6.2-litre V8 which puts out 420bhp and 460lb ft of torque. Unlike in previous generations though, there’s now a diesel option in the form of a 3.0-litre turbo. That comes with 277bhp and the same 460lb ft of torque as the V8. Both engines are mated to 10-speed automatic transmissions. Hybrid? Electric? Nahhh…
WELL,ITWENTABIT TAHOE WITH THE DESIGN, BUT OVERALL I LIKE IT. ITHASPRESENCE Peterson Perfect for Laguna Beach to Vegas James Hughes They managed to achieve what BMW couldn’ t and that is to stick a massive front grille on it without making the car look hideous. Mr Guest Itlooks stunning Odium You u people act like Cadillac hasn’t sn’t had a big grille for years, this is nothing new Brian Coleman an Wow that is ... boxy. Still looks better proportioned than a Cullinanthough David Paul Evans INTERIOR LOOKS GOOD. SPACE IS THE ULTIMATE LUXURY. WE’ LL IGNORE THE OUTSIDE AS IT’ S DINNER TIME BikeSausage Looks like a stoned Transformer grinning Sean Yeske If I’ m upon my British slang, it’ s the kind of car ac hav from Chelsea would want DavidR Only an American... or folks in the Middle East... could like that, seriously Dean Thomas Iguesstherich buytheseso theycanjust driveoverus regularfolks Jounced Gaudy and it uses a push rod engine. Y up, it’ s American Super 6 Itlooks kindof likea warthog Sharon Dunsford Two things the Yanks simply seem unable to do: car design and quality chocolate desig cho Truth Truth101
Why wear one watch, when you can wear two? Be more Maradona, folks
The genius of Diego Maradona as a footballer was never in doubt. His status as a style guru is still up for debate. In recent years, he has regularly been spotted wearing identical luxury watches on both wrists, something he does when travelling abroad, with one watch always set to home time back in Argentina. Maradona’s favoured double-wrister is made by Hublot, a Swiss watch brand that is something of a maverick genius in its own right. It was started in 1980, at a time when it looked like expensive mechanical watches were going to be edged into irrelevance by cheap quartz. Not only are fancy watches here to stay, said Hublot, they are about to get a whole lot fancier. The name means “porthole” in French and the first watch had a gold, portholeinspired case on a black rubber strap. Combining rubber with precious metal was considered near-sacrilege at the time, but almost all the posh watchmakers now offer rubber straps to add a more sporty, hop-on-the-yacht feel than metal or leather.
Although Hublot gained a following back in the Eighties and Nineties, it was not until this century it really took off. That was largely due to the efforts of marketing genius Jean-Claude Biver – the man who convinced James Bond to start wearing an Omega. With Biver’s help, Hublot became a mega brand, emblazoned on Floyd Mayweather’s shorts, and forming partnerships with the likes of Ferrari, Usain Bolt and another retired footballer called Pelé. The signature model is the modestly named Big Bang – a large, bold, premium-priced chronograph that is difficult to miss. This is the model that Maradona wears, and it comes in a whole range of styles, from stealthy black to fully diamond-encrusted.
Luxury watches used to be made from precious metals, such as gold. Then some brands started using steel, too. Hublot started using titanium, aluminium, ceramic and carbon fibre. It even has its own proprietary gold blend called, with another modest stroke, King Gold. Of course, gold always comes at a price, but experimenting with different case materials has now become commonplace. The watches on the opposite page all feature either aluminium or ceramic, and prices start at less than £80 – so cheap you can buy one for each wrist. Genius.