Be it standard or long wheelbase, Cadillac's range-topping sport utility vehicle can be had with a choice of three powerplants, beginning with a torquey inline-six turbo diesel. Higher up the spectrum, customers are presented with either the 6.2-liter small block or a supercharged version of GM's fifth-gen small block in the Escalade-V.
Codenamed LT4, the latter engine is rated at 682 horsepower and 653 pound-feet (885 Nm) at the crankshaft. Hennessey Performance Engineering can do much better, though. The company founded by John Hennessey offers two district upgrade packages, dubbed H1000 and H850, respectively.
The black-painted Caddy in the featured clip is rocking the lesser upgrade package, which – as implied – promises 850 ponies at the crankshaft. How many of those reach the wheels? According to Hennessey's Dynojet, 694.51 horsepower at 5,680 revolutions per minute. Torque is pretty impressive as well, with Hennessey Performance Engineering recording 725.82 pound-feet (984 Nm).
HPE also made a few baseline pulls before upgrading the pictured Escalade-V. The best one indicated 586.70 horsepower and 589.53 pound-feet (799 Nm) at the wheels, representing drivetrain losses of 13.97 and 9.72 percent, respectively. The Sealy-based tuner's recipe for more power and torque from the already powerful and torquey LT4 begins with a ported supercharger with an upper pulley upgrade, a hotter camshaft, and high-flow cylinder heads.
Hennessey further improves the pushrod V8 by upgrading the pushrods, lifters, valve springs, retainers, intake and exhaust valves, throttle body, and crankcase ventilation system. Every build is tested up to 500 miles (805 kilometers) before delivery. Specific exterior badging and a serial-numbered engine bay plaque are included as well.
Pricing information for the H850 upgrade package hasn't been made public, although we do know that Hennessey wants $49,950 for said package in a different application, that being the 2024 Ford Mustang Dark Horse. With the Escalade-V starting at $152,295 before destination and optional extras, the H850 Escalade-V costs more than $200,000.
For extra peace of mind, the H850 package is backed by a three-year/36,000-mile (almost 58,000 kilometers) limited warranty. The question is, how much of the $200,000-plus net price of the H850 Escalade-V will be retained in three years' time?
That's a good question in and of itself, more so if you remember that Cadillac rolled out the first series-production electric Escalade for the 2025 model year on the same platform as the 1,000-horsepower GMC Hummer EVSUV. The Escalade IQ develops an estimated 750 horsepower and 785 pound-feet (1,065 Nm) from a three-motor setup.
It's also important for us to remember that GM won't discontinue its long-running small block anytime soon. The biggest automaker of the Detroit Big Three will invest $854 million to prepare US-based production facilities for the sixth-gen small block. It's not known when the sixth generation will be launched into production, but we're utmost certain that said engine family will serve GM's next-generation large trucks, SUVs, and C9 Corvette.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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