Test Driving the 2021 Cadillac Escalade with Andrew Hawkins
The War on Cars
The War on Cars, LLC
4.9 • 937 Ratings
🗓️ 27 January 2021
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
If you've ever spent time leafing through a car magazine or, god forbid, watching car reviews on YouTube, then you know that most of what passes for "automotive journalism" is indistinguishable from automobile marketing. That's why it was so refreshing to read journalist Andrew Hawkins' review of the 6,000-pound, 18-foot-long, 2021 Cadillac Escalade in The Verge last October. Rather than simply cooing over the latest high-tech doodads and distractions, Andrew reviewed the $80,000+ luxury truck from the perspective of the people who will be walking, biking, and trying to live their lives on city streets with this gargantuan SUV and its distracted driver in their midst. Aaron chats with Andrew about his stressful test drive of the new Escalade, his confrontation with the product managers at Cadillac, and the role that journalism can (or, perhaps, can't) play in compelling policy makers and the automobile industry to change for the better.
This episode was sponsored by our friends at Cleverhood. For 20% off of stylish, functional rain gear designed specifically for walking and biking -- and 30% off on their new anorak rain jacket -- enter coupon code: WARONCARS when you check out.
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SHOW NOTES:
Andrew Hawkins' initial tweet with the photo of his three-year-old son in front of the 2021 Cadillac Escalade.
"Driving the 2021 Cadillac Escalade was one of the most stressful experiences of my life." By Andrew Hawkins in The Verge.
Death on foot: America's love of SUVs is killing pedestrians (Detroit Free Press)
Better car design could prevent pedestrian deaths, says NTSB report (Curbed)
2021 Cadillac Escalade Review // "The $100,000 Benchmark For Ballers" (Throttle House)
Also check out Episode 48 of The War on Cars: Right of Way with Angie Schmitt and Episode 35: Suburbans in the City.
This episode was produced by Aaron Naparstek and edited by Ali Lemer. Our music is by Nathaniel Goodyear. Our logo is by Dani Finkel of Crucial D Design.
Find us on Twitter: @TheWarOnCars, Doug Gordon @BrooklynSpoke, Sarah Goodyear @buttermilk1, Aaron Naparstek @Naparstek.
Questions, comments or suggestions? Email us: thewaroncars@gmail.com
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey folks, Doug here. You've heard Aaron, Sarah, and me talk about |
| 0:06.4 | Cleverhood and how much we enjoy wearing their raincapes when we're exploring |
| 0:09.8 | our neighborhoods. Now, Cleverhood has something new, an Anirac. |
| 0:14.0 | What's in Interac you ask? |
| 0:15.0 | Well, it's a great pullover hooded jacket that's perfect for blustery days on or off the bike. |
| 0:20.0 | It's completely waterproof, roomy, and stylish. |
| 0:23.0 | And it comes in four colors. |
| 0:25.0 | I have one in the awesome electric blue, |
| 0:28.0 | which features reflective details sewn right in. |
| 0:30.0 | They are so bright you would swear this jacket was battery-powered. It's not. |
| 0:35.7 | The Clever Hood Enrich has a front kangaroo pouch that will keep your phone dry. |
| 0:39.4 | It also has a separate muff pocket to keep your hands out of the elements when you're out and about. |
| 0:44.2 | To mark the release of the new Anorak, Cleverhood is offering listeners of the War on Cars |
| 0:48.1 | a special 30% discount. |
| 0:50.6 | Just go to Cleverhood.com slash War cars, enter code war on cars, all one word, |
| 0:56.0 | at check out, and you'll get that 30% off. |
| 0:58.0 | And by the way, that code will still give you 20% off |
| 1:02.0 | everything else in the Cleverhood store. |
| 1:04.0 | Thanks to Cleverhood and thanks to all of you. |
| 1:07.0 | Enjoy the episode. |
| 1:08.0 | They wouldn't even need half the cameras that they had or half of the radar or |
| 1:17.8 | ultrasonic sensors if the vehicle was just smaller. The size of the vehicle is the whole point. |
... |
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