Can the 650-horsepower ultimate Camaro defeat the 800-horsepower giant Cadillac SUV?
As visually striking and as elegant on the inside as the Cadillac Escalade is, it’s hard to call it a performance SUV, especially one that can take on the 650-horsepower 2018 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. The Caddy has a massive 6.2-liter V8 with 420 horsepower and 460 lb-ft of torque, but it’s far from being a Grand Cherokee Trackhawk or Porsche Cayenne Turbo S.
That’s where Hennessey comes in. The Texas tuner has made a name for itself by adding stout amounts of power to a variety of machines, from the Dodge Viper to the Chevrolet Corvette to the Escalade you see in the video up top.
Hennessey offers two supercharged enhancement packages for the 2015-2018 Escalade. The base bundle is called the HPE650 Supercharged Upgrade, but it generates 665 horsepower and 658 lb-ft of torque. The HPE800 Supercharged Upgrade showcased in the footage above features a 2.9-liter supercharger running 10 psi of boost bolted to a 416-cubic-inch (6.8-liter) stroker V8 with forged aluminum pistons. Output is 805 horsepower at 5,500 rpm and 812 lb-ft of torque at 4,000 rpm. After calculating in a maximum 25-percent driveline power loss, at-the-wheels ratings come out to 604 horsepower and 609 lb-ft. Those numbers are good for a Hennessey-claimed 0-60 mph time of 3.7 seconds and a 11.7-second quarter mile at 116 mph.
Are Hennessey’s enhancements enough to make the Escalade a 650-horsepower Camaro-killer on a drag strip? Watch and find out. No matter which vehicle loses, we all win as viewers.
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
