Its common knowledge. Its posted on Nissan's own forums and all over Consumer Reports and JD Power. Its is the worst reliable vehicle in class and built so poor for a luxury badged vehicle, Nissan THEMSELVES has promised to move production from Mississippi to Japan with the next generation QX56.

As for my choice, not even looking at its poor reliability, the QX56 is IMO awful and the new 07 Escalade is really incredible. No, I am not a fan of it's "Image" but its better than having no image like the Infiniti. The Escalade is bigger, faster, more luxurious, more reliable, its not even close.

If anyone wants to try the QX, you can rent them from Enterprise. Go figure.

 

Oh and Poll time!

 

As pointed out, C&D did a nice write-up on big lux SUVs a couple of months ago. They had some interesting points. I'd get a hold of that article for more info. I seem to remember them saying the GL450 has more room? At least in the second and third rows.

 

Yeah, we posted it here. The GL won 1st, the Q7 won 2nd and quite frankly, while the other SUVs placed (QX56, Escalade, Navigator), they were so far behind the 2 Germans it wasn't even funny.

While I find the GL looks like a damn Highlander, the press seems to really think it is a very good SUV.

 

The GL is unibody and so is the Q7. That gives them a serious natural advantage in terms of ride, chassis solidity, and handling and a serious disadvantage in terms of towing and off-roading durability.

If Car and Driver ignored this significant difference between the two groups of cars and gave all sorts of bonus points to the two unibody SUVs for their car-like ride and handling then it's a no-brainer that they won by a significant margin. However that's making the assumption that people won't use their SUVs for traditional practical SUV/truck purposes which I think is unfair.

 

For the most part, yes, the new Escalade, like most of the other new full-size GM SUV's, overall, does have a much nicer interior...but that is more so of the dash than the rest of the cabin, part of which is he same old GM second-rate plastic, and part of which is noticeably better-grade materials.
I have not driven the new Escalade but have driven two of its cousins.....the new 2007 Chevy Tahoe and the 2007 GMC long-wheelbase Denali, which is very similiar to the long-wheelbase Escalade. ( See my write-up of the new Denali in the review comparison I did of that vehicle to the Ford Expedition EL Limited 4X4. )

Unless you have an overriding reason to buy a QX56, I would avoid one at all costs. It comes from the Nissan-Infiniti Canton, MS plant, which has had notorious quality problems. Everything that comes from that plant.......including the Nissan Titan and Armada.....has been WAY below average in reliability; down in Mercedes-Benz territory.

 

I have to admit while I believe any unbiased person with a decent understanding of these two vehicles would agree the Escalade is hands down the better choice between the two... I am pleasantly surprised to see 8 out of 8 people have voted for the Escalade. I figured the voting would be more 50/50 because of people being biased toward japanese brands in general.

Personally it annoys me when people say 'japanese cars are great/reliable'. Well, yes, some are. But many aren't. A lot of the recent Nissan products as well as historically companies like Mitsubishi, Mazda, and Subaru have shown that to be a very inaccurate blanket statement.

 

wow
great feedback and input
but when do you think the qx is due for a body up grade or a facelift?
thanks

 

Gotta be Escalade! But if i were you, I would pick the new X5. Hands down better than Qx or Escalade.

 

Hmmm, the mbusa.com site shows the following towing capacities:
GL450: 7500lbs
Escalade: 7700lbs
QX56: 8900lbs

and the following ground clearances:
GL450: 8"
Escalade: 9"
QX56: 11"

So it would seem that the QX is your choice if you favor a lux SUV that can tow the most and go off road and the Escalade and GL are basically the same. But to be honest, I've never EVER seen an Escalade or QX56 towing or going off road - so I really don't think those features are on the minds of most buyers in this segment.

 

Yeah the Escalade is 7700 with AWD and 8000 with RWD but I said towing and off-roading durability. There's a good reason why you'll only find traditional body on frame design underpinning almost any truck that's actually intended for serious towing or off-roading use and it's that a unibody design just doesn't hold up to that kind of stress and punishment over time.

But yes you are still correct - the great majority of people who own a full size luxury SUV will probably be doing very little if any of this, so... they might as well drive giant cars all the same. They'll never know the difference anyway.

 

hey man...dont mean to be rude....but both the choices are crappy trucks....and qx56 was rated the worst truck to buy by many automotive magazines. i would never spend money on junk....so i would prolly wait for the new lexus full size truck or how about the new acura MDX.

 

Well, neither one is built with Lexus-like precision, but the new Escalade is considerably less " crappy ", as you would put it, than the old one...especially in the quality of the materials they use inside.

 

Escalade - QX56 is too similar to the Armada and it does have a few bugs in it...

 

Yea but then you can get a Denali instead of a Escalade, save 15k and they look like twins with the same features and upscale interior.