2007 Cadillac Escalade Vs. 2006 Land Rover Range Rover Superch

These days, the word bling gets thrown around about as often as peanuts at a baseball game. From Hollywood and hip-hop to VH1 and the NBA, bling is seemingly everywhere, at least with regard to pop culture. One can even find the term--specifically, "bling-bling"--in the "Oxford English Dictionary," which defines it as, "ostentatiously expensive clothing or jewellery, or the style or attitudes associated with them." In America, bling applies to far more than just jewelry and clothes. Champagne, homes, electronics, and, last but certainly not least, luxury automobiles--anything that represents wealth, really.

When it comes to rides, particularly SUVs, few are as bling-bling popular as the Cadillac Escalade and the Land Rover Range Rover. Watch an episode of MTV "Cribs," and it's near impossible not to see at least one celebrity showing off his 'Slade or Rover, generally on a tiled driveway, on the way to the pool. For both automakers, this type of celebrity affiliation is not only welcome, but also relatively new--the Escalade didn't come into existence until 1999 and the Range Rover wasn't, in all honesty, worth talking about until the current generation appeared for 2003. Prior to those respective debuts, there wasn't much in either lineup to attract the type of clientele that tends to get TV time.

Not any more. Now, both vehicles have received enough star-studded exposure and credibility to become pop icons in their own right. So we gathered these heavyweights for a head-to-head brawl of bling. The Escalade, totally redesigned for 2007, is the pinnacle of GM's all-new GMT900 family of full-size SUVs, while the Range Rover, freshened with ritzier duds and an available supercharged engine for 2006, is the best from across the pond. Which is the king of the road and, more important, which is the king of bling? Like a fine bottle of Hennessey, our winner must offer the best blend.

The Collection
The 2007 'Slade indeed looks fresh, yet it's still instantly recognizable as an Escalade--the Frisbee-size emblems, the huge chrome grille, and, of course, the foot-long "Escalade" badges are all intact, giving the Caddy high marks on the bling meter (see sidebar). Exterior styling is more evolutionary than revolutionary, but the subtle alterations and finer detailing bring about a more handsome facade in addition to aerodynamic benefits. The wraparound fascias, body-attached bumpers, rounded sheetmetal, 25-percent-narrower panel-to-panel gaps, faster windshield angle--they all contribute to a segment-best 0.36 coefficient of drag as well as a more refined appearance that makes the Escalade seem smaller than its predecessor. Indeed, looks can be deceiving: The new version, which rides on an identical 116.0-inch wheelbase, is 3.6 inches longer and a tenth wider and taller.