The third generation thus closed out after ’92 with only one further change: a $175 «Heritage Appearance» bundle to mark Camaro’s 25th birthday. Out there in white, crimson, or black, it involved only badges and some hood and decklid stripes. It was a feeble gesture, however not less than Chevy didn’t forget its ponycar’s anniversary.
Wasting no time capitalizing on its unexpected hit, Cadillac added the Escalade EXT for 2002, a full-bling take on Chevrolet’s new Avalanche 4-door SUV/pickup. Riding a 130-inch wheelbase, EXT combined a 5-foot-long open cargo box with GM’s novel «midgate,» a panel that folded forward together with the rear seats for carrying objects as much as eight-ft lengthy with the tailgate closed. The midgate additionally served as a housing for a normal energy drop-down rear cab window. Following for 2003 was an ESV wagon, based mostly on the 130-inch-wheelbase Chevy Suburban/GMC Yukon XL. Each Escalade wagons got here with three-row seating for seven or карниз на электроприводе eight standing-in search of passengers. The EXT carried 5.
The 2 uplevel fashions additionally boasted an industry first referred to as Night time Imaginative and prescient. Employing infrared expertise proven within the Persian Gulf War, Evening Vision used a grille-mounted camera to detect the heat signatures of objects beyond headlight range, which have been projected as «digital» photos onto the windshield close to driver eye degree. No different automobile offered something prefer it, and though not in style at a hefty $2000, Night Vision was the type of technical advance that had served Cadillac so well in the ’50s and ’60s. But such gizmology tended to obscure the virtues of a mighty impressive big luxury sedan. Even the base DeVille supplied adroitly balanced trip and handling, and Motor Development termed the DTS «a technological tour de pressure, an environment friendly, elegant, and uniquely American approach to positive motoring and a true Cadillac.»
An SS 396 Chevelle included a 350-horsepower Turbo-Jet «396» V-8, special suspension, «power dome» hood, black-accented grille, resilient rear-bumper insert, and vast-oval tires on sport wheels. Though a 375-horsepower improve was available, few had been sold — primarily because the added cost brought the full too close to the «ultimate» Chevelle, the SS 454.