BLING & Bang; Taking the road less traveled to sample glitz and guns in a 2007 Cadillac Escalade.

Byline: BOB GRITZINGER

Cadillac's Super Bowl television advertising featured a chrome-on-black 2007 Escalade, glittering center stage on a haute couture runway. It was hardly subtle in its appeal to the bling set: The fashionistas in this "Chrome Couture'' ad represent precisely the image-conscious rappers, rockers, athletes, film stars, jet-setters and gangstas the Escalade has attracted since its debut in 1998.

However, as much as the Escalade shines in this spotlight, Cadillac says the rich and famous make up a mere 2 percent of Escalade owners; its bread-and-butter buyers haul kids and groceries, pull trailers and pile on highway miles. They are ordinary folk.

"We love the Hollywood and athlete crowd, but we can't sell the Escalade as a vehicle just for them,'' says Escalade product manager David Schiavone. The Escalade has to be a truck first and an homage to image somewhere further down the priority scale.

It does succeed. In our unscientific yet thoroughly real-world test, this third- generation 'Sclade stands out no matter where it traverses: grocery getting, nights out under bright city lights, cross-state highway runs and slogs through foot-deep mud. We did it all to prove this truck is a truck, even though it wears 22-inch chrome wheels and has plush leather seats and a rear-seat entertainment system.

Start with new drivetrain components. A 6.2-liter aluminum V8 making 403 hp and 417 lb-ft, up 58 hp and 37 lb-ft from the old 6.0-liter, mates with a new six-speed automatic in place of the old four-speed. The combination boosts highway fuel economy 12 percent even as it improves performance.

The Escalade has all the other hardware expected (and then some) in a full-size luxury ute: full-time all-wheel drive with a new locking rear differential; more responsive rack-and-pinion steering replaces the recirculating-ball setup; coilover front shocks and Road Sensing Suspension (with variable shock valving); and four-wheel discs beefed up to bring a bigger Escalade ESV (due in May, followed by the EXT model in June) to a halt.