Listen, I used to work for a cadi/olds dealership. Northstar is not in any oldsmobile. Northstar which is a 4.6 liter V-8 is only in the cadis. You get two choices with that engine, either a 275hp version which is in the base deville, dHS, base seville, SLS, and the ETC. The aurora doesn't have a northstar engine and neither does the intrigue. If I remember correct those cars have the twin cam engines and are v-6, unless u move up to the the V-8 on the aurora which is a 4.0 liter. THe aurora uses the same engine as the those ugly saturns. THe only cads that don't use northstar are the escalade and the catera, which is replace by the CTS. THe escalade uses a Vortec 6000, which is enhanced and finetuned for more horsepower and i beleive u get 375 horses. The catera uses the standard 3 liter engine which i beleive is a V-6.
The cad is it's own car, the escalade doesn't even compare to the denali or the suburban. They are smoother, drive like devilles, are more powerful, have more enhancements to the interior (like premium leather seats, which don't even compare to the denali or surbuban) and all it's features are standard except the sunroof. THe ext is not even close to an avalanche, except exterior design wise. The EXT has a more powerful engine, a smoother ride and almost the exact same features as the escalade. Most of people on this board don't know what they are talking about. NORTHSTAR only makes ENGINES for CADs. If u look under the hood of an escalade, the one engine that is VORTEC (GM TRUCK ENGINE) is specifically states that the engine is designed specifically for cad. Cad's don't compare to any GM products, so stop trying to make this into a battle of which car is better.