ROAD TEST
What’s new?
There’s a Cadillac that parks up the street from my place, a 1994 De Ville. It’s everything most people would expect a Cadillac to be: large, somewhat oddly styled according to New Zealand tastes, and powered by an old-school V8 engine.
One of the world’s pioneering car brands, Cadillac has been in the business of building and selling cars since 1902.
In its heyday as GM’s prestige brand, Cadillac produced genuinely world-class vehicles featuring cutting-edge technology, the most luxurious of them powered by V12 and V16 engines. That, though, was back in the 1920s and 1930s. Since WW2 through to the early 2020s, Cadillac has focused on the North American market.
In the past few years, though, there’s been a push by Cadillac to establish itself as a global 21st-century brand.
Hence the presence of Cadillac-badged hybrid hypercars in the world endurance racing championship in recent years and, starting at last weekend’s Australian Grand Prix, a presence in Formula One. And hence this first for Drivesouth: a road test of a Cadillac that’s sold as a new car here in New Zealand.
The vehicle in question is called the Lyriq, and being an SUV featuring 100% electric power, it’s not what many would expect a Cadillac to be.
To be fair, as well as being the model Cadillac has chosen to lead its return to our part of the world, the Lyriq is also Cadillac’s first pure electric vehicle. It’s pitched against the likes of BMW’s iX, the Mercedes-Benz EQE and Audi’s Q8 e-tron.
That pricing is a hot topic, as the official list price is $123,869.98 for the Lyriq Luxury and $125,869.98 for the Sport. However, the Lyriq was launched with substantial discounts, and not only have these discounts continued to apply, they have been increased as part of the run-out of existing 2025 model-year stock.
Two further Cadillac models — both fully electric too — have also quietly joined the Lyriq on sale here this month, with deliveries commencing mid-year. These additions comprise the smaller Optiq (from $92,370) and the even larger seven-seater Vistiq at $127,370.
What’s it look like?
At a shade over five metres long and with a wheelbase of close to 3.1m, the Lyriq is a substantial machine. It stands tall and proud with styling that has caused quite a stir in the United States, thanks to its mix of familiar Cadillac cues and new features.
Fans of brightwork will prefer the Luxury variant to the Sport presented here, as the Sport favours gloss-black accents while the Luxury presents more chrome.
Though presented differently in each variant, the large crystal-patterned panel that replaces a traditional grille is a signature item up front and cleverly integrates with the thin LED light clusters.
A wide stance, some nice panel sculpting along the flanks, and a plunging roofline give the Lyriq a poised look from the front three-quarter and side angles, while the lightly sloped rear glass panel and reverse-curved styling are distinctive elements at the rear.
Flush-fitting door handles that pop out when required have become all the rage in the EV world for both aesthetic and aerodynamic reasons. The Lyriq’s differ from the norm in that the forward edge pops out, not the rear. The Cadillac approach makes sense ergonomically, with the side effect that the door handles once deployed resemble a set of forward-facing pistols; that’s probably an appropriate cue on a car from the United States.
What comes as standard?
Heated, ventilated and massaging front seats, heated outboard rear seats, a heated steering wheel, artificial leather trim, tri-zone climate control, a panoramic glass roof with power-operated sunshade, a powered tailgate and an excellent 19-speaker sound system that includes active noise cancelling and speakers mounted in the headrests are among the equipment highlights. There’s also wireless smartphone mirroring for both Apple and Android, wireless phone charging, onboard Google access and Cadillac Connected Services.
Home base for the infotainment systems is a sweeping 33-inch display screen, set in a panel that includes the digital instrument cluster behind the steering wheel and the main touchscreen in the centre of the dash.
Charging-wise, the Lyriq is able to utilise commercial superchargers at up to 190kW, which in optimal conditions allows 131km of range to be added in 10 minutes. There’s also 7.4kW single-phase home charging capacity and 22kW capability with an appropriate three-phase set-up.
The safety suite is reasonably comprehensive, with key active safety items including adaptive cruise control, adaptive headlights, lane-keeping assist, autonomous emergency braking (with intersection, cyclist/pedestrian and rear cross-traffic functions), blind-zone steering assist and driver attention monitoring. There is also a surround-view camera system and self-parking.
However, with no factory-provided satellite navigation, there’s no traffic sign recognition.
Given that Cadillac is new on the block here, it’s worth noting that the warranty spans eight years or 160,000km (whichever comes first) for the battery, and five years and unlimited kilometres with premium roadside assistance for the rest of the vehicle.
What’s it like inside?
By American standards, the Lyriq is a medium-sized SUV, but climb aboard and you’ll immediately notice that by our norms it is a large machine.
Up front, the big, wide seats are separated by a broad free-floating centre console. The rear seating area is commodious for two and still roomy for three, with masses of leg and shoulder room.
The boot capacity is an impressive 793 litres, extending to 1722L when the rear seats are folded down.
By and large, the reconfiguration for right-hand drive has been done well, though I picked up a couple of "lost in translation" issues on test. The most obvious is the failure to relocate the A-pillar grab handle from the right to the left of the car; as a result, the front-seat passenger has no grab handle to assist entry.
While the test car’s interior was trimmed in predominantly dark colours above and below the waistline, with so much space and window glass the cabin still felt bright and airy .
Though there were reports of quality issues with early-production Lyriqs, the fit and finish on the test car gave no cause for complaint. There is soft-touch surfacing where you’d expect it, and burnished metallic highlighting across the dashboard. Imitation woodgrain panelling in the doors contributes a classy feel. That said, I found the metallic highlighting immediately below the touchscreen annoyingly reflective when struck by the sun at some angles.
The touchscreen graphics are crisp, and the layout of key controls and instruments is clear and logical. The push-button start is tucked behind the steering wheel on the right, with the drive-select lever also on the right, mounted on a stalk on the steering column. Cadillac uses a similar system to Mercedes-Benz for its power-seat adjustments, which comprise a cluster of switches on each door.
Touchscreen functionality is augmented by the large rotary knob and surrounding buttons on the centre console, all of which provide shortcuts to key ICT functions and adjustments. A separate panel and buttons below the main touchscreen operate the climate-control system, and there is a separate climate-control panel in the back seat.
Some classy and original touches are provided as part of the in-cabin storage. These include a handy little compartment on the centre console that takes a smartphone vertically, and a nicely spring-loaded pop-out drawer below the climate-control panel. The tray beneath the console is large and deep, as are the door bins, but the compartment under the centre armrest is small and oddly shaped.
Even if you don’t instantly recognise the Cadillac emblem on the steering wheel (despite its modern geometric look, it’s a stylised version of the ancient Cadillac family crest), the Lyriq has other ways of presenting its brand identity. These include the classic Cadillac calligraphy logo on the door sills and an illuminated Cadillac emblem behind the wraparound digital display.
What’s it like to drive?
Drivesouth’s time with the Lyriq included the usual road-test mix of around-town, back-road and highway driving, but with the latter extended by the need to dart down from Dunedin to Invercargill and back in a day.
An overarching observation is that wherever one drives it, the Lyriq is an impressively quiet car, all the more so if one deactivates the artificial ‘Starship Enterprise’ whooshing motor sound that normally pipes through the sound system when accelerating. Mechanical silence is, of course, a normal EV thing, but Cadillac has done exceptionally well in both containing and masking (via active noise cancelling) road noise and wind roar.
Overly attentive driver-attention alerts have become a modern bugbear, including on the Lyriq, which is quite reactive to slight head movements. The manner of that alert is novel for NZ, being conveyed by vibrating the driver’s seat rather than an audible warning bleep.
Potentially tipping the scales at three tonnes when loaded with a few people and their gear, the Lyriq is no lightweight. Balance is helped by around 750kg of that weight being the battery pack, positioned low and within the confines of the wheelbase, but while the test car handled benignly enough, it’s not an especially joyful vehicle to hustle down a winding back road.
On the other hand, it is an easy steer around town and finds a real sweet spot out on the main highway.
Despite the weight and a gentle initial accelerator response, with 388kW of power and 610Nm of torque there’s ample accelerative vim; 0–100kmh in a sprightly 5.3 seconds is the official claim, and I have no reason to doubt it. With electric motors driving all four wheels, power delivery is fuss-free too.
To access the maximum power-punch you’ll need to select either the dedicated Sport mode or set the acceleration option to Sport in the customisable ‘My Mode’, which also allows specific calibration of the steering, brakes and (artificial) engine sound. The other drive modes are Tour (the default, comfort-oriented setting), Snow/Ice (which dampens throttle response for better traction), and Tow/Haul mode.
Driver-adjustable regenerative braking is also provided via a single paddle-shift control that can be held down to add progressively more regenerative stopping power. Deploying this function to minimise mechanical braking via the conventional brake pedal is key to maximising both EV driving enjoyment and economy.
Economy and enjoyment were both on my mind heading from Dunedin to Invercargill for the day, a trip of just over 200km each way.
Departing Dunedin, the car was showing a 95% charge, and on arrival in Invercargill 51% remained. Having used 44% of the battery’s capacity heading south (running in Tour mode), it seemed returning home without recharging would have been possible. However, since Invercargill’s main commercial charger is just a couple of minutes’ stroll from my favourite coffee spot in the city, and range anxiety is a thing, I popped the Lyriq on the charger while caffeinating.
The charge port is located on the left-front flank of the car and accessed by pressing on the Cadillac badge that sits on the top of the charge flap. By the time I returned to the car, the battery had been restored to 80%.
Back home at the end of the day, energy consumption for the trip worked out at 4.3km/kWh or, converted to my normal measurement system for power use, 23.3kWh/100km. That’s hefty consumption, but not far off the official figures, and thanks to the Lyriq’s very large battery equates to a real-world highway range in good conditions (mild weather, lightly loaded) of over 420km.
Verdict
With just one sales outlet in New Zealand (you guessed it, it’s in Auckland), soft national EV sales, and a lack of brand familiarity, Cadillac will need to stay the course for some time to secure a new-car foothold in this country. Here’s hoping they do, because on the evidence provided by the Lyriq, the brand is producing capable vehicles that have quite a point of difference.
AT A GLANCE
CADILLAC LYRIQ SPORT AWD
Overall rating: ★★★★
Design and styling: ★★★+
Interior: ★★★★+
Performance: ★★★★
Ride and handling: ★★★+
Safety: ★★★★★
Environmental: ★★★★★
Price: $95,000 (on special).
Powertrain: Dual permanent magnetic synchronous electric motors, maximum power 388kW, maximum torque 610Nm.
Transmission: Single speed, all-wheel-drive.
Safety rating: not Ancap tested.
Wheels and tyres: Alloy wheels, 275/55 R21 tyres.
Battery and economy: 106.8kWh (102kWh usable) lithium-ion battery pack, estimated combined economy (WLTP combined test) 22.2kWh/100km.
Emissions: Zero emissions.
Dimensions: Length 5005mm, width 2207mm, height 1693mm.
Kerb weight: 2687kg.
By David Thomson
