Cadillac will be shooting for the stars next year with the glamorous Celestiq electric sedan.
Costing $300,000 and more, that would be movie stars, rock stars, sports stars and people who can afford to fly into space.
The hand-built ultra-luxury car was designed to reclaim the "Standard of the World" title for the brand, but it already has an electric car on sale that’s a bit more standard.
The Lyriq is Cadillac’s first all-electric model. It’s a midsize SUV with a starting price of $62,990 and a sharp, modern look similar to the Celestiq’s.
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It arrives with a 340-horsepower rear-wheel drivetrain and 312 miles of range between charges, but a 500-horsepower all-wheel-drive model will join it in showrooms soon. Either two years of free access to the EVgo public charging network or a $1,500 credit toward the installation of a home charger is included in the price.
Actually, you shouldn't expect to see many at dealerships. The reservations book for the entire first year’s production, expected to be around 20,000 vehicles, is already full, so supplies will be limited.
While it’s priced similarly to a Tesla Model Y, it’s nearly as long as a Model X but only has two rows of seats and a large cargo area behind them.
The Lyriq comes fully loaded and is dressed to impress. The interior is trimmed in high-quality leather and features heated and cooled massaging front seats plus dazzling ambient lighting throughout. Everyone I let check it out used the word "wow."
There is also a 33-inch-wide digital display that encompasses the instrument cluster and touchscreen infotainment system interface. A row of buttons and toggles is below it for the climate control system, but it’s used for many of the vehicle’s functions, including launching its 360-degree camera view, changing drive modes and opening the glove compartment.
Volume is adjusted by a scroll wheel on the center console mounted in front of a joystick/dial that can be used to operate the infotainment system if you don’t feel like stretching to tap the screen.
The layout could probably use a few more buttons and takes some getting used to, but it is intentionally meant to lend the Lyriq an air of futurism. It can be easily updated with additional features down the road, is powered by Google and equipped with the Google Assistant. That means you can use voice commands to turn on the radio, ask for news reports and even change the cabin temperature and turn on the seat heater.
The Lyriq’s doors look like they have handles on the outside, but they’re just buttons that electronically pop them ajar. There are small lips above them on the front doors that you use to pull them open, while rear passengers have to slip their hand in the gap and pull the doors themselves.
It’s the sort of affectation several electric vehicles, like the Ford Mustang Mach-E, have adopted to enhance their modernity, but I’ll be surprised if it stays in fashion long. Hopefully the way the Lyriq drives does.
It’s not overpowered but feels plenty strong with a smooth delivery instead of a kick in the head like a lot of electric vehicles are calibrated for to make an impression. Shockingly, for a high-tech automobile, it doesn’t come with a computer-controlled suspension system but does have frequency-dependent dampers that adjust their stiffness in reaction to road inputs to provide a creamy, controlled ride that’s among the best you’ll find in any vehicle today.
It’s also one of the quietest, at least when you’re going fast. Below about 25 mph or so, the pedestrian alert sound turns on. It’s a hum that all electrified vehicles are required by law to emit. Unfortunately, the Lyriq’s is more audible in the glass-roofed passenger compartment than that in others I’ve driven recently and can get old when you’re in town or stuck in stop-and-go traffic. On the other hand, I guess a vehicle called the Lyriq should live up to its musical name.
The Lyriq ships with the hardware for Cadillac’s hands-free Super Cruise highway driving system, but early customers will have to wait for the software that activates it to be sent over-the-air to their vehicles when it is ready. It does have a conventional adaptive cruise control system, blind spot monitor, lane-departure prevention and automatic emergency brakes in the meantime, however.
While its range, price and size combination are hard to beat, the Lyriq does trail some competitors on charging speed. Its 400-volt architecture requires about 40 minutes to fill the battery to 80% at a fast charging station, while models from Genesis and Porsche can do it in under 20 at the most powerful stations thanks to their 800-volt systems. That only becomes an issue if you’re going on a particularly long road trip since you can charge it at home and start with a full battery every day. Assuming you live in a home to plug it into.
Many Cadillac customers do. And while 70% of Lyriq buyers so far are new to the brand, I can see a lot of Cadillac XT5 owners coming off lease driving home in one of these and never looking back.
At least until they win the lottery and order a Celestiq to take to the launch pad for their orbital vacation.
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2023 Cadillac Lyriq
Base price: $62,990
As tested: $64,540
Type: 5-passenger, 4-door rear-wheel-drive SUV
Motor: Single electric
Power: 340 horsepower, 325 lb-ft torque
Transmission: single-speed automatic
Range: 312 miles
MPGe: 89 combined
