How the 2025 Cadillac Lyriq Defines Cadillac’s Future-And What Makes This SUV So Luxe
Think you know luxury cars? Look again. Cadillac Lyriq is on point.
If there’s one thing that strikes you when you get into the Cadillac Lyriq, it’s that this is luxury.
It’s modern, it’s beautiful and it’s thoughtful. And it’s whisper quiet, the hallmark of a true luxury car. There’s a space for everything so nothing rattles around in the car; the leather (or leatherette) buffers the clink of jacket buttons and isolates the sounds you want to hear: your daughter’s voice from the car’s speakers, the soft pat of your handbag on being placed on the seat, the click of your phone cord into the USB port. Even the doors close with a soft, muted ‘thunk.’
This story is 100% human-researched and written based on actual first-person knowledge, extensive experience, and expertise on the subject of cars and trucks.
This Electric Powertrain Shows Us What Modern Luxury Is
Spending a day or two in the Cadillac Lyriq, priced from just under $60K to a shade over $80K, is eye-opening; it makes past approaches to luxury feel antiquated. A loud, gurgling gas engine? Luxury cars have tried to quiet the sound and vibrations forever, shutting it all out with thicker carpets, coated class and tighter fitting doors, often to little avail. The real answer, as Cadillac shows us, is to go electric.
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The New Luxury Standard Is Electric
Luxury cars in the past have fought the battle of creating a quiet experience but still delivering lots and lots of power with bigger and bigger engines. But why, when all that power can be delivered silently with electric motors? That’s the question that Cadillac answers in the Lyriq, a 5 passenger, four door SUV with ample power and a delightful range that hovers north of 300 miles in all trims.
The Lyric is where so much of Cadillac’s innovation and design, with details we’ve seen evolve in its other models, comes together. It starts with the advanced and easy to use multimedia system, but plays out across the re-imagined center console, detailed textured metals that add a jewelry-like feel to controls and panels, and elegant upholstery finishes from leatherette that feels luxurious to true luxury Nappa leather. All of it ensconced in a fast-accelerating, near-silent, smooth-riding SUV.
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Truly Effortless Driving Is the Charm of EVs
Accelerate without hesitation. Turn on a dime. Slow quickly and smoothly. Whip into a parking spot, surge ahead on the highway to pass a truck, slow quickly at a traffic light with barely an arch of your foot. That’s the magic of EV driving and Cadillac has it down. It starts with the electric powertrain, delivering 340 HP in rear wheel drive models and 525 HP in all wheel drive models.
Then, drivers can ‘set it and forget it’ one pedal driving by selecting the desired level of brake regeneration— off, normal or high— on the center touch screen; access is quick via the icon of a foot surrounded by a circle on the lower touch screen tool bar. Or, drivers can gain more regeneration, again, normal or high, but pulling the left paddle on the rear of the steering wheel.
I quickly got used to the “high” setting which I like because it not only makes driving even more effortless, but it also sends unused energy back into the battery, extending your range, though only a little if you’re really enjoying Sport mode and all that instant torque.
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The Luxury Of Charging the Cadillac Lyriq
This one took some getting used to, but once I did, it was pretty effortless too—and full disclosure, I charge an EV at home and have really come to love the convenience and ease of home charging.
During my week in the Cadillac Lyriq I really only needed to charge it once, in order to to get back to the airport with ample range. It was a bit of an eye-opener to find that there are not as many EV charge stations in Connecticut as I’d thought, given the ubiquitousness of Teslas, which seem to be everywhere.
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Even Public Charge Locations Are Luxury
But luckily, Cadillac’s navigation system, on the multimedia system and on the app, offered me lots of options along my route, including one at the Riverside Square mall in Hackensack, NJ, surely because it knew I needed a Saks fix (and, I did!).
There, ensconced in the shade of the first level of the parking garage were a dozen plugs from several providers and offering several charge levels, from 125kWh to 350kWh. So before I hit the sale racks I sat in the car for 10 minutes and added 100 miles, plenty of range to get back to the airport.
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Tesla Superchargers are a Charge Option For Cadillac Drivers
I also stopped earlier at a Tesla charger in Northern NJ and added a few miles of range really, just to try out NACS charging. The Cadillac Lyriq is fitted with a J-1772 charger, the old standard for EV charging, but in the near future will be delivered with NACS outlets, the new standard that was developed by Tesla. The nice thing is that the outlets are smaller, the cords are not as heavy and Tesla put lots of chargers in lovely places, like the parking lots at Wegmans and Buc-ee’s.
The Tesla Supercharger location I chose was in a luxury shopping center that had a Sweetgreen, Ann Taylor and a Pilates studio, though I could have chosen other locations, too. But that one seemed nice.
A Refined Look and Feel Elevates the Modern Era of Cadillac
Electric powertrain aside, the luxury details in the Cadillac Lyriq show just how advanced Cadillac is in its thinking about luxury interiors. Base model buyers won’t suffer the indignity of poor-quality materials or boring designs; Cadillac developed a leatherette that is standard in all models.
A floating center console, the curved multimedia screen and the wide, comfortable seats and a panoramic sunroof are all standard even at the entry level Luxury 1 trim.
But of Course, Upgrades Allow You To Set Your Level of Luxe
Our Sport 3 AWD model, the top of the line at $80,485, added Nappa leather upholstery ($3,790), a great option for luxury for buyers who want real leather. Our model also came with Super Cruise, massaging seats (which, in my opinion, offered a very gentle touch and were not assertive enough), power folding and heated rear seats.
And then, there’s this: a premium AKG sound system with speakers embedded in the front seat headrests. You can hear navigation prompts without interrupting the soundtrack your kids are sining along to; you can have a private phone call or simply, have Sheryl Crow sing into your ear. And it’s really great.
The Lyriq’s Light Signature Greets You When You Arrive
If you test drive the Cadillac Lyriq, try to get time with it at night; this is one of the car’s most glorious details: Its lighting signature.
As you walk up the lights flicker and flutter, the badge awakens and the front and rear light ‘fins’ light up. It’s quite the greeting, and one you’ll see reversed as you walk away with the key. The shape and placement of the lights, as well as the sequence, are an homage to the original Cadillac tail light fin design, linear, large and prominent. These lights are sleek and embedded into the front and rear lines of the Lyriq, a clever tribute to the original.
How Child Car Seats Fit in the Cadillac Lyriq
This one will surprise you; it surprised me. EVs are known for having large, roomy rear seats thanks to the battery packs that create a wide footprint underneath the cabin. That means lots of room for the kiddos and their seats. I measured for car seats and found a roomy 34” between the rear seat and the front seat set for me, and I’m 5’8”, which means that even a much taller driver could still fit a rear facing car seat just behind her.
Cadillac included two full LATCH sets of lower anchors and upper tethers for installing car seats, and the center seat measures 12” between the seat belt receptacles, meaning there’s room for a child car seat or an adult, though the center console with air vents, USB ports and a household outlet may impede foot and leg room.
A Minimalist Rear End with a Novel Tailgate Release
The rear end of the Cadillac Lyriq is notable for its simplicity: the fin-inspired tail lights frame the rear window and its lower quarters, and a dark lower bumper has lights and reflectors that mimic tail pipes, which of course, it doesn’t have.
From there it’s notable for what it doesn’t have: No windshield wiper; there’s a digital rear view mirror instead. No tailgate release button under the edge of the tailgate where of course, it’s always wet and dirty; push the glass Cadillac badge instead to open the tailgate. And then there’s a limited amount of type on the rear; you’ll see the Lyriq name and the torque rating: 450E in the RWD model and 600E4 in the AWD model. It’s worth noting that this number reflects the rounded newton meter torque number and translates to the actual torque output in the Lyriq.
Another Included Luxury: Super Cruise
Cadillac’s parent company, GM, has put a focus on rolling out Super Cruise across all its brands over the last couple of years, but Cadillac is where it started, and for good reason: hands-free driving is a true luxury and one that Cadillac offers as a standard feature (first 3 years included, by subscription afterward).
Hop on the highway, tap the cruise control button and then tap the Super Cruise button and you’re sailing along, hands in your lap or enjoying your morning coffee, and the car does the driving. I can’t say enough how much I love this feature for highway driving in heavy traffic. It takes the stress, and the misery, out of highway driving. Cadillac absolutely gets this one right.
The Cadillac Lyriq Lineup: Pick Luxury or Sport
Cadillac allows buyers to assemble their level of luxury and power in the Lyriq. There are two models, Luxury and Sport; there are options of single motor RWD and dual motor AWD. From there, pick your level of luxury: 1, 2 or 3. Even the entry level Luxury RWD allows upgrades such as premium sound and Nappa leather, so buyers can truly customize their Lyriq to their liking.
What We Loved in the Cadillac Lyriq
Here’s what I liked best in the Lyriq:
- The multimedia touch screen with lots of intuitive, easy to use function
- Google Built-in with “hey Google” voice activated assistance
- Wireless phone charging
- Buttons for climate control
- Super Cruise. It’s simply delightful
- The beautiful textured metal
- The floating center console
- Effortless one-pedal driving
- All that torque; it’s exhilarating
- A solid 300+ mile range
What You Need to Know
And its caveats? There are a few:
- Not all Tesla stations are available to Cadillac drivers so check the app before attempting to charge
- Positioning the Lyriq at a Tesla charger takes some practice; the cords on Tesla chargers are very short
- Be sure to use the NACS adapter that Cadillac provides or an authorized adapter; an unauthorized adapter can damage your car and void your warranty
- No head up display
- No Apple CarPlay or Android Auto; you’re pretty much forced to use the Google built in system
- This car seats 5 but is more comfortable for 4
Cadillac Gets It Right, For Lyriq and for its Future
This is probably the best news in the Cadillac Lyriq: The brand will only advance from here. I hope they relent and add back Apple CarPlay, which I’ll admit, I didn’t really miss, though I’d like to have the option. I loved the one-pedal driving, the luxe look and feel of the interior and all the lighting, inside and out.
The overall feel is so much more designed and intentional than simply assembled, something you never want to feel in a luxury car. And it shows us where Cadillac is headed in the future, defining the modern meaning of luxury.
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