We Wanted to LOVE the 2024 Cadillac Lyriq. What Happened?

I've been waiting years to evaluate the Cadillac Lyric, and this week we finally got a rear-wheel drive Luxury 3 model in for testing. Now, some of GM's other Altium-based vehicles, like the new Chevy Equinox EV, are absolutely superb, so I had very high hopes for this Caddy. Emphasis on had. So, the Cadillac Lyric, it competes with other sort of midsize, luxury, all-electric SUVs, models like the Audi Q8 e-tron, Genesis electrified GV70, the Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV, and, of course, the Lexus RZ range. Though, size-wise, this vehicle is a little bit bigger than any of those rivals. It's a few inches longer, and its wheelbase is just a touch greater as well. But now that we've sort of established the competitive set, let's take a closer look at this vehicle's exterior. And right up front, we can see this thing has a very handsome front end. It's aggressive and angular, but I think it looks fantastic, and it really stands out from other vehicles that you see out on the roads. It's impossible to miss a Lyric when one drives past you. And, of course, like other Cadillacs, we've got a very vertical lighting signature with the lamps pushed out to the far edges of this SUV's face. These are LED lights, of course, and we've got LED lamps at the rear as well. Adding a little bit of razzmatazz to the ownership experience, portions of this front end are illuminated. Lower section here on the grille insert, the Cadillac badge as well, all light up, and then they do some fun animations with the headlamp assemblies as well, just to add a little bit of interest and to sort of spruce up or enhance the ownership experience to greet you as you approach the Lyric. As for this paint color, it is called Nimbus Metallic. It's 625 bucks extra, and I think it looks absolutely fantastic. I'm not sure how well this shows up on the camera with the white balance and everything, but it's sort of a light, dusty blue, and it looks very good on this vehicle. And kudos to Cadillac for actually offering some interesting colors. You know, the German automakers, especially Mercedes-Benz, will sell you four shades of gray, three blacks, six shades of white, or whatever, but Cadillac is being a little bit adventurous with its paint colors, and I give that, of course, two thumbs way up. I also really like the exterior build quality of the Lyric. These panel gaps are super tight and straight. They look fantastic. This is something that GM typically does pretty well, and they're doing a fantastic job here on the Lyric. Moving downward a little bit, our tester here also rolls on 22-inch wheels. I think they look pretty nice. They do have some striated trim that is echoed elsewhere on the exterior of this SUV, but 22s fit the overall design quite nicely, though the Lyric should come standard with slightly smaller 20s. While we are right here, let's talk about charging. That's pretty important with an EV, right? And the charging port door is right here on the driver's side front fender. This is a good spot to put it, in my opinion. You pull up to the station, it's very easy to plug in. I would much rather have it here than, say, on a back fender. Now, that is fantastic, but the charging port door isn't quite as nice. It doesn't swing open, it's actually motorized, so if you come in here, and I'm gonna press this Cadillac crest just like that, and you'll see it pops open on its own, and it kind of jitters as it goes down, which really just cheapens the experience. It looks like it's pre-broken from the factory. I'll do that again here really quick. Push the Cadillac badge, and down it goes, shaking like a dog's jowls in the breeze or something. I mean, it's fine, it works, but this is a premium vehicle. It shouldn't really do that. But anyway, once you've got the door open, you can see we have your standard CCS port right here. Room for level one, level two, and of course DC fast charging right through here. GM is switching to the North American charging standard, or more accurately, the SAE J3400 plug. That's not out yet. For right now, you charge the Lyric with the CCS port, and I will close the door, which it closes very smoothly. I don't know why it's like when it opens. But anyway, moving rearward, we've got potted mirrors in black that match very nicely the roof of this car. Very handsome overall design. While we're right here, let's talk about the door handles. These work properly. Unlike certain Hyundai and Kia models, which have their handles hinged at the front, so they open like this, these are hinged at the back, so your hand is never going to slip off when you go to get inside the Lyric. This is a much more ergonomic design, and in my opinion, much better. These do operate an e-latch, so it's not really a mechanical setup there, but they do make it very easy to get inside this vehicle, and they do retract, again, when you lock the Lyric or while you are driving. So very nice there. In profile, though, let's step back for just a second to check out what this vehicle looks like from the side. Again, very handsome, crisp-looking SUV. I think this vehicle looks fantastic from the front and sides, as though the rear, well, it loses a little luster, for me at least, because the back end of the Lyric, it's just, it's very busy. There's a lot going on here. We've got lights here, they come up along the side. There are more lamps down here with some chrome trim. We've got that striated stuff right behind there as well. And it's not an unattractive angle on this vehicle, but it's just super busy, and I don't think it really fits in with the other three sides, which are very nicely designed and very attractive. But what do you think? Leave a comment down below. I might just be crazy. While we're back here, of course, we've got to talk about cargo space, which you can access very easily by pressing right here on the Cadillac crest. You push on that, the hatch motors open all on its own, and that reveals a cargo space that's about 28 cubic feet. We've also got a little bit of underfloor storage right here. We've got the case for the charging cable. I'll pull that out of the way, give you an idea of how much room is in there. It's a pretty generous amount of space for stashing things out of sight, out of mind. If I drop that down, we do have some buttons over here on the driver's side in the cargo area as well. And if I press those, it will power fold the second row backrests, which expands the cargo space to just shy of 61 cubic feet, which is a pretty generous amount for what is not an overly large vehicle. Okay, inside there's a lot to cover, but for the most part, the Lyric's cabin feels like quality and is very nicely built. Once you sit yourself in one of these front seats, undoubtedly the first thing you're going to notice about the interior is right here, this massive 33-inch all-in-one display. It incorporates a touch panel here on the right side for the infotainment system. Of course, we've got the digital instrument cluster right in front of the driver. And then off to the left is another touch panel. This is where you change the look of the instrument cluster. It's also where your trip odometer is. And of course, how you turn the headlamps on or off. We've got them in auto right now, which is what everybody's probably just going to do anyway, but you can turn the headlights off here if you would like. And overall, this all-in-one panel looks fantastic and it's absolutely rock solid. They did a great job integrating this into the Lyric's cabin. Now, as I mentioned earlier, and as you just saw, of course there's a touchscreen, but Cadillac also offers a BMW iDrive-style control knob right here on the center console, along with some satellite buttons and a little rotary drum for the audio system volume. Now, this does work. It feels a little bit cheap and it's not always intuitive how it cycles through menus. So personally, I just like to use the touchscreen as God intended. Now, if you're paying attention, you will also notice that we have two icons here on the home screen, one for Android Auto and one for Apple CarPlay, because yes, this Cadillac Lyric has both of those smartphone mirroring systems. Now, for clarification, I spoke to a GM rep earlier today and he explained to me that all of GM's new EVs, they will not come with either of those systems. But since the Lyric has been in production for a while now, it offers CarPlay, it offers Android Auto, that should not be going away. However, if this vehicle goes in for a redesign, at that point, GM may decide to pull those features. But we've got them right now. Hooray for that. And of course, CarPlay, I've got my phone hooked up to it. It works pretty much as intended. No complaints there. However, it just doesn't utilize the screen real estate very well, and it looks kind of odd, but I'll take that to have CarPlay because it's always familiar and very easy to use. A lot of the Cadillac Lyric switch gear feels fantastic. The window switches, the buttons here in the dashboard for the climate control system, they all have this very audible, almost Audi-like snap to them, and very nice feel, but not everything is quite as nice. Up on the steering wheel, we do have a couple of physical buttons on either spoke, but there are also a lot of touch-sensitive controls, which these do work well, but I always prefer a physical switch. Beyond that, we've got two control stalks here. The gear selector, it's okay, but the turn signal and wiper stalk, oh, it's very plasticky. It just feels limp. It's not pleasant to use. It reminds me of you went out to dinner at a casual dining restaurant. You got an order of mozzarella sticks, and you can't eat all of those in one sitting. You'd feel really bad about yourself. So you bring the leftovers home, and then you forget about them on the counter for a couple of days, and then you find the foam cart, and you open it up, and the cheese sticks are all just very limp and flimsy. That's exactly what this turn signal stalk feels like. Not at all satisfying to use. Additionally, to open the glove box, you've actually gotta use a touch button here on the screen. Why? Just put a physical latch on there. It would be much easier to use, and probably simpler to engineer as well. Our Lyric here is also fitted with a gigantic glass roof with a power-operated sunshade. We've currently got that open to let some light in for shooting purposes, but you can bet if I were driving, that thing would be locked up tighter than Fort Knox because I don't like glare. Beyond that, we've got rain-sensing windshield wipers. There's a heated park position for the wiper blades to help de-ice them in cold conditions, which would be a very good thing to have. Now, beyond all of that, we do have a couple of minor downsides. There's a gigantic blind spot to the rear three-quarter angle because of those massive roof pillars. Be aware of that. And then the tilt and telescopic steering column. It's easy enough to get comfortable behind the wheel, but the reach of the telescopic feature, it doesn't move very far. I had it all the way out. That's all the way in. So there's kind of limited range. I'd like it to come back just a little bit more for optimal comfort. Additionally, the Lyric does come standard with a seven-speaker sound system, though this example is fitted with the available 19-speaker AKG arrangement, which, as many of you know, stands for Akustische und Kinogeräte GmbH. And I'm no audiophile, but I guess it sounds pretty good. Now, unfortunately, comfort is something of a mixed bag in this caddy. Yes, these front buckets are heated, they're ventilated, and they offer massage functionality, but I don't really care for these things. They're overstuffed, yet somehow also too firm. The lower cushion is flat, and the backrest is quite lumpy, and I just don't fit in these. I don't care for them at all. And actually, the back bench may be a better place than these front chairs. The back seat is nicely contoured. It's very comfortable. You've got plenty of leg room for six-foot-tall passengers. Headroom is a little bit tight. A six-footer can sit back there without hitting the ceiling, but it's pretty close. Beyond that, you've got dedicated climate controls on the backside of the center console here. The outboard positions are heated. We've got air vents and two USB Type-C ports. So really, the back seat's a pretty pleasant place. Now, on the subject of comfort, there's one other thing I noticed about the Lyrik here. I was testing it the other day, and it was pretty warm, 88, 89, 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and the HVAC system absolutely struggled to cool this cabin. Now, 90 degrees Fahrenheit is certainly hot, but it's not South Florida in August hot. It's not Death Valley hot, and this thing could just not keep up with the cooling demands. Yes, I had it on low, synced across both sides of the dual-zone system. I had it on recirculate, and I had my seat vent going, and it just could not cool the cabin. It took probably a good hour of driving before I was properly chilled in here. And I mean, it should have been frosting up the windows after 15 or 20 minutes. So if you live in a hot climate, I don't know if it's a problem with this specific Lyrik or if the system just isn't up to the task, but if you do live in a hot climate, be aware that the HVAC system may not be up to the challenge. But anyway, overall, this Cadillac's cabin is quite nice, though I do think rivals like the electrified GV70, EQE SUV, and of course, Q8 e-tron do have a slight edge in interior quality. But now, let's see if the drive is any better. So rear-wheel drive models have a single electric motor that, you guessed it, is mounted right up here in the headliner. Nah, I'm just kidding. It's actually here in the center console. But anyway, that gets you 340 horsepower and 325 pound-feet of torque, which is enough to get this vehicle from zero to 60 miles per hour in less than six seconds. And I'll tell you, the performance here is absolutely excellent. This vehicle has no trouble accelerating. And I'll tell you, the powertrain kind of feels like a gasoline engine because it really pulls in a linear fashion. There's a lot of top-end acceleration, which you don't often get in other electric vehicles. Of course, all-wheel drive is also available in the Lyrik. You get an extra electric motor up front that provides up to 500 horsepower and 450 pound-feet of torque for undoubtedly even quicker acceleration, not that you necessarily need it. But with either powertrain, you get a 102-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack that does offer manual preconditioning or fast charging prep in Cadillac lingo, which of course is very nice to have when you need to DC fast charge. As for range, our tester here is rated by the EPA at 314 miles on a full charge, which is very impressive. And so are the all-wheel drive variants. They top out at 307 miles, which is a very good performance. And of course, more than you get from this vehicle's major competitors. As for DC fast charging, which I mentioned just a moment ago, the Lyrik here tops out at a very impressive 190 kilowatts, which is enough to get you around 77 miles of range in just 10 minutes of charging. Now, the peak charging rate, of course, is a little bit lower than the electrified GV70, though this vehicle does beat the Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV. Undoubtedly, one of the Lyrik's best attributes is the ride quality because it is always silky smooth, even though this vehicle has conventional non-adjustable dampers. It just glides right over broken pavement, dirt roads, washboard surfaces, you name it. This thing feels practically like a magic carpet. The interior also remains eerily silent, even at highway speeds. And overall, the refinement and ride quality are pretty damn impressive for something that weighs nearly 5,600 pounds. Unfortunately, the steering isn't quite as praiseworthy. Yes, it's free of any harshness or vibration, but the ratio is quite slow and there's basically zero road feel. Not that I expected any in a luxury crossover like this, but still, a little bit would be nice. The braking, however, is fantastic. It's very smooth. The pedal feels great under your foot and is very easy to modulate. Plus, the system is extremely powerful, so if you have got to stop in a hurry, the Lyrik will do it. Now, of course, a one-pedal driving mode is also offered and it has two different settings. There's sort of a normal strength and then a stronger version. I have it set to the second one so the vehicle slows down more aggressively and, of course, it works extremely well. Now, beyond that, the Lyrik also includes a brilliant regen on-demand paddle. It's right here sprouting out of the left steering wheel spoke and it's not an on or off switch. It actually works in a linear fashion like the brake pedal. So if you don't like using the one-pedal driving mode, you can squeeze the regen on-demand paddle to slow the vehicle down. And the more you squeeze it, the more aggressively the Lyrik will slow down. It's kind of a nice feature to have. I don't use it a lot, but it works extremely well and some people might prefer it. Now, this caddy does come with a range of standard driver aids, things like blind spot monitoring, front and rear parking sensors. We've got lane-keeping assist and, of course, an HD backup camera, which is a great thing to have. Now, beyond that, you can also get a range of more advanced features, including Super Cruise, which I absolutely love. It works fantastically well, just like it always has. And it really is the industry's leading hands-free driving solution. Beyond that, we've got an HD 360-degree camera system, which is awesome as well. And then, of course, there is an exceptionally crisp rear-view camera mirror, which significantly broadens your field of view to the back of the vehicle. And it is super, super crisp in the Lyrik here. It looks absolutely fantastic. I know some people out there don't like these, but this one just might change your mind. I think it looks, frankly, fantastic. Now, the Lyrik here is assembled in Spring Hill, Tennessee, just like Saturn's used to be. And this is an important fact, and I'll cover the reason why here in just a minute. Now, this vehicle's motor and drive unit were both sourced from China, of all places. But anyway, let's recap the pluses and minuses of this luxury SUV, and we'll cover pricing here in just a second, which isn't as premium as you might expect. Okay, so the Lyrik's 300-plus mile range, whether you get rear or all-wheel drive, is fantastic. This SUV's DC fast-charging performance is excellent, too. It's great that you still have access to Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Other GM models will not give you this. The rear-drive variant of this Cadillac provides excellent acceleration. The infotainment system makes it easy to access some awesome Google features. And that 33-inch curved display on the dashboard looks great. As for downsides, yes, there are a few. That juddering charging port door cheapens the experience. Some of the Lyrik's secondary controls are not great, like the stalks and having to use the infotainment screen to open the glove box. The air conditioning performance is quite poor in hot weather. I do not like the lumpy front seats, and this SUV's steering is pretty numb and slow. Finally, when it comes to pricing, the 2024 Lyrik starts at just shy of 59 grand, though our tester here checks out for $73,295, including $13.95 in destination fees, as well as a small handful of options. Still, that's not a bad price for what is a thoughtfully engineered vehicle. Plus, this SUV is also eligible for the full $7,500 federal tax credit since it is screwed together right here in America. And that is something many of the Lyrik's rivals do not qualify for. Now, I always try to tell it like it is, and honestly, I was hoping to like this vehicle more than I do. Yes, it nails the fundamentals. It DC fast charges quickly. The range is very good, and it offers great performance with rear-wheel drive. But as always, the devil is in the details, and just a few small tweaks could really transform the Lyrik into a great luxury EV. It's really very close. Next up, learn all about the Lyrik's smaller sibling, the Cadillac Optic. Click right over here for a detailed walkaround with the chief engineer who answers all of my burning questions.