Video: 2026 Cadillac Lyriq-V Review: Quicker Than a Blackwing

A little mad? A little salty about that? Yeah, I bet. We'll talk about it. (upbeat music) And right out of the gate, this $80,000, near silent crossover cruise missile makes perfect sense for the type of buyer, well, that would be interested in a vehicle like this to begin with. Because 99.9% of the time, those that are even considering really quick SUVs, they're just interested in the straight line speed. They love on-ramps, they love stoplights. And the real reason that engineers make these things handle as well as they do is because if they didn't, well car dorks like us, we'd complain about it. And so the LYRIQ-V handles far better than you might expect. But the real draw here is absolutely that 3.3-second, zero to 60-mile-per-hour hole shot. And I'm all here for that because I love flooring things, especially if they launch as hard as this sucker does. And the LYRIQ-V's launch control function means your time should be fairly consistent too. Execution of this launch control is easy enough. Activate the V Driving Mode, hard, hard on the brake to activate the brake pressure meter in the driver display and floor the accelerator at the same time. Now when you're ready, let off the brake as quick as you can and boom, enjoy all that delicious instant electric torque. The secret sauce here is, well, it's no secret. A 102 kilowatt hour battery feeds dual electric motors, returning that 615 horsepower and 650 pounds-feet of torque. Excellent. That is a good 150 horsepower and 200 pound footage up over the non V dual motor LYRIQ. While the V's EPA rated 285 mile max range is down from the standard LYRIQs 307 mile max. Cadillac's a bit cagey on the hard charging rates, but it does say that the LYRIQ-V will gain up to 75 miles of charge in 10 minutes of DC fast charging going from, and I quote, "a low state of charge to 80% in 41 minutes." Lots of more power and some chassis hardware to back it up. The adaptive suspension is, of course, stiffened up a bit, but daily comfort is still key here. You get Brembo calipers in the front and more aggressive summer performancy tires at all four corners. And being a V, it is of course more aggro to look at. You've got a more aggressive wheel design, you've got the sportier bumpers front and rear. There are tons of V badges spread out throughout the entire exterior of the car. And if you want carbon fiber accents, look, in this era of V Sport, V and V Blackwing, I know the performance Cadillac lineup can get kind of confusing, but the LYRIQ-V is very, very simple. Big EV now have big power, very fast, very fun. And speaking of fun... So what can you expect when you get the LYRIQ-V out on the road? Well, let's start with what it isn't. It is not a member of the rarefied Blackwing family, that being the highest performance, most hardcore, craziest versions of Cadillac's V products. It's not that. This is squarely in the middle of Cadillac's performance range. The key here, as is the case with so many of these performance-ish, or even high performance crossovers like the Mercedes EQE, AMG, and the Audi SQ6, is that it's a balance of performance, usability, and comfort. For day-to-day driving, this thing is pretty darn comfortable. You are gonna notice more stiff than your standard luxury electric crossover, I will say that, but it's absolutely not punishing. It's compliant. It handles broken pavement really, really well. This is one of those payoffs you're gonna make. Interestingly, Cadillac chose to not fit the LYRIQ-V with MagneRide, but instead with a standard adaptive suspension based on valving and not an air ride or a magnetic ride control. You've got My Mode, you've got V Mode, you've got Sport Mode, Tour Mode, all those kind of things. Tour Mode of course being the most comfort and day-to-day oriented mode. I'm not really gonna be pushing this too hard on out here on the public roads, but the good news is, I had plenty of time to do that yesterday on a Autocross that Cadillac set up. And I got to make full use of the competitive drive setting. And I will say this thing hustles and handles way beyond what you might expect an electric Cadillac crossover to be capable of. On the Autocross, we got to push it as hard as we really wanted to. I would say outside of a zero to maybe 70, zero to 80 mile per hour dig, this is not gonna outrun a CT5 or CT4-V Blackwing in really any capacity. But again, that's not what it's designed for. This is certainly gonna be more comfortable than either of those sedans, and those are very comfortable cars. But out on the Autocross, this thing proved to me to have the hustle of a hot hatch, at least from a dynamic and body control perspective. The steering, the brake pedal application, the accelerator application, it's all very video gamey. It's all very digital. The steering still weights up nicely to be entertaining. So the LYRIQ-V has front Brembo calipers. It's pretty strong. I've had no problems either on the Autocross, nor out here on these Washington back roads. Now, one thing I really almost universally love about General Motors' EV products is, to my knowledge, all of them have a paddle on the left side of the steering wheel that toggles on-demand regenerative braking. So I don't know if you're gonna be able to see this on camera, but I'm gonna let off now and I'm not in any aggressive braking one pedal driving mode, but I'm gonna apply the hand paddle and all of a sudden, whoa, we're slowing down quite a bit. I mean this is serious. It's come slowing down from about 60. And I think it is excellently tuned and it's a lot of fun. And over the years they've really improved the granularity of it. So whereas it used to kind of be a button off and on, now it's just nice and it's pressure dependent. So it applies resistance depending on how much you're pressing it. You're gonna be pleasantly surprised. If you've not been keeping up with performance EV crossovers, this'll be a nice surprise. So in all scenarios, it's great to drive, comfortable, very quick, handles great. It's also nice to live with, in my opinion. I like the interior. There's a fair bit of plastic, but it's both hidden well and what plastic is visible is nicely textured and nicely presented. It's a nice, upscale, well-presented interior. Doesn't feel rental car-y at all. Got some really nice touches. The door handles are kind of unique, they're lift up. It's got massage seats actuated by a neural knob on the door. That's pretty nice. Door mounted seat controls, also cool. Heated ventilated seats, which by the way, the seats are very comfortable. A perfect blend of performance, aggressive bolstering and just regular comfort. It's got a heated steering wheel, it's got Super Cruise. This particularly example is outfitted with the AKG sound system. Google built-in, panoramic sunroof. Overall, it's a nice blend of materials and presentation. I like the leather, I also really like physical controls for the climate control. Ah! In 2025, can you imagine? We've got a volume knob roller thing here. Got a kind of a little command knob here in the center. Lovely. I will say, when you do have to actuate some of the embedded controls in the display, like for the drive settings and for the map, the Google built-in, all that kind of stuff. The Cadillac's infotainment digital architecture is quick, responsive, very clear, very easy to use. Not the biggest fan of these one panel, clicking, touch-ish capacitive controls on the steering wheel, but they're not deal breakers, they work just fine. And you have a physical volume toggle here on the steering wheel. You've got physical controls for the cruise control. Overall, things are in the right place. It looks premium, it drives nice. I like it. So, the first all-electric Cadillac V product. I gotta say, I think it's job well done. It's very fast, handles way better than you might expect, is fabulously comfortable when out driving on normal public roads, and the interior is both sharp and it's pretty comfortable in there. If you're in the market for a high-performance, all-electric crossover or you just need the perfect garage companion to that rare CT5 Blackwing, there you go. I definitely have some more thoughts on this car. But for my full thoughts and review, you gotta go to cars.com/news.