Cadillac Lyriq Delivers Luxury and Value

The user experience with the Cadillac Lyriq begins before you open the door. When you approach the battery-electric SUV it gives an impressive light show, with the Cadillac badge and grille lighting up and dramatically flowing out to the front edges of the vehicle.

The show doesn’t stop there. Open the door and the big 33-in. (84-cm) curved display greets you with its crisp resolution and rich colors.

“There’s a lot of welcoming of the driver and passengers going on here,” says judge Christie Schweinsberg, pointing out the interior lighting sequence and how the main display shows a dramatic video of the vehicle’s silhouette driving across the screen.

But the compelling digital user experience isn't the only thing that earned the Cadillac Lyriq a 2023 Wards 10 Best Interior and UX award.

The CUV invites you and your passengers to sit and relax in an open, roomy space, enhanced by a huge glass roof.

When it comes to parts you actually touch, there’s plenty of old-school luxury, including soft materials, beautiful textures and knurling on the various dials and buttons.

Overall, the interior has far more luxurious design details – such as pierced wood trim and metal speaker grilles with decorative cutouts – than the stark, minimalist interiors we see on many BEVs.

Connectivity includes Google features, OnStar services, a Wi-Fi hotspot and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

“The touchscreen responds lightning fast, no latency issues here,” says judge Dave Zoia.

Voice commands are understood and executed quickly. The audio system sounds wonderful. Phone pairing is fast and easy. And next-generation active noise cancellation technology makes the cabin quiet and serene, like you would expect a Cadillac to be.

In terms of physical connectivity, there are ports all over the interior, including four USB-C ports and there’s even a 110V outlet.

Wards judges also liked the Lyriq’s advanced driver assist system features. Advanced cruise control is standard, as is enhanced automatic emergency braking, enhanced automatic parking assist, front pedestrian braking with bicyclist detection, forward collision alert, blind zone steering assist, rear cross traffic braking and reverse automatic braking. There also is a much-appreciated safety alert for bicyclists on the side of the car.

Another thing the judges liked is the Lyriq’s ADAS alerts. They aren’t new at General Motors, but we still think they are the most effective in the industry. For instance, if you don’t see the car behind you when you’re backing out of a parking space, instead of a chime, your seat grabs your attention in a nanosecond by vibrating urgently.

The more time we spent in the Lyriq, the more impressed we were, especially considering the number of  luxury vehicles we were evaluating that were priced at or near six figures.

There are two types of luxury in today’s vehicles: traditional luxury and digital luxury. Lyriq’s designers blend the two in a way that gives drivers and passengers the best of both worlds.

Considering the average cost of a new vehicle now is almost $50,000, that makes this well-equipped, beautifully styled $60,000 BEV a terrific value.