Cadillac Lyriq review

You might think a car as important as the Lyriq produced by a brand with such a long and storied history of producing industry leading active damping systems – GM even sells it to Ferrari it’s so good at it – would have it as standard. Not so. The suspension is via five-link multi-link all round with regular coil springs and passive plus dampers. And it’s more than fine.

I see. They’ve got to carry a lot of weight right?

Indeed. The Lyriq weighs nearly three tonnes, but Cadillac’s engineers have managed to hide a lot of the weight. The Lyriq remains commendably flat with all contact patches stable when cornering, stopping and accelerating. There’s next to no natural steering feel but it responds faithfully and reliably, whatever else might be going on between the steering wheel and the front axle.

And what if I put my foot down?

Performance is brisk but not breathless. There is a definite slight clipping to max power delivery, almost like slight turbo lag, to reduce sudden changes in velocity and keep the passengers happy. But it’s very small and in no way needs to be driven around. The general sense is one of serene progress in submarine-style silence. In models fitted with the AKG 19-speaker system, there is also active noise cancellation to filter out the last smidgens of noise that might find its way into the cabin.

What about stopping power?

Braking, like the steering, lacks any real road feel but never feels anything other than linear even when switching from regen to service brakes. There is a one-pedal option which has light and heavy modes, the latter delivering up to 0.3g when you lift off, which should deal with everything other than emergency braking if you are looking far enough ahead.

There is also a hand-braking paddle on the steering wheel which allows the driver to increase the regen resistance. It’s a nice idea and it works, but needs some fine tuning as it goes from light to heavy in a very short amount of travel. This small irk aside, the Lyriq is a very pleasant and relaxing place to watch the miles unfurl.