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Cadillac Lyric (2024) Review
The Cadillac Lyric is the biggest, most expensive car we’ve ever driven at about 85.000 €. While the price starts high, the base configuration is well-stocked: heated as well as ventilated seats, a panoramic glass roof, excellent speakers, the legroom of a lounge even in the rear. The range is great, as is the performance. And comfort isn’t sacrificed either. Even at 150 km/h it feels smooth and quiet. At the same time it’s a five-metre SUV. It seems to defy the laws of physics.
The Lyric is based on Android Automotive, and as such uses Google Maps for route planning. It also supports Apple CarPlay, but in our testing we mostly used the native system, which makes full use of the wide screen. Especially the charging animation goes for a panoramic effect with background lights suggesting the state-of-charge.
Below the impressive screen is a row of physical climate controls with rotary knobs to control the air vents.
One of the best functions of the car is the regenerative braking flappy paddle behind the steering wheel. While other manufacturers often have paddles on either side of the wheel to set the different levels of regen, the Lyric can be operated in one-pedal driving mode in conjunction with the regen paddle. This means that the car’s “brakes” can be operated with the press of a trigger. In our testing we hardly ever used the actual brakes of the Lyric and instead relied on a combination of one-pedal drive and this handy paddle.
Handling is surprisingly easy thanks to its ADAS features. The only real complaint is the aggressive driver drowsiness detection: Both frequency and duration of the attention warning are more distracting than any actual distraction would be. In fact, there was no actual distraction – the system gave false positives. The reason for this is unclear (glasses?). This safety feature, like TSR (Traffic Sign Recognition), can only be disabled for the current session and resets with every drive. The system gives three warnings recommending a break, symbolised with a coffee cup icon. After striking out, the screen gets covered in a red modal, the seat vibrates, and the speakers sound an alarm. This ultimate alert is so distracting from the current driving task that whatever primary action needs to be interrupted to deal with the alarm state.
As the owner of the Lyric we’d want to tune the sensitivity of the setting, but could not figure out how to do this. We initially thought it was tied to the lane-keeping assistant but disabling that function had no effect on the warning. Even turning off one-pedal drive and all other ADAS functions won’t affect the beeps. It is frustrating.
Another thing that took a long time to set up the distance keeping. Although the steering wheel has buttons for the adaptive cruise control, only a surprisingly long press on them will enable the function. Once activated, the ACC behaviour is acceptable, and used in combination with the manual regen paddle.
Default settings matter, and especially in a rental context drivers will not customise the system beyond connecting their phone for Android Auto or Apple CarPlay. Contrary to other cars like the Mercedes EQA the Lyric takes 22 kW on a compatible home charger, but again this needs to be enabled manually. Otherwise the car will charge at 11 kW. Once the setting is figured out, we are rewarded with a classy charging animation which can easily be gauged from outside the car.
Because of our professional background, we nonetheless entered the depths of the charging settings, trying to configure a location-based schedule to optimise the charging process. Here, the Lyric provides helpful warnings if the desired charging goal cannot be reached for the intended departure time. A more human-centred approach could be taken here, where the system actively suggests a fix. Alas, humans are left figuring out what the computer wants.
It needs to be said that the Lyric’s HMI is good. Besides the issue with the attention warning every other setting could be found, and in most cases quickly. The climate controls can only be improved with rotary dials for temperature, and while the seat heating and ventilation buttons on the doors are clear, the seat massage function isn’t. It’s a round knob which can be turned a few degrees, which toggle the massage. A press into the button changes the massage mode, of which this configuration of the Lyric only has one. Or maybe the press turns on the massage and the twist changes the mode? The person at the dealership had to explain how it works, and in using it we got it wrong every time. In the end, it works, it’s just not intuitive.
One final knock against the Cadillac experience is the lack of app integration. We don’t know what the app can or cannot do. Connecting to it was not possible, like is so often the case. When fast-charging during a long drive it’s essential to be able to remotely monitor the charging process. With the Lyric it’s a more offline experience.
They say that cars like the Kia EV6 or the Hyundai Ionic 5 don’t need one, because aerodynamics will remove any rain from the glass. They don’t consider that morning dew will completely ruin rear visibility. And it took exactly this situation to realise the Lyric also doesn’t have rear windshield wiper. The Lyric should come with a cleaning cloth.
All in all, the Lyric is a great experience. So good in fact, that it’s worth complaining about. It’s stunning. In our 3000 km driving the car we didn’t meet another one like it. They’re rare in Europe. During one of the final charges we pulled up next to a Porsche Taycan, the owner also had Swiss plates, and we started talking. We got to the point of almost trading vehicles.
Just a few days ago, in Munich, we finally saw one again in person. The Lyric is a head-turner. And it makes you want to go back for more.
