The 2026 Cadillac LYRIQ-V Is The Ultimate Electric SUV From Caddy’s Performance V-Series
When Cadillac first introduced the all-electric Lyric name plate to the world over 3 years ago, it was one of the most hotly anticipated EVs for its time because this was an electric SUV that essentially combined all the qualities that we love about a Cadillac. Design, luxury, and of course, technology and finally gave consumers a decent alternative to a Tesla. Now, over the years, the Lyric has finally started to pick up pace and it’s become one of the bestselling luxury electric SUVs in the space. And for 2026, Cadillac is expanding on the Lyric family with the introduction of this. This is the first ever 2026 Cadillac L V. It’s also happens to be the first all-electric V. And with over 600 horsepower under the hood, it also makes this the quickest accelerating Caddy that the company has ever produced. So, today we’re actually out here in Tacoma, Washington because we’re finally able to get behind the wheel of the first electric V series model. And the big question I want to answer, has Cadillac finally delivered a lyric that can keep toe-to-toe with all those performance EVs on the market? Stay tuned to find out. Now, before we start talking about the unique styling elements of the first ever Lyric V, let me first start off by popping the hood and showing you guys if this vehicle has a front trunk system. So now, as you can see, just like the regular L, there is no front trunk in this vehicle. And that’s because even though this rides on the Altium architecture, it’s technically a little bit different for the L. And Cadillac has decided, of course, to get rid of the front trunk to make room for a more powerful onboard level two charger. But since we’re underneath here, let’s go ahead and talk about the powertrain specs. All L’s essentially come with the same 102 kWh battery pack. That’s good for up to 285 mi of range. So slightly less, around 20 m less versus the regular L with all-wheel drive. However, the horsepower figure for this model has gone up significantly. Of course, we now have a total of 615 horsepower and 650 foot-lbs of torque. Again, that is a big healthy increase versus the 500 horsepower and 450 lb feet of torque that we had in the last all-wheel drive L that we tested. That was a nonV. It all goes out through a one-speed reduction gear transmission. And of course, this vehicle comes standard with electronic all-wheel drive. Now, Cadillac says with launch control engaged, you should be able to hit 60 in 3.3 seconds. Uh, we’ll actually try that out later on the video because Cadillac has essentially set up a road course where we can do a 0 to 60 uh acceleration uh sprint with the vehicle. Top speed should be just over 130 mph. And this vehicle um is still an SUV. It’ll tow a maximum of 3500 lb. As this car sits, it does weigh in at just under 6,000 lb. So, it is a little bit heavier versus the last all-wheel drive uh that we tested. But let’s go ahead and close up the hood here and talk about the exterior styling because I have to say even though the Lyric has been around for about 3 years, the design of this vehicle is still very stunning. It turns heads everywhere you take it, especially when you have it in the right color combination. This is radiant red tint coat. It’s an extra 1,225 bucks. It looks good with basically the sport design themes that you get with the V version of the L. You can see lots of metallic fleck in the actual uh paint color. You have, of course, the Cadillac uh crest grill, which doesn’t have any actual openings because it’s an electric vehicle. Instead, you have this beautiful kind of intricate LED ambient lighting in the actual grill. This vehicle will do like a choreographic light signature uh sequence dance when you approach the vehicle. It also has their art and science design theme with these full LED headlights with the stacked LEDs. I believe there are nine, a total of nine LEDs with a LED daytime running light, sequential LED turn signals. The grill actually has an illuminated Cadillac logo. And then of course below the logo, you have the well-integrated parking sensors and camera system for the vehicle. Lots of piano black and some functional ele um uh openings in the actual fascia. And then down here you can see the splitter. My particular test car has a carbon fiber package for an extra 5,700 bucks. It adds the additional front carbon fiber splitter along the sides and the rear. It certainly looks good with the radiant red tint coat exterior color and all the black accents. Let me know in the comments section below. But overall, even though this car has been out for a couple years, I still think that the L is one of the more standout designs uh in terms of these, you know, electric performance luxury SUVs. Now, moving around the side profile, you can see the L is a little deceiving in its dimensions because this is a relatively big vehicle. In fact, Cadillac has always done tweeners in terms of dimensions, and it’s wheelbase at 122 in long with an overall length of around 197 in long. Again, this is kind of like a a larger midsize SUV, but there’s no third row. If you guys are looking for a third row, Cadillac will help happily sell you the Vistic, which we also had a chance to drive briefly, and the Escalade IQ. The Optic, keep in mind, is around 7 in or 6 8 in shorter in overall length compared to uh the L. Now, as you can see, the wheels, these are the standard 22-in reverse rim alloy wheels that you get with the V version. You can see they have kind of like a graphite gray finish to them, multiple spokes. I really like the way they look. It’s riding on a Continental Cont Sport Contact uh summer performance tire with a 15.4 in rotor at the front. So, those are upgraded by about 2 in clamped down by a six piston Brembo caliper. So, those calipers uh again severely are significantly upgraded to increase the stopping power. The rear brakes, however, are the same at 13.5 in as the regular uh L V. Most of the braking is going to be done by the front uh the front brakes. Anyways, ground clearance. Cadillac says they did include a unique suspension on this vehicle with their continuous uh damper control with SAX dampers. You have around 6.2 in of ground clearance. So, this is a low vehicle. It actually looks more looks more like a wagon. No adaptive air suspension, but again, um the uh suspension has been adapted to preserve the comfort, but also give you a little bit sportier handling dynamics, which we’ll test out later on. Now, over here, as you can see, if you touch the little Cadillac logo, that will open up the motorized chargeport door. And unlike the optic, as you can see, this vehicle still has the older J1772 with the CCS combo plug. I’m actually surprised it still has that. This vehicle will accept up to 190 kW. You can basically go from 10 to 80% in about 40 minutes. So, it’s a little bit slower versus some of it some of its rivals, and that’s because it has a bigger battery pack. Again, 285 mi of range. You can also option in a 19.2 kW onboard charger. That’s the reason why there’s no frunk underneath the hood. I believe this one has the standard 11 12 kilowatt onboard charger, which means roughly 12 hours to go from 10 to 100% on a level two charger. Now, being that this is the V version, that black roof is going to be standard unless you guys go for the black exterior paint. That panoramic sunroof also is nice. It’s included when you guys go for the premium trim. It actually opens up to vent air and it has a built-in wind deflector. So, most EVs in the class don’t actually have an opening sunroof, so that’s a really great feature to have. The mirrors, as you can see, they’re black painted, power folding, integrated turn signals, and cameras as well. The door handles, they also pop in and out. They’re also illuminated here with that little uh light. You can also use your phone, it looks like, to get into the vehicle here. So, again, a lot of the technology that you expect uh from most modern EVs where you can use your phone as a key, which is a great feature. I love how the entire panel over here is very like blocky, but at the same time, it has some nice lines, some creases. There’s a V badge here to the side to let you know that you have the performance version. And then as you can see looking at this area right here, unlike the optic which had that interesting glass panel with that V uh graphic, the uh L does not have that. Instead, you have this kind of interesting like shape of like L’s and inverse L’s, especially along the tail light module here. This is a really unique look. It’s again one of the reasons why the L is so distinctive, especially in this class of vehicle where everything just kind of looks like a jelly bean in its shape. Now looking at the back, as you can see, the design looks pretty similar to the standard L. The tail lights are very intricate. They’re actually two different pieces where the turn signal is a sequential LED down there at the lower portion is actually another turn signal. Uh the brake lights I believe are down there. Uh there’s some badging back here like the lyric badge. The Cadillac logo also illuminates. And then there’s a subtle V badge here to let you know that you have the performance version. You also do get uh kind of two spoilers back here. There’s a spoiler here for the deck lid and you also have a slightly smaller spoiler over here. Third brake light also sits at the top over there. There’s no rear wiper as you can see. Um, Cadillac says they designed this to be aerodynamic to where it’ll just kind of whoo the water away. And then with the carbon fiber exterior package, you can see my test car has the rear diffuser also finished off in carbon fiber. It certainly looks a lot more aggressive. You can really see the aggressive stance and the wide tires with are which are 275 width in diameter, which is nice. Now, in terms of the cargo area, you can see there is a power lift gate as standard. You push the Cadillac logo, it opens up the lift gate. And this cargo capacity of this vehicle is certainly very usable. So, you got around 28 cubic feet of storage space with the back seats up. Um, and as you can see, there’s a little bit of additional space off to the side, although there’s not like a deep well there. If I open this up, however, you can see there is a deep storage well there, which also has the ability to hide the cargo cover underneath the floor here, which is nice, a nice little touch. If you want to lift this up, you can see it’s also a little bit larger there. Gives you a little bit more underfloor storage, which is good because there’s no front trunk, obviously. Now, um, it looks like there actually are buttons back here. Yep, there are buttons back here where I can push that. that will also hydraulically push the seats down. And when you fold down the seats, Cadillac says you have just under 61 cubic feet of storage space. So 61 cubic feet is very usable. Obviously, the sloping roof does inhibit a maximum cargo capacity a little bit, but uh this is a little bit more space versus what you’re going to get in the smaller optic, which makes sense. This vehicle is around 7 in longer. Now, moving on to the interior of the 2026 Cadillac L V. As you can see, uh, this particular test car with its radiant red tint coat exterior looks really nice with the Oxford stone premium leather interior with the garnet accents. You’re actually going to see those little, um, kind of a purplish maroon uh, trim along the seats, which also have this kind of quilted diamond leather with the V logo embossed embossed into the actual seat back. Uh, these seats themselves are heated, ventilated, and massaging. They adjust in like 20 different ways. They also have speakers integrated into the headrest. So, these seats look really expensive. I love the fact that they are massaging as well and the leather feels nice. I also like how Cadillac uses real leather in this car as opposed to the synthetic interlock that you get in their other models. So, this is again a really nice premium touch. Uh the rest of the uh door panel materials as you can see here. This upper portion is kind of like a soft touch injection molded plastic. I wish this was stitched in the same leather. I do like the kind of matte uh black wood that you get here with this which feels really high quality. It’s it looks really nice. You have your seat controls here. You have twoerson memory on both the driver and the passenger side. And you also get actual buttons for the heated and cooled seat. Uh more padding uh padded leather here. And then you can see window controls. They have a nice satisfying clicky feel to them. They’re onetouch for all four. Piano black. A lot of piano black trim here, but the AKJ speakers, AKG speakers here, as you can see, are metal accent. I think there’s like 23 speakers. If you guys are an audio file, you’re really going to like that feature. Down here, it is a soft touch injection molded plastic with additional storage as well. So overall, um the interior makes a great first impression. And then of course with its 6.2 in of ground clearance, it has a low step in height, especially for an SUV. It almost feels like I’m getting into like a wagon. Uh, and that’s going to again remind you that this is a lower vehicle as opposed to the standard Lyric. Now, getting in and shutting the door. The door has a pretty solid sounding funk. Remember, this is built on the Altium architecture. And then, uh, here’s the key fob for the vehicle. You can see I like the fact that it actually has the same red color on the outside, uh, carried over onto the key. This is Cadillac’s usual intelligent access key fob. You can see there’s lock, unlock, remote start, power lift gate, and then panic feature. And then, I believe you can use your phone to unlock and lock this vehicle if you guys are an owner. Now, being that this is an EV, there’s no start stop button. Instead, you just sit your button in the seat with the key fob uh inside the key inside the vehicle, put your foot on the brake, and that will essentially turn everything on. So, it has the typical GM Bong, which I really think it’s time for Cadillac especially to come up with its own chime system. It just would sound a little bit more upscale and different from other GM vehicles. But, um the interior, as you can see, is pretty similar to the last lyric that we tested, which means all of them come with the the 33in curved OLED display. This has Google builtin, of course. What it is lacking, however, is wireless Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. And that’s because Cadillac removed it from the Lyric last year because they want you to use their native system, which I find to be annoying. But, as you can see there, uh, there’s the embedded GPS, which is Google Maps. If I go to the home display here, there’s the native system here. It also has the new, uh, V theme in the background, which has kind of like these red accented colors. Your drive mode selector is right here, or you can also use the V button that’s on the steering wheel. It basically adds a new V mode for the drive mode which you can kind of customize to your liking. And there’s also a competitive mode. The competitive mode basically when you turn that on puts it in V-Max mode automatically. And it also allows the tail end of this vehicle to step out when you’re driving this vehicle on, let’s say, an autocross course, which I expect a lot of Cadillac L V owners are going to do anyways, right? It’s basically just going to allow the back end to step out so you can have a little bit more fun. Most of you are going to drive it in the touring mode or maybe the sport mode, but there’s also a quick access into the V mode where you want to just push and hold this for Vmax mode and you’ll hear a little graphic. This little light kind of goes around and it will tell you an indicator there that it’s in Vmax mode. So, that’s kind of a cool little trick that you can kind of use to access Vax mode or V mode, which by the way, the two modes are going to deliver similar performance. Competition mode automatically puts the car into the Vmax mode. Now, as you can see, the steering wheel is also pretty nice looking. It’s a three-spoke design. Super Cruise became standard this year, which is a nice touch, so you don’t have to pay extra for their hands-free driving technology. You can see the steering wheel has a power tilt telescoping mechanism, which is nice. You have lots of buttons on the steering wheel, some toggles here for the super cruise adaptive cruise control, and then you can see here your heated steering wheel control is here along with your V-Max button, of course. Uh, and then there’s also a paddle here that’s feels like it’s actually metal. This is to give you max regen braking. Your wiper control is here. And then this little stock is your transmission selector. If I pull it toward me and hold it, that puts it into neutral. Hold it and then push it up, that goes into reverse. That brings up your your full 360 camera, which the quality and resolution is average. I don’t like how it’s so small. Like, I want Cadillac to take up more of the screen real estate, but at least the quality uh seems pretty decent. This instrument panel, as you can see behind me, is also a little bit customizable. So, right now, I have it showing the gauge display, which I can switch to like a tour a tour or sport mode. There’s the sport mode right there. And you can also put the GPS function in there as well along with your driver assistance function or you can go to like a clean screen if you don’t want so much distracting information. Most of the times I like it in the gauge display. You can see there’s a head-up display also on this trim that’s included with the premium package. And in terms of the materials on the dash, you can see this upper portion has some soft touch injection molded plastic. Same thing with here. This is the same from the door panel carried over here. You have some chrome accented and aluminum actual aluminum trim here. I love the vents how they’re a traditional manual toggle as opposed to those electrochromatic vents you find in some competitors. Uh down here you can see you have actual uh climate control knobs and buttons to control the temperature of this vehicle which is a nice touch. And then down here you can see open that up there’s a little bit of a leather line storage compartment here. Actually this looks really nice how it’s in garnet as well. And then down here you can see more of that leather down this lower center console. There’s also a Cadillac or a Cadillac little badge there along with the USBC charging port which is nice. And this floating center console, as you can see, is also a really, you know, cool looking design. Very futuristic. And I also like there’s an actual volume knob here that’s lined in metal along with this little knob. If you guys don’t want to get this touchcreen all dirty, you can use these little knobs or the shortcut buttons. There’s also more wood here. And then, as you can see, the cup holders, it it appears like they’ve actually been redesigned a little bit because in the regular Lyric, there was like a little piece here that you push up and down. It created a lot of annoying creaking sounds, and this feels a little bit better. So, I’m glad that they kind of made that little small change there. Uh, this is a nice padded center console. As you can see, it opens it up. There’s a USB C charging port there and another 12vt power. It’s also relatively deep. As you can see, the wireless the wireless phone charging pad is here. It fits my iPhone 16 Pro Max nicely, uh, which is good if you guys have an enlarged or oversized smartphone. And then above me, you can see here the panoramic sunroof lets in a ton of light. Actually, it’s not dark tinted enough, especially uh, on this very sunny day. You can again open it up to vent air or you can also close up the power retractable shade which is a nice feature. Some competitors don’t even offer a power retractable shade or the fact that it opens up to vent air which is definitely you know something that I think a lot of people really are looking for. Above me you can see there’s also a woven material for the headliner like it looks like an interior camera that keeps an eye on your face and you also have a digital camera rearview mirror. So if you don’t like the camera style mirror you can go to a traditional one that’s frameless auto dimming or go to the camera mirror which is nice. Uh, and then if you want to open up the glove box, it’s a button here on the the screen, and you can see it’s damped and lined with felt. It offers additional uh hidden storage there, which is a nice touch. So, overall, the interior quality definitely reminds you that you’re in a Cadillac. Uh, I didn’t notice any squeaks and rattles in this interior, which is a big improvement versus the regular L that I had about a year ago. So, it’s nice to see that Cadillac has really been making some strides here to improve the build quality versus one that I tested about a year ago. But, let’s go ahead and hop into the back seat area. I can show you guys what that space is like. Now, this is a midsize electric SUV. So, as you can see, pull that door handle. The leg room space here is actually pretty generous. You have just under 40 cubic or 40 in of legroom around 39 12. There’s a completely flat floor here, which is great. Uh, and you also have some pretty decent carpeting material. The seats back here also have the same kind of like intricate stitching here where it has the diamond quilted stitching. Uh, it doesn’t have the uh garnet trim. Actually, the garnet trim is all the way off to the side here, which is a nice touch. Although I would have liked to see a little bit more red in the actual middle part of the seat. But once I get back here, you can see this is pretty much my driving position. As I shut the door, you can see has that same solid sounding thunk. And this is also really comfortable. I can see there’s a ton of foot space, a ton of leg room. I can easily stretch my legs out. I can also cross my legs and get super comfortable. Uh, which is great. Material quality back here is the same as the front. So, it’s a soft touch injection molded plastic, aluminum trim, wood trim, and it’s also nice and padded over here. cartridge plastic here, but you have like additional storage there, which is great if you guys put kids. And you also have two storage cubbies in each of the front seatbacks. The seats back here, you can see you have your own set of climate control functionality. The car actually shut off on itself, but you have three-le heated seats along with rear seat air vents. And you also have a household power outlet and two USBC charging ports. So, that’s again a really great feature for kids. And then if you fold this down, you can see there’s another there’s an armrest with more cup holders. And then in terms of the headroom space, when I sit back, this seat, by the way, it doesn’t have the ability, actually, it does have the ability to recline slightly, just one notch. So, that’s definitely a nice touch. And if you want to fold the seat down, you can see it actually doesn’t create a completely flat floor. It has a little bit of a hump, but at least it’s nice how Cadillac gave you the ability to kind of recline the seat slightly because uh that’ll help your rear seat passengers get a little bit more comfortable. So, overall, if you’re looking for a big back seat, that’s one of the big selling factors about the L. And it’s also again one of the only, you know, true midsize luxury electric SUVs. A lot of the other ones are a little bit more tweeners. This kind of skews more toward the bigger end. Actually, if you want more even more space, Cadillac has the Vistic. Keep that in mind, which we’ll save that for a different review. So, the Cadillac V series, their performance division, has been around since 2004. And of course, their very first model was a CTS where they essentially shoehorned the 5.7 L Corvette V8 under the hood. So, obviously now that we’re driving the very first uh Vbadged electric model, this is a very different animal versus the original V model. And I have to say starting out with the Lyric, I think, was a smart decision because this model has been a pretty big uh hit for Cadillac, at least in terms of reviews, sales-wise, it really started to pick up last year as they kind of had a slow roll out. But what I always noticed about the Lyric when I first drove it is it really needed more power because in the electric vehicle space, especially if you’re coming out of a Tesla, you expect like neck snapping acceleration. And even the all-wheel drive model didn’t quite have that with its 500 horsepower. This model here in V-Max mode, put your foot down at highway speeds here, it definitely feels quick. Now, does it feel neck snapping quick? No, not really. But at the same time, it has more of that instantaneous thrust that I was expecting from an Eevee. Because in the regular Lyric all-wheel drive, I noticed that there’s a little bit of a hesitation, a little bit of lag when you first put your foot down. In this car, there’s not really as much lag. It just feels like it takes off instantaneously. As soon as your foot goes down to the floor, the car accelerates. It It accelerates. It lunges forward with the kind of immediiacy that you expect. It’s definitely, you know, it could be faster. This is kind of where Cadillac is almost leaving room for a Blackwing version of this car, but of course it’s a, you know, they won’t talk about any kind of future product. I could I could easily see them do a Blackwing with an extra 100, maybe even 200 more horsepower. That would be insane. But, um, the company does claim this model will do 0 to 60 in 3.3 seconds. So, obviously I can’t do that here on the highway, but they actually did set up a little course in an empty parking lot where we were able to try out the launch control to see if it’s actually capable of 3.3 seconds. So, here we are finally about to try out the launch control on the Cadillac L V. Remember, this model now has 615 horsepower, good for 0 to 60 in 3.3 seconds. To get maximum acceleration, you basically push and hold the V button here for 3 seconds. It’ll kind of create like a little sound here. Actually, I’ll do it really quick. You basically just push and hold it. You can hear that puts it into Vmax mode. You can do this in just V or Vmax mode. And basically, you just kind of put your foot on part on the brake until it says floor it accelerator. And now release to launch. Oh, holy smokes. [Music] [Applause] All right. The fact that I just did that in a parking lot, like a freaking parking lot. Uh, we got 0 to 60 in 3.38 seconds there. So, 3.38 that is that’s fast. I mean, the last all-wheel drive optic that I or a Lyric that I did did it in around 4.8. So, that improves the 0 to 60 by about a second and a half, and that’s exactly the performance that this car needed. And it finally kind of brings it into like true performance EV territory. So, yeah, this thing is pretty quick and uh you can do that all day long. It’s a very consistent thing. Now, as you saw, we were able to get 3.38 seconds on that run to 60, which is pretty good. Now, I will notate that that little course that they set up was a little bit more downhill. So, I’ll wait until I get one back home to test for a week to see if we can get a consistent time. 3.38 is a perfectly good number. It’s around 1 and 1/2 seconds faster versus the all-wheel drive 500 horsepower L that I tested a little over a year ago. But again, 0 to 60 times are fun and all, but this is a luxury SUV. And Cadillac says they’ve upgraded the steering to be sharper. the uh they’ve upgraded the suspension to be a little bit more enthusiastic, but at the same time, they were able to preserve the ride quality that you expect from a Cadillac. And I’m also noticing this interior is pretty quiet and free of any kind of squeaks and rattles, which is not something that I could say about the uh last that I tested for a full week that was the all-wheel drive model, which had a ton of squeaks and rattles. This model here feels very tightly put together. The ride is also really nice. I’m sitting here in VMAX mode, and it actually just glides down the road. And even though we’re on these big 22-in wheels, I can take it out of the V-Max or the V mode here. It’ll go back into the tour mode. I can also click on that. It’s and show you there. It’s actually in the tour suspension setting. The steering gets a little bit lighter. The suspension dampers get a little bit softer. It’s not quite the same as their Magnore Realological dampers. They use Sax dampers instead. Uh, and they don’t actually have the same kind of level of adjustability, but they still will adjust the damping a little bit. In this mode here, it actually still feels pretty quick. I’m also noticing it doesn’t have quite as much enhanced electric motor sound, which is fine. I mean, this isn’t a luxury vehicle first and foremost. So, you want it to be quiet, you want it to be comfortable, you want it to be smooth, and it certainly delivers that. The seats are also comfortable. I’m sitting here, forgot to turn the massage on, sitting here getting a massage. Although, I will say that for a luxury vehicle, they only offer one type of massage, and I would like to see them offer different, you know, styles of massages along with more intensities. But it’s nice that at least it’s included. You’ll get that when you guys go for the premium package, obviously, which seems like a no-brainer if you guys are looking at this, you know, particular segment of vehicle. Um, the one pedal drive, you actually have two different settings. I have it in the normal setting right now, and it actually is probably a little too intense even in normal. In high mode, you’re just going to really make your passenger sick because it’s always constantly bucking, like you’re slamming on the brakes every time you release the throttle. But I should also point out that we started out this review with around a 70% state of charge and it was showing 205 mi of range. Now it’s at 68% 194 milesi of range. So I’ll have to wait until I get one back home to do official range testing. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to see what this car was showing on a full charge because it never was shown or we never had the car with a full charge. But, um, I imagine it should get closer to that 285 mi of range that Cadillac is claiming, which actually is a pretty good range number considering all the additional performance and, you know, drag that they’ve put on this vehicle, considering it’s the performance model. So, I think Cadillac has, you know, managed to preserve the drivability of this car. Now, the other beauty about this vehicle is it does come standard with their Super Cruise technology, which means you have full hands-free driving on most, you know, interstates where it’s been route planned. It’s, you know, it’s got the this the roads in its database. To turn it on, you basically just push this little button here. Uh it says to turn on the adaptive cruise control. You want to hit this button here. Oh, turn that button on first. Okay. And then you hit this and then you hit the set button. So once you have it set, uh it’ll actually show that it’s green. And that’s that’s to let you know that it’s actually engaged. Now, I’m going to actually switch the assist mode here to that. And once it turns green on the little status bar here, that’s how you know you have the Super Cruise. Now you have to basically put that on. There we go. So now it’s showing a hands-free functionality. And GM Super Cruise has always been one of the best in the industry. So I can basically control the speed from this little controller here. I have it set to 65. Uh you can also control the distance. Um uh right now it’s showing it looks like the higher distance. But as you can see, the car in front of me is slowing down and the car also comes to a full stop. In addition to keeping me centered in the lane, it also has active lane changing assist. So, it’ll kind of predict if you want to change lanes. It’ll initiate lane changes or suggest them based on, you know, your route, of course. So, this pretty much is what I expect from other Cadillac models. It’s one of the best hands-free driving systems in the industry, and they make it simple. Uh that it’s constantly letting you know if the system is active. I like the status bar here. It also will vibrate your seat if you’re not paying attention. If I want to change lanes, I can initiate it here. It’ll check the cameras. it’ll make sure there’s nobody there before it actually changes the lane. So, this makes driving in this kind of rush hour traffic or this traffic in general around the Seattle Tacoma area a little bit more pleasant. And of course, it will modulate the brakes and make it so it drives very smooth. And you don’t really have to do much. You just kind of have to sit here and pay attention because this camera here watches your face. And if you’re not paying attention, it will again turn itself off until you need to keep your eyes uh on the road. I also really like the head-up display, although it does kind of disappear when you got your polarized sunglasses on. But, uh, the seats are very comfortable. It’s pretty quiet in this interior. And even though I do want this car to have a little bit more power, especially on the highway, uh, when you’re going from a dead stop, it certainly has that, you know, shove that you’re looking for. Although, I probably wouldn’t want to pick fights with some like Model 3 Performance or Model Y performance models. Although, we technically don’t have the updated Model Y performance out just yet. But still, this is exactly what the Lyric has needed since it came out. It finally has a little bit more of that fire that you’re expecting when you buy a performance EV model. And I also noticed that the price difference between this model and the standard all-wheel drive version really isn’t that different as long as you keep the options in check because this model here has a pretty pricey exterior carbon fiber package that balloons the price up significantly. But overall, what the L still excels at is being a really comfortable daily luxury commuter car. But now with the V version, they’ve added some extra degree of handling dynamics and especially uh some improvements, significant improvements in in acceleration. Now, with just under 30,000 units sold in America last year, the Cadillac L was the bestselling midsize electric luxury SUV that you can find. And it really shows that while Cadillac had a slow start with the Lyric, it’s done a great job in really just appealing to a lot more consumers because the V version, as you guys just saw, just kind of wished right by us, is the most performanceoriented version, and it’s also the quickest accelerating Cadillac the company has ever offered. As you guys saw during the driving scene, we got 0 to 60 in 3.3 seconds. I’ll have to wait until I get one back home to test to see if that’s a consistent number, but that that time again is actually.1 seconds faster, which is what Cadillac claims for the CT5V Blackwing, the supercharged V8 uh Cadillac sports stance. So, obviously, this vehicle may not have the same kind of looks or like pull that a CT5V Blackwing would do. Uh this vehicle again kind of embraces the Cadillac, you know, heritage quite nicely because even though this is a performanceoriented model, this is certainly not a V Blackwing. It’s not designed really for track usage. Although you can actually get the car sideways and drift it if you guys would like to do so. I imagine owners probably won’t end up doing that. But what’s nice about the Lyric V is it preserves that comfortable ride quality at the same time being a little bit sportier because the regular V felt a little bit too big and a little bit too soft. This definitely feels a little bit more sporty, but at the same time, it’s still very comfortable for those longer road trips. Even though we’re on these big 22-in wheels, it’s also pretty quiet on the inside. The seats are also comfortable and supportive. If you guys like real leather, this has real leather as opposed to the fake interlux leather that you get in the Optic, for example. The back seat is also usable. The cargo space is also big. What I don’t like about the infotainment system is it just lacks Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and that’s something that the uh the Lyric used to have when it first launched, but of course for 2025, Cadillac started removing it because they claimed their native system is better in that regard. So, let me know in the comments section below if you guys want Cadillac to put Apple CarPlay and Android Auto back into this vehicle. But again, that’s going to be, you know, a software thing that they could tweak if there’s enough demand for it. Now, if you guys are looking to get your hands on the allnew Lyric V, this is actually already heading to dealership showrooms uh already. And pricing for this model, surprisingly, isn’t as expensive as I thought it was going to be because you could basically get into a base L, of course, with rear wheel drive and over 300 mi of range, half the power of this model here for around 59,000 bucks. to go with the V version. Cadillac basically offers it in a standard V and a V premium, but it basically is similar to the topend sport uh signature trim. You’re going to have to pay at least $78,595. So, that’s a pretty significant $20,000 jump. However, keep in mind if you guys are looking at an all-wheel drive nonV uh L in the sport uh trim with the signature package, it’s really going to be around 73 grand. So, in reality, Cadillac only charges around $5,000 more to go with the V treatment, which is a pretty big bargain, I’d say, especially considering the increase in significant increase in per in power, performance, looks, and handling dynamics. Now, of course, this particular one that I’m showing you here has the premium package for an extra $5,000, which basically rolls in the upgraded AKG audio system, the massaging seats, the head-up uh display, the power panoramic sunroof, uh with the color destination upcharge, and of course, the very expensive carbon fiber exterior package. You’re looking at an asested price of $92,810. So, again, now we’re getting closer to $100,000, which seems a little expensive. Again, you could save yourself nearly 6 grand by removing the carbon fiber, although it looks a lot better, I have to say, with the carbon fiber. But keep in mind as well, if you’re looking at the competitive set, a MercedesBenz EQE AMG, uh, which is again what Mercedes offers in comparison to this, starts at around 90 or $110,000. A BMW iXM70 starts at around $111,000, of course. Um, and if you’re also looking at like a Tesla Model X, that starts at around 90 grand. So, Cadillac, I think, has priced this car well, and it also only has around a $2,000 higher starting price versus this car’s platform mate, the Acura ZDX Type S, which technically the ZDX only has 500 horsepower. So, I wouldn’t be surprised if Cadillac or Acura will eventually poach this powertrain for the ZDX Type S for a big refresh. But overall, in typical Cadillac L fashion or Cadillac fashion, there’s a ton of value to be had in this vehicle. I would just personally skip the expensive carbon fiber. You can easily pick one of these up for low $80,000 range, which to me seems like an actual good deal for a vehicle that offers the power, performance, range, and luxury that you expect from the Cadillac badge. With all that said, I hope you guys have enjoyed my full overview on the brand new 2026 Cadillac LV. If you’re also looking to see the latest cars I’m testing, be sure to follow me on Instagram at redline_reviews. Like us on Facebook, and as always, guys, please keep subscribing to the Redline Reviews YouTube channel for all the latest reviews. Thank you so much for watching. I’ll catch you all in the next video. [Music]
Cadillac’s V-Series performance division first made its debut back in 2003 with the original CTS-V. It essentially took the excellent CTS at the time and shoehorned the V8 from the Corvette under the hood. For 2026, the also excellent #CadillacLyriq gets the #VSeries treatment with the first-ever #CadillacLyriqV. It gets a series upgrade in power to allow the #LyriqV to produce 615 HP and 650 lb-ft of torque, making this car the quickest accelerating V-Series car ever produced.
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