EV Rider reviewer Dan Scanlan takes a test drive in a 2026 Cadillac Lyriq V – a serious performance version of one of the 104-year-old American car company’s most stunning crossovers. And it lives on a very high-tech Ultium EV platform, so it is all out electric.
The exterior is stunning – low, wide and aggressively planted on 22-inch Continental PremiumContact 6 performance tires. Lyriq-V has aggression – a black chrome accent bar atop the illuminated grill; working side vents inboard of the headlight; and a deep lower front air intake with aggressive air dam below. The sloped rear window is framed by an LED light bar that rides down D-pillar/hatchback edges, then flows above a neat spoiler in black.
Inside, quilted, bolstered black leather bucket seats and a myriad of power adjustments as well as gentle massage, heating and cooling, surrounded by stitched black leather and matte silver accents as dark wood wraps around you. The AKG sound system’s 23 speakers sounded great. The driver faces a 33-inch curved glass screen, with a configurable gauge display that also showcases EV info, navigation and more. There’s solid room for two in back, then 28 cubic feet of storage behind that, 60.8 if you power fold the split rear seats, and more room under the floor.
Power comes solely from twin electric motors with 615 hp/650 lb-ft. of torque, all of it available in Velocity Max drive mode. Tour mode gave us 515 hp and a quick launch to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds. But tap in Velocity Max, which allows Launch Control, and there’s no wheelspin – but lots of warp speed – as we hit 60 mph in 3.2 seconds, as confirmed by an E/T readout. It handles curving roads well, brakes very well, and delivers an EPA-estimated 285 miles of range.
So read lots more about this – 2026 Cadillac Lyriq-V Rips With 615 HP Of Smoothness – plus more interior and exterior images by EV Rider reviewer Dan Scanlan.And check out lots more views of EV, PHEV and ICE vehicles at EV Rider.