“The Optiq’s algorithm minimizes your time,” Cadillac mentioned in response, “based on your battery state and the chargers in your area. It picks the route and charge stations for fastest [travel] time. The remaining-at-destination calculations are based on models of the vehicle using traffic patterns and elevation changes along the route. Fluctuation can come from changes to traffic patterns, winds, and driver behaviors.”
Definitely a deal-breaker for some, there is no such thing as a mobile-phone mirroring, so Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are totally absent (as they’re in Tesla, Rivian, and Lucid as nicely). As an alternative, drivers enter their person names and passwords into apps within the sprint display, and the automotive gives the connectivity over its mobile connection. For 3 years.
After that, house owners should pay $15 monthly to proceed “App Access” … or revert to their telephone, with out the security of getting it mirrored onto the money show. That’s on high of $25 monthly for Tremendous Cruise after its personal 36-month trial. It’s all a part of the billions a yr in incremental “digital services revenue” carmakers have promised the monetary world. Patrons are the losers right here; now they have to pay month-to-month for a function they used to get at no cost.
Oh, That Rear Finish
That is the smallest and shortest Cadillac, and whereas I discovered the entrance two-thirds of the Optiq nice, the rear finish was jumbled at finest. There’s a kicked-up beltline over a brief rear overhang, the model’s vertical tail lamps, and an odd sample of not-quite horizontal traces on the third aspect home windows. Cadillac’s bigger SUVs and the Celestiq ultra-luxury sedan do a greater and extra coherent job with the identical design language.
The beltline is excessive, and solely the glass roof stored the inside from feeling claustrophobic. However, what an inside. It’s beautiful, with woven-cloth materials, some delicate bright-blue accents within the one I drove, and a handful of sustainable supplies: yarn made out of one hundred pc recycled supplies woven into patterned accent materials, and “PaperWood” veneer from tulip wooden and recycled newspaper.
Courtesy of Cadillac
Courtesy of Cadillac
It’s additionally one of many quietest vehicles I’ve ever pushed, EV or not. Passengers are handled to a relaxed, easy, nice, and altogether good expertise inside. That makes it a simple car through which to cowl miles—particularly with the Blue Cruise hands-off adaptive cruise management.
Inside area for 4 is beneficiant, and whereas it might be a “compact” SUV in North American phrases, three folks can trip within the rear seat with out hating one another. Like all GM’s EVs under the massive vehicles, there’s no entrance trunk. That’s a missed guess. It additionally lacks a rear wiper; Cadillac claims the airflow via its “rear flow-through spoiler channels high-velocity air” to maintain the rear window clear. Sloppy spring rainstorms in upstate New York beg to vary. Cadillac additionally suggests utilizing the video rear-view mirror as a substitute for glass you’ll be able to truly see via.
Watch for the Sizzling Rod?
Acceleration of the Optiq can finest be described as deliberate. It’s not sluggish, and “Sport” mode is punchier, if any Cadillac driver ever makes use of it. GM has among the finest regenerative braking and one-pedal driving algorithms within the enterprise, and general the Optiq is simple to drive and holds the street adequately. Its weight and damping easy unhealthy roads and makes potholes shallower.
However it presents completely not one of the kick-in-the-back acceleration that bought numerous EVs within the early years. That cues up the Optiq-V hot-rod mannequin Cadillac has simply introduced. In the identical compact crossover car, energy rises to a quoted 382h kW (519 hp) and 650 pound-feet (880 NM) of torque. In “Velocity Max ” mode, Cadillac says the Optiq-V will speed up from 0 to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds. Estimated vary is 275 miles; it’ll enter manufacturing this autumn.
