What's the difference?
General Motors Australia & New Zealand (GMANZ) has recently expanded its full-electric Cadillac SUV range in Australia from one to three models, with the new Optiq and Vistiq joining the pioneering Lyriq in the company's local line-up of luxurious US-sourced SUVs and pickups.
The five-seater Lyriq is now the happy medium of the Cadillac trio, as it’s positioned between the smaller Optiq and larger Vistiq; the latter with a unique seven-seat design.
We recently spent a week aboard the Lyriq to see if its opulence, practicality, performance, driving range and price provide a compelling alternative to full-electric or combustion-powered rivals for high-end luxury SUV buyers.
Do you like swimming against the tide? Do you like to zig when everyone else is zagging? Are you unafraid of making the unpopular choice?
Well, if you align with the above, I have just the car for you.
The Volvo ES90 pushes against most current trends. The luxury sedan used to be the measure of a brand, but not anymore. These days the luxury market is defined by SUVs and sedans have been reduced to an afterthought for many.
But if you’re willing to think outside the SUV-shaped box, there is a lot to like about Volvo’s new luxury offering. Whether it’s a true sedan or not is open to debate, but what it isn’t is an SUV and for those willing to live that counter-culture lifestyle this may be right for you.
The Lyriq Luxury combines handsome styling and luxurious appointments with responsive yet supple ride quality, the choice of relaxed driving or exhilarating performance as desired and a decent driving range. Its lack of towing ability may be a deal breaker for some, but it's certainly worthy of consideration by prestige SUV buyers with a penchant for electric power and (for now at least) sub-$100K drive-away pricing.
More stylish than ever before, as quiet and refined as you'd expect from a luxury car and yet the stand out feature might once again be safety. Despite seemingly every new car being loaded to the gills with safety features, Volvo has managed to demonstrate industry best-practice and leads the way again.
I would encourage engineers from every other car brand to drive the ES90 to learn how to better integrate the modern suite of active safety features like forward collision warning and lane departure warning.
But beyond that, is the ES90 a car worthy of consideration? Well, pretty much everything it does the EX90 does too, so if you prefer an SUV that’s definitely worth consideration. But if you don’t want an SUV, if you prefer a sedan or just love to be different, the ES90 is a very attractive proposition in more ways than one.