Cadillac Optiq News

Passenger media screens aren’t appealing to most car owners, a recent report into new and emerging car technology has revealed.Screens in cars are the current big thing, and quite literally, too, with media displays growing larger. The Cadillac Optiq SUV for example has a 33-inch horizontal display. But we’re now in the era of front passenger displays, as well.Often found in more premium vehicles the dashboard integrated screen allows the front passenger to see and control media, sat nav and other functions including watching movies in some cases. Porsche’s Taycan features a passenger media display in a cockpit full of screens.A multitude of screens may look impressive but in reality owners of vehicles that had them found the technology unappealing according to a new report by United States automotive analysts JD Power.  The JD Power 2026 U.S. Tech Experience Index (TXI) Study reported that many owners of vehicles with passenger screens didn’t use them.    “More than one-third (35 per cent) of owners industrywide who have a passenger screen say they have never tried to use it, while just six per cent say they use it every time they drive.” It was also found that vehicles with passenger media screens experienced more instances of technical problems.The study found the technology owners placed the most value in was often the kind that was integrated so well into the functions of the vehicle that it was barely perceptible other than making the driving experience better.  JD Power Director of Customer Success Doron Hikry said, “The technology customers value most is often the technology they barely notice because it simply works.”“Smart ignition and smart climate control make everyday driving easier without demanding the driver’s attention, while more automation and additional screens don’t necessarily translate into a better experience. “For automakers, the opportunity is to prioritise technology that makes driving simpler, not more complicated. The features that solve real problems without adding effort or stress for the driver are the ones resonating most with customers,” he said.CarsGuide’s own reviewers have found similar results with proximity unlocking and smart ignition high on our lists of great technology. Low on our lists? Controls that were once accessed with physical dials and buttons being replaced by screens. We’re talking about climate control and sound system volume, especially.Regulators are keeping an eye on some of these features, with EuroNCAP and ANCAP considering expanding on physical control requirements in the future.A host of other frustrating features in many new cars like electronic doorhandles were recently banned by Chinese regulators, with the changes expected to flow through for cars sourced from China in our market.

Car makers are always coming up with new features in the name of making our driving time more comfortable, convenient or safe but sometimes the result is the opposite.Yep, as car reviewers there’s a list of well known, very annoying features that we could really do without.So here’s a quick collection of the most annoying new car features... and please feel free to add your own to this never ending list. Massive glass roofs look amazing in a car dealer’s showroom but on the road during an Australian summer they make you feel like a rotisserie chicken - not to mention the dangers of sun exposure in this part of the world. Thankfully some roofs have retractable shades and some have decently thick ones to cut down the light and heat. The Tesla Model Y has an expansive fixed glass roof and no screen to shield its occupants from that furnace in the sky.This sounds super irresponsible to anybody who hasn't experienced the nightmarish intrusiveness of modern safety alerts that are supposedly designed to reduce speeding and distraction, but trust us..We’re talking about speed warning alarms, which activate at 2km/h over the posted speed limit (often falsely), distraction alerts that are triggered by the driver looking out for pedestrians and overly aggressive lane keeping assistance that feels like a sudden arm wrestle. The systems in our opinion become potentially a safety issue in themselves.Kia and Hyundai have been criticised in the past especially for over zealous safety alert systems, but pretty much every new car now has them - some worse than others.Do you know how many people used to say, “I wish my car’s door handles weren’t so easy to use, I want something that’s awkward and confusing to operate, something so flimsy it feels like it might snap off in my hand”? I’ll tell you - nobody.With the advent of electric vehicles came door handles that retracted flush with the car’s body to improve aerodynamics and in turn energy efficiency, which is all very good but it came at the price of functionality. Is it really necessary - I mean you can’t tell me regular door handles create that much drag?  Possibly the worst door handles I’ve ever encountered are on the Cadillac Optic. They’re as thin as a pencil and make opening the Cadillac super heavy doors ridiculously difficult.Another case of re-inventing something that wasn’t broken, the camera wing mirror is more a case of car designers saying "look at what we can do" rather than actually improving upon the simplicity and effectiveness of a piece of shiny glass.Hyundai's Ioniq 5 and Gensis GV60 can be had with camera mirrors - yeah, no thanks!Can’t wait for my bathroom mirror to be replaced by a camera and a screen.Anyone that’s needed to get something from the boot in a hurry because it's raining but had to stand there getting soaked waiting for the electric tailgate to slowly open, will tell you that it would have been quicker to open it themselves. And as for the gesture tailgates that require a swoosh with your foot top open - they seem to work about 50 per cent of the time.  An all-time low for me and gesture tailgates was when I was trying to take a Christmas tree out from the boot of a Mazda CX-70 and somehow my moving foot told it to start shutting without me realising it until it closed down on me. The car basically ate me alive. Car companies have tried to integrate digital assistants into their cars to carry out functions such as opening the windows or lowering the cabin temperature.The problem is getting the voice assistant to listen to you, understand you or even do anything is almost impossible which is a lot like being the parent of a teenager.Myself and the rest of the motoring media are to blame for encouraging car companies to do away with easy-to-use buttons and dials and move all the functions to a screen that forces the driver to step through three pages of a menu just to turn the climate control down. Yes, for years we praised cabins with “minimalist interiors” and “cleanly designed, button-less dash boards”. Well careful what you wish for, because now all I want is a knob for the stereo volume.  The Geely EX5 has a very cleanly designed button-less dash, which isn't a good thing after all.Some cars play little musical greetings when you sit down in the driver's seat. I find these as enjoyable to listen to as those birthday cards that play songs.As with door handles and wing mirrors, steering wheels never needed re-inventing but again and again car companies try to do so. Peugeot, Subaru and Geely have dabbled with not-round steering wheels but the worst we've seen is possibly the yoke in the new Lexus RZ550e F Sport. Seriously car companies - stop it. Ok there’s so many more features I loathe but let's end on a really good one - tyre puncture repair kits. These usually involve a small compressor and canister of goo which is used to fill a flat tyre sealing the puncture and have you on your way.Sounds great, but it isn't. I’ve been on the side of the road in the bush with a puncture and used the repair kit only to watch all the good squirt out through the hole in my tyre sealing nothing but my opinions on how useless these devices can be.

Cadillac has released two new luxury all-electric SUV models in Australia, which are the mid-size Optiq and the large three-row Vistiq. The Optiq will start from $80,000, before on-road costs, while the Vistiq will start from $116,000, before on-road costs. This means it is substantially cheaper than the sportier Porsche Macan as well as the luxury-oriented Genesis GV60. Meanwhile, at $116,000 the Vistiq sizes up as a rival to other big luxury electric SUVs, such as the Kia EV9 and Volvo EX90. The Vistiq is around $10,000 more than the all-wheel drive EV9, while the EX90 starts from over $120,000. As part of the announcement, the Lyriq coupe EV already on sale in Australia will be available with a drive-away offer of $95,000. This equates to a substantial discount on the $122,000 base asking price, before on-road costs. Both cars get dual electric motors, with the Optiq’s producing 224kW and 448Nm, while the Vistiq boasts 459kW and 880Nm. Shifting from 0-100km/h takes just 4.2 seconds for the Vistiq. They also both have driving ranges of more than 400km, which is in the ballpark of other key rivals.Both models are all-wheel drive only. On a DC fast charge, Cadillac claims the Optiq can add 94km in roughly 10 minutes, while the Vistiq can add 104km in around the same time. Cadillac’s new EVs feature a standout 33-inch display, which spans across much of the dashboard and both have lavish sound systems, with 19 speakers in the Optiq and 23 in the Vistiq. Elsewhere, the luxury SUVs have heated, ventilated and messaging seats, which are electrically operated with memory function, among other high-end luxury add-ons. Cadillac Optiq and Vistiq2026 Cadillac Optiq and Vistiq engine and efficiency 2026 Cadillac Optiq and Vistiq standard features 2026 Cadillac Optiq and Vistiq safetyThe Cadillac Optiq and Vistiq have not been crash tested in Australia yet. Standard safety features 2026 Cadillac Optiq and Vistiq dimensions 2026 Cadillac Optiq and Vistiq warrantyEvery Cadillac comes with a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty, as well as an eight-year/160,000-kilometre warranty. 

General Motors Australia has conceded for the first time that it would consider introducing petrol-powered vehicles, most likely the Escalade SUV, if electric vehicle sales stay flat.

Cadillac Senior Vice President of Global Design Michael Simcoe explained how the Celestiq, Lyriq and Optiq get away without looking like computer mouses or soap bars despite solid driving range ratings. Along with his current role at Cadillac, Simcoe has been with GM for forty years now after starting at Holden in 1983. He can boast credit for the Monaro, VE Commodore and more recently rebirthing Cadillac as an EV-first brand with the Celestiq. “Aerodynamics is a very well understood black science,” he told CarsGuide last week. “We have a lot of people who are very intelligent in that space so we know what we have to do to make a vehicle perform in a fashion.”For comparison's sake, the Tesla Model Y ekes 531km of EPA driving range out of its 75kWh battery pack thanks to a small frontal area and slippery 0.23Cd. The AWD Cadillac Optiq uses an 85kWh battery and gets 480km EPA driving range – we don’t know its Cd figure.The Tesla is better then, right? On paper, sure. But Cadillac is not in the business of making efficiency an absolute. Buyers of Cadillacs are chasing opulence, performance and style. The brand naturally has an internal efficiency goal for EVs, with Simcoe saying the team is able to ‘dial up and down’ various factors to achieve the desired result.“Anyone who tells you that to do an efficient vehicle, you have to do a lozenge with wheels is wrong”, he emphasises. “You can make very efficient vehicles that have style as well.”Yet anyone who has looked at vehicles coming out of China to target Tesla – the GAC Aion hyper GT, IM L6, BYD Sealion 6, Xpeng G6 and more – can see the resemblance to the American brand’s soft-sided vehicles.Interestingly, Simcoe sees this phenomena as copycatting for the sake of style rather than outright aero efficiency, citing hidden tricks such as shielding suspension components from the wind and other techniques. “That's more about commoditisation of design and a power to see something that works in the showroom, with customers, and a whole industry that has the speed to – within a couple of years – move in that direction. “And then two years later there's somewhere else, and then somewhere else. But that's commoditisation of vehicles, it's not necessarily aerodynamics that are doing that,” Simcoe explains. “If you've got the speed to react quickly to a trend and you're seeing something on the other side of town that's working and people are buying and you've got the speed to get there before the market dries up, then you're dealing with commodities rather than a real focus on your brand and the value you have in the design itself.“If we all did that you could forget the brand thing because everybody would be buying the same interior and the same exterior. And there is a bit of that in the market right now, globally.” Cadillac is gearing up to launch its first vehicle in Australia, the large luxury BMW iX and Audi Q8 e-tron-rivalling Lyriq, before the end of the year. More models, including the Optiq, are likely to follow shortly after. 

Cadillac has detailed its Optiq electric car, which becomes the US brand’s smallest EV SUV. 

The Optiq could be Cadillac Australia’s next all-electric model following the Lyriq large SUV as the brand looks to expand its portfolio and gain a better foothold Down Under.