I’ve been extremely quiet on the blog front recently. Not a bad thing, except for watching my website analytics steadily fall through the floor.

However, just because I haven’t been rambling about cars in the last few weeks doesn’t mean I’ve been in hibernation. Quite the opposite really. Those of you who follow my Instagram would have noticed I’ve been across the pond in the land of the free. America.

The automotive landscape is very different over there. In the UK, we are lucky to display a wide range of vehicle sizes on our roads. However in the U.S., it’s very confined to anything equivalent to a block of flats on wheels. For context, a Volvo XC90, a very popular large SUV here in Europe among mummies on the school run, looked small. I also saw someone who looked perhaps 16 learning to drive in a BMW X7. The point is, nothing is small.

Then there are the U.S. domestic brands you don’t usually see. And the brand I saw most often was Cadillac, a division of General Motors. When I think of Cadillac, I think of an Escalade cutting through a dense urban jungle escorting the President. But Trump was in Scotland at the time of my visit, so no motorcade was to be seen.

But Cadillac also makes other cars. At one of the hotels I was staying at, a complimentary “Cadillac Experience” was offered. The Caddy in question, the range topping flagship Lyriq 600 E4 EV, a 500 hp laptop on wheels.

In typical GM fashion, the Lyriq couldn’t have come at a worse time, arriving just as sky-high interest rates and tumbling demand sent automakers scrambling to rewrite and delay their electric transitions. And then there’s the name, ‘Lyriq’. Maybe they were referring to the rap moguls that once bought the Escalade and danced in front of it.

But silly name aside, the Lyriq 600 E4 surpassed expectations. It certainly looks like a Cadillac, especially from the front with its commanding fake grille. It had a sloping roofline compromising outward visibility (although there was a digital rear-view mirror). However, I found the rear quite busy and a bit mushed together. But both sets of dynamic lights were a nice theatrical touch.

On the road, threading up Route 24 from Colorado Springs through rocky canyon switchbacks was done with ease. There is more than enough power on tap to squirt and shoot out of bends or overtake fossil power. And with the instant torque you get from electric vehicles, it made the driving experience very fun. The only niggle is perhaps the weight at the rear, which can lead to a bit of oversteer when cornering at speed.

Inside, there were plush but possibly fake leathers, a pan-roof, and a crisp AKG sound system. We were four-up in the vehicle, but there was plenty of room. It was particularly good to see physical buttons for HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning), despite the rather large curved touchscreen. With safety systems rife in modern vehicles, the lack of bongs and beeps was welcome, although every time you crossed a solid line, you got a vibration in your left or right butt cheek, depending on which side you crossed. There was even a compartment to store your Glock.

In summary, I liked this car more than I did when I first saw it, and the short time on the road made it abundantly clear that Cadillac can make crossovers that are exciting and don’t belong at an Airport Hertz.