evee Central

The 2025 Cadillac Optiq Is a Funky Little EV: First Drive Review

With a bangin’ sound system and a funky interior, Cadillac’s smallest EV makes a big impact.

Maybe you’ve heard of the 2025 Cadillac Optiq. Maybe you haven’t. Maybe you recognize the -iq suffix as Cadillac’s new branding for electric vehicles, but can’t really tell one -iq vehicle from the next. I don’t blame you. But no matter your familiarity with Cadillac’s new “IQ” cars, there’s an underlying thread here: Cadillac is electrifying its lineup, fast.

And you know what? I like it.

The Optiq is part of a major shift for Cadillac. In recent years, the company’s introduced a slew of new electric vehicles under the IQ brand, mostly signified by model names ending in “-iq” (pronounced “ick,” not “eek”). Joining the Optiq are models like the Lyriq, Vistiq, and Celestiq. The only departure from this rule is the Cadillac Escalade IQ, since pronouncing “Escaladiq” would be… weird. (I drove the IQ recently, and it made the Escalade feel important again.)

The Optiq is the cheapest vehicle in Cadillac’s new electric lineup, with a starting price of $56,390 with destination fees. It’s a two-row, five-seat crossover that shares a platform with the Chevrolet Equinox EV. Every Optiq has an 85.0-kilowatt-hour battery pack and a dual-motor, all-wheel-drive setup, with 300 horsepower and 354 pound-feet of torque. Cadillac estimates 302 miles of range, but the EPA hasn’t released official range estimates for the Optiq yet.