Nearly three years after launching the concept version of the flagship Cadillac Celestiq EV, GM finally released something real: a $360,000 electric car that seeps out luxury and is a gawk-at-me look designed to be on passerby bait.

But is this custom EV enough to regain Cadillac's status as "world standard"? I spent a day browsing this behemoth around Los Angeles to find out.

Sliding behind the steering wheel on the new flagship fast back is a good start.

I was surrounded by butter leather – my back end was comfortable with the comfortable seats, which adjusts in every way, and then some. The fit and finish is as precise and elevated as a Richard Mille watch, everything I touch has a unique honed aesthetic. However, in 115 cases, these parts have been printed out in 3D, including the center of the steering wheel, the window switch, the console decoration part, and even some structural parts.

Cadillac obviously wants to build a zero-eclec electric car. However, battery pack layout presents certain design challenges.

The modules in the Cadillac Celestiq battery pack are not uniform. Unlike Lyriq with flat-panel battery packs, Celestiq has different configurations of modules of different heights in the battery pack. The module under the front seats is about nine inches tall, but the rear passenger football room is only six inches tall. The rear seats come with 12-inch-tall modules.

Engineers need to place some modules under the center console to reach a 111 kWh battery in the 303-mile range. The result was a shallow storage room that was barely enough to fit my wallet and glasses.

Cadillac Celestik EV: Driver

The look I received while driving the Celestiq makes up for the storage space of this small center console. There is nothing on the road that looks so elegant, with dance LED light signatures on the front, long nose and carved back end. In a small town full of production beauties, the real Celestiq stands out.

I started with the tough streets of Hollywood, where I purposely aimed to break the sidewalks and manhole covers. My tester comes with 22-inch wheels (although there are 23-inch wheels available), while Michelin Pilot Sport EV tires are few.

Having this little rubber between a car and a sidewalk often results in tough riding, but the Celestiq uses compliant air suspension that can keep all suspension under control. Larger events like potholes certainly make their presence known, but city driving is quiet and smooth.

There is no doubt that this car is a big gun. The Cadillac Celestiq covers a larger footprint than the two-door Chevrolet Silverado, and the rear steering makes the size more flexible. Of course, it’s a bit difficult to find roadside parking in this bad boy, but this car is more likely to find itself in a valet.

Leaving Hollywood, I headed to the hills and saw what I could do on the curved roads 655 horsepower and 646 pound-feet of torque. Here, the magnetic riding control shines, responds quickly to the road and the weight transfer of the car to provide a confident sense of control. With the help of active roll control, the car feels flat in the corners, despite the Zaftig proportions.

The steering here is a little numb, but the weighting is good, and brake regeneration provides new skills for conquest. I found that in Max Regen, if I could upgrade the throttle to correct, I wouldn't have to hit the mechanical brake before entering the corner. The weight will still shift to the front so I have the grip to turn, but I also get free electronics at the same time.

I like it.

I upgraded the Dolby Atmos sound system to 38 internal AKG speakers - 4 out of the car, bringing cool EV sounds to those who are unlucky, to walk-and-and head to the highway. Of course, GM's Super Cruise Advanced Advanced Driver Assistance System is here, so I put my hands on the steering wheel and let the car take over traffic for a while.

Cadillac Celestiq EV has problems

Among them is the biggest problem with Celestiq. I'm not necessarily angry about all GM electric cars running Google's built-in Apple Carplay and Android Auto. Google Maps is great in this car, accurately predicting the range when I get to a location and providing a charging station and pre-processing the battery when needed. It's just that I can't reliably get the system to connect my phone to get free text messages and phone calls.

And not only in Celestiq. In Optiq and Escalade IQ, the process is firm. I have multiple settings on my iPhone that have to be correct, sometimes I have to reconnect whether to turn off the car, and a few times it just refuses to tell me I have an incoming text.

High-end customers need simplicity and ease of use. This smartphone integrated system is not.

Cadillac Celestiq EV internal

But at least the screen looks great.

Extending over the width of the dashboard, it has the advantage of 55 inches of high resolution. Passengers have their own screen for streaming and internet browsing, with all climate controls on the smaller screen below the dashboard.

I would give my kingdom some physical HVAC buttons, but on a car like this I would settle into the next separate screen, at least I wouldn't have to scroll through a bunch of menus to turn on the air conditioner.

Of course, the massage seats are here, and they seem to stay longer than other luxury cars I drive. There is no heating and cooling cup holder, which I think is a miss, it is forgetting to forget to give Crème Fraîche to you caviar, but Cadillac told me that if anyone really wants it, it can add that feature.

I dug up the glass roof, which can permeate up to 20% opacity in any of these four areas. Everyone in the car can customize the light they want to make a portion of the vehicle.

I'm not 100% sold on power doors because my mind just had the worst situation where I got stuck inside the car in the whole food parking lot or something. Still, it was cool to just step on the brake pedal and automatically close my door. There is also an icon on the lower screen to close the door so passengers can enter the trend of high-tech low-affluence.

Customized Cadillac electric car experience

Each Celestiq will be handcrafted at General Motors Global Technology Center in Michigan.

When I choose the colors and materials I like with the designer, I get a little bit about what the clients will go through. Choosing from the 50 possible shades is a bit overwhelming, but I stepped out of the Kingfisher Three Dreams, which I think is a bright blue that I think is with the long wheelbase and the silhouette of the fast strap and the sheer grey and Bahaya orange interior with a phantom blue accent. What can I say? I dig blue and orange.

As the day progresses, I accept the treatment of Cadillac concierge services, which customers will experience during the purchase process. Someone made sure I had cold diet peppers in my hands and the lunch choice was tailored to my immature cooking taste. In other words, I had lunch while I was having lunch and I wasn't even embarrassed about it.

While Celestiq customers may use their concierge services to field logistics requests without requiring a lot of carbs and caffeine, the point is that they will have someone to cater to every car purchase accidental idea of ​​themselves.

There aren't too many Uber-Suxury EV markets. Cadillac Celestiq's main game is probably Rolls-Royce's ghost EV, whose cool stars are now headlines. Still, the Celestiq is primarily located in the ultra-luxury battery power sector.

Bentley doesn't have a full battery power product yet, just hybrids, and even Mercedes doesn't fully charge the Maybach S-Class sedan, though you can get the Maybach EQS SUV.

If you want one in the garage, good luck. Cadillac will produce a limited 25 cars in 2025, almost all of which will appear. The company will not give specific figures for 2026, but simply say that production will be less than two celestiqs per day.