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GM has decided it won’t just build electric cars; it’s intent on rewriting the entire electric playbook. And it’s not doing it from the obscure corners of its portfolio, but with its workhorse Chevrolet brand and Cadillac, the division that has long been GM’s spearhead for prestige and technological daring.
The company’s moves don’t merely signal a shift; they announce, in neon, that Detroit’s largest automaker wants to dictate how the electric age will actually be lived, not just theorized.
That ambition shows up most vividly in the lives of owners, people putting rubber to the interstate and learning, in real time, what works.
“I purchased my Cadillac Optiq Sport 2 back in March of 2025. I have done some things to it, I have put almost 7,000 miles on it, and I wanted to write a review outlining everything. This could get long, so here is a summary:
Quick Summary (for the skimmers):
Window tint helps, but don’t expect it to make summer heat vanish.
Dashcam setup works, but not thrilled with the video quality.
Tesla chargers = reliable & cheap, but not many amenities.
EVGO = hit or miss.
Super Cruise = game changer for long drives.
Google Maps battery estimates = don’t always trust them, leave a buffer!
The long Version:
Window Tint
The first thing I did was add high-quality window tint to the vehicle. I went with 35% darkness and did the 98% UV resistance. It has made a difference, however don’t think it’s going to stop all of the heat. The car still gets hot in the summer, but the tint really does help. I did it for the heat resistance, not the looks; however, it doesn’t look too bad.
Dashcam
The Dashcam. This was a multi-week investigation and trial-and-error experiment. I originally wanted to use a simple “add-a-fuse” or fuse tap; however, someone on the forums mentioned it would void my warranty. Being skeptical like I am, I went to the actual dealer and asked myself. That was the day I learned that a fuse tap COULD void your warranty. So with that out of the picture, I asked them how much it would cost to install a dash cam. They told me they will not and cannot do it. They said there is no approved GM dash cam for the Optiq, and there is no power to tap into. They flat-out refused to install the dash cam.
So I noodled over it for a bit and came up with a solution. I purchased the Blackvue 970DX camera with the additional battery pack. The battery pack allows the camera to record while the car is off without draining the battery. The battery charges when the vehicle is on, and that worked for me. The challenge, wiring. What I did (without voiding any warranties) was run the dash cam cable along the ceiling, down the right pillar, down into the door plate, through the door plate, and under the passenger seat. Then, I hooked that to the battery, which is under the passenger seat. The battery is then powered by running a 12V cable up the center console and inside, where it simply plugs in. This gives everything power and keeps all warranties intact. It looks good because no wires are showing.
The only thing I can say about this setup is, I am not thrilled with the actual camera. It doesn’t have as good a picture as I would like, and the crash response images upload in very low quality, so you will never be able to see a license plate. That is my only concern with this setup.
Long Trips
I have taken the car on multiple long trips already. I have gone from Dayton, OH, to Philly and back. I just went from Dayton, OH, to Austin, Texas as well. On the way back from Austin, I stopped in Nashville for a night and then returned to Dayton.
I found the Tesla charges to be the cheapest and most reliable; however, most of them had no trash cans or services near them. The GM/EVGO charges I came across were hit or miss if they worked. Overall, I opted for the Tesla chargers whenever I could. I was driving it like an ICE vehicle (internal combustion), so I was averaging around 79 mph.
Chargers
As mentioned above, the Tesla chargers seemed to be more reliable and always cheaper; however, they often had no facilities (not even a trash can). Pro Tip: If you want to use Tesla chargers with Google Navigation, you just need to map out the trip normally and then go through the list on the left of the stops. If you touch on a charging stop, it will give you the choice to change it, and it will list other chargers in the area, even the Tesla chargers.
A Better Route Planner (ABRP)
I read a lot of reviews where people say it’s best to use ABRP for longer trips. I started my trip off using ABRP with all Tesla stops set in it. After the first charging stop, a box popped up saying ABRP has been using too much energy and has been disabled (or something like that). So, I had to put my trip into Google Maps again. I won’t bore you with the details, but I tried enabling the app and using it (I even paid for the subscription), and it simply couldn’t get me there. So for the future, I will be using Google Maps and just replacing the charging stops manually.
Super Cruise | Cruise Control
Throughout my life, I have driven across this country countless times. I have done it in cars, trucks, and even motorcycles. The Cadillac is pretty comfy, but what really made the trip work was the Super Cruise. I never in my life would have thought I would trust my vehicle enough to take my hands off the wheel, but with Super Cruise, I don’t have a concern at all. It really helped my back out since I didn’t need to have my arm on the door or my hands holding the wheel. I could find a position that really worked for me. I drove 14 hours a day on my last trip, and it was no issue at all in this car.
Google Maps and Estimations
During my trip, I was keeping an eye on how much battery Google thought I had left and how much the car said I had left. It led to some tense moments for sure. Google was showing I had something like 17% battery left, where the car already had me in limp mode. The car was below 10% and was not happy. So, lesson learned, the integrated Google Maps is not 100% accurate, and you always need a buffer
I hope some of this was helpful to some of you. These are just my experiences and my opinions; your experiences may vary.”
Strip away the corporate theater and you get the heart of GM’s EV shift, owner-driven learning curves, and real solutions. Fosbenner’s tint isn’t a cosmetic flex; it’s thermal triage. The dashcam episode reads like a garage-night epic: dealer caution about fuse taps and warranties, a polite refusal to hardwire, and an elegant workaround using a Blackvue unit, an auxiliary battery, and tidy cable routing that leaves no wires visible and no warranties in jeopardy. It’s the sort of methodical, common-sense engineering that defined an earlier American car culture, translated to electrons and CAN buses.
Cadillac Optiq Dual Motor System
- The Optiq is powered by a dual-motor all-wheel-drive system that produces a combined 300 hp and 354 lb-ft of torque, delivering a 0-60 mph time of 5.7 seconds.
- Equipped with an 85-kWh battery, the Optiq offers an EPA-estimated range of 302 miles and can add up to 79 miles of range in about 10 minutes with 150 kW DC fast charging.
- The cabin is a showcase of modern luxury, featuring a stunning 33-inch curved LED display, a 19-speaker AKG audio system, and premium materials throughout.
- With a longer wheelbase than many of its competitors, the Optiq provides a spacious and comfortable environment for up to five passengers, with ample legroom and headroom.
Charging is where the rubber meets the mainframe. Tesla sites, reliable and cheaper, if spartan, won Fosbenner’s business on the road; the GM/EVgo stops he encountered were, in his words, “hit or miss.” The community added signal to the noise. Shawn Moseley noted you can force the infotainment to prioritize Tesla locations by tweaking payment options; Fosbenner replied he’d tried it and still got routed to EVgo, promising to give it another go.
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Meanwhile, his own “pro tip” is pure road-warrior pragmatism: plan in Google Maps, then manually swap charging stops from the left-hand list to the sites you trust. This is the new horsepower, UI logic, roaming agreements, and a driver who knows how to bend software to will.
Cadillac Super Cruise Review
Super Cruise deserves its own brass band. Fourteen-hour days used to be feats of posture and willpower; now they’re exercises in lane lines and lidar. Fosbenner’s comfort with hands-off cruising isn’t a stunt; it’s the point: driver-assist that reduces fatigue without drama. That’s a Cadillac move through and through, luxury rendered as less effort, arriving in the EV era as a quietly transformative tool rather than techno theater.
Even the navigation subplot reads like field intel from the front. A Better Routeplanner bowed out mid-trip; Google’s integrated estimates ran optimistic, showing 17 percent remaining while the car was already in limp mode under 10, lesson learned, leave a buffer. And in the comment bleachers, you catch the zeitgeist: Peter Fadden’s wry “ICE” clarification exchange with Fosbenner signals a mainstream moment, acronyms once mumbled at Cars & Coffee now require footnotes for the newly electric-curious.
Cadillac Optiq Cargo Space And More
- The Optiq offers 26 cubic feet of cargo space behind the rear seats and 57 cubic feet with the seats folded down, providing plenty of room for luggage and gear.
- The Optiq delivers a smooth, quiet, and refined ride, with a focus on comfort and effortless cruising, making it an ideal daily driver and long-distance tourer.
- The Optiq is packed with cutting-edge technology, including Google Built-in for seamless connectivity and a comprehensive suite of advanced driver-assistance systems.
- As Cadillac’s entry-level luxury electric SUV, the Optiq is poised to attract a new generation of buyers to the brand, offering a compelling blend of style, technology, and performance.
Pull back and the pattern comes into focus. GM’s rewrite isn’t about dunking on rivals or exalting spec sheets, it’s about making EVs feel normal at Chevrolet and aspirational at Cadillac, then letting real owners push the ecosystem forward. Robert Benoit’s understated verdict, “Looks like you had no issues with the vehicle”, lands like a J.D. Power trophy precisely because it’s unvarnished. Rafael Capone’s “Thank you .. great info” is the chorus of early adopters turning experience into shared knowledge, exactly the feedback loop GM needs.
And that’s the story worth telling. Chevrolet lays the groundwork, Cadillac elevates the experience, and owners like Thomas Fosbenner supply the crucible, 7,000 miles, a 1,200-mile Texas run, and 14-hour stints that transform marketing claims into muscle memory.
No grandstanding, no insults, no culture war, just a major American automaker engineering the mundane miracles that make an electric life workable. One Optiq at a time, with a community riding shotgun, GM is writing the EV playbook where it matters most, out on the road.
Image Sources: Cadillac Media Center
Noah Washington is an automotive journalist based in Atlanta, Georgia. He enjoys covering the latest news in the automotive industry and conducting reviews on the latest cars. He has been in the automotive industry since 15 years old and has been featured in prominent automotive news sites. You can reach him on X and LinkedIn for tips and to follow his automotive coverage.
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Source: torquenews.com
