Test Drove a V6 Hyundai Genesis

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25 April 2005
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Western PA
Wow, they sure have come a long way! About 8 years ago I sat in a new Hyundai and it smelled like curing superglue. I hope they sell well since it is obvious they are really trying to improve and offer consumers cool stuff for less $.

This was the fully-loaded V6 with the Tech package. It had a lot of technology and features for a sticker price of less than $40k (with a 10yr/100k mile warranty too). Too many nice features to list (but found on much more expensive vehicles of course).

Power/Ride:
The V6 had plenty of acceleration with decent EPA figures and was by far the quietest vehicle I have ever ridden in. That's probably not a good comparison, since I took a big-block convertible with sidepipes over for the test drive. My 4 year old daughter and I were yelling on the drive back home just to hear each other :smile: Steering and ride felt pretty good for a big cruiser.

Interior:
The interior was well laid out and all materials and buttons were of nice quality. Fit and finish was excellent considering the sub $40k price. The Lexicon stereo system (the DVD package Lexicon is slightly nicer than the base Lexicon) sounded pretty good.

Exterior:
I also really liked the exterior styling, it looks even better than in the pictures and reminds me of a direct LS460 knockoff. They've gone to great lengths to reduce wind noise (it has a Cd of 0.27 or something low like that). While looking underneath, it also has a true dual exhaust!

To top it off, the salespeople were relaxed and didn't even ask for my name. I'll go back to test drive the V8 when it hopefully arrives the end of this year, but would most likely purchase the V6.

Awesome vehicle... I'm pushing my wife to trade in our '05 Sienna minivan for this. The Hyundai would be sooo much nicer to take long trips in than our minivan, and the Sienna is widely known as the best minivan cruiser out there (not as sporty as the Odyssey, but how sporty can you be in a minivan :rolleyes:). Now that our daughters have gotten rid of the big strollers and diaper bags, etc., we can downsize a bit. That, and our friends gave us too much crap for having a minivan when we were less than 30 years old.

I just wish it had the birds-eye navigation like Infiniti.
 
I agree with you, Hyundai has definitely come a long way since they started selling cars in NA. For the price, it seems like a great car, good bang for your buck.
 
I agree... I really hope this car sells well. I think they are making a great effort to improve their image and brand and the Genesis is going to beat that point home.

Honestly, buying a Lexus LS anymore just seems pointless. 30k extra for what? The badge?

I can't wait for the Coupe!
 
What a coincidence, I just got my copy of motor trend yesterday, and they had an article about the Genesis. Seems the Hyundai is doing what Lexus did with the intro of the LS. Hyundai recognizes that they probably only have one chance to make their luxury vehicle a success. If they drop the ball on this one, I doubt customers will try the luxury Hyundai again.

It seems that for performance they were going after the 300C and BMW 5, and for interior comfort, the LS. The V8 genesis is quicker than the 300C, and the interior looks very luxurious. The V6 should be the more popular one, especially with the price of gas now.
 
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