MT First Drive: Hyundai Genesis
#1
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MT First Drive: Hyundai Genesis
Luxury by Numbers: On paper, the Genesis all the luxury car you need
http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/...sis/index.html
Numbers. It's all about the numbers. Longer and wider, with a longer wheelbase and shorter turning radius than BMW 5 Series, Mercedes E-Class, and Lexus ES. Lower coefficient of drag, 0.27, and better fuel economy than most. A stiffer body than those of the Bimmer, Benz, and the Lexus LS 430 (Hyundai sees much of the Lexus range as its competition). Its optional Tau V-8 is "best-in-class," making more horses (375) than V-8s in the 550i, E550, GS 460, or Infiniti M45 and does 0-to-60 mph in well under six seconds. It's built in the world's largest auto factory, Hyundai's 1.62-million unit-per-year Ulsan plant.
7 Series size, 5 Series performance, 3 Series price, Hyundai says.
Hyundai's first indigenous rear-drive sedan and in-house-developed V-8 comes 41 years after the company began assembling knock-down Ford Cortinas, 34 years after it built its own first car, 17 years after it began building its own engine design. And at least four years before Ford can return to the rear-drive sedan business in North America. Impressive, by those numbers.
Words paint a different picture, however. When Hyundai confirmed it was working on a rear-drive sedan a couple years ago, the motoring press leapt to the words "sport sedan." Hyundai subsequently toned down the hyperbole, saying the Genesis (developed under codename "BH") would offer Infiniti/Lexus-like luxury and performance at a typically cut-rate Hyundai price.
The Genesis is no sport sedan. It is luxurious, yes, and the V-8 is strong. Heck, the base 290-horsepower, 3.8-liter V-6 is really good in this car, and it's coupled, as is the Tau V-8, to a ZF six-speed automatic transmission that ticks off smooth up- and downshifts. It also provides better balance, 52/48 front/rear versus 54/46 for the V-8, an engine that makes good, if overly muffled, sounds under full throttle.
A limited first drive at the Namyang Research & Development Center revealed Hyundai hasn't strayed from its cushy car roots. You may have read about the Korean journalists who criticized the car as too soft when it launched in its home market last January. Hyundai's American engineering team, led by ex-GM guy Wendell Collins Jr., reworked the sedan's multilink front and rear suspension for our market, with stiffer springs, shocks, and damping. It's worked, to the extent that extracting cushiness out of a suspension inherently designed for comfort can work. It's no 1960s American floatmobile, having been stiffened up about as much as possible without sending the ride/handling equation off-kilter. Damping is especially good, reminiscent of a Honda Accord's.
On Namyang's tight handling course, the Genesis's suspension handles transitions reasonably well. Push it hard, though, and the front tires scrub into the pavement. It's not the kind of treatment you expect a large luxury sedan to take, but you do expect to try it on a sport sedan. The car is biased considerably toward understeer, and there's no steering with the throttle, electronic stability control on or off. As with most any Lexus or Mercedes, you can't turn ESP off completely.
The speed-sensitive rack-and-pinion steering is a bit numb and on the light side, offering less feedback than an Infiniti M35 provided for comparison, and requiring small corrections on the banks of Namyang's high-speed oval. The Genesis V-6 tops out at a tire-limited 130 mph on the oval, and the V-8 will do an autobahn-friendly 155. Germany's autobahn will not be the Genesis's natural habitat, however. While smaller Hyundais and Kias have successfully attacked European rivals on their turf, Hyundai says it won't export the Genesis to Western Europe as long as Lexus flounders there. The Genesis will be available in North America and much of Asia, Africa, and Russia.
It'll be a hit with drivers who value maximum comfort and a modicum of prestige over handling dynamics. The Genesis is nicely trimmed, with the right amount of chrome and a two-tone interior featuring a leather-wrapped dash (which serves to minimize the unconvincing fake wood appliques), door panels, console lid, and seats. Its long list of features includes high-fidelity Lexicon Logic 7 audio (only the second car with that brand, after the Rolls-Royce Phantom) and a navigation system with backup camera. You control the HD radio, navigation, climate, and iPod with the Driver Information System, which looks like BMW's iDrive button. Fortunately, it works much better, with controls duplicated elsewhere on the dash.
Fit and finish is generally good, with consistent stitching for the leather dash along the panel breaks. Hyundai didn't sweat the details, though, because elsewhere they're less impressive. The hood gap is a bit too wide. The Genesis has plastic-finished gooseneck hinges (not bad, but they're not gas-filled shocks) and parcel shelf speaker and subwoofer bottoms of that high-end Lexicon system are left exposed. A $21k Chevy Malibu's trunk is finished better.
Hyundai has big plans for its rear-drive platform, including the upcoming BK sport coupe. And it has big plans for its somewhat ill-timed V-8. Dong-Jin Kim, Hyundai's vice chairman and CEO, says 4.6 liters is the small end; the engine can be bored and stroked up to 5.5 liters, which will serve nicely in the not-for-U.S. long-wheelbase Genesis, eight inches longer than the standard sedan and two inches longer than the front-drive Equus V-8 it replaces. The 4.6 will get gas direct-injection in a couple of years, pushing horsepower past 400, Kim says. Hyundai would have to raise the BK coupe's hood to fit the Tau, "and why would we?" he asks. The BK V-6 "leaves a lot of room for the tuning guys."
Finally, Hyundai has added the Chrysler 300C and Pontiac G8 GT to the Genesis V-8's competitive set. This makes infinitely more sense than comparing the car with Mercedes and Lexus-the American cars are scratching and clawing for respect in their own country, where German icons and Japanese perfectionists rule the big luxury-car segment. The Hyundai Genesis will do well in a new, little sub-segment heretofore to be called "value-priced luxury cars." Next to the Yank tanks, though, its bigger numbers don't feel big enough to propel the car past your expectations of the Hyundai brand.
7 Series size, 5 Series performance, 3 Series price, Hyundai says.
Hyundai's first indigenous rear-drive sedan and in-house-developed V-8 comes 41 years after the company began assembling knock-down Ford Cortinas, 34 years after it built its own first car, 17 years after it began building its own engine design. And at least four years before Ford can return to the rear-drive sedan business in North America. Impressive, by those numbers.
Words paint a different picture, however. When Hyundai confirmed it was working on a rear-drive sedan a couple years ago, the motoring press leapt to the words "sport sedan." Hyundai subsequently toned down the hyperbole, saying the Genesis (developed under codename "BH") would offer Infiniti/Lexus-like luxury and performance at a typically cut-rate Hyundai price.
The Genesis is no sport sedan. It is luxurious, yes, and the V-8 is strong. Heck, the base 290-horsepower, 3.8-liter V-6 is really good in this car, and it's coupled, as is the Tau V-8, to a ZF six-speed automatic transmission that ticks off smooth up- and downshifts. It also provides better balance, 52/48 front/rear versus 54/46 for the V-8, an engine that makes good, if overly muffled, sounds under full throttle.
A limited first drive at the Namyang Research & Development Center revealed Hyundai hasn't strayed from its cushy car roots. You may have read about the Korean journalists who criticized the car as too soft when it launched in its home market last January. Hyundai's American engineering team, led by ex-GM guy Wendell Collins Jr., reworked the sedan's multilink front and rear suspension for our market, with stiffer springs, shocks, and damping. It's worked, to the extent that extracting cushiness out of a suspension inherently designed for comfort can work. It's no 1960s American floatmobile, having been stiffened up about as much as possible without sending the ride/handling equation off-kilter. Damping is especially good, reminiscent of a Honda Accord's.
On Namyang's tight handling course, the Genesis's suspension handles transitions reasonably well. Push it hard, though, and the front tires scrub into the pavement. It's not the kind of treatment you expect a large luxury sedan to take, but you do expect to try it on a sport sedan. The car is biased considerably toward understeer, and there's no steering with the throttle, electronic stability control on or off. As with most any Lexus or Mercedes, you can't turn ESP off completely.
The speed-sensitive rack-and-pinion steering is a bit numb and on the light side, offering less feedback than an Infiniti M35 provided for comparison, and requiring small corrections on the banks of Namyang's high-speed oval. The Genesis V-6 tops out at a tire-limited 130 mph on the oval, and the V-8 will do an autobahn-friendly 155. Germany's autobahn will not be the Genesis's natural habitat, however. While smaller Hyundais and Kias have successfully attacked European rivals on their turf, Hyundai says it won't export the Genesis to Western Europe as long as Lexus flounders there. The Genesis will be available in North America and much of Asia, Africa, and Russia.
It'll be a hit with drivers who value maximum comfort and a modicum of prestige over handling dynamics. The Genesis is nicely trimmed, with the right amount of chrome and a two-tone interior featuring a leather-wrapped dash (which serves to minimize the unconvincing fake wood appliques), door panels, console lid, and seats. Its long list of features includes high-fidelity Lexicon Logic 7 audio (only the second car with that brand, after the Rolls-Royce Phantom) and a navigation system with backup camera. You control the HD radio, navigation, climate, and iPod with the Driver Information System, which looks like BMW's iDrive button. Fortunately, it works much better, with controls duplicated elsewhere on the dash.
Fit and finish is generally good, with consistent stitching for the leather dash along the panel breaks. Hyundai didn't sweat the details, though, because elsewhere they're less impressive. The hood gap is a bit too wide. The Genesis has plastic-finished gooseneck hinges (not bad, but they're not gas-filled shocks) and parcel shelf speaker and subwoofer bottoms of that high-end Lexicon system are left exposed. A $21k Chevy Malibu's trunk is finished better.
Hyundai has big plans for its rear-drive platform, including the upcoming BK sport coupe. And it has big plans for its somewhat ill-timed V-8. Dong-Jin Kim, Hyundai's vice chairman and CEO, says 4.6 liters is the small end; the engine can be bored and stroked up to 5.5 liters, which will serve nicely in the not-for-U.S. long-wheelbase Genesis, eight inches longer than the standard sedan and two inches longer than the front-drive Equus V-8 it replaces. The 4.6 will get gas direct-injection in a couple of years, pushing horsepower past 400, Kim says. Hyundai would have to raise the BK coupe's hood to fit the Tau, "and why would we?" he asks. The BK V-6 "leaves a lot of room for the tuning guys."
Finally, Hyundai has added the Chrysler 300C and Pontiac G8 GT to the Genesis V-8's competitive set. This makes infinitely more sense than comparing the car with Mercedes and Lexus-the American cars are scratching and clawing for respect in their own country, where German icons and Japanese perfectionists rule the big luxury-car segment. The Hyundai Genesis will do well in a new, little sub-segment heretofore to be called "value-priced luxury cars." Next to the Yank tanks, though, its bigger numbers don't feel big enough to propel the car past your expectations of the Hyundai brand.
Last edited by GFerg; 05-23-08 at 09:15 PM.
#3
Lexus Fanatic
You may have read about the Korean journalists who criticized the car as too soft when it launched in its home market last January. Hyundai's American engineering team, led by ex-GM guy Wendell Collins Jr., reworked the sedan's multilink front and rear suspension for our market, with stiffer springs, shocks, and damping.
#6
Lexus Fanatic
You're missing the forest for the trees. Firm suspensions and tires are more suited to those who want sports sedans, not ride comfort. People who buy Hyundais are usually not looking for sport-sedan performance.....that is not Hyundai's forte. One of the reasons Hyundai has done as well as it has lately (alone with better quality and a onger warranty) is the fact that its suspensions don't beat you up on rough roads like some other cars do. A lot of people want that.....it's NOT just a 90's thing.
#7
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I agree with mmarshall. I would want a soft ride if i buy a sedan.
Thumbs up for the car, but it'd be nice if they just made a luxury brand name like Toyota-Lexus, Nissan-Infiniti. Hyundai-?
Thumbs up for the car, but it'd be nice if they just made a luxury brand name like Toyota-Lexus, Nissan-Infiniti. Hyundai-?
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#8
Lexus Fanatic
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I know that I still seem like the only skeptic of this car, but I have to say that I am still not completely impressed.
As I have noted all along, the shape and details of this car leave so much to be desired at this price point. It looks terribly, painstakingly bland and cheap from the outside. The Mazda 3 and other economy cars manage to be significantly better looking.
Also, as for this first drive, it sounds like great competition for the Avalon and Taurus. More positioned towards comfort than sport, big interior, and nice features.
I really feel like this is Hyundai's answer to the G8 and Avalon (probably splitting the difference between the two), more than a real competitor to the GS, 5, and E.
Lacks the visual punch and driving character, IMO.
As I have noted all along, the shape and details of this car leave so much to be desired at this price point. It looks terribly, painstakingly bland and cheap from the outside. The Mazda 3 and other economy cars manage to be significantly better looking.
Also, as for this first drive, it sounds like great competition for the Avalon and Taurus. More positioned towards comfort than sport, big interior, and nice features.
I really feel like this is Hyundai's answer to the G8 and Avalon (probably splitting the difference between the two), more than a real competitor to the GS, 5, and E.
Lacks the visual punch and driving character, IMO.
#10
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What the exec says kind of sums it up, 7 size, 5 performance, 3 price. He also could say S class size, E class performance, C class price or LS size, GS performance, ES/IS price.
If the price is 26k-36k, my prediction, the entire field of entry level cars will feel a pinch, more so non-luxuy brands in that price range (Maxima/Avalon etc) and Saab/Infinit/Acura etc.
This car makes the new TSX look absolutely pathetic.
#11
Lexus Fanatic
iTrader: (3)
No matter how good the car is, the entry level luxury class is dominated by tight suspensions, responsive handling, an entertaining character. I have a hard time seeing anyone cross shop a 3, IS, C, TL, G35, A4, or CTS with this thing based on size and driving demeanor. They're totally different types of cars.
Where I think this car will do well is the Avalon, 500, ES 350, LaCrosse, Lucerne , and DTS class. Smooth ride, soft handling, and powerful engines is the exact combination that these shoppers want. While these shoppers are thought to be the last of a dying breed, maybe Hyundai can breathe some new life into the segment.
That said, Buick, Lexus, and Toyota buyers tend to be a pretty loyal bunch and I really can't see too many ES350 owners leaving Lexus to buy and service a car along side Accents and Elantras.
It will be interesting to see how it fares, but I don't think it's going to set the market on it's ear like many of you are predicting. The car doesn't do or offer anything tremendously great, even at this price, and we will see how many V8s they sell in times like these.
#14
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I'm going to have to disagree with you here. The best shot this car has is the ES 350 and Buick LaCrosse.
No matter how good the car is, the entry level luxury class is dominated by tight suspensions, responsive handling, an entertaining character. I have a hard time seeing anyone cross shop a 3, IS, C, TL, G35, A4, or CTS with this thing based on size and driving demeanor. They're totally different types of cars.
Where I think this car will do well is the Avalon, 500, ES 350, LaCrosse, Lucerne , and DTS class. Smooth ride, soft handling, and powerful engines is the exact combination that these shoppers want. While these shoppers are thought to be the last of a dying breed, maybe Hyundai can breathe some new life into the segment.
That said, Buick, Lexus, and Toyota buyers tend to be a pretty loyal bunch and I really can't see too many ES350 owners leaving Lexus to buy and service a car along side Accents and Elantras.
It will be interesting to see how it fares, but I don't think it's going to set the market on it's ear like many of you are predicting. The car doesn't do or offer anything tremendously great, even at this price, and we will see how many V8s they sell in times like these.
No matter how good the car is, the entry level luxury class is dominated by tight suspensions, responsive handling, an entertaining character. I have a hard time seeing anyone cross shop a 3, IS, C, TL, G35, A4, or CTS with this thing based on size and driving demeanor. They're totally different types of cars.
Where I think this car will do well is the Avalon, 500, ES 350, LaCrosse, Lucerne , and DTS class. Smooth ride, soft handling, and powerful engines is the exact combination that these shoppers want. While these shoppers are thought to be the last of a dying breed, maybe Hyundai can breathe some new life into the segment.
That said, Buick, Lexus, and Toyota buyers tend to be a pretty loyal bunch and I really can't see too many ES350 owners leaving Lexus to buy and service a car along side Accents and Elantras.
It will be interesting to see how it fares, but I don't think it's going to set the market on it's ear like many of you are predicting. The car doesn't do or offer anything tremendously great, even at this price, and we will see how many V8s they sell in times like these.
In my posts before I have stated that the most respected/revered luxury brands, BMW/Benz/Lexus in America will feel less of a pinch, simply b/c people buy these cars on name value alone.
Anything else, well people will be more enticed to cross shop. While a lot of those cars mentioned are what WE might like, many people get stock ones, no sport suspension and don't drive hard at all. They just want a "nicer" car than a Camry/Accord etc.
I will say seeing it in person, I was underwhelmed. The pics make it seem more dynamic. In person, it was pretty bland. Bland sells though.
In this soft economy, people are going to look for value more and more. This offers it in spades.
#15
Lexus Fanatic
iTrader: (3)
In my posts before I have stated that the most respected/revered luxury brands, BMW/Benz/Lexus in America will feel less of a pinch, simply b/c people buy these cars on name value alone.
Anything else, well people will be more enticed to cross shop. While a lot of those cars mentioned are what WE might like, many people get stock ones, no sport suspension and don't drive hard at all. They just want a "nicer" car than a Camry/Accord etc.
I will say seeing it in person, I was underwhelmed. The pics make it seem more dynamic. In person, it was pretty bland. Bland sells though.
In this soft economy, people are going to look for value more and more. This offers it in spades.
Anything else, well people will be more enticed to cross shop. While a lot of those cars mentioned are what WE might like, many people get stock ones, no sport suspension and don't drive hard at all. They just want a "nicer" car than a Camry/Accord etc.
I will say seeing it in person, I was underwhelmed. The pics make it seem more dynamic. In person, it was pretty bland. Bland sells though.
In this soft economy, people are going to look for value more and more. This offers it in spades.