2015 Hyundai Genesis drive review

What Is It?

The 2015 Hyundai Genesis, the automaker's latest entry in the mid- to full-luxury class, is rolling off assembly lines and onto ships as you read this. It'll be in showrooms by the end of the month. The new, second-generation Genesis sedan is Hyundai's second (or third if you count the Equus) big step into serious luxury -- or mid-luxury, depending on how you want to slice up market segments -- the first being the original Genesis sedan, launched into our market in 2009.

The Genesis sedan's niche is currently ruled by the BMW 5-series, Lexus GS, Cadillac CTS and Mercedes-Benz E-class. The new car has just about everything those competitors offer, including a thorough connectivity package, thumpin' good sound system, a suite of safety and convenience features that'll keep the car between the lines and away from fixed objects, luxo-interior, swoopy exterior, and a choice of adequately powerful powertrains. All for, as they say, thousands less!

Hyundai is hoping its price point will be its strong suit. The first Genesis sedan was launched as the recession was imploding all around us, offering luxury for less right when buyers needed to spend much less. This car arrives into a market where luxury buyers still reeling from the recession are becoming more “frugal” in their purchases, Hyundai says. So for a starting price of $38,950, Hyundai thinks a lot of newly frugal purchasers will chose this over a GS at $48,000, Q70 at $50,000, BMW 535 at $55,000 or a Mercedes E350 at $53,000.

We'll see. A Cadillac CTS starts at about $40K, for reference, while the V8-powered Genesis with the Ultimate package stickers for $55,700.

The view Hyundai hopes competitors will see.

What's It Like To Drive?

We'd already driven a couple early Genesis prototypes in Korea and pretty much liked those. This was our second chance behind the wheel, this time in very late prototypes that were representative of the production cars being cranked out right now.

Our first drive this time was in a 311-hp 3.8-liter V6 with all-wheel drive. Like the Jaguar F-Type, which also comes in V6 and V8 variants, you may not find yourself longing for more power if you get the V6, and you'll get the same chassis and exterior as the V8. In a somewhat unscientific test launch, we got a 6.9-second 0-60 but that was with three guys in it and going just a little downhill maybe. In the other direction it was 7.4 seconds. So that averages out to 7.25, even though, as we said, it was hardly scientific. Now that is not sport sedan territory, and when we earlier drove both a Genesis and a BMW 5-series back to back in Korea, we liked the BMW. But the Bimmer, like all the competition, costs a lot more. And if you want a quicker time you can always buy the V8. (No, we didn't launch test the V8. By the time we got into one, our Racelogic box was on the fritz, claiming it was looking for satellites. It never found them.)

The V8 has 420 hp, or about a third more than the V6, so its 0-60 time might get into the fives. Hyundai isn't saying how quick it'll go so we'll officially guess the high fives. The V6 offers rear- or all wheel-drive configurations, the V8 model will start out as a RWD-only setup, with AWD to come at some unspecified future date. Apart from a couple swift launches and a few highway-speed passes, we didn't really get a chance to summon the full power of the no-doubt mighty eight. We assume it was something more than adequate. But again, you might be perfectly content with a V6. Drive 'em both and decide.

Likewise, we were unable to really sample the handling of either model of Genesis on this outing. Our drive took place in picturesque East Phoenix, the roads of which are both pretty straight most of the time and obsessively and excessively patrolled by seemingly every law enforcement agency in local, federal and Native American jurisdictions that could muster a car with a light on top. During our earlier drive of a prototype on the Namyang Proving Grounds in Korea, we felt the Genesis sedan lean a bit more than a true sports sedan should have leaned when we really pushed it on the handling course. It's possible they worked those kinks out in the months between our first prototype drive and this very late prototype cruise. Hyundai says the suspension was tuned on the N

By Mark Vaughn