2014 Hyundai Genesis Reviews

Chris Riley road tests and reviews the Subaru Forester XT with specs, fuel economy and verdict.

The Toyota Cressida is back, but it’s wearing a Hyundai badge. Hyundai has made a lot of progress over the past decade. As a present to itself, and to show the rest of the world what it was truly capable of, it built a luxury sedan to take on the likes of Lexus in North America.In much the same way as the original Lexus limousine aped the design of the Mercedes-Benzes of 21 years ago, the high-brow Hyundai also has hints of Mercedes-Benz. The trouble is Hyundai seems to have copied the old ones, not the new, shapelier ones. The grille on the big Genesis sedan even looks like it could have a German part number.But beyond the conservative styling is a symbol that shows how serious Hyundai is about, well, being taken seriously. Apparently the next generation sedan will adopt a sleeker appearance, but Hyundai Australia says it has not yet confirmed it for Australia.VALUEIn North America the Hyundai Genesis sedan starts at just $34,200 for a V6 model – that’s cheaper than a Holden Commodore. But the V8 we drove started at $46,200 – still cheaper (and bigger) than a Holden Calais.With these prices you can see why the Australian car industry is struggling under the weight of cheaper imports. But back to the Genesis sedan. If it were to go on sale in Australia it would likely cost between $50,000 and $60,000 because it would come with the works.This would put the Genesis up against the BMW 3 Series, Audi A4 and Mercedes-Benz C-Class – a tough sell, regardless of how much bigger and more powerful the Hyundai is.TECHNOLOGYThis should be Hyundai’s technology flagship but it’s getting a bit long in the tooth in North America and so it doesn’t have many gadgets. It doesn’t have lane-keeping, auto braking, blind spot warning – the lines on the navigation screen don’t even swivel as they do in other cars these days.Only the driver’s seat gets cooling as well as heating; other top notch cars give the front passenger the royal treatment as well. Alas, the Genesis sedan at least gets pretty nifty power window switches, unlike the Genesis coupe which gets rather ordinary ones. Next!DESIGNFive seats and a big boot. There’s plenty of room in here and the leather is not as plasticky as can be found in some Japanese limousines. The materials are of a higher quality finish than found in regular Hyundais, a good indicator that the company is capable of even better than what Australian buyers have seen so far.Visibility all around is good and most mod-cons are covered when it comes to air-conditioned comfort – the front can be split between the driver and the passenger, and the rear seat can set another temperature again. Talk about keeping the peace. Perhaps we should get world leaders to go for a ride in this.SAFETYAirbags galore and a good stability control set-up (necessary on such a big, wieldy, powerful car). As mentioned before, however, there’s nothing ground breaking here because it’s now so old. The next one promises to have more fruit.DRIVINGLet’s start with the good news. The 5.0-litre V8 engine is silky smooth, matched to a creamy eight-speed auto. With those gushing words, you get the idea. The engine and gearbox are good, which means I’m priming for the bad news about the rest of the car.The grip and the handling are fine – but you only realise that from the passenger seat, because the steering really is quite poor. It feels as though the steering wheel is connected to the front control arms via two ropes: one to go left and another to go right. That’s an exaggeration of course, but not much of one.If the brilliant Genesis coupe shows what Hyundai is capable of in the future, the Genesis sedan is a stark reminder of how bad it has been in the past. Remember the woeful reviews of the original Hyundai i45 sedan? That car feels a peach compared to the steering on this.Thankfully we know Hyundai is a fast learner; if we were to get the next generation Genesis sedan, it would be better than this. It has to be.Hyundai Genesis sedanFrom: $60,000 (estimated)Safety rating: five starsWarranty: five years/unlimited kmBody: five-seat sedanDimensions (L/WB/W/H): 4986/2936/1889/1476Weight: 1835 to 1884kgEngine: 5.0-litre V8 (320kW/510Nm)Transmission: eight-speed autoPerformance (0 to 100km/h):  5.3 seconds

The next generation Hyundai Genesis coupe is headed to Australia. Here’s what we’ve been missing out on.Hyundai has made headway with its Veloster coupe, proving it can design, engineer and build a fun front-drive car. On the other side of the world, in North America, Hyundai has shown its prowess in a sporty rear-drive coupe called the Genesis.We don’t get that model in Australia, but we are on track to get the next one due in about two years. In the meantime, we got acquainted to get an insight into what we can expect.ValueThe turbocharged four-cylinder coupe starts at $24,250 in the US, plus a bunch of taxes and delivery fees that bring the RRP closer to $30,000. The V6 version kicks off at $28,750, but with all the gear (including Brembo brakes and a premium sound system) and other charges the price nudges $40,000. That seems excellent value until you consider that, in the US, this sort of money buys a V6 Chevrolet Camaro or Ford Mustang.Hyundai Australia won’t reveal its target price is for the Genesis coupe due in 2015, but our guess is it needs to start between $32,000 for the Veloster Turbo and less than $40,000 for the top-line Toyota 86 and Subaru BRZ twins. If the currency remains strong, Hyundai Australia shouldn’t muck about with basic models, and only bring in the fully-loaded R-Spec versions with all the kit.TechnologyThere’s not much to write home about here other than the fact that Hyundai has joined the growing number of car makers extracting epic power and torque from turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder engines (204kW and 373Nm, if my imperial-to-metric conversions work, put it in the company of the Volkswagen Golf R and Renault Megane RS).The 3.8-litre V6 has a bit more grunt but it’s heavier and not as agile to drive as the four-cylinder. A rear camera and a built in navigation will likely be standard by the time this car arrives in Australian showrooms.AccommodationCar makers like to use the term “two-plus-two” when referring to coupes, because they’re too scared to come out and say it has seating for “four”. Do they think car buyers can’t add? But the Genesis coupe does have a little more room in the back seats than the current crop (Hyundai Veloster, Toyota 86 and Subaru BRZ). Hey, the Nissan 370Z gets nothing, it’s a two-seater only.So the Genesis could carry two people in the back row for a short distance. But let’s not kid ourselves, if you want to carry four adults everywhere and all the time you’re not going to buy this car.SafetySix airbags and a five-star (US) safety rating. It’s unlikely Hyundai would go backwards with the next model. Every Hyundai passenger car on sale in Australia today is five-star safety rated (only the iMax and iLoad vans are not). This may seem a bit of a stretch but I also classify good road holding and steering feel in the “safety” category, because if the car fundamentally has good grip and the driver feels that the car reacts well to his or her input, that’s got to be a good thing.DrivingNot one to shy away from controversy, I reckon the turbocharged four-cylinder is the pick, even if it is a fraction slower to the speed limit than the gruff V6. The four-cylinder is more engaging to drive, more agile and better balanced in tight corners. Oh, and it uses less fuel and is cheaper to buy. I should declare now that I am the only one of my colleagues with this view after driving these cars in the US last week. But I can’t help it if they’re all wrong.The V6 has a bit more grunt, but it sounds awful and needs to be wound out to really get you moving. The biggest revelation for me, though, was how well the Hyundai Genesis coupe handled corners with a genuine ease, and yet the suspension wasn’t back-breaking firm. The Brembo brakes felt superb.The only thing I can pick on is the interior quality. Although good, it would benefit from another step up in the finish of the materials and some of the touchy-feely stuff, like the power window switches which feel like they’re off a Fisher Price toy. But if all I’ve got left to pick on is the power window switches, then you’ve got a pretty good idea how good the rest of the car is.Hyundai Genesis CoupePrice: from $40,000 (estimated)Safety rating: Five starsWarranty: Five years/unlimited kmBody: Four-seat coupeDimensions: 4630mm (L) 1864 (w) 1384(h)Weight: 1525 to 1584kg (4 cyl), 1557 to 1638kg (V6)Engine: Turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol, 204kW/373Nm; 3.8-litre V6 260kW/400NmTransmission: 6-speed manual or 8-speed autoPerformance (0 to 100km/h):  7.2 seconds (4 cyl), 6.1 seconds (V6)