The NYTimes finally gets around to reviewing the Genesis (R-Spec)

The stability control system always lurks in the background, ready to curtail shenanigans even when it is ostensibly deactivated. If the 5.0 R-Spec were a person, it would be an Olympic power lifter who enjoys building ships in bottles and making requests to “Love Songs With Delilah.”

But back to the engine. The 5-liter V-8 reaches its horsepower peak at 6,400 r.p.m., and the torque peaks at 5,000 r.p.m. From those numbers you can infer that this engine likes to rev, and that’s definitely the case.

With a new 8-speed automatic transmission putting down the power, the Genesis genteelly rips its way up through the tightly spaced lower gears. Hyundai claims a 0-to-60 time of 5.1 seconds, and I’d guess this car is actually a little bit quicker than that. In a drag race, you’d hold your own with some pretty serious machinery.

With a big honking horsepower increase but few of the usual boy-racer accoutrements, the Genesis 5.0 R-Spec is an odd beast: a seriously fast car that keeps a low profile and doesn’t beat you up with booming exhaust, rock-hard seats and track-biased suspension tuning.

The R-Spec’s softly bolstered driver’s seat is heated, cooled and swathed in pliant leather. The dash, too, is covered in leather. The Lexicon 17-speaker sound system is, in my opinion, one of the best factory-installed units you can buy at any price.

If not the perfect car for a lap around the Nürburgring, this is the car you’d want to drive to the Nürburgring, from Munich or some distant hamlet.

In the revised Genesis lineup, the 5.0 R-Spec is Phil Collins. It’s the star. And at its price point, it seems poised to beat up on the competing luxury brands.

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Aquineas said:

Wait, the car they show in the picture does not have R-Spec wheels, but has the R-Spec badging? To say nothing of the fact that it's in white, a color that the R-Spec doesn't come in...

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BacktoHyundaibychoice said:

That may be the first positive review of the Gen (or Horse) I've seen in the NYT.
Thx.

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