so i have a review...of a G70 loaner car over the weekend. i had my G70 6MT Sport in for its 2nd 'free' Genesis service.
while in for service, they gave me a 2021 2.0T Elite for the day in grey on black. in CAD, this is the 2nd most expensive 2.0T trim. after my day in it, i do not understand the trim packaging. i was also very surprised how different of an impression the car made overall.
observations compared to my 6MT Sport trim - remember, the CAD 6MT trim differs from the US 6MT which doesn't have the Sport appearance package or other CAD spec bits:
Positives:
- the Elite gets additional safety gadgets. this must be the primary reason someone would bay $4k over the base 2.0T.
- the Elite has Navi which worked well
- Elite has ventilated seats. this is by far the highlight of what the Elite offered over the 6MT Sport. i want, but can't have. booo
- in a weird way i feel the 2.0T and boost programming are better suited to the 8AT. while i did not like the 8AT, the Elite car seemed to drive smoothly and engine/tranny were well matched. the 6MT can be a bit too 'surgey' since the throttle control is so different
- strong feeling acceleration (but nothing too wild)
- it had HTRAC would be handy in slippery conditions
Negatives:
- no HUD
- no performance gauge screen
- weak-sauce silver 18"
rims
- low-grip A/S tires
- base brakes were OK, but nowhere near the bite of the euro compound Brembo combo
- lame
exhaust note compared to 6MT's sport
exhaust - i had no idea how much of a difference it would be
- the engine sound inside the cabin was very different than in my car, which is still a 2.0T
- much more pronounced "enhancement" with the piped in noise. when i got the car it was on the highest/most enhanced setting. it was VERY obvious and off-putting and set off my dislike of the Elite trim. with the 6MT, the most enhanced setting is very tame since the
exhaust sounds better to start with.
- no extending thigh support
- no auto-side bolster when Sport mode engaged
- the elite leather did not feel like leather. even my car-guy buddy mentioned the same thing. there is a vast difference between the Sport Nappa and the Elite leathers
- the x-stitched interior of the Sport has so much more character than the subtle Elite pattern
- door cards were boring, no visible stitching
- light grey roof liner was much cheaper looking than the black microfibre (or whatever it's called) in the Sport
- not a fan of the bright chrome exterior trim compared to Sport chrome
- i do not like the centre console of the 8AT - far too much flat plastic, especially beside the driver's right leg. the 6MT has a handbrake which creates a deep recess in the console so that there is no wall of plastic beside your right leg. also, the leather 6MT shift boot takes up the real estate of the Elite's black plastic trim
- i do not dig the electronic park brake. it's finicky and not very sport-oriented. using the parking brake has been a useful tool in the past in slippery conditions and having manual control of it is far more confidence inspiring than leaving everything traction-related to the electronics
- not a fan of the auto start/stop - i shut that off each time i got in, which is easy enough to do but annoying
- the Elite gets additional safety stuff, some of which drove me nuts for tight city driving. i ended up shutting off the forward-collision feature
- fuel economy of the Elite lagged far behind my 6MT. i never see above ~12-13 L/100kms in my car. i was at just shy of 17 L/100kms for the day in the Elite. certainly part of that was due to me bagging on it a bit. but nothing crazy and i was in the city all day
- flappy paddles responded OK to downshifts, but the car kept reverting to D when i slowed down or came to a stop
- the Elite didn't seem to inspire driving for fun as does the Sport
- turn in and handling is much sharper in the lighter 6MT trim
Between the interior and exterior trim packaging, as well as the subdued colour and
rims, nothing felt special about the Elite i drove. it was a fine car and did everything well enough, but it just does not elicit any emotion or sense of wanting to have fun as does the Sport trim. my guess is that the Elite buyer must have the safety gadgets but doesn't need some of the luxury pieces found on the higher Prestige trim. Prestige is another $4k or so, so i get it. but i never expected to see such a drastic difference in the car's character and feel between trims.
i realize that there is no getting around a fundamental difference going from 6MT to 8AT - that is a game changer which of course impacts my perception. i also know that the only other G70 trim i would have purchased would have been the 3.3T Sport since i appreciate all of the Sport trim packaging elements. then again, if Genesis hadn't made headlines by offering a 6MT trim i probably would have never considered the G70 in the first place. hyundai/Genesis were never on my radar, and i'd be driving a 6MT BMW 2 or 3 series right now.
just my 0.02. no offense to any of the Elite owners. everyone has their motivations and priorities which led to their purchases, and i'm sure they'd not care for the 6MT at all. so, maybe the answer is Genesis did a great job appealing to a wide demographic with the G70.