A review from Popular Mechanics

[ConceptVBS]

The all-new 2009 Hyundai Genesis luxury car is something of a revelation. It's the first rear-drive sedan Hyundai has ever produced; it's the first Hyundai powered by an optional V-8 engine and it's the first Hyundai to package real luxury in a Korean-built sedan. That's certainly a lot of firsts. The Genesis sedan, which will be followed by a high-performance coupe in the spring of 2009, fits into the same class, size-wise, as the much more expensive BMW 550i and the Mercedes-Benz E550 sedans, yet the Genesis V8 is priced more like a loaded Chrysler 300C Hemi at around $37,250.

To see if this new Hyundai really hits the marks when it comes to bargain luxury and to find out if that V8 returns the fuel economy many consumers expect these days, we hit the highway for a road trip. -Jim McCraw

The Specs
Hyundai's Genesis is a relative lightweight (4000 pounds) thanks to the fact that 75 percent of the body is made of high-strength steel. It uses no struts underneath, but rather an expensive five-link front and rear suspension systems that look and act much like the ones you'll find on a Mercedes-Benz. The all-new 4.6-liter engine is a double-overhead-cam, 32-valve V8 with variable valve timing on both intake and exhaust valves, a design that yields 375 hp at 6500 rpm, or 82 horsepower per liter. That's higher than most of the competitive V8 engines. Plus, there's a solid 333 lb-ft of torque that peaks at 3500 rpm. The V8 is matched to a butter-smooth ZF six-speed manumatic transmission. Plant the skinny pedal and the Genesis V8 is good enough for 0 to 60 mph in about 5.5 seconds.

We couldn't find much missing from the Genesis package. The base price includes plenty of hardware, including stability control, leather, sunroof and a 14-speaker Lexicon sound system with Bluetooth. The safety package is replete with front, side and roof airbags, and the Genesis carries a quintuple five-star rating for front, side and rollover crash ratings from the NHTSA.

For a nice, round $4000, the Technology package adds a 528-watt, 17-speaker, 7.1 surround-sound system, with an HD radio tuner and XM satellite radio, a six-CD changer, navigation, a rearview camera, driver information system, HID headlamps with auto leveling, adaptive headlamps, parking assists front and rear, and a heated and cooled driver's seat. All this stuff bumps the price up to $41,250-still well below that of a German luxury sedan.

Read the whole article at the link below:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/blogs/automotive_news/4290210.html

 

[Sal Collaziano]

Great article.. Thank you for posting it up!

 

[blasterguam]

Good article. I did note that the article states that the fuel mileage was actually less than the computer calculated when they did the manual math. I wonder what's up with that? Now I gotta go and check it myself.

 

[Stormy]

Good article. I did note that the article states that the fuel mileage was actually less than the computer calculated when they did the manual math. I wonder what's up with that? Now I gotta go and check it myself.

A lot of cars are like that. The trip computers aren't very accurate because they only measure fuel used over short samples of time. The true way to measure mileage is to always fill up your tank until the gas pump stops and divide the number of miles on your trip odometer by the number of gallons you just pumped.

 

[blasterguam]

I must be naive, as I wasn't aware of any car being 10% inaccurate. I could understand a percentage or two, but not 10%.
Our Lexus calculates overall mpg, continuous mpg updated every two seconds, then the trip mpg as well. All are accurate as I've done the math. I haven't done the calculations yet on the Genesis because I always supposed it was accurate, but now I will next time I fill up. I find it odd to be inaccurate....why have the function if it isn't right? Can anyone explain this?

 

[BaywayRic]

Just read the article, and I think I know what they did. They cruised over 700 miles so they had to fill up at least once. My guess is they did that after they cruised around town, just before they got on the interstae to head back to Detroit. They never picked up the fact that the AVG MPG in the trip computer RESETS itself when you get gas. So when they got back home and took the final reading it was only for the last section of interstate driving.

I checked every tankful for the first 1500 miles or so and the trip computer is pretty much dead on.

 

[blasterguam]

OK...that sure makes more sense than anything I can come up with. Now that my curiosity is up I'm going to do the math next weekend when I have a cross-state trip. One grip I've always had was the trip computer resetting like that...I'd sure like it to keep averaging until I reset it myself.

 

[Michael_S]

I am again astonished at how few negative reviews the Genesis gets.

 

[JOwest]

I reset the average mileage with every fill up. The Audi A6 computer always tell me I get about 16.8 L/100km. My actual calculation show around 20 L/100km. That is a margin of error over 20%!

 

[Stormy]

I reset the average mileage with every fill up. The Audi A6 computer always tell me I get about 16.8 L/100km. My actual calculation show around 20 L/100km. That is a margin of error over 20%!

Similar thing used to happen on my Jetta TDI. I would average about 42mpg on my trip computer, but actual mileage calculation was closer to 38mpg. That's why I don't trust those trip computers. If you really want to know you need to check it at the pump.

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[jwaters943]

I am again astonished at how few negative reviews the Genesis gets.

Why are you astonished? The Genesis is a GREAT car.


I don't miss my old GS430 at all.

 

[Michael_S]

Why are you astonished? The Genesis is a GREAT car.


I don't miss my old GS430 at all.

It's Hyundai's first stab at a car in this class in the US. Actually as you know, it's Hyundai's first stab at a $45,000 car in the US, it just happens to be priced at $35,000.

I expected more warts in the first generation than this. It would be like having Mitsubishi come out with the best hybrid or Honda produce a heavy duty pickup truck, and get everything right on the first try.

 

[BaywayRic]

From Wikipedia...

"Hyundai conceived the idea for the Genesis in 2003. The body design took three years and the total cost of the program was $500 million over a development period of 23 months. Reliability testing ran for 800,000 miles." I don't believe this includes the $87 mil they budgeted for the US roll out.

That's $21,739,130 a MONTH for R&D! That's a lot of "wax on / wax off"

Any wonder they got it right the first time?

 

[JOwest]

At 500 million dollars of development cost Hyundai need to sell 12,500 Genesis at 40k each to recover the development cost. Of course, we have to subtract the cost of making those cars before arriving at the profits. I expect the profit margin on the Gen is very small since Hyundai want to push up sales.

 

[zedbyers]

At 500 million dollars of development cost Hyundai need to sell 12,500 Genesis at 40k each to recover the development cost. Of course, we have to subtract the cost of making those cars before arriving at the profits. I expect the profit margin on the Gen is very small since Hyundai want to push up sales.

luckily for us the rest of the world is paying a bit more for this car!

 

[Michael_S]

$500 million development costs for a new model is not out of the ordinary in the automotive industry.

So even with those numbers, I'm still impressed with the results.

 

[speedbump]

$500 million development costs for a new model is not out of the ordinary in the automotive industry.

So even with those numbers, I'm still impressed with the results.

Yeah, I remember reading that GM was scrapping plans to make a new Escalade model due to the ~$2B it would have to spend on creating the new platform, etc. I'm sure it would have been shared between models, but it just underscores that making a new design for a car isn't cheap.

Also, those countries paying much more for the Genesis are also getting a bit more features for their money. I don't know if they're worth the extra cash, but just know that it's not exactly the same car we're getting.

 

[ConceptVBS]

I heard the Genesis under went two model redesigns and three engineering redesigns because the very authoritative, hands-on Chairman Chung didnt like what he saw.


This guy is no joke. He randomly goes to plants and checks on parts and equipment with no announcement. One time, he took a cup of coffee and purposely spilled it onto the transmission gate inside the '06 sonata. After noticing how the transmission shifter was acting up, he immediately shut the plant down and had his engineers scrambling to redesign the shifter gate to block out all liquids. He started it back up when he was satisfied. You'll never see that kind of power from a CEO in a domestic car company.

 

[Michael_S]

ConceptVBS,

That kind of power is good and bad. Hyundai and Kia of North America have had a very high executive turnover rate because the Korean leaders are disappointed with the rate of sales growth.

It can't be good for organization or morale to keep changing executive positions every year or two. And too much pressure on more sales might sacrifice long term growth for short term gain.

On the other hand, it's nice to see executives held accountable to their salaries. The Korean executives of Hyundai hired leaders for the American divisions with a specific goal in mind. When they failed to reach the goal, they were released.

That's far better than, say, GM CEO Rick Wagoner. He inherited GM in a very tough position when he took the lead spot in 2000 or 2001. It would have taken a superb genius to turn the company's fortune around. But Wagoner has been getting paid as though he was a superb genius, and evidently he is not one.

 

[Chuck]

You're absolutely right about Wagoner. Last year he made 40 million $ and GM lost 15 billion. What's up with that? On Wall Street, GM is trading as "junk"
for goodness sake.