wallymn
Been here awhile...
As I past 5k k I thought I should note the good the bad and the ugly.....
The Good...
Fit and Finish
Forget this is a Hyundai, I spent about 3 months pay for this car. it should feel as if built from the finest materials and crafted with care.... It does. My benchmarks are a 528xi and M45 having spent similar time in those cars I can say the materials FEEL better than the 528 and it is better executed than the M45. The soft touch dash materials and leather insert are leaps ahead of the hard plastic dashes in the 528/M45. the M45's wood inserts, being real, have a better look than the fake wood of the Genesis, but as it is used sparingly it can be accepted. After 5000, sometimes hard, miles no rattles emerged, no stitching has come loose. I have never had a car make it to 5000 miles without a rattle being exposed.
Each time I open the door I am impressed this is perhaps where Hyundai has done it best work with the Genesis. It will be interesting to see if this quality is maintained as volumes pick up.
Powertrain
The 4.6 power builds power slowly, this might sound bad but it is a wonderful quality. There is no wild peaks or valleys in the powerband, more RPM means more power, steadily climbing to it's peak. Stay below 3k and it would be hard to tell there is significant power available, it feels like your everyday Camry or Accord, which for commuting is perfect. At 3k the power comes in and at 4k the engine is alive. I love this! At no time does the engine sound invade the cabin, it is only above 5500 that you hear the engine in the cabin at which time it is a muffle nothing more.
Suspension
Power on, this is the best suspension I have ever experienced in a sedan. This is a two headed suspension, read about the other head in the ugly section.... but here we are talking about the good and boy is it ever good...
little body roll, excellent tip in, great road feel, and it warns you at the edge prior to giving way to understeer. Controlled powersides with ESC disabled are a nice way of resolving the understreer. I would rate it above the M45 just behind the 528.
HVAC
Living in the great white north window icing is the norm. Finding a car with climate control which also manages to clear fogging/icing windows is rare, This is the first car which delivers on this. Most importantly it does so without running the window defogger at 100 MPH winds. I have never noticed when the system is cycling into window defogger on this car which is amazing. Prior cars which had auto defogger would blow every hot air up the windshield and into my face usually forcing me to lower the sunvisor to block the air from my face. No need in this car. I should note it is such as good system that I didn't even notice how good it was. It wasn't until I drove my wife's 2006 Odyssey and was hit in the face with high speed hot air that I really understood how good the HVAC in the Genesis is.
Radio...
The lexicon system has more technology and speakers than I could believe were needed, the sound delivered is near perfect. Sound clarity is maintained at volumes higher than I would listen to on a regular basis. The bass, thanks to the dedicated speaker can shake the car if desired. I like that each sound source can have its own EQ presets as XM always seems to need more tweaking than FM radio or the iPod.
The Bad
Navigation
I don't know what to say, the ability to enter a destination is almost absent. Entering a road name and hoping the system knows the road by the name you entered AND is willing to agree the road exists in the city you are hoping to visit (you can't select CITY in the destination), leaves most attempts to map travel with frustration. Simply adding a CITY level focus for the NAV unit would make this a tolerable system, but as is, I avoid using it for mapping.
Auto head lights
The system doesn't seem to know what to do at dusk, switch on an off every 15-30 seconds. A 2005 Corolla has a better auto headlight system. It just isn't acceptable in a car of this price to have this work so poorly.
The ugly...
Suspension
Out of full power the rear end seems to wander..... If the engine is running less than 4k rpm I would describe the rear end as loose. Driving the same road at the same speed once in 6th gear at 2k rpm and again in 4th gear at almost 4k rpm I can say the car seems more easily upset , more likely to skip left or right over a bad road if running at 2k than at 4k.
Transmission
I know, it is a ZF tranny, but it should be called a nanny, In "manual" mode the ZF still auto up and down shifts. I thought I pushed the level to the right so I could decide when to shift.... A "manual" mode should allow a driver to run to redline and stay there as long as they wish, conversely it should only downshift when RPMs have dropped to the point that the car is no longer able to service the gear (around 800 rpm?)...
I have never been so happy with a car, the issues I raise are not relationship enders... I look forward to years of chasing corners in luxury.....
The Good...
Fit and Finish
Forget this is a Hyundai, I spent about 3 months pay for this car. it should feel as if built from the finest materials and crafted with care.... It does. My benchmarks are a 528xi and M45 having spent similar time in those cars I can say the materials FEEL better than the 528 and it is better executed than the M45. The soft touch dash materials and leather insert are leaps ahead of the hard plastic dashes in the 528/M45. the M45's wood inserts, being real, have a better look than the fake wood of the Genesis, but as it is used sparingly it can be accepted. After 5000, sometimes hard, miles no rattles emerged, no stitching has come loose. I have never had a car make it to 5000 miles without a rattle being exposed.
Each time I open the door I am impressed this is perhaps where Hyundai has done it best work with the Genesis. It will be interesting to see if this quality is maintained as volumes pick up.
Powertrain
The 4.6 power builds power slowly, this might sound bad but it is a wonderful quality. There is no wild peaks or valleys in the powerband, more RPM means more power, steadily climbing to it's peak. Stay below 3k and it would be hard to tell there is significant power available, it feels like your everyday Camry or Accord, which for commuting is perfect. At 3k the power comes in and at 4k the engine is alive. I love this! At no time does the engine sound invade the cabin, it is only above 5500 that you hear the engine in the cabin at which time it is a muffle nothing more.
Suspension
Power on, this is the best suspension I have ever experienced in a sedan. This is a two headed suspension, read about the other head in the ugly section.... but here we are talking about the good and boy is it ever good...
little body roll, excellent tip in, great road feel, and it warns you at the edge prior to giving way to understeer. Controlled powersides with ESC disabled are a nice way of resolving the understreer. I would rate it above the M45 just behind the 528.
HVAC
Living in the great white north window icing is the norm. Finding a car with climate control which also manages to clear fogging/icing windows is rare, This is the first car which delivers on this. Most importantly it does so without running the window defogger at 100 MPH winds. I have never noticed when the system is cycling into window defogger on this car which is amazing. Prior cars which had auto defogger would blow every hot air up the windshield and into my face usually forcing me to lower the sunvisor to block the air from my face. No need in this car. I should note it is such as good system that I didn't even notice how good it was. It wasn't until I drove my wife's 2006 Odyssey and was hit in the face with high speed hot air that I really understood how good the HVAC in the Genesis is.
Radio...
The lexicon system has more technology and speakers than I could believe were needed, the sound delivered is near perfect. Sound clarity is maintained at volumes higher than I would listen to on a regular basis. The bass, thanks to the dedicated speaker can shake the car if desired. I like that each sound source can have its own EQ presets as XM always seems to need more tweaking than FM radio or the iPod.
The Bad
Navigation
I don't know what to say, the ability to enter a destination is almost absent. Entering a road name and hoping the system knows the road by the name you entered AND is willing to agree the road exists in the city you are hoping to visit (you can't select CITY in the destination), leaves most attempts to map travel with frustration. Simply adding a CITY level focus for the NAV unit would make this a tolerable system, but as is, I avoid using it for mapping.
Auto head lights
The system doesn't seem to know what to do at dusk, switch on an off every 15-30 seconds. A 2005 Corolla has a better auto headlight system. It just isn't acceptable in a car of this price to have this work so poorly.
The ugly...
Suspension
Out of full power the rear end seems to wander..... If the engine is running less than 4k rpm I would describe the rear end as loose. Driving the same road at the same speed once in 6th gear at 2k rpm and again in 4th gear at almost 4k rpm I can say the car seems more easily upset , more likely to skip left or right over a bad road if running at 2k than at 4k.
Transmission
I know, it is a ZF tranny, but it should be called a nanny, In "manual" mode the ZF still auto up and down shifts. I thought I pushed the level to the right so I could decide when to shift.... A "manual" mode should allow a driver to run to redline and stay there as long as they wish, conversely it should only downshift when RPMs have dropped to the point that the car is no longer able to service the gear (around 800 rpm?)...
I have never been so happy with a car, the issues I raise are not relationship enders... I look forward to years of chasing corners in luxury.....
