jcs
Getting familiar with the group...
Now that I have had my Genesis 3.8 Tech for about one month and one thousand miles, I feel I am qualified to offer a review of the car. I have broken down my comments into three categories: Positive (I like it), Neutral, and Negative (don’t like it). Keep in mind that my frame of reference is my previous car, a 2001 BMW 530i.
POSITIVE:
Overall look and style of the interior and dashboard. There is a great deal of electronics in the car (especially with the Tech Package), but the dash is not overly busy and it is fairly easy to access all the features. The display screen is high up on the dash where it belongs (so you minimize the time your eyes are off the road). Leather on the dash looks great. Saddle color interior is great. The only thing I don’t like is the clock with the set buttons right beneath it. I think it looks cheap. Why not just make the clock part of the display screen like the outside temperature.
Lexicon 17 speaker sound system - fantastic sound. I consider myself an audiophile.
Size of the car - interior and trunk. Part of the reason I bought the car was to accommodate my three year old twins in the back seat and all their stuff in the trunk. With my BMW, space was limited and I had to often put a cargo box on top. The Genesis trunk swallows all of the stuff we need for a long road trip. They can still kick my seat, but it is a much longer reach for their little legs. Also much easier to get them in and out of the car.
Interior is very quiet.
Rear sun shade that automatically retracts when car is placed in reverse. My BMW has the sun shade but it did not automatically retract.
Back up camera. Fantastic. Works well and the green lines on the side are very helpful for navigating through a tight space. High resolution screen helps as well. My wife’s favorite feature.
Real (and well designed) cup holders. BMW cup holders were (and still are) a joke.
Navigation. I had a portable unit in my BMW, but having a large screen, integrated system is far better. Voice commands work very well. Unlike some other cars, you can program the nav while driving. It has given me one or two confusing directions, but overall it works well. I usually keep the map view on the screen even when not using the nav - just to see where I am and what is coming up. Really helpful if you want to take a small detour to avoid traffic.
Glove box - large and easy to open and close.
Bluetooth - has worked flawlessly thus far. Sound quality from single speaker is not great, but it is adequate. Callers state that the sound quality from the car is excellent - very little background noise. I think it helps that the microphone is so close to the driver.
Visibility - I think the overall visibility out of the car is great. I particularly find that night time visibility is far superior than the visibility from my BMW.
Rain sensing wipers always on. With my BMW I had to engage them every time I wanted to use them. Only downside is having to remember to turn them off before going through a car wash.
Voice recognition - in general this works very well. Less than 5% of my commands have been misinterpreted. I like that the possible voice commands come up on the screen.
Heating and cooling system. Set it to 72 degrees and forget it. My BMW had a fresh air vent in addition to the temperature setting. To me, that was the biggest flaw in the design of the car. Impossible to get the two to work in concert consistently. I also like that you can have the driver and passenger temperature settings change together or independently.
Seats - very comfortable. Although I think they could use a little more side bolstering.
Two power outlets.
Both mirrors flip down when the car is put in reverse.
Headlights in conjunction with the fog lights provide excellent illumination. However, I have not noticed the adaptive headlights really turning into a turn.
NEUTRAL:
Exterior style of the car – as had been mentioned many times, the styling is highly derivative. I really like the look from certain angles, but not from other angles. Love the cabernet red paint job.
Wheels. Don’t hate them, but don’t really like them either.
Suspension – I don’t think any other topic has received as much attention on this board. I was very concerned about the ride before I bought the car because of all the negative comments. As a result, I took the car on many test drives over many different types of road surfaces. After 1000 miles, I really don’t have a problem with the suspension. I think it is tuned well for a “comfortable sporty” ride. As I have posted before, it my opinion that the ride quality is very much relative to your previous or other cars. Those whose other car had a softer ride seem to feel the Genesis is too harsh. My BMW had a sports suspension and I find the Genesis to be somewhat softer. I have never hit the suspension stops or felt anything close to the car losing its composure over broken pavement (even fully loaded).
NEGATIVE:
Sensitivity to crowns – Although I have argued with the dealer that the car pulls to the left at highway speed, they maintain the car is just sensitive to the crown in the road. I suspect it may also be attributable to the OEM Dunlop tires (which are considered to be very mediocre). Regardless of what is causing it, I am not satisfied with the way the car tracks on the road and this is my only real dissatisfaction with the car. My BMW tracked straight regardless of the road.
Dealer experience - buying experience was tolerable, but tedious. Service experience has been negative (see my posts elsewhere).
Seat memory – My wife is about 9” shorter than me. It would be nice if the car could read which key is being used to open the door and adjust the seat and mirrors accordingly (my BMW did that). Further, if I press the seat memory button for my setting when I first open the door, it moves the seat to the final driving position and not the easy access position. Thus, the steering wheel is down and the seat is moved forward. The seat should move to the easy access position until I start the ignition. I find that if I just leave the seat in the position my wife had it in, I can get into the seat more easily because the seat is in the easy access position and the steering wheel is up.
Home Link buttons on the rear view mirror are not illuminated. Our driveway is dark and it is difficult to find the button to open the garage door at night.
The storage compartments in the doors are not lined with anything. Thus my cell phone slides around in there when the car is in motion. The storage compartments in my BMW were lined with some kind of felt.
No ability to “shuffle” play a playlist on the iPod. Also a delay in response of iPod to movement of the Controller.
No delay in the sensor for the headlights and dash lights. At dusk, the headlights will turn on and off repeatedly until it is finally dark enough for them to remain on. I think other cars have a minute or two delay before the lights adjust.
Green indicator lights on the dash for tail and fog lights are too bright and distracting.
The power to the power outlets should not be switched with the ignition. I plug a portable DVD player into the outlet in the arm rest for the kids in the backseat. If we stop to get gas and turn off the ignition, the DVD player loses power and the movie starts over from the beginning.
Trunk light is too dim. I may upgrade that light to an LED.
Cannot down load the address book from your phone to the car.
There is no set of tools in the car. Every BMW has a minimal set of tools in a fold down compartment in the trunk. I know Hyundai wanted to minimize costs, but I doubt this would be an expensive add on.
To engage the clutchless manual mode for the transmission, the shift lever moves to the right – away from the driver. I use this feature a great deal and it is a relatively uncomfortable position – especially if my wife has a cup in her side of the cup holder. The BMW shift lever moved towards the driver.
Water drips into the trunk - often discussed in this forum and clearly a design flaw.
No coin holder – I converted the ash tray by removing the silver thing.
No fold down rear seats.
When the car is shifted into reverse the audio system will occasionally switch to the same track on the iPod (regardless of what was previously playing on the iPod or whether XM or FM was playing at the time the car was shifted). Unfortunately I cannot readily duplicate this problem to show the dealer.
Parking sensors are great, but I wish I could get a little closer to an object before they sound a constant tone. When parallel parking in NYC, you really need every inch.
SUMMARY:
I replaced my BMW because I wanted a larger car with updated technology, but I did not want to sacrifice the driving enjoyment I had with the BMW. I have succeeded. The Genesis is fun to drive but it does not have the same driving dynamics of a BMW, but a comparably sized BWM (7-series) would cost about twice what the Genesis cost. Further, the 7-series is not without its flaws. I am amazed at the level of refinement and technology the Genesis offers for less than $40k. On a scale of 1-10, I give the Genesis an 8. If I can get the steering pull problem fixed to my satisfaction, I would give it a 9.5. I may replace the Dunlops and wheels to see if that improves the situation.
POSITIVE:
Overall look and style of the interior and dashboard. There is a great deal of electronics in the car (especially with the Tech Package), but the dash is not overly busy and it is fairly easy to access all the features. The display screen is high up on the dash where it belongs (so you minimize the time your eyes are off the road). Leather on the dash looks great. Saddle color interior is great. The only thing I don’t like is the clock with the set buttons right beneath it. I think it looks cheap. Why not just make the clock part of the display screen like the outside temperature.
Lexicon 17 speaker sound system - fantastic sound. I consider myself an audiophile.
Size of the car - interior and trunk. Part of the reason I bought the car was to accommodate my three year old twins in the back seat and all their stuff in the trunk. With my BMW, space was limited and I had to often put a cargo box on top. The Genesis trunk swallows all of the stuff we need for a long road trip. They can still kick my seat, but it is a much longer reach for their little legs. Also much easier to get them in and out of the car.
Interior is very quiet.
Rear sun shade that automatically retracts when car is placed in reverse. My BMW has the sun shade but it did not automatically retract.
Back up camera. Fantastic. Works well and the green lines on the side are very helpful for navigating through a tight space. High resolution screen helps as well. My wife’s favorite feature.
Real (and well designed) cup holders. BMW cup holders were (and still are) a joke.
Navigation. I had a portable unit in my BMW, but having a large screen, integrated system is far better. Voice commands work very well. Unlike some other cars, you can program the nav while driving. It has given me one or two confusing directions, but overall it works well. I usually keep the map view on the screen even when not using the nav - just to see where I am and what is coming up. Really helpful if you want to take a small detour to avoid traffic.
Glove box - large and easy to open and close.
Bluetooth - has worked flawlessly thus far. Sound quality from single speaker is not great, but it is adequate. Callers state that the sound quality from the car is excellent - very little background noise. I think it helps that the microphone is so close to the driver.
Visibility - I think the overall visibility out of the car is great. I particularly find that night time visibility is far superior than the visibility from my BMW.
Rain sensing wipers always on. With my BMW I had to engage them every time I wanted to use them. Only downside is having to remember to turn them off before going through a car wash.
Voice recognition - in general this works very well. Less than 5% of my commands have been misinterpreted. I like that the possible voice commands come up on the screen.
Heating and cooling system. Set it to 72 degrees and forget it. My BMW had a fresh air vent in addition to the temperature setting. To me, that was the biggest flaw in the design of the car. Impossible to get the two to work in concert consistently. I also like that you can have the driver and passenger temperature settings change together or independently.
Seats - very comfortable. Although I think they could use a little more side bolstering.
Two power outlets.
Both mirrors flip down when the car is put in reverse.
Headlights in conjunction with the fog lights provide excellent illumination. However, I have not noticed the adaptive headlights really turning into a turn.
NEUTRAL:
Exterior style of the car – as had been mentioned many times, the styling is highly derivative. I really like the look from certain angles, but not from other angles. Love the cabernet red paint job.
Wheels. Don’t hate them, but don’t really like them either.
Suspension – I don’t think any other topic has received as much attention on this board. I was very concerned about the ride before I bought the car because of all the negative comments. As a result, I took the car on many test drives over many different types of road surfaces. After 1000 miles, I really don’t have a problem with the suspension. I think it is tuned well for a “comfortable sporty” ride. As I have posted before, it my opinion that the ride quality is very much relative to your previous or other cars. Those whose other car had a softer ride seem to feel the Genesis is too harsh. My BMW had a sports suspension and I find the Genesis to be somewhat softer. I have never hit the suspension stops or felt anything close to the car losing its composure over broken pavement (even fully loaded).
NEGATIVE:
Sensitivity to crowns – Although I have argued with the dealer that the car pulls to the left at highway speed, they maintain the car is just sensitive to the crown in the road. I suspect it may also be attributable to the OEM Dunlop tires (which are considered to be very mediocre). Regardless of what is causing it, I am not satisfied with the way the car tracks on the road and this is my only real dissatisfaction with the car. My BMW tracked straight regardless of the road.
Dealer experience - buying experience was tolerable, but tedious. Service experience has been negative (see my posts elsewhere).
Seat memory – My wife is about 9” shorter than me. It would be nice if the car could read which key is being used to open the door and adjust the seat and mirrors accordingly (my BMW did that). Further, if I press the seat memory button for my setting when I first open the door, it moves the seat to the final driving position and not the easy access position. Thus, the steering wheel is down and the seat is moved forward. The seat should move to the easy access position until I start the ignition. I find that if I just leave the seat in the position my wife had it in, I can get into the seat more easily because the seat is in the easy access position and the steering wheel is up.
Home Link buttons on the rear view mirror are not illuminated. Our driveway is dark and it is difficult to find the button to open the garage door at night.
The storage compartments in the doors are not lined with anything. Thus my cell phone slides around in there when the car is in motion. The storage compartments in my BMW were lined with some kind of felt.
No ability to “shuffle” play a playlist on the iPod. Also a delay in response of iPod to movement of the Controller.
No delay in the sensor for the headlights and dash lights. At dusk, the headlights will turn on and off repeatedly until it is finally dark enough for them to remain on. I think other cars have a minute or two delay before the lights adjust.
Green indicator lights on the dash for tail and fog lights are too bright and distracting.
The power to the power outlets should not be switched with the ignition. I plug a portable DVD player into the outlet in the arm rest for the kids in the backseat. If we stop to get gas and turn off the ignition, the DVD player loses power and the movie starts over from the beginning.
Trunk light is too dim. I may upgrade that light to an LED.
Cannot down load the address book from your phone to the car.
There is no set of tools in the car. Every BMW has a minimal set of tools in a fold down compartment in the trunk. I know Hyundai wanted to minimize costs, but I doubt this would be an expensive add on.
To engage the clutchless manual mode for the transmission, the shift lever moves to the right – away from the driver. I use this feature a great deal and it is a relatively uncomfortable position – especially if my wife has a cup in her side of the cup holder. The BMW shift lever moved towards the driver.
Water drips into the trunk - often discussed in this forum and clearly a design flaw.
No coin holder – I converted the ash tray by removing the silver thing.
No fold down rear seats.
When the car is shifted into reverse the audio system will occasionally switch to the same track on the iPod (regardless of what was previously playing on the iPod or whether XM or FM was playing at the time the car was shifted). Unfortunately I cannot readily duplicate this problem to show the dealer.
Parking sensors are great, but I wish I could get a little closer to an object before they sound a constant tone. When parallel parking in NYC, you really need every inch.
SUMMARY:
I replaced my BMW because I wanted a larger car with updated technology, but I did not want to sacrifice the driving enjoyment I had with the BMW. I have succeeded. The Genesis is fun to drive but it does not have the same driving dynamics of a BMW, but a comparably sized BWM (7-series) would cost about twice what the Genesis cost. Further, the 7-series is not without its flaws. I am amazed at the level of refinement and technology the Genesis offers for less than $40k. On a scale of 1-10, I give the Genesis an 8. If I can get the steering pull problem fixed to my satisfaction, I would give it a 9.5. I may replace the Dunlops and wheels to see if that improves the situation.
Last edited:
For the 2 K$$ it's a steal . . .
)
