Here's a nice review from the USA Today:
Genesis' excellence is surprising, because usually a car company's first crack at a new segment is wanting.
For instance, Toyota's 1993 T100 pickup, first try at an American-style pickup, was too small and lacked a V-8.
Only now, a decade-and-a-half and two generations of truck later, has Toyota hit the mark with its ultra-beefy Tundra (just when the bad economy dried up pickup sales, alas).
Genesis is Hyundai's first big sedan and its only U.S. rear-drive model, and it offers the automaker's first V-8. You can quibble with the timing — small cars and small engines are hot right now — but you can't argue much against the execution.
Two Genesis test cars, a well-furnished V-8 and a lower-level V-6, were so right that it's hard to find gripes. Hard, not impossible — though some beefs are pretty minor.
• Front seat didn't go back far enough for some taller drivers.
• Ride felt bouncy on undulating pavement.
• Console-mounted joy-knob controller on the V-8 tester (like BMW's iDrive) was simpler to use than most — so only mildly annoying. You still had to go through up to half-a-dozen motions just to assign a preset button to a radio station, for instance.
• The wood section on the steering wheel in the V-8, while handsome, was a reminder that wood is for decks and boats, not cars. Wood steering wheels are cold in winter, sweaty in summer, hard and slippery always. Leather, please.
• The V-8 was jerky on deceleration. To improve mileage, the fuel flow to the engine immediately shuts off when you coast. Nice idea, but a little too abrupt and obvious. Didn't happen on the V-6, which is tuned differently.
• Mirror-mounted turn signals were annoyingly bright in the driver's periphery. Move the signals half an inch to solve that. The driver doesn't need to see them — they're for the fool in your blind spot who can't see your rear turn signal.
• Horizontal chrome strips across the dashboard and doors were designed not to mate where those panels adjoin, instead to leave a gap. The strips line up perfectly, but don't run all the way to the edge of the dash or door. Odd.
To appreciate Genesis, you first have to like rear-wheel drive. Though the BMW and Mercedes-Benz models Hyundai wants to evoke are rear drive, many cars are front drive and have a different driving feel. Rear-drive cars feel more balanced in corners. On the other hand, weight isn't concentrated over the driving wheels, as with front drive. That suggests worse slick-weather behavior. In the rain during testing, the back wheels spun briefly, but were well-reined-in by the traction-control systems — without abruptly cutting the engine power.
OK, you like rear drive. Now, what's so special about Genesis? Glad you asked:
Read more:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/reviews/healey/2008-10-30-hyundai-genesis-2009_N.htm
Genesis' excellence is surprising, because usually a car company's first crack at a new segment is wanting.
For instance, Toyota's 1993 T100 pickup, first try at an American-style pickup, was too small and lacked a V-8.
Only now, a decade-and-a-half and two generations of truck later, has Toyota hit the mark with its ultra-beefy Tundra (just when the bad economy dried up pickup sales, alas).
Genesis is Hyundai's first big sedan and its only U.S. rear-drive model, and it offers the automaker's first V-8. You can quibble with the timing — small cars and small engines are hot right now — but you can't argue much against the execution.
Two Genesis test cars, a well-furnished V-8 and a lower-level V-6, were so right that it's hard to find gripes. Hard, not impossible — though some beefs are pretty minor.
• Front seat didn't go back far enough for some taller drivers.
• Ride felt bouncy on undulating pavement.
• Console-mounted joy-knob controller on the V-8 tester (like BMW's iDrive) was simpler to use than most — so only mildly annoying. You still had to go through up to half-a-dozen motions just to assign a preset button to a radio station, for instance.
• The wood section on the steering wheel in the V-8, while handsome, was a reminder that wood is for decks and boats, not cars. Wood steering wheels are cold in winter, sweaty in summer, hard and slippery always. Leather, please.
• The V-8 was jerky on deceleration. To improve mileage, the fuel flow to the engine immediately shuts off when you coast. Nice idea, but a little too abrupt and obvious. Didn't happen on the V-6, which is tuned differently.
• Mirror-mounted turn signals were annoyingly bright in the driver's periphery. Move the signals half an inch to solve that. The driver doesn't need to see them — they're for the fool in your blind spot who can't see your rear turn signal.
• Horizontal chrome strips across the dashboard and doors were designed not to mate where those panels adjoin, instead to leave a gap. The strips line up perfectly, but don't run all the way to the edge of the dash or door. Odd.
To appreciate Genesis, you first have to like rear-wheel drive. Though the BMW and Mercedes-Benz models Hyundai wants to evoke are rear drive, many cars are front drive and have a different driving feel. Rear-drive cars feel more balanced in corners. On the other hand, weight isn't concentrated over the driving wheels, as with front drive. That suggests worse slick-weather behavior. In the rain during testing, the back wheels spun briefly, but were well-reined-in by the traction-control systems — without abruptly cutting the engine power.
OK, you like rear drive. Now, what's so special about Genesis? Glad you asked:
Read more:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/reviews/healey/2008-10-30-hyundai-genesis-2009_N.htm
