Very Disappointed with the Genesis

[CapoCriminali]

Torre - I think the reason people are calling you a troll is that you still haven't told us what about the car you really don't like. You mentioned the Lexicon, but only as "the Lexicon" and without any clear indication of what you don't like. So, since I'm curious, what don't you like?

 

[bradyb]

Hello all. This is my first post and I apologize in advance for coming across as so negative but I hope at least some will understand my position and disappointment. A short bit of background. I have owned 28 cars. Honda, Mazda, Jaguar, Toyota, GM, you name it. Since I have matured to the point where I know a car should be reliable and practical, I have become very loyal to Ford. Going into 2011, I planned to upgrade from my 6th Ford to a 2010 Ford Taurus SHO. I am familiar with the car since a co-worker already owns one.
Well after reading an article in Motortrend which compared the Taurus with the Genesis I started looking into the Hyundai. The article raved about the Genesis and stated it was a superior car to the Ford. I have always loved the style of the Genesis but never considered a Hyundai until now. Anyway, I drove a couple of Hyundais and liked the ride and power but was confused by the tech package. I didn’t think too much about it as I knew I just had to read the manual.
Fast forward to now. I just bought an ’09 Genesis with 4.6 and technology package. I have owned the car for almost a week now and its just enough time to realize I have made a terrible mistake. I am blown away that the opinion of this car is so high. It isn’t half the car the Taurus is and I could have purchased a one year newer Taurus SHO with half the miles for just a few thousand more. Again, the car drives great but this technology package/navigation system is laughable. How a magazine editor can rant and rave about it is beyond me.
Mark

Heya Mark/Torre

First let me welcome you to the brotherhood of Genesis and our forum here! Welcome!

As you can tell we have some members here that are fanatics about their Gens...Well I am too, really. I just wanted to respond to your post b/c I have the same car and model and felt the same way after a week. I didnt have enough time with the circle wobbly thingy (dis) and was infuriated and completely distracted, and disappointed with how @ss backward the navi seamed. with some practice and reading I became friends and now it seams a natural extension of my hand. Id offer advice of patience and practice. I've done some things to my car that have dramatically changed the attitude and driving character of the car; even deepening the driving experience with the car.

I also considered the SHO in my purchase. first FORD didn't take any of the bailout and I think its a pretty good car. I have owned ahhh i dunno some 28-32 cars, driven a Continental GT Speed for a while, and still own my xj8, so I kinda get where your coming from........But I do love my Genny!!! Hope your grows on you as well.

Happy motoring!

 

[balazsbb]

I chose my Genesis 4.6 over an e-class for several reasons ranging from comfort to value for your money. I saved about 20k over the e-class I was pricing and I got more features that an e-class for 65k wouldn't have been equipped with and totally unique features like the auto hold that no other car except the Genesis has. The menu system works very well and it is very intuitive. My only complaint is the iPod integration has no search!

With that said I did my research before I bought the car, as I always do and everyone should do. That way you don't regret your purchase. Simple isn't it?

 

[MichaelOne]

Many posters here asked for specifics and I could go on and on but most of them have to do with the Lexicon system.

The sound system in the Genesis is the best I have heard and had a lot to do with the decision to buy the car.

So where is the disappointment?

 

[dataguy]

The Lexicon DIS isn't perfect--far from it--but it is very good, and if I were magically given the option to get a refund on the Tech Package and downgrade to a base model or stay with the Tech package, I would keep it. The sound quality is superb.

What isn't superb are the fiasco of map updates, weak bass (including the weird bass boost workaround with voice command), lack of Bluetooth A2DP and phone book support (at least on the older models), intermittent loss of XM preferences, awful iPod integration, slow USB song list navigation, no user-accessible hard drive storage, requirement to run the engine to avoid nag messages every few minutes, and clunky Nav address entry. But compared to other luxury makes, I don't think it's horrible...the DIS is almost space-age in comparison.

I fully expect to see much better telematics in future models, especially with the introduction of Hyundai's OnStar-like BlueLink system, richer full-color supervisor/instrument displays on the Equus and Sonata Hybrid, and the general industry trend to offer more voice- and smartphone integration.

We're coming up on a refresh of the Genesis sedan, so we're really talking mostly about reactions to a car that's 2+ years old, which is ages in technology.

 

[nearwater]

You missed out on the best part of the test drive. I went with a flash drive loaded with 320Kbps MP3s when I test drove my 4.6. Turned the stereo up to 35, put on Panama by Van Halen and took every chance I got to drive the heck out of the Genny The salesman thought I was nuts, but he was laughing by the end. The Lexicon is one of, if not the most awesome sound systems I've EVER heard in a car. Clear response all the way up to 35 with no rattle and no bass fuzz. It's awesome.

I agree.
I brought 2 reference CDs(1 audio CD, 1 mp3) along with me when I was test driving the cars.

Dan

 

[Sal Collaziano]

Trolling is against the forum rules. Thankfully, I see so trolling here..

Carry on...

 

[Aquineas]

I know I'm late to the party, but if the OP is talking about our entertainment system, specifically the User Interface of the iPod interface (as opposed to the sound or stereo quality), then frankly, he's right, it does suck. Ford Sync lets you search for and play for a song by voice. It doesn't require manual paging through thousands of song titles (only to make you start from the top again).

That's some cool stuff right there, and frankly, I have cursed the UI of my 4.6 Tech Package many a times. I am hoping that someone starts a mod project to re-write this thing; even if it just added the ability of doing a lookup by song or artist title by spelling out the first few letters of the song or the artist (without scrolling through thousands of entries), it would be helpful. I don't think it will happen, but I can remain hopeful. Hell I would write it myself if someone could figure out a way to get it in and out of the DIS (I thought I read somewhere that the OS was Windows CE, or some other embedded flavor).

That being said, there are so many other things I love about the car...

 

[Anathem]

My apologies for being late to the party as well. To set the record straight, the Motortrend article I saw compared the 2010 Genesis to the Taurus and Toyota Avalon. The Genesis came out on top objectively and subjectively and was head and shoulders above in "luxury, refinement and dynamics." The only real complaint was the sometimes "busy" ride. The Taurus was deasribed as having "poor visibility, cramped cabin and sluggish acceleration." No real mention was made of the tech package except to note that the Genesis had more speakers. Personally, I do find the navigation system clunky to use however this is a minor flaw when compared the the many other excellent attributes. At three monthe and counting I am still a very satisfied owner and always look forward to driving My Genny.

 

[homeofstone]

FYI from Automobile Magazine, June 2010 - "Perhaps the Genesis's strongest execution of luxury was its infotainment system. Its spin-the-wheel controller works much like those in Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz products but is arguably superior to all of them - and on Hyundai's first attempt at such a system. Senior editor Joe Lorio gave "full marks for the audio/navigation/climate-control interface, which is very easy to use right from the get-go." Deputy editor Joe DeMatio added, "The Bluetooth interface is, hands down, the easiest I've ever operated. The iPod connectivity is extremely straightforward, too, and the stereo is superb." "

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[Aquineas]

FYI from Automobile Magazine, June 2010 - "Perhaps the Genesis's strongest execution of luxury was its infotainment system. Its spin-the-wheel controller works much like those in Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz products but is arguably superior to all of them - and on Hyundai's first attempt at such a system. Senior editor Joe Lorio gave "full marks for the audio/navigation/climate-control interface, which is very easy to use right from the get-go." Deputy editor Joe DeMatio added, "The Bluetooth interface is, hands down, the easiest I've ever operated. The iPod connectivity is extremely straightforward, too, and the stereo is superb." "

Yeah I saw that, and it doesn't make me feel a bit better when I'm scrolling through page after page after page trying to find a particular song or artist (I have more than 8K songs on my iPod). Or how I had to figure out that going to the artists will sometimes never let you move past the "As", or any other weird interface quirks I've seen. Trust me, I love my Genesis, but the UI for the iPod interface is awful.

 

[homeofstone]

We use a usb drive wih folders for each artist and within those then folder albums; makes for easy navigation to what we want.

 

[BacktoHyundaibychoice]

Yeah I saw that, and it doesn't make me feel a bit better when I'm scrolling through page after page after page trying to find a particular song or artist (I have more than 8K songs on my iPod). Or how I had to figure out that going to the artists will sometimes never let you move past the "As", or any other weird interface quirks I've seen. Trust me, I love my Genesis, but the UI for the iPod interface is awful.

Quick question:
You know you don't have to turn the knob to scroll through artists, right? Just pull the knob toward you with no turning?
I only have 3000 songs on my phone iPod but it takes little effort to get to the end of the alphabet that way, with no carpal tunnel aches either.

But then I'm told it's MUCH faster in black cars than white ones too.

 

[Aquineas]

Quick question:
You know you don't have to turn the knob to scroll through artists, right? Just pull the knob toward you with no turning?
I only have 3000 songs on my phone iPod but it takes little effort to get to the end of the alphabet that way, with no carpal tunnel aches either.

Yes, I know about the paging. But when in the artist view, if I start the paging in the "As" before I get to the end of them, the silly system thinks there are no "Bs" (or any other letter). I've got to manually scroll through them using the clicker until the first "B" shows up, and THEN I can page. Goofiest thing I've ever seen.

I will say that I love the feel of the DIS knob, if that makes any sense. Overall I am pleased with the system, it's just the iPod interface that drives me bonkers.

But then I'm told it's MUCH faster in black cars than white ones too.

Well played, sir.

 

[mrbug111]

I too cross-shopped the Taurus SHO and the Genesis. The Ford struck me as more stylish on the exterior, but the interior was just plastics. My 13 y.o. really wanted the Taurus because of all the interior color lighting changes and the tocuh screen. However, while the exterior of the Genny is sort of bland, the interior is a much more luxurious design than the Taurus. Also, the Taurus' infotainment system is complicated, and I do not like touch screens - too far to reach when driving, and the fingerprints reflect additional light of the screen. By contrast, the Genny's system is very easy to learn and to use. Ultimately, I ended up with a Genny, in part becuase it's a better car IMO and in part becuase Ford dealers still play stupid games out fo the 70s ("oh, yes, that is the price, but only after $6000 in equity or trade..." So, if I have to pay $6000 to GET to the quoted price, how is that the price?)

 

[LasVegasGenesis]

while I am a big fan of the genesis overall, upon reading the Torre's post, his specific comment about the technology is something I would agree with. I do love the Lexicon sound system but the navigation and voice command system are archaic as compared to what is currently available in the market. I would expect an 09 offering to be a little behind the times however when i went to test the 11 Equus, now 2.5 years newer than my 09. i was very disappointed that there had been negligible upgrades to the technology. When compared to the advanced navigation on the A8L, CTSV, 750IL, Jag XJL or S550 I have driven recently, Hyundai does need to step it up. No split screen, no google map or advanced 3D, limited voice commands. I want that in a car and am willing to pay more for it. Why should an average Buick LaCrosse has a more advanced and moire aesthetically pleasing screen is not acceptable. Hyundai sets the standard in so many areas that this is one that needs some attention.

 

[waveman]

while I am a big fan of the genesis overall, upon reading the Torre's post, his specific comment about the technology is something I would agree with. I do love the Lexicon sound system but the navigation and voice command system are archaic as compared to what is currently available in the market. I would expect an 09 offering to be a little behind the times however when i went to test the 11 Equus, now 2.5 years newer than my 09. i was very disappointed that there had been negligible upgrades to the technology. When compared to the advanced navigation on the A8L, CTSV, 750IL, Jag XJL or S550 I have driven recently, Hyundai does need to step it up. No split screen, no google map or advanced 3D, limited voice commands. I want that in a car and am willing to pay more for it. Why should an average Buick LaCrosse has a more advanced and moire aesthetically pleasing screen is not acceptable. Hyundai sets the standard in so many areas that this is one that needs some attention.

I think we'll have a much better idea of the direction Hyundai is going when they unveil their Blue Link system this summer. In their words, "Blue Link is Hyundai’s innovative telematics (using advanced technology to transmit information wirelessly and efficiently) solution that combines safety, service and infotainment into a complete package."

So while Blue Link is not a replacement for in-vehicle nav and other systems, it will have to interact with those systems in some fashion. Unfortunately, Hyundai says that it's coming to the Sonata first - it'll be too bad if the '12 Genesis and Equus don't offer it at all.

 

[dg_moore]

Another perspective - the Genesis is a great driver's car and is a joy to operate. I don't think much about the electronics - virtually never use the nav and, if the radio/USB is off when I get in the car, I often don't think to turn it on (I've always been accustomed to driving in silence - my first four or five cars didn't even have radios). Electronics is not something I think about when looking at cars.

 

[wcrstereo]

I too have decided to trade my genesis looking at the 750 or the lincoln mks. I just cant deal withe rough ride any longer

 

[homeofstone]

I have to say a few things about people that don't like the car they buy/lease.

Many people buy a car for the style/looks, then the new wears off and dissatifaction sets in.

Some buy a car because of what freinds say then discover that what their friends like is not what they like.

Some buy a car from an emotional connection with the dealer or brand.

Some buy a car because its the newest thing out.

Some buy a car for the tech stuff and not for what is the purpose of the car and that is to go from point a to point b.

Many buy a car without several test drives including the roads they drive on daily.


What should be done when purchasing, what is for the majority of us, the first or second most expensive thing we have is to research the reliability, performance and cost/economy of all cars that meet your needs and appeal to you. Then through research, weed out the unreliable, too expensive for you to operate, and ones that will not meet your performance preferences.

After the first "weeding out"Then take several test drives in the three or four cars left on your list(could be more). Then when you have it down to two or maybe three then take 3 or 4 long test drives in each on the kind of roads you normally drive on if not the exact same roads. If its a tie then find the one that is the best deal. Sorry but I don't have much sympathy for someone not liking a car they picked out and purchased. It seems a lot of people don't do their homework and don't consider the importance of the costly investment of a new car.