2013 Hyundai Genesis

[Robert Hall]

Picked up my weekend drive at Enterprise a few min ago. This was there 'CTS or equivalent' luxury car. Silver, black interior w/ shiny black wood. Decent so far....leaving for So Cal in a couple of hours...

[regfootball]

Cool. Did you pick up smk for the ride? Lol. Interested in hearing the impressions of this rig.

[Drew Dowdell]

V6 or V8?

I'm guessing V6

[Robert Hall]

V6 or V8?

I'm guessing V6

I assume so...there is no V8 badge on the rear..

Packed and ready to go, should be about a 5 hr drive across the void over to Ontario if I get out of Phoenix by 3...

Edited October 18, 2013 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[Robert Hall]

The drive over took about 6 hours...used 1/2 tank of gas...couple of pit stops. The Genesis cruised smoothly at 80 mph across the desert on I-10.

Thoughts after about 340 miles of driving. Other than an '08 Sonata rental, this is only the second Hyundai I've driven...definitely seems a long way from the cheap and nasty old Hyundais.

Pluses:

Decent acceleration, good steering feel (not too light).

Feels solid on the road. Doors close w/ a nice thunk.

Smooth, reasonably quiet at freeway speed, comfortable, adjustable seats. Though w/ the firm bolsters the way they are anyone fatter than I would be uncomfortable, I think.

Very good outward visibility despite thick A-pillars, they don't impede the view.

Interesting dash design, I like the curves and black wood (plood?) trim

easy to use, clear controls. The logical stalks (lighting left, wiping right) reminds me of my Jeep.

Good iPod integration w/ aux jack and USB in the center console, nice to see little touches like the notches on the underside of the lid to route cables out and still latch the lid

Decent sized cupholders and door map pockets

Good interior lighting--like the bright white ceiling lights, white gauge lighting, blue other lighting.

Excellent exterior lighting at night

Spacious trunk

Even w/ the driver's seat all the way back, decent rear leg room--room for a small cooler

Minuses:

Old-school single visors, double visors (side/front) would have been nice driving into the sunset.

Anonymous styling, has touches of Infiniti (the first gen G35 is what it remind me the most of in profile), Maxima (roofline), Accord (the rear), BMW (deck and hood cutlines).

Most of the interior materials are nice and soft touch--door, armrest, dash top, but the underdash/knee area and center console sides felt cheap and hard

A few plugs for option switches on the left side of the dash

Edited October 20, 2013 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[smk4565]

They are a nice car, I only did brief test drives of them, but I imagine on a long trip that car is great on the highway. I always felt since the car came out in 2009 that the ergonomics were good, it is easy to get comfortable in in and all the controls are easy to use and understand.

[ocnblu]

No pedigree.

[Robert Hall]

The drive back from So Cal across the void was uneventful. Noticed the 8spd auto shifted smoothly and didn't really notice it even on some long, steep grades on I-10.

[regfootball]

nice car, but does it feel SPECIAL?

[Robert Hall]

nice car, but does it feel SPECIAL?

Asian Buick I suppose.(not in a negative way--but in that it reminded me of what I think of qualities a Buick has--quiet, smooth, solid, and spacious).. ..it was pleasant enough on freeway and suburban street driving...didn't really have an opportunity to try any sports sedan style driving on a winding road or anything..

Edited October 22, 2013 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[Rvinyl.com]

Ooh, Asian Buick. I rented a Sonata a few years back in Hawaii and was impressed. It's nice to hear that the Genesis did well. I suppose this is how pedigrees are born.

[David]

Or Pedigrees are lost. Great info on your rental of the car, but it sounds like it left you empty. Nothing to really strike a cord of memory. Nice solid auto's can build a reputation as we have seen how many lemmings buy Camry another non inspiring auto.

So #1 thing that stuck in your mind about the car as a positive and #1 thing as a negative now that you have spent time behind the wheel?

[Robert Hall]

#1 positive-- the ride and the quiet. A nice place for a 6 hour drive or around town. Excellent outward visibility, something that is an issue on many cars today. It seems like a car I could drive for 5 years as a daily driver. But for $35k or so, there are other cars that I would probably take over it.

#2 negative: nothing really...the only negatives really were small nitpicky items--some due to the rental trim level, probably--i.e. the lack of 2 piece visors, lack of telescoping wheel, the plugs on the dash where missing option buttons would be, the hard plastics on lower areas, the difficult gas cap.

I didn't get to exploit its RWD characteristics, but definitely found it preferable to an equivalent FWD model, esp. regarding interior packaging--plenty of driver legroom..didn't feel cramped.

One thing in the back of my mind is that neither GM nor Ford offer anything competitive to this car at this price point (considering size, RWD, V6).

Edited October 22, 2013 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[bobo]

I've had only a brief drive in a Genesis sedan, and it struck me as being similar to a Lexus in that it was very comfortable and smooth. If I were in that market, I'd certainly be willing to consider the car despite the lack of pedigree or badge that would impress the neighbors.

[ponchoman49]

My friend and I drove a red 2013 rental for an entire day in base V6 trim with the 8 speed auto. The V6 was very quick in our view clocking a 0-60 in well under 6 seconds and offered up to 28 highway MPG. The ride/handling were reasonable and the seats remained fairly comfortable during the drive. With that said the exterior styling is derivative and forgettable and the equipment on this flagship was a bit lacking for the 36k sticker. For example we were shocked that this car didn't have a telescoping steering column, memory seats, 6 or 8 way power passenger seat, moonroof, heated steering wheel, a telematics system or HID's. Even a 22K Dodge Dart has some of these features as does Hyundai's own Sonata.

[Drew Dowdell]

A 36k sticker is pretty close to base on the Genesis sedan. You're not going to get most of those features on any model that bases at that price.