Stephen Corby reviews the athletic Genesis GV80 Coupe
The end might be nigh for petrol, but Genesis proves its sporty new SUV will go out in style.
It struck me recently that exhaust pipes are the breasts of the car world. Men, or at least blokes who love cars and make primeval grunting sounds about them, are fascinated with exhausts, and the bigger and more voluble the better (yes, I’m sure some women are, too).
For many years now, car companies have been designing cars with fake exhausts – or at least unnecessarily large, shiny, chromed exhaust tips – with which to catch the eye of the car-fancier.
It was with some shock, then, that I heard Genesis pointing out that on its newly facelifted GV80 – an SUV powered by a V6 petrol engine – the exhaust tips have been not just reduced but entirely hidden behind a new rear bumper.
Genesis (the luxury offshoot of South Korean manufacturer Hyundai) already offers quite a few EVs and is moving increasingly in that direction, so the thinking is that having exhausts might not be entirely “on brand” (EVs, of course, have no exhaust pipes and thus make a lot of car blokes sad). This did make me fear for the Summernats crowds of the future, and their close relatives who gather at Bathurst each year. What will they shout at passing cars if it’s not “Show us your tips”?
But then things got even stranger as it was explained that the closely related Genesis GV80 Coupe – basically the same classy SUV, but with a sloping roof, fewer seats and some sexier interior textures – does have exhaust tips. This, I was told, is because it is the sportier variant and the big tips help that image by giving a “sense of athleticism and power”.
I was mildly bemused by all this, and then a neighbour walked past and asked if the GV80 Coupe I was driving was electric, because he assumed that all Genesises were, which caused me to point at the exhausts and ask if his eyes were painted on.
The last time I drove a Genesis I bemoaned the fact that it got almost everything right when it came to taking on the German marques, except for one absolutely vital factor – power.
That GV70 had to make do with just four cylinders and thus felt and sounded like a sad robotic clown trying and failing to make me smile. Both GV80 variants come with the same twin-turbocharged 3.5-litre V6, which makes 279kW and 530Nm – which is what’s known, in engineering terms, as more like it.
Where the GV70 felt try-hard, this GV80 Coupe feels like you barely have to try at all, with abundant torque, meaty yet effortless steering (it does get more involving as you step up through the sporty modes, and I can’t recommend Sport+ highly enough, as it turns the speedometer needle into a fizzing red light saber) and properly plush ride quality.
Personally, I have never bought what the Lexus brand is selling in terms of premium motoring – I can always feel the underlying Toyota-ness. But Genesis really is finding its stride in terms of delineating itself from Hyundai, thanks to its luxe offering. In this car, not only are your lovely leather seats and steering wheel heated (with two levels of hand-toasting, no less) but your armrest is as well, and you’re looking at a vast 27-inch OLED screen while listening to an 18-speaker Bang & Olufsen sound system.
The Coupe also looks impressively imposing on the road and, because many people don’t know the Genesis brand, you get plenty of admiring/confused looks from strangers.
Choosing the Coupe (which at $136,000 costs $6,000 more than the base SUV) gets you not only the sloping roof – which takes out the third row of seating that gives you six or seven seats in the SUV – but a truly unique carbon fibre trim. For years, people have been trying to come up with fake plastics that look like the racy stuff F1 cars are made out of, but Genesis has created actual carbon fibre that looks like an expensive handbag instead.
Our test vehicle was also fitted with the optional rear-seat screens ($4500), which allow your children to watch two different things on Netflix at the same time, or to waste even more of their lives on YouTube. This seemed to make my two kids exactly as deliriously happy as it made me enraged. The Coupe’s cool roof also cuts into your boot space, so you get 644 litres versus 735 litres in the SUV.
Speaking of litres, the GV80 also has a powerful thirst, with a claimed fuel consumption of 11.7 litres per 100km, which, frankly, is optimistic and yet still less than optimal. When I was really trying to reduce my kids’ screen time by driving so violently that they became bilious, I was averaging around 16L/100km, but on the plus side I was very much enjoying the car. Overall, I averaged 14L/100km.
Personally I found the exhaust tips on the GV80 Coupe a little too exaggerated, or enhanced, but they do catch the eye when parked next to the flat-chested SUV.
Genesis GV80 Coupe
Engine: 3.5-litre twin-turbo V6 (279kW/530Nm)
Fuel economy: 11.7 litres per 100km
Transmission: 8-speed automatic, all-wheel drive
Price: $136,000
Rating: 4/5