Earlier last year we had a need for a new car, we were debating between a few vehicles but ended up with a Genesis GV80. Not just any GV80, but the top dog 3.5T Prestige. We were lucky to find a dealer that happened to have one available AND wasn’t charging any markups or forcing random add-ons and warranties/services. At the time, the GV80 represented some of the newest and best efforts to come from the Korean luxury brand (it has since been eclipsed by the STUNNING new G90 flagship).
Now the GV80 was never long for our garage, as we had also placed an order for a BMW X5 Plug-In Hybrid, but we knew that the GV80 was in decent demand overall, especially the top 3.5T Prestige was in short supply and would likely fare decently in terms of resale value in the crazy market that we were in (that craziness has since cooled a bit for those watching).
The Looks
The GV80 sets style inside and out. When we first started to consider the GV80 my wife pointed one out on the street. What she pointed at was actually a Bentley Bentayga. Large 22″ wheels add to the presence of the design outside, with a flowing hood and a traditional luxury rear wheel drive-based platform proportion of a long dash-to-axle ratio up front. The “two-lines” headlights up front connect through the side markers on the front fenders and to the rear tail lights. I remember looking at design prototypes in Korea years ago and wondering how they’d be able to align all those various pieces, especially in the rear with the transition from the outer and inner assemblies, but they did it. Loved that they kept the rear lift gate button neatly hidden on the wiper mount, yes it may have been copied from Porsche, but it’s a good piece to copy. The only exterior blemish would be the front license plate mount required in our state, obscuring the clean crest grille with a wart right in the middle.
Inside, the 3.5T Prestige is highlighted by unique (for the model line) quilted leather. The lesser 2.5T Prestige does not share in that oddly. Top to bottom the materials are what one would expect of a luxury car, especially one with a $70,000+ price tag. Sueded headliner, leather stitched dash uppers, open pore wood trim and real metal accents are all present and accounted for. There is a digital gauge cluster with some 3D-ness (not super impressive in our opinion), but not a lot of actual customization or utilization of the fact that it’s a screen as it essentially just mimics traditional dials with some information in the center. Where Genesis does show attention to detail is in the, uh, well, details. The pattern and surfacing of controls is consistent throughout the cabin for a nice visual cohesion and there are still plenty of real buttons and controls, not just touch sensitive screens slapped everywhere. It all comes together as an elegant, if somewhat understated, look.
The Drive
Powered by a burly (and thirsty) 3.5-liter turbo V6 engine with 375 horsepower, the upper crust GV80 is never wanting for power. It can get up and hustle like a midsize luxury SUV should and the homegrown 8-speed automatic is smooth, if not quite ZF quick. Sure there’s no M/AMG/RS equivalent, but those are pretty rare birds for the most part anyways. But mega power and razor sharp handling really aren’t part of the Genesis brand ethos thus far, despite having had the talented resources of one Albert Biermann at their disposal. Comfort and serenity are more the name of the game. The GV80 is more athletic and poised than a Lexus RX or a Volvo XC90, but it also won’t have you confused with a Porsche Cayenne or even a BMW X5 behind the wheel. It straddles a middle ground of comfort and dynamism, maybe most similar to something in the Mercedes (non AMG) realm.
While the top spec (aside from the Signature model) 3.5T Prestige also comes with an adaptive suspension that uses a camera to help adjust and prepare the suspension for large bumps and potholes, the ride still gets a bit upset with road impacts sometimes crashing up into the cabin. Blame those design-forward 22″ wheels with hefty weight and little sidewall. The GV80 could benefit from an air suspension setup for further refinement and body control. Even the newest Acura MDX Type S has one for a similar price point as the big G-Man.
Driving tech wise I appreciate that Genesis makes most of their advanced suite, including Highway Driving Assist, standard. Genesis doesn’t run a lot of various random single options or packages, but relies on factory trims or grades. That does force a customer to jump up or settle depending on how specific of a feature set they’re looking for, but at least it doesn’t create a carnival of random vehicles across dealers to try to pick and compare. A 3.5T Prestige at one dealer is pretty much the same as the 3.5T Prestige at another. No need to search endlessly for a copy of the window sticker to confirm what add-ons were part of this particular vehicle.
The Luxury
The 3.5T Prestige has nearly everything Genesis offers. Ultra supple Nappa leather seating, heated and ventilated front and outboard 2nd row seats, powered soft door closers and even powered 2nd row door sunshades and rear vanity mirrors. My daughter loved those mirrors! The powered door sunshades were a very nice touch that you don’t see in many cars under $100,000, convenient for when you do want to choose whether they’re up or down on the fly.
Genesis does provide the driver seat massage (Ergo-motion) function from the 3.5T Advanced trim, but seeing as how they just brought this feature down to the Hyundai Palisade at $50k, I think Genesis should offer this on both front seats for the GV80, just like most any other luxury competitor does. Thankfully there’s plenty of space in both the first and second rows, with a nice wide feeling across the cabin aided by the low height of the dash itself.
The Tech
The GV80 has tech but doesn’t flaunt it. As noted earlier, the cabin design leans toward traditional luxury. The infotainment screen, a nice wide 14.5″ unit, is touchscreen (maybe a bit of a reach) but also has a jog dial controller on the center console if you’d rather use that. There is connectivity for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, but it’s wired, less convenient overall. Never mind the convenience, the Lexicon audio system was delightful with its 21 speakers dutifully belting out whatever current Disney soundtrack my daughter demanded.
The Misses
We knew most of these going into our stint with the GV80, but it was interesting to see how much some of these impacted daily life.
- Lack of passive entry lock/unlock on the rear doors – Huge inconvenience for life as a parent. I know I’ve touched on this before, but it needs to be said. Most any other luxury car has this capability on all four doors, but Genesis only has that on the front door handles. We typically will load up our daughter first, but we can’t go directly to the rear door, we first need to go to the front door, unlock and then go to the back door. Reverse when leaving, after getting our daughter out, have to go back to the front doors to lock them.
- Lack of handsfree lift gate closing – Yes, Genesis does the key fob and proximity based opening of the rear door, but it doesn’t have the subsequent mechanism to close the door handsfree. Kia has a function to perform an auto close once the driver leaves the area, so I expect that will make it to the GV80 at some point. But the handsfree close is nearly as important as the handsfree open, especially as I try to load up all 37 grocery bags onto every last finger to make it to the house in 1-trip. I know you do too!
- Sporty Drive – Yes the GV80 is on the comfort side of the spectrum, but would like to see a Sport Package that tighten things up a bit (but don’t make the wheels any larger!!). I mean, the power seat bolsters on the driver seat cinch in when you put it in Sport Mode, somewhat laughable for a nearly 3 ton beast, so efforts sharpen up the steering response a bit more would make the drive a bit more enjoyable.
- Fuel Economy – Yes, we knew the pitfalls of a big turbo V6, but would like to see some more electrification (EV, PHEV, hybrid) of the GV80 line. The Electrified G80 was one of the most amazing luxury experiences we’ve had and they’ve already introduced the smaller Electrified GV70, so would love to see an Electrified GV80. If one was available, it would likely still be in our garage…
Random Odds and Ends
Parting Thoughts
The GV80 is a magnificent first generation effort from the luxury brand into the midsize utility segment and really stretched their pricing level successfully into the $70K+ band. We would absolutely consider the brand again, especially given the lovely Electrified G80 we sampled. Would also love to see a true 3-row contender, a GV90 perhaps? Recent spy shots show Genesis readying a GV80 “Coupe” a la the X6/GLE-Coupe, but I really wish they’d focus their efforts on higher impact areas.
