The Genesis G90 Is a $75,000 Hyundai Luxury Sedan

This is a Genesis G90, a

luxury

sedan

from Hyundai's new Genesis

luxury

brand that was recently created to rival Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Acura and Cadillac. The Genesis G90 is the brand's flagship model. this one has a sticker price of over 71k and some of these can go up to 75k, yes that's right this is a 75k Hyundai. If you haven't heard of the Genesis brand you are not alone. Hyundai has first botched the launch of this brand to an absurd degree. They asked dealers to build expensive new showrooms that promised great popular products, then in a market that demands SUVs and crossovers in a market where SUVs and crossovers are flying off the shelves.

Hyundai launched the Genesis brand with three luxury

sedan

s that look a little too similar. g70 and the g80 and then there's this one, the g90, apparently it was an attempt to copy what Lexus did when it was launched in the early 1990s and Hyundai didn't realize that maybe the market had changed a little in the last 30 years and it didn't help either. The thing is the fact that the Hyundai Genesis used to be one model and now Genesis is a separate brand, which has only created confusion so far. The launch of the Genesis brand has been a failure, but that doesn't mean the car is a failure, so today.

I borrowed this g90 from a viewer near Annapolis, Maryland, and I'm going to take you on a tour to show you all the cool quirks and interesting features of a Hyundai 75,000 luxury sedan, then I'll take it out. on the road and drive it and then I will give it an excellent rating and for more of my thoughts on the g90, click the link below to visit autotrader.com oversteer, where I also compiled a list of used luxury cars that They are currently on sale on Autotrader and are cheaper than you would expect. Now I'm going to start under the hood.

I am the flagship model. The G90 has plenty of power and there are two different engine options. You can get a twin turbo. v6 with 365 horsepower or a 5 liter v8 with 420 horsepower this car has the v6 now you can also get all wheel drive or rear wheel drive this car has all wheel drive which Genesis has called h-track I guess

hyundai

track I don't really I know, I also don't understand why everyone has to name their quattro x-drive 4matic all-wheel drive systems. Can't we just call it all-wheel drive? One thing I really like under the hood is the little warning label that reminds don't touch hot things, it says don't touch the metal parts they may be hot and then there's a picture of someone touching a hot metal part and it says hot just to clarify the point now that the warning label provides important information and also the headlights that say full led not just led but full led so if you ever argue with someone at the luxury car club about whether your

genesis

has full led headlights, just take them out have them look at your headlights and you can show them and it's the same story in the rear, the brake lights also say they are full LED just to make it clear that you are not a loser with partial LED lights and according to the Genesis theme, explaining everything to you.

The mirrors auto-dim like on many cars, but they say they auto-dim again, presumably so you can win an argument if you're ever challenged to prove that your mirrors auto-dim. Mirrors also do another cool thing. If you walk up to the car at night and open the door, the mirror projects an image of the Genesis logo onto the ground, which is a really cool touch, believe it or not, many cars project images like that from their mirrors onto the ground. . Nowadays, but that's always a little quirk when I see it. Another interesting place the Genesis logo appears is on the key.

Now having the car brand logo on the key is not so unusual. The unusual thing is to look closely and Genesis actually is. printed there in the smallest font I think I've ever seen on anything automotive related, it's very small but they put it there, it looks pretty cool and it's also interesting on the key, take a look, there's a little tag that says Please remove this. tag well, I certainly won't, you're just a tag, you can't tell me what to do. Another interesting place where the Genesis logo appears is on door sills, open the door and you can see it says Genesis, it's like a normal door. cell phone, except it's shaped like a little wing logo and that's a cool little touch assuming you notice it, which, of course, most people probably won't.

The next step is to start getting into the car. This car has normal doors. Close and open them like any other car, but there is a cool feature on the doors, if you don't manage to close them completely, they will close automatically. This feature is mostly seen on high-end Bentley cars. The most expensive Mercedes and now here it is in

genesis

. Now I'm inside the g90 and I'm going to start this tour by showing you some of the cool luxury features that this car has that yours doesn't and then I'll move on to some of the oddities, but starting with the luxury stuff, everything in this Interior is really nice, there are no blank switches anywhere in this interior to remind you that you didn't buy an option, everything feels good to press, it's nice to press everything looks great just look at this interior, it's beautiful.

I also like the fact that they thought of some really cool little details, for example several of the buttons have little dots on the bottom so you know which button you're pressing without having to press it. to take your eyes off the road for example take a look at the infotainment controls, the home button has little dots while the back button is next to it and the menu doesn't have them, that way you can feel the environment and feel which button you are pressing without having to look at it, it is a very good idea, in fact, you look around this interior, all these nice buttons and switches and you are surprised by the fact that even the emergency lights button is nice , it feels good to press it, it looks good and when it's on it flashes like a lot of hazard light buttons do, but it looks great, you don't see a lot of fancy hazard light switches, another thing you don't see a lot of things about it fact that even the handles on this car are wrapped in leather and sewn on all other cars they are just plastic, you either just grab them without noticing them or stick a hanger on them with a little laundry is really impressive it's little things like that the ones that distinguish cars like this from lower quality cars another one of those little details this car has a heated steering wheel many cars have a heated steering wheel this one has a two stage heated steering wheel do you want your heated steering wheel at level low, okay, you want it on high, you can do that too, it's not just on or off like it's okay, even a Range Rover, another interesting quirk about this car's interior rearview mirror.

They have some LED reading lights and when you press the button to turn on those lights, not only do they turn on immediately and scare you, but they gradually turn on like a luxurious experience that is quite common in luxury cars, but check this out, the little one The button you press to turn on those lights has a little light inside to let you know that the light is on and the light is also gradual, so the little light inside the button to turn on the luxurious gradual lights is itself gradual and luxurious. the kind of detail you only get from an automaker that has thought of everything, and speaking of thinking of everything, we have to talk about the seat controls, which are crazy, they're on the side of the seat and it's not just about to move it forward or backward. you can do basically everything, you can move the seat forward, backward, remove the backrest, you can also move the headrest up and down, forward and backward, and there is a control to even just move the top of the backrest and then of course there is something you can do to extend the little thigh support at the bottom of the seats this is a luxury car seat to have more proof of how much better this car is than yours i turn to Power folding mirrors Many cars have power folding mirrors, you press one button, they fold, you press another, they unfold.

This car has those two buttons but it also has a third option. You can leave it in the middle and then it's on auto and then the auto will decide when to fold and unfold. The mirrors and car have a little light inside to let you know it's in auto mode, so you can rest assured that Genesis is taking care of your mirrors. Another crazy luxury car detail on this car, there is a little graph in the gauge cluster that lets you know if you left the door open on either door, that's pretty obvious, it also has a sensor for the trunk, almost all cars have it, but check this out, that same graph can tell you if you left a window.

The window down turns red when you turn the car off, if you left it down and you can see it when the door is open, it even lights up that window red to let you know it's down, how many times have you accidentally left it down? a window down or a passenger left the window down without you realizing it, now the car informs you that there are also a couple of other interesting features inside the g90 that are not so luxurious and rather a bit strange, for example how about the sound it makes when you turn it off, I'm not even going to try to explain this, just listen to it now, you can turn off that sound, but why is it so nice and you see it again when the sound is just ending? the genesis badge is just fading into the gauge cluster, they've timed it beautifully and since we're talking about gauge cluster graphs, I also like the startup graph when you turn on the g90, check this out, it sort of plots the outline of the car and then there's a beacon in front for the headlights and then the whole car appears, I'm not really sure what that's supposed to symbolize but it lets me know I'm onto something nice, another cool quirk, take a look at the driver's window switches. side here I'm playing with them they're totally normal now here's the window switch on the passenger side it's twice as big as any other window switch on any other car in fact the handbrake release on this car it's smaller than the window switch on.

On the front passenger side, I'm not really sure why it's a double wide window switch, but hey, next up is another weird one. Now most G90 owners will never notice this, but if you look very closely at the passenger side of the dash printed on the leather it says DVD well, it turns out that if you open the glove box and then touch the roof of the glove box right where it says DVD, a small DVD slot will appear, I assume this is for the navigation disc or some other service. but either way it's there and that little DVD in the dash lets you know it's there.

This is very strange, I've never seen it before, I probably won't do it again and speaking of the glove box, here's an interesting quirk that using a small button to the left of the steering wheel you can open the trunk in this car, which is pretty normal on all luxury cars but another cool thing about this one is that you can press that button again, hold it and the trunk will close, not all luxury cars have that many car manufacturers are afraid of having a trunk with Power lock in case someone or something you can't see is behind, it could damage the trunk or cause injury, but you can do it on the G90 unless you open the glove box. a slightly hidden on-off switch for the trunk, if you press it, it locks the trunk so that that button can no longer open or close the trunk and whoever is sitting in the driver's seat can no longer return there, I guess this is for valets so if you're a valet someone comes up to your valet stand and a genesis g90 and you can't open the trunk now you know all you have to do open the glove box press that little button and then you can, You know, you can just write about seeing what they have there and another strange thing before we move on to the strange technology in this car, how about the fact that right above the climate controls there is a passenger seat belt reminder?

If you are in the passenger seat, fasten your seat belt. belt turns white if your belt is unbuckled it turns red I guess to let you know the airbag is on or off but of course no one will ever know it's there no one will ever see it no one will ever see it. it changes color except me and now all of you moving on to some of the cool technology on the g90 I'll start at the center display the gauge cluster with the head up display this car has a head up display. The screen projects vital information onto the windshield.

This front screen is moreconfigurable than most of them. However, for example, you can change the color of the speedometer display. I'm not really sure why you would want to do that, but you do prefer green instead of white so you know what your speed is. You can do that. You can also choose orange. You can also raise and lower the head-up display, which is quite common. This car also gives you the ability to rotate the head-up display in case you like to look at your head-up display this way, I'm not sure why anyone would want to do that.

You can also adjust the brightness to a substantial degree. Another interesting configurable element within the gauge cluster is the fact that you can use it. gauge cluster screen to change the color of the ambient light inside the car, basically the color you see coming out of the doors and dashboard when driving at night, that's not that unusual, many cars give you the opportunity to change. those colors, but all the other cars just show you what color you can have in this car they have. Name the colors you would like, for example, aurora purple or how about ocean blue or sunrise red, why would they go to the trouble of naming the ones? interior ambient lighting colors?

Do they think you're going to show off to your passenger? Oh yes, I have, I have sunrise. Red is on right now, it's also interesting, you can control the brightness of the ambient interior lighting and it's not just one, two, three, four, five, but it's level one, level two, level three, etc. , so basically you could say yes, I have a level three, dawn red is on. Yes, I have a level four ocean blue, it seems a little complicated for the ambient lighting interior color changes, but what I like most within that gauge cluster display is the fact that you can change the surface intervals .

Look, you come in and you can adjust. service intervals yourself so the car can tell you when you need to go for service. You can go 50,000 miles if you want. I wonder if that would hold up with the warranty department. Well, I changed the service interval, I don't know. Why the engine blew up, obviously, I've seen plenty of cars where you can reset the service reminder within the gauge cluster, but I've never seen one where you can change the number of miles you have to drive between services. I think I would prefer to let the professionals handle that.

Next, we will move on to the infotainment system. I'm going to show you some of the more unusual elements, starting with the settings. If you go into the navigation system settings, go to the root options and you can tell the car to avoid. ferries avoid tolls avoid U-turns unpaved roads you can also tell it to avoid tunnels who are all these people who want to avoid tunnels if you don't want to go into a tunnel maybe you should look for an alternative activity besides driving alone a Also I find this strange GPS information page unusual that shows your latitude and longitude down to the exact degree, minute, second and shows your elevation in real time.

There's even a little send and receive graph that I'm not too sure about, but this is it. from things that I feel the pilots use before they get on the intercom and tell the passengers where they are going next, moving on to the audio settings, like in many cars, you can adjust where you want the sound in the rear, whatever, but look at that cool graphic when you move it it's like the part of the car you're giving the sound to lights up to receive it. Many cars have this feature, but that graphic looks much cooler than the graphic of other cars.

Also unusual in the audio settings, if you go into quantum logic surround sound, they give you two options, both of which are strange. The first option says that the audience mode provides an intimate concert experience where the limits of the vehicle seem to disappear, yes, of course they do. Then there's the onstage mode, which is just as ridiculous, a surround sound experience that puts listeners on stage with their favorite artists by placing individual instruments and musical elements throughout the cabin. Yes, I have no doubt that it is true. I feel like I'm on stage with Ginny World.

When I just press that little dot on my infotainment screen instead of one of the other dots, it's also great to change the time. Now, when you change the time on the infotainment system, the small analog clock automatically adjusts to the new setting using an invisible hand. Not only does it change the time on the infotainment system depending on what time zone you tell it you're in, but as you cycle through different time zones, the little clock adjusts each time you select a new one in the info tab. climate. are the options for smart ventilation and active CO2 monitor Smart ventilation says that when humidity levels inside the vehicle increase while the climate control is off, air is automatically expelled to maintain a comfortable environment, CO2 monitor says that controlling the concentration of CO2 improves freshness inside the vehicle. vehicle now, why would anyone turn those things off if they don't want a comfortable environment and coolness inside the vehicle?

I'm not even sure why they're selectable, but hey, they are and then let's move on to the rear seats. Don't let the price fool you, although this vehicle is priced like a mid-size luxury sedan, it's the size of a full-size luxury sedan, like the size of an S-Class or an A8, and that means The back seat is where you want to be now, it may not seem like it, but drop this giant center console and suddenly you have a lot of controls for a lot of different things, now some of them are pretty standard stuff for luxury cars. in the back seat, for example, the ones you have. two cup holders back here, well of course you do, you also get a heated seat bag here, also pretty standard, the rear passengers also have their own zone for climate control, so when you're sitting here you can increase the flow of air if you want more. air you can lower or heat the temperature depending on what makes you feel more comfortable, of course you also have a series of climate vents, I count four in total, two for each rear passenger, there is also a rear sunshade back here, press this little one button. in the middle and then the sunshade on the back just moves to keep the sun out and also to give you a little more privacy.

Those features are pretty standard on full-size luxury sedans like this car, but this car has a few things that you don't get in a typical luxury sedan, for example, the rear passenger here has a full set of controls on this rear console. dedicated to controlling the front infotainment system, now the rear passenger cannot change the directions of the navigation system, but you can control anything related to the stereo, sound and radio, you can change from am to fm to xm , you can switch to media if you want to play an ipod, phone or spotify, you can do it all from back here, now I miss it.

The thing is, there's no screen back here to do it, so if you want to start playing with the stereo, if you're sitting in the back, you have to look at the front screen, so you sit here and do one of these in order. to see exactly what you are changing, another fun thing if the rear passenger gets tired of the front seat occupants enjoying the infotainment screen, the rear passenger can turn off the front infotainment screen and then no one will be able to use it now of course , the front passengers have the ability to block the rear passengers from being able to make any changes, but if you are driving in this car and you are driving someone maybe they want to change the music now that they can, how many times have you gotten in an uber and i wish i could have changed what was playing on the radio if only his uber had a genesis g90, that would actually be a possibility.

The other interesting thing on the back of this car is the side window sunshades that many luxury cars have. this car has them electrically operated, if the window is up you lift the power window button again and then the sunshades are in place and there is even a power sunshade for the small rear window that also hums into place when all the sunshades are in place, you really have excellent privacy back here and you're protected from the sun, so you don't have to look at anyone or anything while you're being chauffeured down the road, a couple of other cool quirks about the back. seat in this car, I really like the fact that if you look at those stereo controls I was talking about earlier, fm is the one in the middle, it's kind of the king of all the stereo controls, it's on top of am and xm on his throne and it's also the only silver button and the only one with those little dots on the bottom in the world of genesis g90 fm rear seat entertainment controls is the tyrant.

Also interesting is the fact that you can adjust if you are sitting in the back the front passenger seat press a little button here and you will be able to move the front passenger seat forward or backward. You can also move the backrest forward or back to give you more legroom. Obviously you can't do that with the driver's seat because you could annoy the driver and then crash the car while he yells at you. Now it's great to show you the controls, but let me demonstrate exactly how much it works. Now I'm moving the front seat forward and forward and forward and forward and. look how far it goes, I'm quite tall and with the seat fully up I can lie back here and still have room to spare, it's ridiculous and luxurious and finally moving towards the boot, there's something particularly interesting in the boot.

This car is quite large, but that's no surprise given that it's a full-size luxury sedan. A couple of unique things in the trunk of this one though, you can see that the owner of this one still has his Genesis first aid kit. in its original bag and if you dig under the trunk mat you'll see the wheel locks still in their original unopened bag, so you could probably sell that stuff for about $50 on eBay. Something to think about if you have a genesis you want to do. a little extra money and those are the quirks and features of the g90, apart from the quirk of coming from a new car brand that no one has heard of, but now it's time to take this thing off the road and see how it works a 75 000.

The Hyundai luxury sedan drives well driving the G90. I'm in a neighborhood here, so I'm going pretty slow. It's a nice, smooth ride so far. I have the heated steering wheel on two, but if it's too hot for me, maybe. I address it to a man, it is very quiet here. I am finding that the ride quality is not at the level of the S class or higher end luxury sedans, however it is surprisingly quiet so it is probably quiet above its price range and I think the Ride quality is probably what you'd expect given its price range, it drives more like an E class or something, but it's certainly quieter than all the classes I've been in. here we go launching it now oh wow man it gets up and going it's pretty quick I mean it's interesting it's got 365 horsepower so it's no surprise that it's pretty quick the surprise to me is that the V8 only It has 420 horsepower, not really.

I see a big benefit from the V8 having not driven it, of course, but I don't really see a big benefit from the V8. You will surely lose a lot in fuel economy. Now I'm driving along with traffic here, don't intervene. the steering wheel, the little light on the steering wheel has turned green, so I guess that means it's going to keep me in my lane and it's actually changing direction as the car drifts a little here or there, that's what What does a luxury sedan do, oh, it's ringing. then I have to put my hands back on the steering wheel, okay, the seat is very comfortable, it feels very good, this headrest, especially, is like a pillow, it has that big car feeling, although the s class has that too , although it is a fast vehicle.

It definitely doesn't feel like it has a hidden secret tension, yes it feels fast, I mean it runs reasonably fast, the transmission clearly reduces acceleration, the transmission is clearly tuned for comfort and it's very comfortable when the transmission shifts you. I don't feel it at all, however, you can notice it and then you know that they are not immediate changes like in a dual clutch car, but you know that this is a full size luxury setting and it is not a sports car and that is the point. here is my opinion about having spent the whole daywith this car and now just driving it for a few minutes it seems like it's about 90 percent of the way to an S class.

It has all the tech features. It has a very beautiful interior, everything feels very comfortable, ninety percent ride comfort, ninety percent silence, but you know you are paying sixty percent of the price, so this car is a bargain proposition. Huge value, however, then you have to decide how much. The name of the brand influences that if there were no car brands, I would obviously buy it. The question is: How much more valuable to you is a Mercedes-Benz than an upstart luxury brand from Hyundai? I spoke to an S-class owner about this car before I went and drove it and he said I wouldn't do one of those and I think that sums up the general feeling that this is for people who say yes, I want to try a luxury sedan full size.

But maybe I don't want to spend 120 on an S class and this gives you the feel of a full size luxury sedan. I don't think Hyundai is going to draw buyers away from Mercedes-Benz, but I think they might I know some people who come from lesser cars, maybe a really good tape recorder and Acura, and they say I want to have my first full-size luxury sedan and then they look at the s class and see that it costs 120,000. and they say I don't want to spend yet and that is the genesis g90, the flagship luxury sedan of

hyundai

's new genesis brand, it is an excellent luxury car, the genesis brand has Got off to a slow start, but Hyundai is smart, they will figure it out. and this car is proof that they can do it and now it's time to give it an excellent score, starting with the weekend categories and the styling of the g90 is certainly not ugly, but I think the look is a little conservative and could stand out a little. a little more, and it gets a 5 out of 10.

Acceleration is 0 to 60 in 5.4 seconds, even with the v6 giving it a 5 out of 10 on the Doug Score acceleration scale. Handling is fine, exactly what you'd expect from a full-size luxury. sedan and gets a 5 out of 10. The cool factor is acceptable, but this is not a wild sports car and it gets a 4 out of 10. Finally, the importance is fine, although I think this will really be determined in the long term when we see the success that the Genesis brand has and the importance that this car has for the brand. The original Lexus LS400 would be very important, but its closest rival, the original Infiniti Q45, well, not so much, for now it gets a 5 out of 10.

Total score for the weekend at 24 out of 50, low but tied with the Volvo XC90 Excellence and the Volkswagen Destiny and the W12, right above the Lincoln Navigator in the luxury car corner. The following are the daily categories, starting with features. The G90 is loaded with almost everything that is modern. The car could have it and gets a 9 out of 10. Comfort is very good, although it is a little behind the best luxury cars and gets an 8 out of 10. Quality is high, although the materials are not up to par. the best. rivals and gets an 8 out of 10. Practicality is decent. 15.7 cubic feet of cargo space should give it a 4, but a huge back seat and decent fuel economy bump that up to a 5 out of 10.

Finally, there's value, and it's totally up to you. In terms of your brand perception, there will be people who say they would never spend this kind of money on a Hyundai and people who say there is no reason to buy an S-Class again when this exists for a much cheaper price. It's a 7 out of 10. I think the price is reasonable and I'm impressed that a car in this class can have Hyundai's long warranty and run on fair quality fuel, two things no Mercedes will ever do added together and the daily total score It's 37 out of 50, which is very good and places it near the top.

Adding it all up, Doug's score is 61 out of 100, which is good for a car like the g90, it falls short of the sportier Porsche Panamera turbo. or the Lincoln Navigator, which is more practical but has an excellent score for a luxury sedan and I have a few more luxury sedan reviews coming up, so we'll see how it holds up against some strong rivals.