Genesis G90
Car and Driver
Rank in Full-size Luxury Cars
A solid, if entirely unexciting, fresh luxury sedan.
The G90 sedan is as fresh as the Genesis brand it belongs to, but neither the car nor the company is entirely fresh, at least in concept. Hyundai has been dabbling in the luxury space since 2008, when it introduced the mid-size, rear-wheel-drive Genesis four-door and, later, the larger Equus. More recently, Hyundai rechristened the former as the G80, redesigned the latter into this G90, and swept them together to create the stand-alone luxury entity called Genesis. As a successor to the Equus, the megahuge G90 casts a broad net, hoping to both skim buyers away from pricier establishment players such as the Mercedes-Benz S-class, BMW 7-series, and Lexus LS and suggest buyers a larger alternative to fully loaded mid-size luxury sedans for similar money. In this mission, the G90 mostly succeeds.
Price, that omnipotent purchase factor, plays a big role. The rear- or all-wheel-drive G90 sedan comes in essentially one trim level, with the lineup split by engine choice. A 365-hp Three.3-liter twin-turbocharged V-6 is standard, while a 420-hp Five.0-liter V-8 is available (and adds decadent power rear seats that adjust twelve ways on the left and fourteen ways on the right). Take your pick, then determine whether you want all-wheel drive for an extra $2500, and choose from a few subdued paint choices and a suntan or black interior, and you’re done.
The G90 tested here had the V-8, rear-wheel drive, and a sticker price of $70,650. The car is fully tooled, albeit if we were to pick nits, it’d be nice if the kingly rear thrones suggested a rubdown function and the little, compact-car-size sunroof were larger. Genesis otherwise packs enough standard features into the G90’s enormous, 204.9-inch-long bod to give us carpal tunnel syndrome from typing it all. The abridged version: a self-leveling suspension, adaptive dampers, self-leveling directionally adaptive headlights, a 17-speaker Lexicon audio system, inductive smartphone charging, a head-up display, a 360-degree-view parking camera, adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping assist, blind-spot monitoring, automated emergency braking, self-latching doors, a power-operated trunk, a sunroof, supple leather upholstery, a power-adjustable steering column, three-zone automatic climate control, and heated and ventilated power seats at the four outboard positions. There are even controls that permit the driver or the right-rear passenger to scoot the front passenger seat forward for even more rear legroom.
Convenience, It Has It
Visually, there’s little about the G90 that suggests athleticism. Genesis’s comfort-first intention is clear from the moment you submerge into its coddling 22-way power-adjustable driver’s seat (designed with input from the Aktion Gesunder Rücken, a German consortium of doctors and physical therapists that aims to prevent back ache). It proceeds with doors that shut with a damped refinement aided by thick seals around the aperture. Thanks partly to the 124.4-inch wheelbase and the suspension tuning, the G90’s rail is softer than a cloud sandwiched inbetween two marshmallows. Opt for the Sport drive mode and the rail firms up only slightly. Outside of a mild tendency for the G90 to outrun its rebound damping, which permits the figure one gentle bounce after large road dips, the car is otherwise planted and wheel motions are well managed. The steering filters out the road almost as well as the suspension does, but it is nicely weighted and tracks straight and true on the highway.
Muffle seekers will love the G90’s wooing auditory impression of a bank vault with windows. We recorded a hushed sixty seven decibels at seventy mph, a figure that matches today’s Mercedes-Benz S550, while the car’s 37-decibel idle and 73-decibel full-throttle sound measurements hit the Benz by three and two decibels. Acoustically laminated glass in all four doors and “sound-absorbing” wheels contribute to the serenity. The car is so quiet that we figured it was simply a giant metal ingot, one that would weigh as much, but the Genesis comes in at four thousand six hundred forty seven pounds. That’s about one hundred forty pounds less than the Mercedes S550 (albeit the Benz also carries a pair of turbos on its V-8) and falls directly inbetween our long-term, rear-drive turbo-six-powered BMW 740i (4385 pounds) and an all-wheel-drive, eight-cylinder 750i we’ve tested (4883 pounds). The BMWs use carbon fiber in their structures and aluminum panels to reduce weight, but the Genesis is of conventional, all-steel construction.
Open the taps on Hyundai’s 420-hp Tau V-8, and the G90 leans back and slickly builds speed, the muffled ripple emanating from beyond the dashboard interrupted only by the Hyundai-designed eight-speed automatic’s buttery shifts. And sixty mph comes up in Five.Three seconds, a figure that trails the large-sedan competition—even some with smaller engines and fewer cylinders. In fact, a 200-pounds-heavier, V-6–powered, all-wheel-drive G90 matched this eight-cylinder model to sixty mph, even however it has a 7-lb-ft torque deficit, thanks to its better off-the-line traction. The V-8 embarks to pull away by seventy mph, however, and scrupulously spanks the V-6 model to one hundred twenty mph, reaching the mark Two.Two seconds sooner. In everyday driving, however, the V-8 model feels stronger and more ponderous than its sharper-handling V-6–powered sibling. The all-wheel-drive V-6 G90, for example, holds a 0.02-g grip advantage on our skidpad (0.85 g to 0.83 g), stops seven feet shorter from seventy mph (172 feet compared with the V-8’s 179), and generally feels lighter on its tires. Neither model is dynamically gifted, which is why we left the Sport mode alone and instead spent the majority of our time in the standard Wise setting.
Soaking up miles was made even more pleasant sitting in the G90’s lovely interior, which combines stitched leather, soft-touch surfaces, real wood trim, and metallic elements to create a spectacular if understated environment. There is a hypnotizing number of buttons on the dashboard, but all are within effortless reach and impart a sense of accessibility to the G90’s myriad controls and features that is unmatched in, say, a BMW. Even the menus in the 12.3-inch central display are intuitive and well introduced, and the now luxury-car-standard control knob on the center console makes quick work of navigating the digital space. A few bits and lumps are collective with lesser Hyundais, but the G90’s key touch points are specific to this design and operate with an expensive-feeling confidence. The knurled chrome steering-wheel controls, for example, as well as the infotainment system’s knob controller, are far more rewarding to use than any switch on the Cadillac CT6’s dashboard.
And Yet . . .
All of this lends the G90 an approachable plainness that stands out from the technologically dense BMW 7-series—and the stolid Mercedes-Benz S-class and Lexus LS460. Get in, drive, and be cosseted. That cohesion, which extends to the car’s mechanicals, was sorely lacking in Hyundai’s first-effort Genesis sedan and the old Equus, both of which seemed to incorporate the suspensions, steering systems, throttles, and brakes from different cars. We should applaud Genesis for improving on those products and synthesizing their character in the G90.
Set aside Hyundai’s rapid progress since building its very first U.S.-market car in the 1980s, tho’, and the G90 is less amazing on its own terms. Sure, it’s cohesive, but for any car that costs more than $65,000, that’s a core expectation. But where’s the beef? we ask. Where’s the “why buy?” The G90 brings not one unique feature or standout technology to the table. It doesn’t look particularly interesting from outside, and many others in its price range—notably the Volvo S90—match or exceed it in terms of interior loveliness. It doesn’t even suggest the sort of customization, options, or fancier trims for today’s luxury buyers who desire choice (and don’t they all?). Some may argue that the G90 needn’t be anything more inspired than an affordable net into which buyers who can’t sway an S-class can leap, but a flagship sedan for a luxury brand should aspire to being more. Genesis needs to make a statement via design, engineering, or manufacturing that it can create a car that suits the consumer’s desires better than its competitors. Ascension to the luxury ranks depends on creating a cult of desirability—no one buys Louis Vuitton handbags or BMWs because those brands began as discount-priced alternatives to higher-cachet products. As a luxury sedan, the G90 is just fine. As a means of establishing Genesis as a name worthy of respect, it needs more work.
Highs and Lows
Highs:
A flagship from the bargain aisle, divinely isolated, easy-to-use infotainment system, stunning interior appointments.
A flagship designed for the bargain aisle, anonymous styling, indistinct character.