Hyundai Genesis review

Geneses are being specifically tweaked for the UK market, which must rank as a fairly extraordinary outlay given the potential return.

Hyundai might not be serious about selling vast quantities of the Genesis in Europe, then, but it is utterly serious about what this car stands for. It’s meant to get you used to the idea that a Hyundai can have high levels of interior craftsmanship, so that you don’t have to stifle a giggle when you first spot there’s wood, aluminium and leather on display.

You’re meant to be similarly unsurprised, too, if your forthcoming Hyundai small family car borrows features from the Genesis, like lane-departure warning, a cabin CO2 monitor that detects when you’re tired (high carbon dioxide levels can make drivers feel sleepy), a system that warns of oncoming traffic when you’re reversing from a parking space, city braking, a head-up display, and so on. 

That the showcase for these things is a five-metre saloon with a near four-litre V6 attached is by the by.

There’s more, too, though, and this bit is important: the Genesis is meant to tell you – and everyone within Hyundai – that chassis dynamics matter. The Genesis, like the Santa Fe and Veloster, is designed (the company freely admits) for the Far East and the US markets first, and then ‘adapted’ for Europe.

Sometimes, dynamically, Hyundai doesn’t adapt its cars well enough for Europe, it admits. Not this time, it says. The Genesis has one suspension set-up for its traditional markets; then there is another for mainland Europe; and a third for the UK. Lotus has completed much of the legwork for the Euro and UK spec cars, which is encouraging.

It tells us that this is an interior better than Hyundai has ever before produced. Fit and finish is very good. The rooflining, particularly, is pleasingly soft. Materials are of a higher grade than you’ll find elsewhere in the European Hyundai range, but is it worthy of the sticker price? Different question, and I’d say not quite. The action of switches is fine: but the look and feel of the plastics isn’t quite up there. The starter button’s nice, though, and if you thumb it this is a quiet motor at idle, becoming pleasingly audible with the gas pedal applied.