can Hyundai's new luxury division Genesis repeat its magic from the g80
and g90 sedans in a smaller less expensive package with the all-new g70
well after three days behind the wheel the answer is yes
the g70 holds up on the driving front but like with the G 80 and g90 the real
magic comes beyond that so let's start with those driving aspects the g 7e
comes with a four cylinder or a v6 engine both turbocharged there's
automatic transmissions across the board but with the four-cylinder you can get
an optional six-speed manual the rear-wheel drive there's all-wheel drive
we drove a whole bunch of those combinations in the hills of southern
Maine as well as at Club Motorsports that's a racetrack two and a half miles
15 turns 250 feet of elevation change in central New Hampshire we also drove
several versions of the G 70 at an autocross course next to the racetrack
so lots of experience in the car and I gotta say it's not the most fun craft
car in the class but certainly holds its own a little bit lazier steering turning
a little more body roll and maybe some competitors like the Jaguar XE the Alfa
Romeo Giulia but certainly still within the realm of fun to drive fairly neutral
chassis dynamics to get into corner big sweeping corners a little bit of
understeer coming in but then it kind of maneuvers you can sneak the tail around
a little bit if you want it's fairly predictable very good brakes there's
optional Brembo brakes on the g7 T's that we drove at the track I took them
through ten laps still held up even on the tenth lap not too much brake fade
and the cars very very composed bonhomie on the straightaways at a hundred miles
an hour doesn't feel skittish doesn't feel like the tail is gonna I want to
move around on you even coming and braking in a straight
all very very good stuff shows a lot of care went into chassis engineering for
this vehicle now you get on public roads there's three suspension setups there's
a two fixed suspensions fixed rate shock absorbers there's adaptive shock
absorbers that are optional the base suspension is comfort to you sort of and
then there's a sport-tuned version now we've driven two of those three kind of
the base two versions not the adaptive setup yet and the g70 is firms certainly
but comfortably so lights again barely control doesn't really beat you up as a
feel to chopping even over broken pavement now about those drive trains
the 2-liter turbo 4-cylinder has decent power good building kind of sensation as
you get past 3,000 rpm all the way up to redline
really I don't see why anyone would need the bigger engine but something you're
gonna want it and it's got just explosive power regardless of rpm
Genesis says it hits 60 miles an hour in just four and a half seconds that's
competitive with cars like the Audi s4 that the MW 340i the Mercedes seen 43
the AMG version and just lots and lots of power we were going uphill with two
adults aboard and gearing back at like 17 1800 rpm now the v6 comes with an
8-speed automatic standard that's available on the forest loan and you can
also get a manual the automatic is a really really good transmission I don't
say that about a lot of 8-speed automatic setup shifts very seamlessly
smoothly often don't even know that it's up shifting but then when you need more
power dig into the gas just a little bit it
kicks down one two years really really quick doesn't delay a very very nice
decisive transmission probably better of a choice than the manual now I like the
fact that they're offering a manual transmission on the G semi that's nice
to have in a sports sedan because a lot of sport sedans are just doing away with
manuals all together but the six-speed manual is just not the most well
executed transmission kind of loose clunky shifter here big
long gates just doesn't feel all that engaging it is nice though that throttle
response is very good that's really important for a rev-matching if you want
to drive a manual properly but like I said before the g7 is real appeal comes
beyond the driving aspects they have interior quality pretty competitive for
the segment I got to say a nice detailing on things like the center
console where sections that face the driver have this sort of low glass
wrapping on them a very good level of attention to detail a lot like you see
from Audi along the center portion of the - there is a vinyl wrapping of
stitching that standard that's not optional you don't have to pay extra to
get some kind of interior upgrades package to get it that's nice to see
also standard lots and lots of practicality here there's an 8 inch
touchscreen you know you know stuff you have to do here with a knob or a
touchpad - you can just reach up and do your thing it has standard apple carplay
Android auto HD radio there's physical volume and tuning knobs on the
shortcut-keys here big knobs here for your climate controls very very easy to
use lots of storage space - there's this generous cubby here ahead of the gear
shift underneath to be the center armrest you and automatic transmission
cars there's enough space even for a 16 ounce water bottle overhead you've got a
sunglass holder I mean any non luxury car owner is gonna think well what's the
big deal you get into a lot of luxury cars and they just drop the ball on
stuff like this in the name of luxury for some reason I really like that the G
70 didn't overthink it now in terms of backseat space a little bit on the tight
side there if you're looking for that cars like the Audi a4 have a lot more of
it than the g7 II do and I'm 6 feet tall I do wish there was
a little bit more width here to kind of split out my knees but lots and lots of
adjustment range for the driver's seat where I stick to Drive I'm about 4
inches ahead of all the way back now when the g70 goes on sale at the end of
the current season that's summer of 2018 it'll start around $35,000 a pretty
decent value when you consider that that big multimedia system and a full suite
of safety features are all standard it'll top out around $50,000 we're told
again a decent value when you consider that many of the G seventies German
competitors go well north of that mark once you add the bells and whistles now
I know what a lot of you are thinking Genesis and untested luxury brand maybe
you'd rather stick with Lexus or Mercedes Benz or BMW especially since a
lot of these G 70s at least initially are basically going to be sold out of
the back of unday dealerships with maybe some differentiations showroom type
stuff going on but can't hide the fact that it's still at a big Hyundai store I
got to say though you got to get over that because the g 70 is a very well
rounded entry in a very competitive class definitely worth adding to your
list
you