As you guys already know, I was invited by Hyundai to test drive their new 2015 Hyundai Genesis. I flew to Scottsdale, Arizona this past weekend and stayed at the Sanctuary on Camelback Mountain Resort and Spa with about 20 other bloggers to test drive the Genesis.
[ads id=”0″ style=”float:left;padding:9px;”]That day i had the pleasure to meet Hector Russo, Editor In Chief, at GeeksRoom.com I recommend you guys to read his blog! We decided to drive the Genesis together and find out what all new features Hyundai brought this year. We both knew we had to drive the V8 first, so we picked their 5.0 Ibiza blue since the color was very appealing to the eye.
The first thing that will get your attention on the new Genesis will definitely have to be the new front grill, which comes from the hood line all the way down to the bottom of the car. This Premium hexagonal grill could be something that will distinguish all their luxurious car from their sporty and economy car. Using the big grill on the Genesis, Hyundai placed a sensor and a camera that is located behind the rear view mirror, both for new features.
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The shoes for the Genesis with the 3.8 V6 GDi model you will get 18 inches wheel with P245/45R18 tires nothing fancy but not bad either and with the 5.0 V8 Tau engine you will get 19 inches wheels with P245/40R19 tires. Some nice design on the wheels but nothing fancy, at least to me..
The trunk has a really big room for luggage or lots of grocery bags, currently beating most of the competition on cargo volume except on the Mercedes Benz E-class. One of the new features Hyundai has implement on the Genesis is hands-free smart trunk in which they call it World’s 1st and here is how it works, you walk to the trunk within 3 feet, with the keys on your pockets, it will automatically pop open the trunk for you, just that easy and convenient when you have all your hands occupy. Now this features can be deactivate in case it bothers you.
Now your side mirrors has the blind spot alert light in which comes handy but something nice that we are finding in all Korean car is when you walk away from your car the mirrors will fold close and when you get closer it will fold open as well as unlock your doors. Another feature added on the Genesis is the puddle lamps, they are install under the side mirrors and will illuminate to the floor the Hyundai Genesis logo. I really doubt a lot of people are going to like that but it’s there in case you like it.
Interior
Now when you open the door, you are greeted with a nice leather steering wheel with the Genesis emblem and the same steering wheel controls as before but also with new features that we will talk later. Once you sit down you will find the cluster with a 7 inches color TFT LCD (4.3 inches comes as standard) this will display all the different setting and new features of the Genesis such as their new TPMS with individual tire pressure.
I also found another screen for the AVN system. Now remember that Hyundai is the first automaker implementing Google on their cars so this car is powered by Google. The navigation screen was 9.2 inches (4.5 is standard). Navigating was really easy so you don’t have to look for too long on the screen in order to find something but the best of all is even with a sunny day you can clearly see the screen. You also have the navigation knob below the shifter making it even easier.
Something really neat on the navigation is that once you come to a turn or exit the screen will split and show you where you have to turn on one side and the map on the other side, this reminded me of the Navigon app. We found on this Genesis the GRAMMY award winner Lexicon with their Discrete Logic 7 Surround System with 17 speakers and there is also a 14 speakers configuration. The sound quality was really nice and when in navigation the front speakers will shut the music and give you the commands while the rest of speakers will still play the music on the background.
Let’s not forget about the seats, these are leather seats with 16 way adjustment( for the 5.0 and 12 way for the 3.8) as well as the presets and power seat cushion extender and side bolster on the driver side. One thing I do want to point out is cooling seat, this worked terrific on the Arizona weather conditions! And best of all is that the passenger can also have it(standard on the 5.0 and optional on the 3.8).
The sunroof on this Genesis is panoramic and it felt nice having it open during the day but because we had a very windy day it made a lot of noise so we close it later but still enjoying the view of the sky. Sunhades will be found on this car on the rear window that can controlled from the driver side and 2 more on the rear passengers doors that will have to be pull up manually.
Turning on the car will require pressing the brakes and pushing the buttom, first thing you will notice will be the Heads-up Display (HUD). Now this isnt your regular HUD, because this is a very informational one. The information displayed on the HUD will be the speed, navigation, speed limit (perfect for those out of town trips), time, directions but the main thing will be your new alerts such as Blind Spot Detection System (BSD), Lane Change Assist (LCA), rear cross-traffic alerfatigue, Smart Cruise control, Lane Departure warning system, forward collision and Welcome & Goodbye, but we will talk about those later. Also on the interior Hyundai is using genuine Aluminum as well as real woodgrain accents which gives that extra luxury feel to the Genesis.
Performance
The 5.0 cars felt heavy but that is something you will expect from a luxury car, the V8 surely wakes up once you step all the way but other then that its a very quite car, you can barely hear the road which makes your ride a very pleasant one. Now since we were on a empty highway we test drove the car to a high speed and I can say the Genesis surely huge those corners very nicely, the steering wheel feel was great and that thanks to the new changes, Hyundai Engineers have mounted the steering column at the rack, replacing their electro-hydraulic power steering, improving the responsiveness of the car at every turn you make. We drove the car for about 200 miles between Hector and me. We sure put that new steering wheel for the test while hugging those curves in Arizona.
Now the Genesis has 3 modes, one is Normal, Sports and Eco. What these will do is change the setting for engine, transmission and suspension. Hyundai Engineers have also installed their HTRAC AWD which it was developed with Magna Powertrain for all those weather conditions.
New features
Thanks to the sensor on the grill and rear bumper, and the camera on the windshield Hyundai has brought new features that will help with your everyday drive and it’ll be significantly.
Blind Sport Detection System(BSD)
This really helped me, the first couple times I did it unporpuse worked perfectly and then one time I didn’t notice I used my turn signal before merging to the next lane and the car started beeping alerting me of a car behind me, really nice.
Rear Cross-traffic Alert (RTCA)
Didn’t use this much since we were driving forward all the time but what this will do is detects cars that are on your path while backing up with the same alerts, audio and visual.
Lane Change Assist(LCA)
This will alert you of any vehicle rapidly approaching you from the back not only from a close distance but also from a larger distance.
Lane Departure Warning System(LWDS)
This feature will provide a warning light as well as haptic steering wheel vibration when you don’t use your turn signal for changing lanes. Now this is a very simple function that might come very annoying to people but I truly belief this is a must. This feature is activated when driving over 40mph.
Lane Keep Assist (LKAS)
This will correct the car if you driving out of your lane by slightly turning your steering wheel for you, it also provides haptic feedback to steering wheel as well as visual alert. I believe this was a great integration and this will help a lot of people. From experience i can say it because I got into an accident once by hitting the cones of the HOV lane, i got distracted for a second and boom 4k in damages.
Smart Cruise control
This will make you very happy, because we all hate turning off the cruise control because someone in front of you slows down or you get into a small traffic. Well this new feature works as this, you will activate your cruise control as normal and the car will start cruising but if a car comes in front you, the Genesis will keep a distance, meaning it will brake for you and if the car in front comes to a complete stop and then moves forward the Genesis will auto restart the speed until it reaches the speed you setup before.
Automatic Emergency Braking System(AEB)
This will use the smart cruise control system radar as well as the camera from LDW to partially or fully brake to mitigate or completely avoid a collision. A lot of people will feel much safer with this feature on.
In-Cabin CO2 sensor
This is a world’s 1st and the story says that one day a Hyundai engineer was driving his car with 2 more passengers on the back. Couple hours later he started feeling very sleeping, because of that he decided to research about it and discover that the amount of CO2 accumulated on the car was high because of the extra passengers, making him very sleepy. Thats how they created this new feature, the CO2 will be maintained below 2000 part per million in the cabin reducing fatigue and drowsiness.
Conclusion
There are couple things I couldnt test or talk about, but that will be done with a full review when we get the car to test drive it. but I’ll have to say the new Hyundai Genesis has definitely blown my mind with so many helpful features. for some you don’t even think how helpful they can be but its there to help you with your everyday drive or that special road trip you always wanted to do.
The design, performance and technology makes this Hyundai Genesis worth every single dollar you spend on the car. If you are planning to upgrade your Genesis, jump into the luxury car segment or change car automakers, I’ll recommend you to test drive this Genesis on your nearest dealers because this car will blow your mind…Guaranteed!
