Decided I wanted to go test the hype and see what the Genesis was really like. It was just a spur of the moment thing, where I decided to go test drive some stuff. This review covers the Genesis 2.0T and Genesis 3.8. Both were non-track pack cars, and both were 6MT's.
I will go through the bads and goods of each model, along with subjective stuff.
Genesis 2.0T:
This was the first one I drove. It was white with a dark gray cloth interior, and had an interesting pattern in the center of the seats. A couple of things I noticed upon initial inspection.
The styling looks better in person, although I still think it is a little funky compared to say, a Z. I REALLY like the rear end on the Genesis though, and the overall profile is good. The stock wheels are also nicely rendered without being gaudy.
The exterior door pull feels cheap. It doesn't feel very weighted, nor does it feel very sturdy. It sort of wobbles slightly when you pull it out as though it is flexing. From a durability standpoint, that concerns me.
The interior was not as bad as some make it sound. There is some soft touch material on the face of the dash, but most everything that isn't part of the main dash is hard like most other cars in the class. The difference here though is that while the padded parts of the dash have a nice texture and feel, the hard parts feel like really cheap plastic. One thing with like the Mazda 3 and Civic is that the graining on the hard parts matches the graining on the soft parts and the sheen is the same. The Genesis secondary plastics have a sort of rough unfinished feel to them. The center console lid feels cheap when you open and close it. The shifter knob is like trying to shift with a door knob, and it doesn't feel terribly substantial. The door panels suffer similar plastic graining, although things like the door pulls on the inside feel reasonably sturdy and the window switches work OK, if not with quite the same feel of some other brands. The doors sound a little junky and flimsy when you shut them.
The front seats were easy to get comfortable, and offered forward and rear sliding, seat back rake, and height adjustment on the driver's side. The bolstering was very decent without being constricting, and the cloth seemed to be grippy as cloth usually is. The overall control relationship was good, with pedals properly placed in relation to the steering column, and the seat.
I would say the same complaint you hear about the Accord applies to the Genesis. The center console is awash in buttons, although they are grouped by function. The font is smaller than the Accord, and buttons are similarly textured, so it is no easier to use than the Accord. If you don't like, make sure you can live with the Genesis functionality first. I found most of the switchgear to be OK. The exceptions were the knobs on the center console which felt about as good as the Civic's but no better. In a car that can cost upwards of $30K, that is not good IMO. Also, the turn signal and winshield wiper stalks feel cheap and flimsy with a very loose non-positive feel to them. There were some ergonomic faux pas IMO. The window switches were oddly positioned, etc, but again, nothing that should be a deal breaker.
I found no issues with the lighting of the display or gauges except that the color choice is slightly hard to seei n all lighting conditions as it is a blue background with white lettering. There just isn't a lot of contrast in some cases. This car had just over 200 miles on it, and had a slight occasional rattle around the guage cluster. The 3.8 did not have this problem, but it had half the miles.
I thought the 2.0T had a pretty decent exhaust note with just a slight hiss just off idle probably as a result of the turbo. The starter sounded junky though. Not as bad as the forks in a disposal sound of an old Cavalier, but certainly nothing positive and enjoyable sounding either.
Driving impressions. The engine has decent pull everywhere in the powerband. However, the shifter sucks, and the clutch pedal and gas pedal relationship is...interesting. You have to really slip the clutch in this car, and the engagement point is high up in the travel, and it isn't super positive. This lead to me either lugging the engine off idle, or slipping the clutch too much. I am sure you could adjust, but it just isn't worked out like it should be in a sports car. Couple that with the recalcitrant shifter that doesn't have very positive gates and requires fair amount of effort to move from gear to gear, and the experience is less than inspiring. I am used to Honda's shifters and clutches, but the fact is that Honda is so much better in this regard it isn't funny. While it doesn't stack up on paper, or even get mentioned with things like gear ratios and torque numbers etc, it is a HUGE part of the driver interface on such a car and as such, it detracts big time from the fun of the car. I don't know if short shifters will help a lot or not. The throws were terribly wrong, but the efforts and engagements were all out of whack.
The 4 banger had a nice linear powerband. If you punched it off the line, the boost seemed to start building in the 2500-3000 range and by about 3500-4000 RPM it was all the way on. It had great boost response because rather than exploding into boost, it just gradually built. I didn't notice any lugging or anything, unless I let the clutch out with not enough revs. It seemed to pull pretty decently to redline which I think was about 6,000-6500 RPM, but you could definitely feel the power level off around 5000 RPM. Unfortunately, the refinement on this engine is TERRIBLE. Above 5K the vibration gets so bad that you can litterally feel the whole car shaking with that wonderful second order vibration. No shit WAAY more engine vibration above 5K than a CB7 with solid mounts,no balance shafts etc. Yes, I am NOT exaggerating. It even had the garbage disposal/vacuum cleaner/industrial blender sound to go with it. That is too bad because below that point I had no complaints. That really surprised me. At 8K the K20 is begging for more revs as it smacks the limiter. At 5K, this engine will have you screaming "NO MORE!"
As far as pull, it was decent. It definitely has more torque than a K series below VTEC, but once VTEC kicks in, they pull similarly. The Genesis felt stronger today, probably because we are at 5,000 MSL and I am sure the Genesis Coupe uses boost to compensate for altitude. I wouldn't know, because there is no boost gauge.
The ride on the car was very good, and the handling seemed to be decent from what I could gather. I didn't find it spectacular, but I wouldn't consider it anywhere near flaccid. The 4 cylinder does really feel nose heavy at all, and it goes where it is pointed. The steering has decent heft to it, seemed to have reasonable feel/feedback, and the steering wheel had a nice shape and size to it. Nice thick rim, although the leather didn't seem that nice.
This car was stickered at $23K and frankly at that price, there are far better options. The Civic Si is the better enthusiasts car. It might not look as good, or stack up as well on paper, but the chassis is just as stiff, the ride similar, and it is more responsive and tactile, and the clutch shifter just blow the Genesis away. The steering does not have as much feel, but is quicker and more precise. I think the Civic's brakes have better initial bite, although the Genesis had very good, positive brakes. The Mazdaspeed 3 and GTI would probably be equally good as well. Where the Hyundai really gets killed is in refinement. It is just unacceptable for a modern car to have that issue with vibraton.
I was not impressed with the 2.0T pretty much at all.
I will go through the bads and goods of each model, along with subjective stuff.
Genesis 2.0T:
This was the first one I drove. It was white with a dark gray cloth interior, and had an interesting pattern in the center of the seats. A couple of things I noticed upon initial inspection.
The styling looks better in person, although I still think it is a little funky compared to say, a Z. I REALLY like the rear end on the Genesis though, and the overall profile is good. The stock wheels are also nicely rendered without being gaudy.
The exterior door pull feels cheap. It doesn't feel very weighted, nor does it feel very sturdy. It sort of wobbles slightly when you pull it out as though it is flexing. From a durability standpoint, that concerns me.
The interior was not as bad as some make it sound. There is some soft touch material on the face of the dash, but most everything that isn't part of the main dash is hard like most other cars in the class. The difference here though is that while the padded parts of the dash have a nice texture and feel, the hard parts feel like really cheap plastic. One thing with like the Mazda 3 and Civic is that the graining on the hard parts matches the graining on the soft parts and the sheen is the same. The Genesis secondary plastics have a sort of rough unfinished feel to them. The center console lid feels cheap when you open and close it. The shifter knob is like trying to shift with a door knob, and it doesn't feel terribly substantial. The door panels suffer similar plastic graining, although things like the door pulls on the inside feel reasonably sturdy and the window switches work OK, if not with quite the same feel of some other brands. The doors sound a little junky and flimsy when you shut them.
The front seats were easy to get comfortable, and offered forward and rear sliding, seat back rake, and height adjustment on the driver's side. The bolstering was very decent without being constricting, and the cloth seemed to be grippy as cloth usually is. The overall control relationship was good, with pedals properly placed in relation to the steering column, and the seat.
I would say the same complaint you hear about the Accord applies to the Genesis. The center console is awash in buttons, although they are grouped by function. The font is smaller than the Accord, and buttons are similarly textured, so it is no easier to use than the Accord. If you don't like, make sure you can live with the Genesis functionality first. I found most of the switchgear to be OK. The exceptions were the knobs on the center console which felt about as good as the Civic's but no better. In a car that can cost upwards of $30K, that is not good IMO. Also, the turn signal and winshield wiper stalks feel cheap and flimsy with a very loose non-positive feel to them. There were some ergonomic faux pas IMO. The window switches were oddly positioned, etc, but again, nothing that should be a deal breaker.
I found no issues with the lighting of the display or gauges except that the color choice is slightly hard to seei n all lighting conditions as it is a blue background with white lettering. There just isn't a lot of contrast in some cases. This car had just over 200 miles on it, and had a slight occasional rattle around the guage cluster. The 3.8 did not have this problem, but it had half the miles.
I thought the 2.0T had a pretty decent exhaust note with just a slight hiss just off idle probably as a result of the turbo. The starter sounded junky though. Not as bad as the forks in a disposal sound of an old Cavalier, but certainly nothing positive and enjoyable sounding either.
Driving impressions. The engine has decent pull everywhere in the powerband. However, the shifter sucks, and the clutch pedal and gas pedal relationship is...interesting. You have to really slip the clutch in this car, and the engagement point is high up in the travel, and it isn't super positive. This lead to me either lugging the engine off idle, or slipping the clutch too much. I am sure you could adjust, but it just isn't worked out like it should be in a sports car. Couple that with the recalcitrant shifter that doesn't have very positive gates and requires fair amount of effort to move from gear to gear, and the experience is less than inspiring. I am used to Honda's shifters and clutches, but the fact is that Honda is so much better in this regard it isn't funny. While it doesn't stack up on paper, or even get mentioned with things like gear ratios and torque numbers etc, it is a HUGE part of the driver interface on such a car and as such, it detracts big time from the fun of the car. I don't know if short shifters will help a lot or not. The throws were terribly wrong, but the efforts and engagements were all out of whack.
The 4 banger had a nice linear powerband. If you punched it off the line, the boost seemed to start building in the 2500-3000 range and by about 3500-4000 RPM it was all the way on. It had great boost response because rather than exploding into boost, it just gradually built. I didn't notice any lugging or anything, unless I let the clutch out with not enough revs. It seemed to pull pretty decently to redline which I think was about 6,000-6500 RPM, but you could definitely feel the power level off around 5000 RPM. Unfortunately, the refinement on this engine is TERRIBLE. Above 5K the vibration gets so bad that you can litterally feel the whole car shaking with that wonderful second order vibration. No shit WAAY more engine vibration above 5K than a CB7 with solid mounts,no balance shafts etc. Yes, I am NOT exaggerating. It even had the garbage disposal/vacuum cleaner/industrial blender sound to go with it. That is too bad because below that point I had no complaints. That really surprised me. At 8K the K20 is begging for more revs as it smacks the limiter. At 5K, this engine will have you screaming "NO MORE!"
As far as pull, it was decent. It definitely has more torque than a K series below VTEC, but once VTEC kicks in, they pull similarly. The Genesis felt stronger today, probably because we are at 5,000 MSL and I am sure the Genesis Coupe uses boost to compensate for altitude. I wouldn't know, because there is no boost gauge.
The ride on the car was very good, and the handling seemed to be decent from what I could gather. I didn't find it spectacular, but I wouldn't consider it anywhere near flaccid. The 4 cylinder does really feel nose heavy at all, and it goes where it is pointed. The steering has decent heft to it, seemed to have reasonable feel/feedback, and the steering wheel had a nice shape and size to it. Nice thick rim, although the leather didn't seem that nice.
This car was stickered at $23K and frankly at that price, there are far better options. The Civic Si is the better enthusiasts car. It might not look as good, or stack up as well on paper, but the chassis is just as stiff, the ride similar, and it is more responsive and tactile, and the clutch shifter just blow the Genesis away. The steering does not have as much feel, but is quicker and more precise. I think the Civic's brakes have better initial bite, although the Genesis had very good, positive brakes. The Mazdaspeed 3 and GTI would probably be equally good as well. Where the Hyundai really gets killed is in refinement. It is just unacceptable for a modern car to have that issue with vibraton.
I was not impressed with the 2.0T pretty much at all.
Overall, Hyundai has provided a great enthusiast car in the 3.8, and definitely a lot of car for the buck. Best choice? I would need to drive more to make that determination, but it definitely warrants consideration. As for the 2.0T? I wouldn't even consider it, but that is just personal opinion.
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