2012 Hyundai Genesis sedan: a lot of car for little money
Excellent family car. Fit and finish are on par with Infiniti or Lexus. The Electronic Stability Control does a superb job keeping everything from going awry when the roads get wet or slippery; but it sacrifices some of the driving fun, feel of the engine power, and taut handling, to do this. The 385hp 4.6 v8 takes a bit of encouragement to feel strong, but that may have been done to maintain a respectable mileage rating. (If you put you the hammer down: the 4.6 does have a respectable 0-60). Other than that; with the right tires, the ride is quiet and smooth. The 8-speed transmission does its job, without letting you know about it. The seat cooler is adjustable and almost feels like an air conditioning vent for your back. The 17-speaker Lexicon sound system impresses me much more than the Bose system in my previous car. It has very good fidelity balance, although some writers complain it lacks the booming bass. The surround-sound does a respectable job for everything; from talk-radio to the entire palette of SiriusXM. The car has a few engineering curiosities: instead of separate bulbs for daylights, the high beams serve double duty (100w/55w) for the job. The auto headlight sensor is a little too sensitive and turns on the headlights fairly easily; but that may be unique this particular vehicle. The sun-visors do not have extension-plates on them: strange for an automobile of this caliber - especially one with a retractable rear sun-shade. I love the Auto-hold; but that is one of those love-hate features.
After all the pluses and minuses; the car is a joy to drive, especially in commuting traffic. It is not a euro-luxury sedan; but it is, in many ways, better than the older Infiniti M35x it replaced. Plus: I got a full size sedan, with decent fit /finish, all the toys, a V8/A8 drive-train, still had an active warranty left from 2012, under 30k miles, - for $25+ grand. Try getting that with any top-tier Japanese, German, or even American sedan.
Recommended