Genesis GV70 V6 turbo detailed review 2022 It's like a cut-price Maybach SUV
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00:00G'day, I'm Paul. So, don't confuse that logo there for Aston Martin. It's Genesis, which is the luxury arm of Hyundai.
00:07And this is an all-new car for them. It is incredibly important. It's called the GV70. It's important because it's an SUV.
00:13I know how much you guys like those.
00:14But it's also important because it competes in that sort of entry-level
00:18luxury SUV set. And a lot of people are spending money on those at the moment because they're not traveling,
00:23they've got spare cash to burn, and they want a nice luxury SUV to get into. This right here is the top of the
00:29tree. It's the GV70 3.5T Sport All-Wheel Drive, which means it's got a twin-turbo V6 under the bonnet.
00:36It's priced at just under
00:38$85,000. This also has the Luxury Pack, which adds extra on top of that.
00:43I'll run you through that later on.
00:44But if that's too expensive, the entire range kicks off with the entry-level 2.5-litre, which is priced at just over
00:50$65,000. This competes with things like the Mercedes-Benz GLC, the BMW X3, and the Audi Q5.
00:57Today, we're going to do a detailed review of this car.
01:00If you do want to skip ahead to other parts of the review, you can use the time codes up on the screen there,
01:04or simply use the chapters below if you're on YouTube.
01:07And if you haven't done so already, subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon.
01:11That's going to tell you every single time we review something new and fresh.
01:15Okay, let's talk exterior as it starts raining. Sorry about that, and the wind.
01:19This is available in 10 exterior colors, and they're all free of charge except the matte colors. They're an additional $2,000.
01:26I love matte colors because they really just make a car like this pop, and it just looks sensational with all these dark highlights down the bottom there.
01:33So, big fan of that. So, a big proudly worn Genesis emblem up the top there.
01:38Down here, the Sport comes with these blacked-out sections, so you have that sort of
01:43shadow finish on the grille, and I think it looks fantastic.
01:46It's got 3D elements to it, and just behind it there,
01:48you can see the active vanes that open and close to either heat up or cool down the engine as required.
01:53You've got a camera in there for the 360 camera, and then a bottom section here that exposes another cooling element. Across the side here,
02:00you've got ducts here that shoot out the side. Full LED headlights with LED daytime running lights.
02:06The Luxury Pack also gets adaptive headlights. You can see here with the headlight,
02:10they've split it up, and that follows the rest of that Genesis theme. We've seen that on the GV80 as well.
02:14It's just their signature, and I think it'll continue as they release new models. Around the side here, have a look at these wheels.
02:2121 inches, they are whoppers, on fairly low-profile tyre as well.
02:26So, be interested to see how this rides, because it does have adaptive damping,
02:30but unless they've gone to a lot of effort here with the tuning,
02:32this could be quite a firm ride. In terms of braking, you have four piston calipers and a
02:38360mm rotor. Keep in mind, twin-turbo V6, this thing will get along pretty quickly,
02:43so you need a big set of stoppers to pull it up there. I like this wheel design as well.
02:47There's little carved out sections here that give it that aerodynamic and sporty look. Have a look up here as well.
02:53There's crease lines that run around the car here,
02:55and I think they really emphasize all of the design elements, and I'm not a designer myself,
03:00but I just love the fact how that bonnet overlaps the side there, and you've got that hard edge on it.
03:04I think that is a really cool setup. Indicator built into that wing mirror. Another camera on the side there.
03:09You've got a panoramic sunroof, privacy glass, more of that shadow finish along the side. Around the back,
03:15you've got these really cool LED lighting elements along there, here as well,
03:19and these look cool at nighttime because they really just make this thing stand out.
03:23It looks like a spaceship at nighttime. All-wheel drive badge, dual exhaust pipes. Now with the exhaust pipes, the non-V6
03:30models get these strange looking vertical pipes there, and not a huge fan of them.
03:35I think this is a really nice classy looking setup and kind of signifies that you're packing some V6 punch there as well.
03:40So let me know what you think about the design. Do you think it looks good?
03:43Do you think it looks better than the bigger GV80, or do you reckon this is a bit of a miss in terms of design?
03:47Let me know in the comment section. So we are inside the GV70. We'll kick off with the key first.
03:53So here it is. You've got lock, unlock, boot. You've got a button here for remote start.
03:58You also have the remote park feature,
04:01which creeps the car forwards or backwards out of tight parking spaces.
04:04Then the Genesis logo on the back and this sort of rubberized key. Proximity sensing,
04:09so you leave that in your pocket. Then once you're inside, you have this really nice looking start button
04:14that kind of looks like a glass cover.
04:16Yeah, have a look at this interior. It is absolutely premium.
04:20This kind of feels like a Maybach instead of an entry-level premium SUV.
04:25They really have taken it up a notch, and I will caveat here that this interior,
04:30we have the luxury pack as an option on this car.
04:33So some of the stuff that I mentioned might not actually be standard, so keep that in mind, but yeah,
04:37I mean, Nappa leather across the dashboard there. You've got this Alcantara lining along the rest of the car.
04:43It just looks a million bucks, even though you're not paying a million bucks, and that carries over to the seats as well.
04:48You've got that quilting finish with perforations, and then instead of being black,
04:53it's like this dark blue color with red stitching that carries over to the seatbelts as well.
04:57Then on top of that, the Genesis interior lighting game is very strong. Here on the doors,
05:02you've got these beautiful things that light up at night time, and there's just a fantastic ambience inside the cabin.
05:07It makes you feel right at home. Now, what about the touch points?
05:11Really soft, and that is pretty soft over there. How soft is it? Well, we've got our durometer.
05:17We've tested the main surfaces in this cabin.
05:18If you want to see how this car compares to other cars that we've tested before,
05:22have a look at the link in the description. Now, build quality. What's it like, given you're paying so much more than
05:27another Hyundai or Kia product?
05:29Look, that's a bit loose, which is disappointing. I would have expected that to be
05:34much more solid than that, but the rest of this feels pretty good, in my opinion.
05:38Now, let's move on to infotainment. When I first got in this car and switched it on,
05:42I was like, whoa, look at that screen. It is absolutely huge. So, 14 and a half inch display.
05:49It's super, super wide, and I don't know, it's so imposing.
05:52It really just takes your attention when you hop inside the car, and I think it looks fantastic.
05:57So, a big tick there, and it's all controlled using this controller down here.
06:01This is another thing that just looks way over the top for something in this price point.
06:05It's like a, it feels like a glass sort of iDrive-esque controller.
06:09It really is quite a special looking thing, and you use this to transition between all of your menu items.
06:15So, in terms of radio, you have AM, FM and DAB plus digital radio, and it's all powered by a
06:2116-speaker Lexicon by Harman sound system. So, you did ask me about rating these sound systems.
06:28We don't really have a measure like we do the durometer, but according to my ears, the sound system is bloody awesome.
06:33So, it has so many speakers here that really you are bound to find one speaker that is going to make your ear
06:40very happy when you crank the tunes. It has plenty of bass and quite sort of clear treble as well.
06:46So, very impressive sound system. In terms of connectivity,
06:49you can use Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. Both are wired though, unfortunately, not wireless.
06:55So, I'll show you what Android Auto looks like first. There it is. So, not a full screen integration, which is
07:02just a little bit silly. I would have liked to see the thing take up the entire screen,
07:05but it is nice and fast and it transitions through these menus very quickly.
07:10But it really only does take up half the screen because this kind of does nothing there,
07:13and then you have the internal satellite navigation on that side. And this is what Apple CarPlay looks like.
07:19It just looks massive in comparison. There you go.
07:21It's a much, much bigger setup, but I've said this before that it is frustrating.
07:26You can't just use the right on your iDrive controller to get across to the other side of the screen.
07:32You've got to really scroll through all of those menus.
07:34This is a touchscreen as well if you don't want to use that. In terms of other things you've got on here,
07:38you've got voice memos, you have settings for the vehicle, the sounds of nature to put the kids to sleep,
07:44quiet mode as well.
07:45So you can just have audio up the front here and you're not annoying the kids in the back there.
07:49You can also get visualizations on the terrain mode.
07:51So when we go for a drive, I'll run you through the different drive modes,
07:54but you can see here that when you do select them, it gives you a few extra bits and pieces and then animations for your
08:00muddy, rutted or uneven terrain journey.
08:04Ahead of the driver is a 12.3 inch display. So this has all your critical car functions.
08:10You can also change the contents of the center of the display.
08:13But with this luxury pack, it actually gives you the ability to make this 3D.
08:18So currently it's off and this is going to be pretty much impossible to see on the camera,
08:21but I'll run through medium and then maximum.
08:25To me, it's actually much sharper with it just off and in its standard view as opposed to the 3D view.
08:32So yeah, I don't really see the point in it to be honest. Now, what about safety?
08:36You have front and rear AEB with pedestrian and cyclist detection. You have an auto dimming rear vision mirror.
08:43Over on the wing mirror, you have a blind spot monitor.
08:46But in addition to that, you also have a camera built into here every time you activate the indicator.
08:51I'll show you what that looks like when we go for a drive.
08:53You have a lane departure warning and a lane keeping assistant along with the semi-autonomous steering function.
08:58You've got a safe exit assistant to prevent you from opening the door if there's another vehicle coming.
09:02You have a reminder to check the back seats if you've left the kids in there.
09:07You know, people have been doing this lately and I'm glad that there is a reminder there for those that
09:12genuinely don't check if their kids are in the back seat of the car when it's hot.
09:16You have a junction assistant that stops you going across an intersection if there are other vehicles coming.
09:21There's rear cross traffic alert and finally on the parking front you have front and rear parking sensors and a 360 camera.
09:27So let's have a look at what that looks like. Here it is here.
09:30Look at that. That's actually really impressive. It's super high resolution.
09:34The top-down view is okay, but not amazing.
09:36But you can change between views here.
09:39So you can see down the back flanks of the car and then you also have a top-down view at the rear.
09:44It's pretty useful if you are mounting a trailer or something like that. You need better visibility.
09:48You also have a 3D mode. Have a look at this. We can race around the car there.
09:52So this stuff's more of a gimmick because as you can tell,
09:55I don't know. I can't really see anything there. The box that we have next to the car looks
09:59like it's a pancake as opposed to a box.
10:01So these things are more of a gimmick than anything, but it is cool that it still has that regardless.
10:05And then you also have that automatic parking assist feature as well. Right, our practicality and we'll start with connectivity. Down here
10:11you've got two USB points and a Qi wireless phone charger. In here
10:16you have a 12-volt socket. In terms of storing your phone,
10:19you can pop it down there on your wireless phone charger or it can simply live in the cup holders.
10:24Cup holders. Let's see how they go with our bottle.
10:28Nardrama's holding that and you've got rubber feet on the bottom and then also teeth on the sides.
10:33And then the bottle easily fits into the door. We'll try to fit our big bottle in and see if that works.
10:41No, that's not going to fit in there. So just small bottles only. Then here you have a really deep center console that goes all
10:48the way in there and then you have a little trinket tray up the top.
10:52You have a generously sized glove box and also a sunglasses holder up the top. What about your comfort features?
10:58So dual zone climate control up the front here. You have more up the back that I'll run through shortly.
11:03Heated and cooled seats. You have a heated steering wheel.
11:07You also have a massage function, which I'm a really big fan of. I love this display as well.
11:13That is another high resolution screen there that activates when you start sort of moving things around and it's got
11:18capacitive touch. So as you push your finger on it, it gives you a little bit of feedback on it as well.
11:23So really impressive setup there. In terms of the seats themselves and comfort,
11:29yeah, this is a really good setup.
11:31So 18-way power adjustment as part of that luxury pack with the massage that I mentioned.
11:36When you do put it into sport mode, the seats hug you in tightly and it kind of makes you feel
11:41like a bit of a race car driver. They have a multitude of sort of adjustment options there.
11:46Your steering wheel also offers tilt and reach adjustment electrically. Now,
11:51you may have noticed as well that the steering wheel looks completely different to the GV80 wheel.
11:55The GV80 wheel just has this strange design to it that people either love or hate,
11:59whereas this is more a traditional design and I think this looks much better.
12:02It's got the third sort of spoke down the bottom here and it just sits nicely in the hand with easily accessible paddle shifters.
12:08So it's a really good setup and I think it just looks way better than the GV80 wheel.
12:12Then in terms of our reach test, most of this stuff is okay to reach,
12:16but you do have to lean forward if you want anything here and you absolutely have to lean forward if you need to use the
12:21touch function of that infotainment display.
12:24Okay, second row of the GV70. I actually have a surprising amount of room here.
12:28So my driver's seat is pretty far back, but I still have a decent amount of knee room.
12:34Toe room's great and headroom is excellent. It's a really nice place to be seated too.
12:38You get the same style of seats as you do up the front there.
12:41So very premium look with that red stitching contrasting the the navy blue. You've got pockets in the back of the seats.
12:48This is where your third zone of climate control is.
12:51You also have access to heated seat controls for the two outboard seats, two USB slots down the bottom here.
12:58Then in the center you have two cup holders.
13:01Easily hold our bottle there and this
13:04fits or should fit nicely inside the doors.
13:07I like this. You have manual blinds for your second row, two ISOFIX points on your outboard seats and
13:15look at this, you have the ability to shift your passenger seat out of the way to grant yourself a little bit more leg room
13:21in the second row. Okay, what about cargo space? Now, no buttons around here. There is just one
13:28under there, which I think is a really good placement. Give that a push, your boot opens.
13:33So you have a little over 500 litres of cargo space in this configuration here. Under here
13:38you also have a space saver spare tyre and then storage for your cargo blind as well. Off to the side here
13:44you've got some hooks, a 12-volt outlet.
13:47You've got odds and ends like this cargo netting. You also have these two, so I'll show you what's in this.
13:54It is your roadside kit.
13:57So you crack that open, you've got yourself a set of gloves, a poncho,
14:01a towel if you want to have a shower on the side of the road.
14:03You've got a flashlight. What else have we got here? Hand cleaner. This is a really cool setup.
14:09So if you are ever unfortunate enough to break down or need to change a tyre or something,
14:13we've pretty much got you covered with that kit and then you've got a first aid kit there as well.
14:18Let's have a look at what it's like with our bags in. So laptop bag there, we'll see how this fits.
14:24There you go, not a drama at all. Get that out of the way and I'll show you what it looks like when we drop the second row.
14:29So getting rid of these two seats expands the space to a little over 1600 litres and if our little
14:35first aid kit, the roadside thing weren't there, that would be a fairly flat load floor.
14:39So we are on the road in the GV70. Powering this particular version is a 3.5-litre twin turbocharged V6 petrol engine.
14:47It makes 279 kilowatts of power and 530 newton metres of torque.
14:52And that's all mated to a eight-speed automatic torque converter transmission and it uses all-wheel drive as well with a rear bias.
15:00So it's constantly sending torque to the rear with dabbles that are going to the front axle.
15:04So how does all that feel behind the wheel?
15:06Well, this engine is deceiving because it's incredibly quiet in here.
15:09Even when it's running, sometimes you need to check the tacho, which goes in reverse by the way, to see whether it's actually doing anything.
15:16But then when you do get stuck into it,
15:18you can hear it doing stuff.
15:20It actually sounds pretty much exactly like the Kia Stinger used to before they fitted it with a sports exhaust.
15:25So what does the gearbox actually feel like? Well, the engine's smooth.
15:28The gearbox is pretty good. It's not the snappiest gearbox in the world,
15:33but when you do lean into it, it does respond and sort of gets up and starts moving.
15:38Let's just give it a kick here while it's napping.
15:41Yeah, look, it could be quicker and I think that's the issue with this in-house
15:44transmission from the Hyundai group.
15:48It is just a little bit lazy sometimes, especially when mated to this engine.
15:51This is an engine that has a lot of torque and you really just want to be able to feel it.
15:55You don't feel it until you get properly stuck into it. In terms of fuel economy,
15:5911.3 litres per 100 kilometres is the official figure.
16:03But as you can see down there, we are currently averaging 12 litres per 100 km.
16:07Keep in mind, we have been doing a fair bit of highway driving and a little bit of performance testing today.
16:11So that figure is probably a little higher than what you would expect it to normally be.
16:15And if you are filling this up with fuel, it takes a minimum 95 RON premium unleaded.
16:20So it'll be slightly more expensive than equivalent cars that will run on 91.
16:23Now in terms of your drive modes, you have a switch here that allows you to go between your drive modes and your terrain modes.
16:28So if you push it down, it takes you to terrain and you can choose snow, mud or sand.
16:32That varies your stability control depending on which option you choose.
16:35But if you flick it the other way, you've got Eco, Comfort, Sport, Sport Plus and Custom.
16:42So there's quite a few controls there. Now in Comfort mode, the adaptive dampers, they really soak up bumps beautifully.
16:48You would never know this was on 21-inch alloy wheels. Even with consecutive bumps, you can feel it just soaks them up beautifully.
16:54Part of that is thanks to this camera mounted up the top here. It's able to read the road ahead.
16:58It'll determine that you do have imperfections coming up and then it will adjust your suspension accordingly
17:03so that you're not crashing over things regardless of the drive mode that you're in.
17:07Now, what's it like if you put it into Sport mode? Let's give this a little crack here.
17:11We've got our little corner coming up. It is incredibly wet outside. So I don't expect this to be amazing.
17:18It's actually not too bad.
17:20It can understeer and then it can oversteer. So depending on where you catch it in its cycle,
17:25it's either going to push you wide or try and send the rear end around. But it's quite progressive.
17:31So it's not going to catch you by surprise. It will just sort of creep up on you, but you will know that it's coming.
17:37Also call out with the all-wheel drive system that it has a limited slip differential on the rear.
17:41So the front really is just aiding you when you need it as opposed to being a proper sort of
17:47full-time all-wheel drive system that's always doing things. It is just there to help when you lose traction at the rear end.
17:53Now, how quick is it from 0 to 100? We put it up against our stopwatch and this is how it went.
18:01It is deceiving though because it doesn't feel like you're going fast.
18:08But then when you look at the speedo, you're going at a fair rate of knots. Now you can hear that beeping.
18:12That is the most annoying lane departure warning system in the world. So I'm going to kill that quickly.
18:17I've found that with Hyundai and Kia cars, it just doesn't really work that well.
18:20It can't predict corners
18:22sort of efficiently enough and it sort of pinballs between them and then the lane departure warning just constantly goes off.
18:28And then when you sort of
18:30need it to work, it doesn't know that you're still in the lane.
18:33So yeah, it's just not a very good system and I think it needs a little bit of refinement. Okay, road noise.
18:37What's it like? Well for a luxury vehicle, you would expect it to be quiet and it is dead silent in here.
18:42I like it. So as you truck along even on course chip country roads,
18:46it's soaking it up beautifully and you really don't hear much at all in the cabin.
18:50Now, what about visibility? Being an SUV,
18:52it can be a little bit compromised but clear vision out the front there. The wing mirrors are a decent size.
18:56You've got a blind spot monitor built into them.
18:58But love this, pop your indicator on and you get vision down the side there and that is a really handy feature.
19:04Rear visibility is okay.
19:05It's quite a narrow envelope and then you'll also find that it can be a little compromised about the C pillar to see
19:12exactly what's going on over there.
19:13But you do have your blind spot monitor and the camera as well to help you with your blind spots.
19:17It's worth pointing out as well that you have a brake towing capacity of
19:192,200 kilograms and a turning circle of 11.5 meters, which is pretty good for an all-wheel drive SUV.
19:27So the Genesis GV70, I tell you what, I don't often say this, but I was completely surprised by this. When I first saw it,
19:34I really wasn't expecting to like it that much. I just didn't love it in pictures.
19:37But in person, every single time I drive it, just something new impresses me about it.
19:42You know, whether it's the amount of attention it gets on the road or how cool that interior looks at night time
19:47or even just the punchy V6, this is a really good engine combination with all-wheel drive for this car.
19:53It really has exceeded my expectations. So big tick, tick, tick. Why would you not buy it though?
19:57So I think the biggest alarm bells for me would be depreciation.
20:01I don't know what this is going to be worth in five years time. If you buy a BMW or a Mercedes,
20:05it's kind of a given. You know what it's going to be worth.
20:07So I think they're trying to incentivize people to buy these by giving you guaranteed future value.
20:12They're doing free servicing. They're really sort of making the deal worthwhile.
20:16And in that regard, if you're willing to take a punt,
20:19I just don't know why you would buy any of the competitors over this if you put that stuff to the side.
20:23It really just ticks all of the boxes.
20:25And if you have a small family or you really just need an SUV but don't want to go too crazy,
20:29this is where you need to be. So let me know in the comments section below.
20:33Have you driven one of these? Were you as surprised as I was? I'm really keen for your feedback.
20:38My wife wants to get rid of our Tesla to get something bigger and I really want to get another EV,
20:42but there's nothing bigger that's an EV that I would buy and this is
20:46definitely very tempting. So anyway, let me know what you think in the comments section.
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