Why I’m Living With A Genesis GV70 For 6 Months

When was the last time you spoke to anyone about Genesis? Unless you’re an employee of the Hyundai Motor Group or happen to have seen those bright orange taxis at the Nürburgring over the summer, I’m willing to bet you can’t remember if you even have.

Do we need to explain Genesis at this point? It’s Hyundai’s attempt at doing a Lexus and offering big posh cars to buyers that otherwise wouldn’t look at anything in its or Kia’s line-up.

It’s still a bit of an infant in the UK car market, having launched in 2021, but there’s been a small whirlwind behind the scenes for it over the last 12 months. Initially, Genesis was to exist as a standalone brand – really setting out the intentions of this being a real premium alternative to the established Germans – and took the bold step of launching with no dealerships. If you wanted a Genesis, you had to buy it online.

Which may partly explain why you never see them on the road. You can’t blame them for having a go in a post-Covid world where seemingly the idea of going to a physical location to buy frankly anything was becoming outdated.

Yet, that never really quite worked out. I’m not enough of an industry bod to tell you why exactly, but I’d hazard a guess that nobody knew what Genesis was. And if they did, without being able to physically drive and experience the cars, why would they part with their cash when they could have known entities in an Audi, BMW or Mercedes for similar money?

That approach has changed in the last 12 months, seeing Genesis in the UK become formally part of Hyundai here and leading to a dealership network being established. I’m sure that’s had some improvement on brand awareness, but just simply based on things you see on the road, Genesises (Genisii? Just Genesis?) still aren’t often one of those.

I’ve driven enough of them now to know it’s not because the cars aren’t good. Generally speaking, they look brilliant, feel nicely built and are packed with tech. Plus, being made of Hyundai parts, reliability shouldn’t be a concern and if it was, you’ve got a five-year warranty to cover it.

Yet, I’ve never spent more than a few days at a time with a Genesis car to truly get a grasp of what long-term ownership feels like. If the slight Korean quirkiness is a charm or hindrance once you’ve become used to the ruthlessly brilliant but utterly charmless German engineering.

This is why for the next six months I’ll be living the life of a Genesis owner. I’ve got the keys to this GV70 Sport, the relative baby of its SUVs.

Really, this is *the* key car for Genesis in the UK. It’s a direct rival to the all-conquering BMW X3 as well as the Audi Q5 and Mercedes GLC. People love a posh small SUV, but seemingly that love has yet to extend to the GV70.
At the time of writing this, I’ve had the keys to the car for about 72 hours so I don’t want to make any immediate judgments, but I’m happy to talk about how delightful the spec is.

I’m a big fan of the Storr Green paintwork on this car, and that contrasts nicely with the brown leather interior. It’s close enough to green on tan, and for that alone, it’s getting a point. Although in my humble opinion, that’s cancelled out by the ugly two-spoke steering wheel as seen on this Luxury trim.

Being ‘Car Throttle’, we’ve decided to opt for the least sensible of all the powertrains too – a 2.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol. You can have the GV70 as an EV, or with a diesel, both of which will likely be a bit kinder to the wallet. So far, it’s getting 28mpg…

We have some big and some small plans with the GV70 to get a taste of the Korean luxury life for a bit. Stick with us as we answer questions like “Can a Christmas tree fit in the back of it?”, “Can we make it to the supermarket without someone asking if it’s a Bentley?” and most importantly, “Should I buy one instead of a BMW?”