luxury Hyundai Genesis

Hyundai Genesis Design

While the Genesis sedan made a sizeable splash in the luxury-sedan segment when it was introduced in 2008, its two-door stablemate, the Genesis Coupe, sort of flew under the radar.

The reason, we discovered in our comparison test of the Hyundai against its chief rival, the Infiniti G37 Coupe, was that despite its good looks, the car’s performance was still bit inferior (April 2009). Now, three years later, Hyundai is ready to rock again with a much-improved version, with more power, better looks and first-rate refinement.

When first seeing the car, the Genesis Coupe’s redesigned face draws immediate attention, highlighted by a new grille that reminds me of that on the Nissan GT-R. The car’s profile is defined by a swoopy roofline and flashy 18-in. wheels (19-in wheels are optional). Under the hood resides a choice of two engines: a 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-4 that produces 274 bhp at 6000 and 254 lb.-ft. of torque from 2000 and a 3.8-liter V-6 that pumps out 348 bhp at 6400 rpm and 295 lb.-ft. of torque at 5200.

Hyundai Genesis Engine

While the smaller powerplant is peppy and propels the stylish rear-drive coupe quickly, the star of the show is the V-6. The 8-speed automatic transmission with Shiftronic (paddles for manual shifting) performs quick and clean up- and downshifts, but we preferred the 6-speed manual gearbox on the race track. The engine has a fruitful supply of torque throughout the rpm spectrum. It’s easy to spin the rear tires at launch, but get it just right and the car will accelerate to 60 mph in the low 5-sec. range, according to Hyundai.

Hyundai Genesis Interior

The car will be available in mid-March, with a $28,000 price tag for the 4-cylinder version and $32,000 for the six (Grand Touring). The R-spec V-6 costs $28,000 because there’s slightly less standard equipment. As soon as we get our hands on a V-6 model in Newport Beach, you can be sure we’ll be revisiting that comparison test with the Infiniti G37 Coupe, and this time the outcome may be different.