test drove a Genesis Coupe - my review

crypto · Mar 1, 2009, 08:42 PM

So today out of boredom my friend and I decided to go to the Mitsu / Hyundai dealership and test out a Genesis Coupe that they got in a day ago, and also an 09 Ralliart.
I currently drive an 08 GTI MkV. 6speed MT. 200hp/200tq. 2.0 turbo 4cyl

First car I drove was the Genesis coupe. It was the 3.8 V6 model. 6speed manual transmission. RWD 306hp.
First impressions from the outside was that it looks a lot nicer in person than on a computer screen. It's aggressive, sporty looking, and a lot bigger than i thought it would be. Seeing it in person makes you realize this isn't just a Tiburon with some extra kick. It's significantly bigger.

When i got in the car the first thing i noticed was the unsurprisingly cheap feeling Hyundai interior. My friend didn't think it was as big a deal, but he drives an Eclipse. Coming from a GTI I could tell the drop in standards right away. It's obvious Hyundai aren't gonna compete with Audi/VW on interior quality any time soon.
Despite this there is one redeeming quality about the interior of the car, and that is it's general layout. It's very cockpit like, but not overly claustrophobic. It does feel like a sports car, but there is still plenty of room to move around, and my 6' of body had plenty of leg and head space.
The seats in this car are amazingly comfortable. As soon as i sat down I sunk in a little, and almost felt like I was sitting in a lazyboy.....that had a death grip on me.
The seat hugged my body perfectly, and when driving I barely moved. However when I'd test drove an 07 Tiburon it was the same deal, so i sort of expected this.

The material is leather'ish with cloth inserts, which felt pretty nice. However the quality of the seats just made me focus on the lack of quality everywhere else in the interior. From the clunky center console to the "paper plate" A/C vents. Everything feels cheap and is covered in plastic that reminds me of my old lancer. Also as a side note the steering wheel is quite pathetic. The buttons and such are well placed, but the actual wheel feels just like the one in my wife's Elantra. But in an attempt to make it "sporty" Hyundai put 2 small thumb grip type things in, which actually feel like testicles.

This being the base model there is no "start" button. I was kinda disappointed in that because i was looking forward to being especially lazy. I put the key in the ignition and started her up............

Just like a Tiburon the V6 engine sounds beautiful. Perfect deep exhaust note, and a nice grumble from the engine itself. While this did put a smile on my face, once i started driving I realized the noise didn't go away and for a lot of people this could get a little annoying, especially on interstate driving.

I went to shift into reverse and came upon the cars most annoying issue.....the shifter.
For a $27K car i expected the shifting to be fairly smooth. Being RWD i didn't expect it to be super smooth, but i honestly felt like I was shifting an old pickup truck. The shifting is clunky, jerky and feels in no way sporty. After the full test drive my wrist actually ached a little from the effort involved in shifting gears. Keep in mind I play drums and enjoy the occasional wank, so it's not like I'm a frail old man with arthritis.
The clutch was also a little bit of an problem for me. I felt like my foot was going through the floor when pressing it in. I had to adjust my seat to a ridiculous position so i could press the clutch without using my tip toes.

On with the drive. I decided to take things easy at first so i could get a good feel for the car. I slowly made my way out of the parking lot, which wasn't to bad. The car felt fine driving slow, pretty mellow with no jerks or jumping. But again the effort to shift made it a pain driving around bends, stop signs and having to shift frequently.
Once we got out of the road I mashed the throttle. After reading online reviews I expected a nice swell of power from the 300hp V6. Unfortunately I was very disappointed. 1st gear slow acceleration....2nd gear...more slow acceleration...3rd gear...power starts to kick in, and on through 6th.
First gear is pretty much a waste of space, 2nd gear isn't much better. In 3rd the power finally kicked in and I felt the car take off. 0-60 in just under 6 seconds is about right.
In all honesty my GTI feels faster than this car. The genesis has 100 more horses, and only does 0-60 in a few tenths of a second faster. And for the price tag that's a big disappointment. You can really feel the weight of this thing when trying to accelerate with any intention. "Zipping" in and out of traffic isn't what this car is good for. It lacks power down low and would pretty much fail as an inner city vehicle.

Once I got up to speed I got another disappointment. Around 70-80mph the front end begins to wander. It feels very separated from the road and light enough to just take off like a small plane. The rear end of the car feels a lot heavier and more planted to the road.
Being that the engine is in the front of the car I was pretty surprised with this, but after my friend drove the car he said the exact same thing before I could even ask him about it. His actual comment was "Holy crap where is the front end going!?"
Our next part of the test route where some curved roads with suggested speed limits of 15-45mph depending on the turns. This excited me a little. After loosing hope in this car from my drive so far, I figured some fun, fast curvy roads would redeem the experience................they didn't.

Now the handling in this car wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. It felt kind of average. On most corners it felt like a Tiburon, but a little more clumsy. This is most likely because of it being a lot heavier. This was the "good" handing, the bad was on tight bends which actually reminded me of a Galant.
There was a decent amount of body roll when taking hard corners, and my friend almost sat on my lap at one point.
This is only the base model car, so it doesn't have the "track tuned" suspension. I very much hope they have went hardcore on the track version and made it more of a "sports car" in the suspension department

After driving the Genesis Coupe I can safely say I wouldn't trade my GTI in on one. Even if they offered me a straight trade. The V6 just doesn't have the low end power for quick, city driving. And the front end constantly trying to embark on space missions makes driving at high speeds pretty scary.
I plan on going back to the dealership to drive a 2.0T model when they get one in. My hope is that this model has more low end power, which would make it a good city driver. But with the car being as heavy as it is, I very much doubt the smaller engine is gonna be able to make the car any more fun to drive.

BTW. After driving this car, the Ralliart was a welcome drive. It was fast, fun and I loved every minute of it. The interior is standard Mitsubishi crap (rattling glovebox, and the wonderful sound of air blowing through the door somewhere)
Handling is brilliant, acceleration is a blast. I drove the SST transmission, which isn't bad. I'd of preferred a Manual though. And in comparison to the Audi/VW DSG transmission it really doesn't come close and Mitsu have a lot of work to do smoothing it out.

mmartahus · Mar 1, 2009, 08:49 PM

nice id like to test drive one myself, not sure i really want to go out of the way to do that now that I read your review

Crazy Eyes · Mar 1, 2009, 09:03 PM

Nice review. I was planning on test driving it myself yesterday. Unfortunately, something came up so wasn't able to...

After reading your review, I'm a bit disappointed because I thought this would be Hyundai's "coming out party". I was really hoping this car would get lots of positive reviews. I guess I just like the way it looks that's why I really hoped for the performance to be great as well.

I'm still planning on testdriving it though....will see for myself hehe

crypto · Mar 1, 2009, 09:06 PM

I'm sure with modding the 2.0T will turn out to be the savior of this car. But in stock form, I'm not at all impressed

**otter** · Mar 1, 2009, 09:28 PM

I might just have to stop by the local dealer this week to try out the 4cyl version, see if my impression is any different than yours.

Xolition · Mar 1, 2009, 10:23 PM

Thanks for the review!

v8<turbo4 · Mar 1, 2009, 10:27 PM

I wana take one for a drive

fromWRXtoEVO · Mar 4, 2009, 07:17 PM

Nice review Crypto.. I have to stop by the dealer to check them out. By the way, don't be surprised with the performance, according to this test your GTI is toe to toe with the Genesis:

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...ticleId=142826

They do sell very sweet power deals for VW and for little money you could make your GTI significantly quicker.

Carlos

Dead Zen · Mar 5, 2009, 02:17 AM

hmmmmm. maybe i should go kick the tires. just nervous cause its a hyundai. i wanna get rid of this slowbalt already and im having trouble finding evo 9's on lots. no one is buying the slowbalt.

borievoinitialD · Mar 5, 2009, 02:27 AM

does anyone remember following line in tokyo drift.... Hahn to the white guy- what did you think I was going to let you drive a hyundai???? still laughing my ass at those losers.... ill stick with companies with real tradition, not just some dumb hype...

Majuljo · Mar 5, 2009, 02:30 AM

awesome review i am drunk and i feel like i drove the car myself lol dam that is bad

Crazy Eyes · Mar 15, 2009, 10:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by borievoinitialD

does anyone remember following line in tokyo drift.... Hahn to the white guy- what did you think I was going to let you drive a hyundai???? still laughing my ass at those losers.... ill stick with companies with real tradition, not just some dumb hype...

Hahn: The red EVOs yours.
Sean: What do you mean?
Hahn: You represent me now. What you think I let you roll in a Hyundai?

Smike · Mar 15, 2009, 10:12 AM

I think the 2.0T is going to be the version to get. I am looking forward to its aftermarket development.

Quote:

Originally Posted by borievoinitialD

does anyone remember following line in tokyo drift.... Hahn to the white guy- what did you think I was going to let you drive a hyundai???? still laughing my ass at those losers.... ill stick with companies with real tradition, not just some dumb hype...

*points to signature*

Megan = tradition?

eyekyu · Mar 15, 2009, 10:35 AM

very nice review indeed it almost feels like i just drove the car lol

CaliMR · Mar 15, 2009, 12:07 PM

I may be branded a pariah for saying this, but I am looking forward to the 2010 Mustangs. You can get a V8 2009 for 20k after incentives but the current generation is a complete turd. Lots of noise but little go, the tranny is the worst feeling I have tried that was not built in the 60's, and handling is supposed to be mediocre though I stopped my test drive before being able to really test it out.

They are supposed to be adding a twin turbo V6 that may be interesting, and the handling is supposed to be much better. My shooting buddy's bro is a big wig at the local dealership, and he said he drove a 2010 and it is actually a decent sports car rather than just looking like one.

Plus you can add all sorts of Ford Motorsports parts (when did it stop being SVO?) and not lose your warranty.