REVIEW | Genesis Electrified GV70

28 May

Electrified GV70 is given a glow up

Genesis has been making cars for a decade, it’s sold them in Europe for a handful of years, and it’s been a couple of years since it gave its range a spruce. The Electrified GV70 has been given a bit of a glow up. Offering decent potential range, toys, and virtual gearshifts, there’s a lot going on, the Korean firm hopes it’ll peel eyes and wallets away from more established manufacturers.

Genesis has established stablemates - Hyundai and Kia - and is the luxury take on both. That means it benefits from the tech and development that goes into a whole range of sister cars, but here it’s aimed at people who want something a little fancy (and don’t want something German).

Battery & Range

Packing a 84kWh battery firing power to a 490hp 516lb ft motor driving all four wheels, the Electrified GV70 promises a range of 298 miles with a full pack (on the entry level Pure trim cars). Thanks to 800v architecture, it can take 240kW chargers, allowing for a 19 minute 10-80% charge.

Design changes

The new Electrified GV70 has a number of updates over the outgoing model. Outside you’ll find new lights front and rear for a sleeker look, a new grille and updated logo, a smoother front bumper, and its grille-mounted charge port is heated so you don’t have to jimmy it open if things get frosty.

Driving modes

Inside is a new 27-inch infotainment/instrument screen that doesn’t have a partition in the middle - if you want to have your maps over the entire thing… you can. There’s a new ‘wheel, too, which comes with a very tempting ‘BOOST’ button that frees up the car’s full power (you normally run a few horses down for more efficiency) and gets you from 0-62mph in 4.4 seconds so you show your mates how fast your new motor is. There’s the usual mix of eco, comfort, and sport driving modes as well as some terrain modes in case you find a slightly muddy field, dynamic torque vectoring for better cornering and it comes with virtual gearshifts (which you’ll recognise from the Hyundai Ioniq 5N) that simulate real paddle shifts. It won’t cling on to gears and bounce off a ‘limiter,’ though.

Smart Tech

Depending on your trim, you can have a bevvy of smart tech. Digital keys that work with your smartwatch or phone, fingerprint detection for extra security, a Bang and Olufsen sound system, remote parking, improved lane following tech, and even a UV light in the central storage box that’ll sterilise whatever you put in there. Handy if you’re prone to carrying filthy kit around with you.

Interior

In the metal, it’s a good looking thing. The new face gives it a more refined, grown up look that’ll turn heads at the golf club. With prices kicking off at £65,915 it may raise a few eyebrows as well, but if Genesis wants to be the Hyundai Group’s premium brand it needs to charge premium prices. Once you’re inside you can see where most of the money’s going. The cabin is spacious, comes with leather where you want it, and it looks just so. ‘Looks’ is the word though - places you’d expect metal like door handles and some switches you’ll find very nice, but very plastic bits instead. It takes some shine off the experience, but it’s not world ending.

The seats are big and comfy, and give you a commanding view out of the car. That, obviously, helps visibility, and there’s a lot of it on offer looking forward… less so out the rear without camera assistance. Thankfully, cameras are available to help tricky parking situations.

GV70 Driving Experience

On the move, the Electrified GV70 is relaxing above all else. On the smaller 19-inch wheels it rolls over lumps, bumps, and most of the nastiness the UK’s roads have to offer without any issue at all. If the road gets really manky you do feel some firmness through your bum, but that’s to be expected from pretty much everything on the road. The smoothness is rather lost if you have the larger 20-inch rims specced - surfaces and imperfections that didn’t trouble the car before all of a sudden make things get a little jiggly. If you’re prone to double servings of pudding it’ll shame you into going to the gym - my flab was bouncing around just enough to make me have a salad for dinner. Smaller wheels suit it better.

There’s no escaping the fact that the big SUV is, well, big. The ample space for people and their things is wonderful, but on narrow roads and in tight spots various parts of you may clench as other traffic/high kerbs go merrily by. Of course, with some seat time or a handful of brave pills that feeling will go away, but it’s something to keep in mind.

Genesis’ various drive modes are fun to play with. Sport makes it all aggressive, comfort is smooth, and eco makes the controls feel a little dull. Comfort is the sweet spot, and the car seems to feel at home simply bimbling from place to place. That said… sport makes good use of its ample power, and stabbing the ‘boost’ button to give ten seconds of no holds barred pace is terribly entertaining. Stamping on the fun pedal with it active makes it do the EV party piece thing - all the power all at once. It’s a savagely quick car when you ask it to be, and that seems like an odd thing to say in the context of a large Korean SUV. But hey, it’s the world we live in now. If you want to treat it more like a ‘normal’ car, the virtual gear shifts are a genuinely good feature. With the mode active (a few presses on the infotainment screen), the ‘wheel-mounted paddles no longer control the amount of energy regen you get, but instead give you eight ‘ratios’ to flick through. When you pull the paddle there’s a brief torque break before the car carries on. You know it’s not ‘real,’ but it feels right, and is a hoot to play with.

Concluding Thoughts

It’s a multifaceted car - it does the ‘smooth ride nice time’ thing with aplomb, and can be hugely fast if you want it to be. Genesis hasn’t been in the UK for long, and its killer app hasn’t quite hit the market yet. There’s a strong case for the Electrified GV70 as it does lots of things well, but nothing so well you get out of it thinking it’s the best thing since sliced bread. With lots of standard kit included, and a smart look, the people who click with it will love it. Just avoid the big wheels and you’ll be laughing. Well, until someone asks how much it cost. Then you’ll have to show off your trick paddles with more vigour.

words: Alex Goy
pictures: Genesis

Alex Goy

Alex Goy is a journalist, scriptwriter, and presenter. He's been covering fast, silly, plush, and shiny cars for fifteen years, and is increasingly concerned when he spots something he's driven in a museum (it's happened more than once). He's covered cars for Top Gear, The Sunday Times, The Telegraph, Autocar, Carfection, CNET, GQ, Motor1, Road and Track, and plenty more besides. You're likely to find him with a cup of tea in hand opining about the brilliance of British sports cars, or the Dacia Duster. And the odd Porsche.