Genesis G80 review

To explain the genesis of the Genesis G80 we need to turn to the world of music – and specifically a man called Peter Gabriel.

You see, back in the Seventies, Mr Gabriel left the rock band Genesis to go solo. Here, the opposite has happened: there used to be a Hyundai luxury car called the Genesis but now it’s stepped away, not to go it alone but to form an entirely new band, er, brand.

The G80 is Genesis' rival to three very well-established luxury saloons – the Audi A6, the BMW 5 Series and the Mercedes E-Class. And like the 5 Series with the BMW i5 it's twinned with a lookalike electric car model (the Genesis Electrified G80).

While we're on the subject of the G80's Genesis stablemates, we should mention that there's also a similarly named luxury SUV available with seven seats. You can read about that in our Genesis GV80 review.

Back to the Genesis G80 and the question of whether it's good enough to compete with the best luxury cars. Read on to find out how it stacks up agains its German rivals...

There’s only one engine available for the Genesis G80, but that’s not a bad thing. You see, the 300bhp 2.5-litre turbocharged petrol comes with a choice of rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive and gives you all the performance you'll need. 

Indeed, the all-wheel-drive version can officially sprint from 0-62mph in six seconds. That said, you do have to rev the engine quite hard to get the best from it, though, and when you do so it sounds a little strained.

Every G80 comes with an eight-speed automatic gearbox that shifts between gears smoothly, and helps to keep things relatively hushed when cruising about sedately.

There’s more tyre noise than in the best rivals though, and the G80’s ride isn’t as sophisticated as it is in higher-spec versions of the BMW 5 Series and Mercedes E-Class. The suspension isn’t overly firm – it’s just that the car struggles to dampen potholes and other nasty road scars.

Genesis doesn’t claim the G80 is a sporty choice, although that's not to say it’s wallowy through corners. It changes directly pretty keenly thanks to plenty of grip, allowing you to cover ground on country roads quickly. If it weren’t for the overly light and slightly numb steering, it might even be quite good fun.

If you’re after a luxury car that handles well, you’ll want to consider the 5 Series or the Jaguar XF – a particular highlight in the class.

We’ve no complaints about the driving position in the Genesis G80. The driver's seat has plenty of fully electric adjustment, including for lumbar support. What’s more, you’re lined up well with the steering wheel and pedals, making it a generally comfortable affair. 

As you'd expect from a saloon rather than, say, a luxury SUV, the G80 doesn’t place you that high above the road, but you still have plenty of visibility. That’s especially true over the nose and out at junctions, making it easy to place the car as you drive along.

The view over your shoulder isn’t quite as good, so you’ll be happy to know that blind-spot monitoring comes as standard on every G80, as does a rear-view camera, making parking a doddle. 

Arguably the best news about the G80’s interior is that you get proper physical controls for the climate control, making it really easy to make adjustments on the move. That's much better than having to use the infotainment screen to adjust the temperature, as you do in the BMW 5 Series and Mercedes E-Class.

Likewise, the G80’s huge 14.5in touchscreen can be controlled using a physical rotary controller. It’s similar to the iDrive dial in the 5 Series, allowing you to scroll through menus, but can be quite easy to grab by mistake when trying to reach for the gear selector. Still, it’s far less distracting than relying on the touchscreen, as you must in the E-Class.

The touchscreen reacts quickly to your prods and comes with plenty of standard features, including DAB radio, Bluetooth, and Android Auto and Apple CarPlay smartphone mirroring. You get a nine-speaker sound system, which can be upgraded to an 18-speaker Lexicon system if you go for Luxury trim or above.

The G80’s interior looks elegant and feels solidly put together, and most buttons and switches have a suitably expensive feel to them. There are a number of colour schemes and real wood choices, along with plenty of aluminium highlights, so the interior can be as light and airy or dark and conservative as you choose.

You’ll find lots of space in the front of the Genesis G80, with seats that slide back a long way on their runners and plenty of head room. It’s worth noting that we’ve yet to try a version fitted with the optional sunroof – a feature that often reduces available head room.

The same goes for head room in the back, where even six-footers won’t find their heads rubbing against the roof. Leg room for people sitting in the two outer seats is good too, offering at least as much leg room in the rear as you’ll find in the BMW 5 Series.

It’ll be a bit of a squeeze to fit three people across the rear though, and the slightly raised middle seat will mean taller people might need to duck slightly to fit.

As the G80 is a saloon, the boot opening is quite small, but the same goes for its key rivals. Boot space is roughly on a par with the BMW 3 Series (some way behind the 5 Series) but you’ll still fit in a few suitcases or a set of golf clubs.

If you go for the Executive Pack, you can fold down the rear seatbacks electrically, and they split in a handy 40/20/40 arrangement. Luxury trim models and above add a powered tailgate.

While the Genesis G80 undercuts most big-name German rivals on price, that’s only one dimension of costs – it’s also important to factor in ownership bills and what you’re actually getting for your money. 

Given that a lot of company cars are luxury saloons, it’s disappointing that CO2 emissions aren’t lower. The best the G80 can manage is 190g/km, so it finds itself in a much higher benefit-in-kind (BIK) tax band than the equivalent BMW 5 Series. What’s more, you can’t get a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) version to lower the costs further, like you can with the 5 Series and Audi A6.

That said, if low BIK tax is important to you and you’re set on the G80, you can get the electric car version, the Genesis Electrified G80. 

Depreciation isn’t the G80’s strong point: it's predicted to lose its value faster than the 5 Series and Mercedes E-Class but it’s worth noting that none of the three are particularly impressive.

You get plenty of luxury kit for your money too. Even entry-level Premium models come with 19in alloys, automatic LED headlights, heated front seats, adaptive cruise control and keyless entry.

The amount of standard safety kit eclipses many rivals, and that's one of the reasons the G80 scored five stars out of five in its Euro NCAP safety test. Every G80 comes with 10 airbags, automatic emergency braking (AEB), rear cross-traffic alert and lane-keeping assist. You can also opt for the Innovation pack, which upgrades some of the safety technology – allowing the AEB to avoid vehicles pulling out of junctions, for example. 

We don't have any reliability data for Genesis but every car is backed up by a five-year unlimited mileage warranty. What's more, parent company Hyundai did very well in the 2023 What Car? Reliability Survey which bodes well for its premium car division.

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