Yahoo Autos 2023 Genesis GV60 Road Test Review: Plush electric crossover to Motown
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The Genesis GV60 rounds out a trio of new, state-of-the-art electric cars from the Hyundai family. It follows the excellent Hyundai Ioniq 5 and also-excellent Kia EV6, and is built on the same electric platform (called E-GMP) with the same 800-volt battery architecture. The GV60, the first of two new electric vehicles from the Genesis luxury brand (the Electrified G80 being the other), aims to set itself apart from its cousins in design, performance and level of luxury.
It certainly looks different than the others, though its lines are closer to the sleek but still sharp EV6 than the creased, futuristic aesthetic of the Ioniq 5. Like the EV6, it boasts athletic proportions, with the wheels pushed far out to the corners. With a wheelbase of 114.2 inches, the GV60 is identical in footprint to the Kia EV6 and smaller between the axles than the Ioniq 5. At 177.8 inches in overall length, however, the Genesis is shorter than both. The GV60 stands at 62.4 inches in height, which is in between its siblings, and like the taller Ioniq 5, seems even loftier until you're standing right next to it.
Inside, the GV60 is a place of tasteful luxury, putting design and tech at the forefront. The first thing you’ll probably notice after climbing inside is the glass orb on the center console. When you start the car, this sphere flips upside-down to reveal a rotary gear selector. It’s a feature made for Instagram and TikTok. The interior materials appear to be of a higher quality than the Hyundai and Kia, and the overall ambience feels more like traditional luxury than the Ioniq 5’s minimalist modern atmosphere or the EV6’s sporty cabin. In other words, it’s a proper Genesis. The compromise here is that the Genesis GV60’s rear legroom is outdone by both the Hyundai and Kia. Cargo volume, at 24 cubic feet behind the second row, is almost identical to that of the Kia EV6, but less than the Ioniq 5’s 27.7 cubic feet (though as we’ve seen in the Ioniq and EV6 luggage tests, the specs may not equate to real world usefulness).
Like its cousins, the GV60 uses a pair of digital screens for the infotainment system and instrument panel. These are easy to use and quick to respond, but the GV60 puts an emphasis on its hard-button controls, which means less digging through menus to fiddle with settings. There are a number of hard buttons on the steering wheel and center stack that you can program as shortcuts to various menus or vehicle features as well (like Quiet mode, phone projection or turning the display on or off), plus a redundant rotary knob controller like in the GV70 and 2023 Electrified G80. There’s also a head-up display that provides you with useful information like speed, navigation instructions and blind-spot info without having to take your eyes off the road.
When you drive a car for the first time, it's not unusual to say "you're getting to know it." With the GV60, the car gets to know you thanks to its fingerprint and facial recognition. Setting them up were fairly simple processes. Messages on the screen prompted me to use the little button-like circle at the fore end of the floating center console to scan different parts of my finger — sides, tip, center — until it had a full print. Then, for facial recognition, it instructed me to step out of the car and look directly into an illuminated circle in the B pillar until it turned green. Done. Now I could unlock the car with a glance, and start it with a touch. At least theoretically. I wasn’t ready to tempt fate by leaving the keys behind as my first outing in the GV60 was to be a highway trip to Detroit for a concert, and I didn’t care to risk a logistics nightmare near midnight.
With an especially motion-sickness-prone date riding shotgun, we left Ann Arbor and headed toward Detroit. As tempting as the “Boost” button on the steering wheel was (more on that later), acceleration and handling would be tested another day. The ride, however, was up to the task of keeping the evening free from emesis. In Comfort mode, the GV60 rides smoothly and quietly, thanks to its adaptive suspension — MacPherson struts up front, five-link in the rear. Pulling from the Genesis bag of tricks, the GV60’s Preview Electronic Control Suspension feature further improves things by using the front camera and navigation system to assess road surface conditions and recognize things like speed bumps to control the damping. The Mercedes-Benz EQS is one of the few other cars on the road with similar technology, which is saying something for this much cheaper Genesis.
In the U.S. right now, the GV60 offers a choice of two all-wheel-drive powertrains (a 225-horsepower rear-drive version doesn’t appear to be coming here). The Advanced trim, starting at $59,985 including destination, has a rear motor that provides 160 kilowatts (214.6 horsepower), while the front motor offers an additional 74 kW (99.2 hp). Total output is 314 hp and 446 lb-ft, and is roughly equal to the current top versions of the Ioniq 5 and EV6. Our tester, the GV60 Performance, starts at $68,985, and serves up 160 kW and 258 lb-ft from each motor, for a total of 429 horsepower and 516 lb-ft of torque. Using the aforementioned “Boost” button cranks things to 483 hp for 10 seconds at a time.
