2025 Genesis GV80 First Drive: It's what's inside that counts

FORT WORTH – The 2025 Genesis GV80 represents the fifth model year for the luxury SUV, and it's getting its first major refresh. Though "major" is very much relative. This year's updates mainly boil down to styling and some feature updates. What was done to the interior in particular has made it better than ever, even class-leading. Most of the rest, however, is the same as it ever was, which is still good, but we wish the mechanical bits had been given the same sort of sprucing up as the surface-level details.

The exterior changes are mighty light. The front grille mesh now has double bars to match the lights and fender accents. Those headlights have an array of small LEDs now instead of only a couple LEDs per unit. The front bumper gets a pseudo-skid plate garnish on the lower edge, and the rear bumper loses its exhaust cutouts, leaving vestigial mesh in place at each end, still with the vague shape of the Genesis grille. But the GV80 remains an elegant-looking SUV with its long arcing lines. And if you get up close, you can really appreciate the new, all-metal hood badge with the etched guilloche-style detailing.

The 2025 GV80 interior is a much bigger deal. The dash has been significantly revamped with a new 27-inch OLED screen encompassing both the instruments and infotainment. It's silky-smooth and crisp, though the light beige graphics lack contrast and aren't quite as easy to read at a glance as your typical light text and dials on a dark background. We appreciate that Hyundai has kept the redundant infotainment control setup featuring both touchscreen and rotary controller on the center console. The controller itself is new, however, with a more tactile and responsive knob replacing the original, iPod-like disk. Both it and the shifter dial also benefit from "crystal-like" surrounds that are convincing and add both expensive-feeling heft and a bit of nice flash. The touch buttons and display for the climate controls are a bit silly, but they're livable, and the knobs for temperature setting are appreciated.

The steering wheel is new, too, with three spokes now instead of two. We'd call it more of a lateral move style-wise, but the interior designer noted that the new design allows for more ergonomic button placement. We're not sure it's that big a difference, but we have no complaints about said wheel buttons.