The 2025 Genesis GV80 Is a Great Luxury Machine That Your Dog Will Love

The 2025 Genesis GV80 3.5T Prestige AWD succeeds at two critical luxury car directives: it’s supremely comfortable and it makes you feel like a baller. I actually didn’t like its vibe at first, but a week behind the wheel turned out to be very enjoyable. It also earned an accolade you might not expect: It’s an exceptional dog vehicle.

Genesis’ designers have done a nice job creating a signature look over the last few years. The parallel-line lights, proud grille, and swoopy side sculpting we’ve come to appreciate on its sedans ports nicely to an SUV body here. You won’t be inclined to use this thing off-road, but the GV80 does offer good utility in terms of cargo carrying. Top trims can even tow 6,000 pounds, which is enough for many small boats or track cars on an aluminum trailer. Inside, you’ll be able to fit a couple of seated pups easily, or even a decent-sized kennel. But we’ll get to that soon.

We’ve been evaluating cars for dog-friendliness for almost two years now. You can carry a dog in almost anything, but I’ve found that a smooth ride, low stance, and high ceilings are the biggest factors in determining the very best options for animal comfort. With that context, you won’t be surprised to read that the GV80 scores very well.

Test Dogs

Today we have Aus Shep/Golden siblings Bramble and Silas, about 65 and 45 pounds respectively, and Mazie. Mazie’s a standard poodle, and much taller than Bramble but about the same weight. All three are quite agile and wiggly but willing car-riders.

Climbing In and Out

Ingress and egress are super easy with this vehicle. The GV80’s roofline is high and its door sills are pretty low. The rear door swings reasonably wide, though not exceptionally so. Still, the vehicle is quite easy to get in and out of for an animal. A person with mobility trouble would also find the back seat quite welcoming for the same reason. The cargo bay sill isn’t all that high, either. It would be tougher for an older, heavier, or super-small dog to hop up into the back on their own, but medium-sizers will make the leap no problem.

The seats are still a little higher from the ground than they’d be in a sedan, but they’re much more accessible than a large SUV like my old Mitsubishi Montero or a Lexus GX. Top marks here.

Functional Dimensions

These dimensions are measured by hand representing a practical figure, not an absolute max or minimum.

• Ground to rear footwell: 20″

• Ground to rear seat: 30″

• Ground to cargo area: 32″

• Seat bottom to window sill: 20″

Interior Materials and Layout

The basic layout is your standard two front seats divided by a center console, then a bench, then a big open cargo area behind that. You can also spec the GV80 with three rows, but ours was strictly a five-seater.

Most of the GV80’s soft bits are great. The seats and steering wheel wrap are nice and supple. The floormats are particularly plush. I’m not sure I’ve ever called out an OEM floormat before, but the ones in this car are nicer than the rugs in many homes. The button controls are just OK; I don’t love the microwave-style “black plane with no haptic feedback” thing. The controls you only touch occasionally, like the paddle shifters and main shift dial, are a little light and cheap-feeling for an $80,000 vehicle, but I wouldn’t call those dealbreakers. Things like cupholders and storage pocket covers have an extremely light and dainty feel to them, but I wouldn’t quite go so far as to call them fragile.

The second-row seat backs are pretty high, so if you’ve got an animal in the backseat or in the cargo area, they’re pretty well separated from the other side.

Window Access and Air Flow

The rear windows don’t roll completely down into the doors, but they get low enough for most hound snouts to reach out for low-speed sniffing. I always tell people to roll windows up over about 40 mph, as that’s about where bugs and rocks and things start to really hurt if they hit you in the face.

When the windows are up, the GV80’s rear air conditioner absolutely rips. In super-high ambient temps (over 90ºF outside) I had Bramble stop panting very quickly with the rear blower on high. The fluttering of her fur was another clear indicator that those fans were huffing and puffing pretty hard.

Front and rear climate controls are easily adjusted from the front seat, too.

Driving With the Dog—Animal Comfort on the Road

The GV80 I drove has a sport mode and paddle shifters, but I felt pretty silly using either. It’s not that the car’s incompetent at a brisk pace, it just has a halcyon energy that inherently discourages speeding. You get in this thing and you really just want to cruise. And thanks to a lot of excellent insulation, 30 mph and 50 mph and 80 mph all pretty much feel the same.

Combine that driver-calming aura with a very smooth ride and comfy seats and you’re looking at a car full of well-coddled creatures.

Bramble had no problem curling up and going to sleep almost immediately after leaving home base in this thing.

Pack Hauling—Multiple Dogs On Board

This vehicle gives you the flexibility to separate two animals safely, by putting one in the back seat and one in the cargo area. You could also put two medium-sizers in the back next to each other; ours didn’t mind sharing the second-row bench. I did find that with multiple dogs in the car, one was usually fairly quick to put some paws up on the center console to try and establish a commanding view.

But by and large, you could carry two or even three decent-sized dogs in this easily provided you only had one human passenger.

Carrying Kennels

The GV80’s high roofline and wide-opening rear hatch make kennel-loading totally possible. A really tall one for the largest breeds would probably not fit, but our medium-sized kennel tucked in sideways, allowing you to run a kennel and the full rear bench seat. Not all cars, not even all SUVs, can do that. That’s a testament to the good allocation of interior space in the back of this vehicle.

Genesis GV80 Dog-Friendliness Verdict

The GV80 is a strong contender for The Drive‘s Top Dog Car of 2024. It’s got it all: executive-level rear seat comfort, easy in-and-out to the back door or cargo area, and great proportions for loading canine cargo. If you want a luxury SUV and dog or passenger comfort is a major priority for you, I would strongly suggest looking at a GV80 over taller, truck-based rivals like the Cadillac Escalade, Infiniti QX80, or Lexus GX.

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