Genesis G80
By Tim Saunders
If conspicuous motoring is your thing then you’ll like the Genesis G80 luxury saloon. During my time with this vehicle I enjoy watching countless double takes and quizzical glances. At the traffic lights as pedestrians walk by. Cyclists turning round as they pass to get a better look. Old folk really concentrating as they walk down a pavement, questioning, “What car is that?” It’s hilarious to watch.
Meanwhile we glide past in luxury and notice that considerably more expensive vehicles do not attract such attention. The G80 – yours for well under £50,000 – is firmly targeted at BMW and Audi drivers wanting something less bland and predictable; to stand out rather than follow that dull crowd. The massive grille and overall styling is reminiscent of an Aston Martin, which is pleasing to the eye. It’s a low slung all wheel drive sports saloon and a fairly sizeable one at that. It does cling to the road. With its all black leather interior there are wood inserts in the doors, which my wife is convinced is real wood but I’m not so sure. At any rate it is finished to a high standard.
We take it for a spin to Cambridge, a three hour, 130 miles drive on varying roads and sometimes some frustrating traffic jams. It’ll crawl with the rest of them or it will drive like a sports car, if allowed. With a nought to sixty time of around six seconds the two-and-a-half litre petrol turbo is satisfying. I would enjoy it even more if it were fitted with a manual gearbox rather than the lazy automatic that all cars these days seem to be fitted with. It’s fitted with a head up display which projects speed and directions onto the windscreen in front of the driver, which is helpful. The sat nav is easy to use and reasonably reliable until you’re on a roundabout or needing to exit a motorway and sometimes the delay can be problematic. Over the course of this quite long journey I discover that there is an automatic posture session that is triggered about halfway through our trip, which massages the driver’s back. It’s a bit off putting at first especially when travelling at speed. Then I discover that the seats both front and rear actively tighten the faster the car travels at 70mph and over, holding the occupants more firmly which should be comforting, but not for me. It’s a case of technology overstepping the mark I feel. I prefer more simple motoring. Which gets me on to the screens fitted to the back of the front headrests. The children, wanting to watch something during our journey, force me to investigate how this can be done. There are a couple of ways, plug a smartphone in and stream, or use a USB. It is at this point that I discover that it is possible to download content from youtube and save it to a USB. So that’s what I do and the children are delighted that they can watch their favourite cartoons as I drive. This is all very well but I have a couple of issues here. One is that they just keep watching and watching, which is really bad for them in terms of tiredness, which affects their behaviour. There’s endless arguing over them wanting to watch it and us not wanting them to. Secondly, it seems that if they watch something we have to listen to it, there’s no way round it unless they wear headphones but even then we cannot listen to the radio while they are watching. So for me this doesn’t work. I can see how it might do for a chauffeur and his VIP passenger but not for a family scenario.
Over a reasonably long journey Caroline and I find the front seats do not have enough padding for our bottoms.
I like the fact that there is a sizeable powered tilt/slide glass sunroof, which is very welcome on a hot summer’s day. The power boot can be a little frustrating because there does not seem to be a button on it to open/close it so you’re relying on the keyfob and if the driver’s door’s open the keyfob won’t open it and you have to use a switch on the dash. A bit too much faffing about for me. But that boot is fairly large and certainly big enough for all our luggage and even Henry’s scooter.
The children are comfortable in the back. Rear passengers also get blinds and can operate the sat nav and music, which is another frustration for me but I can see how beneficial this could be for a chauffeur and his passenger.
Facts at a glance
