In rounding out our coverage of Hyundai's offerings in NYC, we've got shots of the facelifted Sonata and Genesis Coupe. Both are much, much better in person than in pictures. The Sonata's biggest aesthetic improvement is the interior, which goes from zero to hero. Build quality and fit and finish are way better, and it no longer is ergonomically challenged. Hyundai's Mission: Bland sedan has, dare I say, some style. As for the Genesis coupe, while I thought the initial press shots showed a hideous Lexus IS knock-off in coupe form, in person it's more of an Infiniti G37 coupe knock-off. Very slick car, and with Kia's use of a 290 hp turbocharged four in the Koup concept, the turbo four that Hyundai announced for the Genesis coupe sounds promising. Although Hyundai didn't have any prices, you'll be glad to know that Hyundai's trademark olfactory character is unchanged in this RWD coupe: even the preproduction show car's interior smelled like a Hyundai interior, which I'd describe as musty crayon.
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You know, it’s not just the face on this thing that I don’t like, it’s that it still LOOKS like a FWD vehicle. And the curves are just blandtastic! This car will NOT stand out in traffic (unless you see it from the front, and it won’t get your attention in the good way). The body is utterly forgettable, and that’s the tragedy here.
Back when I viewed the spy shots of this thing still covered in black cloth and tape, I had a bad feeling about how it was going to turn out.
To me. the genesis looks like an Altima coupe that has ben smashed down. Better question…Hyundai can make a reliable bland mobile, but a reliable forced induction coupe? I see many problems caused by clutch dumps.
They should’ve made it light.
I see RWD proportions on the coupe, very minimal front overhang. To me it looks like what a Altima coupe should have looked like had it not been hampered by its FWD platform.
akita/sanman, have you guys seen the car in person? The reason for this post is that Mr. Berkowitz thinks that there’s a disparity between pictures and reality for the Genesis Coupe. I was also reserving judgement until I see this car in the sheetmetal. From pictures, I’m also not crazy about the front, but everything else looks good.
I think clutch dump issue is for current tiburon crowd- low entry price (high school kids…) who wont afford the genesis. Genesis looks like $23k to start and on up to $30k.
Dont get me wrong, I admire tiburon and actually want one but not bad enough to go buy one. Like how I want a brand new 1991 MR2.
I predict it will be a quite robust powertrain.
I agree with earlier post where Hyundai is said to have risen to being compared in market to european and japanese, having bypassed GM.
seoultrain,
99% of all cars look better in person than in pictures (1% don’t look any worse), so when you see those 99% of cars in person, the Gen coupe still falls short, only this time in 3D.
I haven’t seen the car in person, but nothing I’ve seen so far makes it stand out from its competitors visually, except the forced face. If you’re looking at where the Genesis coupe played before (as the Tiburon), you’ve got the Civic SI, the GTI, the Cooper S, RSX, the Eclipse and even the current Tiburon are more distinctive. If you’re looking at where the Genesis coupe WANTS to play, the competitors are visually more distinctive and much better-looking (i.e. Mustang, G37, 1 series, RX-8).
whatdoiknow1, My point wasn’t so much about technical stuff like proportions, it’s that the car just looks like a generic compact sport coupe, which have been reliably FWD.
I’m sure this car will sell well (for a Hyundai), but that will be due to its price (value?), not necessarily because anyone CRAVES this car. I was quietly rooting for Hyundai on this, but they really mangled the front clip and made the rest look anonymous. The Genesis sedan is so much more successful. They should have evolved the Tiburon sheetmetal, which looks more “RWD” than this thing does.
I like the way this car looks, especially in the video seeing the silver one in motion. I could live without the giant front air dam, but it could be a lot worse like a Toyota front. I can’t wait to see this car inperson if it looks better in the flesh.
I would really like to know how much it weights and how its balanced. From the video it looked really front heavy doing the tricks, which might be solved by getting the turbo-4 and just wringing more power out of it.
It looks no worse than the forgettably styled Lexus IS. It’s neither good nor bad but it’s success will depend more on how it drives and what the price it will sell for be given the weak dollar.
I was back in the ’09 Sonata rental the other day.
Still absolutely in love with the interior.
Did you guys notice the gauges? They’re absolute masterpieces.
I like it – it looks more of an evolution of the Tiburon. I can’t wait to see it in person – I don’t think the pictures are doing it justice.
And the very short overhang on the front definitely gives it a RWD look. Most Hyundai’s have a large frontal overhang.
I noticed the um, interesting smell when we bought a new South Korean built Hyundai a few years ago, the newer one we have (Alabama built) had no such offensive olefactory stench. I got lucky enough to finally see cars being made (hey, I’m a car guy, every car guy should see a car being made some time). So I got to see the 2009s before the guys at the dealer did (yeah, they were kind of jealous).
I hear floor traffic is down as much as 2/3s pretty much in all dealers locally, and I presume, nation-wide too. 2008 and possibly 2009 are going to be train-wrecks for Detroit inc and the weaker players like Suzuki, Mitsubishi, and Volkswagen.
Seoultrain,
I didn’t say I disliked the Genesis, I just don’t think it stands out in today’s market. A least, not in the way the G35, late 90’s eclipse, etc did when they first arrived. I actually like the look of the later Tiburons.
As for clutch dumps, the price tag on this thing is the same as the WRX, RSX, etc and I have seen plenty of those in stupid hands (including many friends).
I like both the cars, I think they look pretty cool.
i gotta say, i’m really disapointed here. The turbo four weighs in at 3439 lbs. and the V6 weighs 3549 lbs. What the hell? can i guy get a small RWD coupe with a turbo inline four that weighs in around 3000 lbs? that, i’d buy in a heartbeart.
shorthrowsixspeed, cars are weighing a lot more over the past 15 years partly because of all of the stuff we seem to demanding (and this stuff weighs a lot). C’mon, do we really need power heated and cooled seats, power sunroofs, power hatches and sliders (on minivans), etc etc?
The other reason is that cars literally are light-years better than they used to be for crashworthiness.
See for yourself.