What Car Shoppers Need to Know
- With the demise of the Lexus LS 500, the brand’s flagship sedan, buyers of big luxury sedans have fewer choices.
- An excellent replacement would be the Genesis G90.
- With its spacious, luxurious interior; smooth powertrains; and relatively simple multimedia controls, Lexus lessees would likely find the G90 to be an easy swap.
- With a starting price of $94,195 (all prices include destination), the G90 is roughly $5,000 less expensive than an LS 500 — and more than $26,000 less than a Mercedes-Benz S-Class.
Big, full-size luxury sedans are increasingly a rarity. They’re being replaced by luxury SUVs in the minds and driveways of American shoppers. Add another obituary to the list: the car that started a revolution, the Lexus LS. A revelation when introduced way back in 1989, it has since seen its sales and popularity dwindle, passed by more advanced, more sophisticated, more luxurious offerings from competing brands. As a result, Lexus has announced that 2026 will be the final year for the LS 500 with a special limited-run Heritage Edition variant. Come 2027, if you go to the Lexus dealer to turn in your leased LS 500, you’ll likely be shown an LX SUV as a possible replacement. But if you don’t want to trade in your traditional luxury sedan for a high-riding off-roader, what’s a good option for you?
Related: 2026 Lexus LS 500 Takes Last Spin With Special AWD Heritage Edition
This is: the 2026 Genesis G90, the flagship sedan of Hyundai’s luxury brand. Last redesigned for the 2023 model year with this second-generation model, it’s the ride popular with South Korean corporate captains of industry, and for good reason: It’s incredibly comfortable, beautifully styled, immaculately finished inside, spacious in front or in back, and focused on being smooth. And given that Genesis has never sold more than a few thousand units a year in the U.S. since it was introduced, it’s possible that you’ve never actually seen one — and that’s truly a shame, as this is an old-school luxury ride of the type that should be making a comeback.
What’s So Great About Big Sedans?
Look, I get that big luxury SUVs are the rage. They’re enormous, providing tons of space, headroom, hiproom and the ability to bring along a half-dozen friends or family members. But hear me out — they’re just not great to drive. They’re stressful experiences given the copious weight and tippy body motions. It’s not a luxurious ride. It’s not laying back and floating down the road; rather, it’s bobbing and pitching and feeling too high. A full-size luxury sedan has none of what ails big SUVs. These cars are about sitting low and enjoying a planted, controlled feeling. It’s about having everything you need to touch within easy reach, but still having room to stretch out. Unless you’re towing a boat, it’s a better experience in a full-size luxury sedan than it is in a big luxury SUV. And few big luxury sedans do it better than the G90.
It starts with entering the G90’s driver’s seat. The doors on this top-of-the-line Prestige Black trim open and close with power assist, which takes a little getting used to but is quite nice once you’ve settled into the seat. Either put your foot on the brake or push the button on the center console, and the door will close automatically. The driver can close any of the four doors using dedicated buttons, which is kind of a neat feature.
But then take in the quality of the interior, which shames any Lexus I’ve seen in recent years. Genuinely lovely wood and leather trim looks and feels fantastic, but the real measure of quality comes when you tap various surfaces — nothing feels hollow, nothing feels plasticky or thin. Assembly quality is just as important as tactile feel when you’re spending this much money, and Genesis paid attention here.
The seats are glorious, as well. The big thrones upfront feature lots of adjustability and even power foldout calf support. Visibility is excellent, and looking out over the long, sculpted black hood does give the G90 a bit of a Batmobile vibe. But the best place to enjoy the G90 is in back, with fully reclining seats, electronic controls, sunshades everywhere and a touchscreen to control all of it in the folding center armrest. Legroom is plentiful (as it should be). It feels like a properly expensive limousine in any seat and, it must be said, handily outclasses the Lexus LS.
High-Tech, Low-Confusion
The Genesis G90 also puts the Audi A8, BMW 7 Series and Mercedes-Benz S-Class on notice. It successfully combines big touchscreen controls with dedicated buttons for many features, whereas the German companies are increasingly going to all-screen control systems, which can be confusing to use while in motion. The enormous touchscreen in the G90 can be controlled by finger or rotary knob, and it’s a relatively easy system to learn and use, with dedicated “cards” on the main screen for different functions. Tasks like turning off various safety minders that might annoy the driver are easy, and graphically represented onscreen. A reconfigurable gauge cluster display also aids in improving information delivery and can be customized in a number of ways to suit driver tastes. The climate-control system is a grouping of hard buttons and touch controls below the main touchscreen, so you don’t have to hunt through onscreen menus to adjust temperature or function. All of it looks vastly more sophisticated than the systems Lexus has developed in any of its vehicles, and it’s easier to find the specific function you’re looking for, whether it’s controlling vehicle systems or entertainment sources.
Simply put, the Genesis G90 is easier to use than nearly any other high-zoot luxury sedan on the market, and it provides a nice upgrade from the rather disjointed and lackluster electronic systems used on the Lexus LS. But it’s also really good to drive.
Cruisers Are Underrated
Powering this version of the G90 is a twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V-6 engine augmented by an electronically controlled supercharger that’s part of the 48-volt mild-hybrid system. It essentially uses the supercharger at low engine speeds to eliminate turbo lag and improve the responsiveness of the engine. The powertrain makes 409 horsepower and 405 pounds-feet of torque, and all of that power goes to all four wheels through an eight-speed automatic transmission. It sounds complicated, but the result is a super-smooth, quiet, endlessly torquey powerplant that can propel the big G90 from 0-60 mph in a manufacturer-reported 5.1 seconds. That’s plenty quick for a big luxury sedan like this, and it’s a confidence booster for any situation, from highway on-ramps to quick departures from stoplights.
But make no mistake, the G90 is not a sports sedan. This is a cruiser meant for transporting VIPs, either yourself or others. The G90 will hustle along smartly, but it even has a drive mode called Chauffeur Mode, which slows accelerator response, turns the air suspension to super-cushy (but not floaty or sloppy), and provides a sublime combination of ride and handling that’s skewed more toward the ride end of the equation. And that’s OK. Not every big luxury sedan has to be able to tackle the Nurburgring racetrack. The G90 has four-wheel steering, something the Lexus LS has never offered, but it’s not meant for improving back-roads handling; it’s meant to improve parking lot maneuvers — and it works brilliantly. The G90 will handle your trek down from the Malibu residence to the Beverly Hills restaurants without missing a beat, eat up endless miles of Midwest interstate in serene comfort, or traverse cratered East Coast pavement without upsetting anyone inside.
And this is where it’s even more comparable to the Lexus LS, and makes for a great one-to-one replacement. The driving characteristics of the LS might be the best thing about it — it’s calm, comfortable, coddling and isolating from the outside world. It has no sporting pretense to it — even the F Sport versions are still big limos at heart. It’s solid, well controlled and meant to be relaxing. And the G90 replicates that experience to the last detail; it should be eminently pleasing to anyone coming out of an LS and looking to continue that journey.
[2026 Genesis G90 Shopping CTA]
It’s Even Priced Appropriately
Big German luxury sedans tend to be super-pricey — especially the Mercedes S-Class, which starts just north of $120,000 and only gets dearer from there. A BMW 7 Series can be had for a few thousand more than a Genesis G90, and an Audi A8 actually matches up pretty well pricewise. But the G90’s starting price of $94,195 is still on the low end of the spectrum, and even loading a G90 up with every option and special paint adds less than $2,000 to the base price. There are no crazy paint options, no insanely overpowered engines, no customization programs — just three well-equipped trims with some classy color combinations. It’s not the crazy bargain that it used to be, but it also doesn’t make you question its price. It feels expensive, something that some of its competitors don’t quite manage.
So, if your Lexus LS 500 is up for lease turn-in or you’re tired of big, high-riding SUVs and want something a bit more old-school, it would be a tragedy if you overlooked the Genesis G90.
More Genesis News From Cars.com:
- 2026 Genesis G90 Gets Minor Updates, Starts at $94,150
- 2023 Genesis G90 Review: Just as Nice, Just as Expensive
- Who Makes Genesis Cars?
- Best Luxury Car of 2025
- Going for the Bold: 2025 Genesis G90 Priced From $90,950
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