From the 2014 North American International Auto Show, Cars.com's Kelsey Mays takes a look at the 2015 Hyundai Genesis.
Transcript
(seatbelt clicking) (upbeat music) Hi, I'm Kelsey Mays for Cars.com here at the 2014 North American International Auto Show in Detroit with a car that we called our new car of the year, all the way back in 2009.
This is the redesigned second generation Hyundai Genesis sedan. A car that Hyundai promises will go head to head against top tier European sedans. Let's see how it stacks up. This is the second generation of Hyundai's Fluidic Sculpture design. We saw the first gen of that kind of come out in cars like the Sonata sedan, the Tucson SUV, definitely a lower, wider grill, more assertive looking on the new Genesis, the area below the grill, kind of a broad section that reminds us a little bit of the 2009 to 2012 BMW seven series. Speaking of which dimensions on the Genesis remained roughly unchanged, which stack it up roughly between the size of a BMW five series and a BMW seven series. Now wheel base up about three inches overall, which should help ride quality. So should a new Multilink rear suspension. Hyundai officials have told us before that some Genesis customers thought that the Genesis rode a little bit too firm. Notice this beltline, it runs very flat here. It doesn't rise gently like the last Genesis sedans beltline did. That should improve sight lines from the inside. The roof line plays a little bit against that though. It's kind of descending as you go back, kind of limits your view out the six o'clock view, especially with the rear window, which is wide enough, but a little bit on the short side. Materials in the cabin, definitely good, very consistent all the way down to leg and foot level. Even along here along the center tunnel where your knees might knock up against it. It's a padded area here. Not wild about these door handles which seem a little bit plasticy to us. Again, this is an auto show car, everything's kind of subject to change when it actually hits production. Eight or 9.2 inch center screen here versus a seven or eight inch screen in the last Genesis, depending on the multimedia package, all the way up to 9.2 inches, various multimedia infotainment features things like streaming, Bluetooth audio, in car wifi, Apple Siri support, plenty of apps. Lots to check out there. Let's take a look at the backseat, kind of hard to get a read on backseat space because the car here at the auto show is completely depowered, which means the power front seats don't work. If I was sitting there to drive, I'd probably have the seat, a few inches forward of where it is right now, but even as it stands, you can see pretty good room back here. I've got lots of leg room leftover. Pretty good headroom overhead. The seat could sit an inch or two higher off the ground for better adult thigh support, but not bad in the backseat, which was a hallmark of the prior Genesis sedan, still remains here. Trunk volume, 15.3 cubic feet versus the outgoing Genesis sedans 15.9 cubic feet. There's a new feature Hyundais have called smart trunk. Basically, that means you keep your key fob in the pocket and you stand next to a sensor on the rear of the car for more than three seconds, the trunk opens on its own. So you don't have to worry about fishing it. If you've got a lot of groceries in your hands. Now, it could be really annoying if you hang out behind your car often, cause it'll just open on its own. Hyundai does say that you can disable that feature if you really want. And there will be flashing lights and audible warnings. Anyway, drive trains should be familiar to any recent Genesis sedan owners. There's a 3.8 liter V6 or a five liter V8, both pair with an eight speed automatic transmission. This is the first Genesis sedan that will offer all wheel drive in the US though. Hyundai says that's going to be available with either drive train. Thanks to the original Genesis sedan and to some extent the price year EQuIS, Hyundai has shown that it has legitimate luxury car making chops. It doesn't face quite the uphill consumer perception battle that it did when the first Genesis came out in late 2008, no word yet on a Genesis coupe, but former Hyundai USA CEO, John Krafcik has already tweeted about it. And so we expect one to be on its way. Stay tuned for more details, closer to the Genesis sedans on sale date this spring. (motor revving)
