First Test Drive Hyundai Genesis Coupe 380GT
If the four-door Genesis remains on the conservative side of the fence, the two-door twin’s design is nothing but dynamic with its fastback roof, rising waistline, double-creased flanks and wheelarch-filling 19-inch wheels.
The Coupe is effectively a replacement for the Tiburon and there’s a familiarity to the silhouette, though the new model is noticeably bigger.
If you jump from the Genesis sedan to the Genesis coupe, as we did, you’ll be in for a bit of a shock, though. The over-riding sense of materials quality and relative sophistication of the executive car doesn’t make the transition to the sports car.
A sizeable, T-section of the Coupe’s dash is of the spongy plastic variety, but otherwise unpleasant looking and feeling black plastics are far too domineering. It perhaps didn’t help that we were driving a 2008 model that was already starting to show its age rather than the very latest Coupe that’s had a minor interior facelift.
Still, the driving position is spot on for a sports car, despite the absence of reach adjust for the steering wheel. The front seats are low slung and chunky side bolstering hugs you in.
There were unfortunately few corners on Hyundai’s test route in Korea to truly test the Coupe’s handling abilities, though a gravelled skidpan we came across allowed us to switch off the stability control system and discover that there seems to be plenty of potential for driving fun from the rear-wheel-drive layout – a crucial difference to the Tiburon that drove the wheels at the opposite end.
There’s also a meaty weighting to the hydraulic steering, which is also consistent from lock to lock but we also found it vibrated under braking on bumpy roads and is not much of a communicator.
Ride quality is the biggest disappointment, though. The Coupe features a different suspension to the sedan, with no standard air suspension, double-wishbone rather than multi-link front suspension and with sportier settings for both dampers and springs.
Over anything but smooth roads the suspension is quite restless and crashes horribly over big bumps or potholes. The car will also weave into ruts in the road.
The tyres are also noisy and would be guaranteed to make an even bigger racket on Australia’s common coarse-chip surfaces.
FA more pleasant sound is provided by the Coupe’s range-topping 303PS 3.8-litre V6 (a 2.0-litre turbo four-cylinder starts the range). It feels more responsive in the lighter Coupe compared with the 1.7-tonne Genesis sedan, and it’s a keen revver, too, with a sporty if slightly coarse engine note.
Hyundai says the Coupe will reach 100km/h from standstill in less than six seconds, which is certainly respectable.
Shifts from the six-speed auto are quick enough, too, though it’s not the most intuitive version of the German-made ZF gearbox we’ve experienced (such as in the Ford Falcon).
Even in general driving it has a habit of holding onto higher gears too long, and if you accelerate hard the engine can be found holding revs longer than expected.
Paddleshift levers would have been beneficial, though they are now available on the Coupe auto after its minor update. The auto is optional even on the V6 model (six-speed manual standard), though there are plenty of standard features that accompany a pricetag of $29,750 in the US.
They include colour touch-screen with sat-nav, heated leather sports seats, 10-speaker 360-watt audio, automatic windows, electrically adjustable side mirrors, six airbags, stability control, tyre pressure monitoring, leather steering wheel, Bluetooth/iPod/USB connectivity, proximity key for entry and engine start, and rear parking sensors.
It’s understandable why Hyundai Australia wants this model to help boost its image in the local market. Australian buyers, it seems, have a few years to decide yet whether they desire it as much.
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