The IT Nerd

It’s been just over three months since my wife and I purchased our 2016 Hyundai Tucson, and I wanted to give you a update of what the ownership experience has been like and add additional details to the original review and the follow up that I wrote. Let me start with what I call minor annoyances as they do not detract from my decision to get the Tucson:

• Sirius XM was our biggest pain point. We got a three month trial as part of the purchase of the Tucson and the music part of it worked fine and my wife and I really liked that. We also liked the fact that we could listen to Sirius XM on our smartphones. But our three month trial was also supposed to supply traffic info to our navigation system. That would have been handy as the navigation system simply plots either the fastest or most direct route between points “a” and “b” without taking traffic into account. But it never worked and attempts to get this remedied were unsuccessful. Plus the customer service that we got while trying to fix this has been really, really bad as the standard responses from Sirius XM Canada were “we’ll send a command to refresh your radio” which never worked and promises of getting their tech support involved never materialized. Thus we’ve decided to let the trial lapse without signing up. That sucks for Sirius XM Canada as we were considering signing up and now because of this they’ve lost a potential customer. Related to this, we also found a major security hole with Sirius XM Canada’s online portal and the way they create new accounts that can leave people wide open to bad guys on the Internet doing bad things. Hopefully they’ve remedied that. But if they haven’t, they’re likely to get pwned sooner or later. On a related note, Sirius XM Canada is extremely aggressive about trying to get you to sign up. They’ve made numerous calls to my wife and I, sometimes while we’re having dinner which is an excellent way to annoy those you are calling. There’s also a lot of e-mail and snail mail that gets sent to us as well. One thing that I do note is that the offers to sign up kept getting better every time as each offer was a significant discount off their regular monthly rate for a limited time, or a significant discount if you signed up for a year. Read into that what you will.
• There’s only one USB port. That’s a problem on long road trips seeing as this vehicle seats five and everyone has a smartphone these days. To fix that, we’re likely going to have to resort to 12v to USB adapters to keep devices charged on long road trips. The upshot to that is the USB port has no problem charging high current draw items like tablets.
• At startup, the infotainment system connects to your phone over Bluetooth. When it finds it, it then says “The contact download is starting. Some phones require additional confirmation. Please check your phone and confirm the download if necessary.” The problem with this is that it not only interrupts any other audio that is playing, including navigation commands (or if you have audio turned off, it will still say it), it also displays this text on top of any graphics that are on the touchscreen with the exception of the backup camera. Fortunately, there is a workaround that stops this from happening that I found on the Hyundai Forums. Simply delete the phone from the infotainment system, delete the infotainment system from the phone’s Bluetooth section, and re-pair the two. But what really needs to happen is that there needs to be an option to disable this message both audibly and visually so that you never have to see it. Perhaps a future software update will address this.
• While the infotainment system in general and the navigation system specifically is pretty much idiot resistant, I will note that if you are searching for a street name with the word “highway” in it, such as “Highway 7” which is a major route just north of the City Of Toronto, you have to enter “Hwy-7” as it will never find “Highway 7.” That’s something that will drive users nuts. Perhaps a future software update will address this as that’s not idiot resistant.
• The welcome lights issue that I reported on haven’t been addressed yet. However, according to this post on the Hyundai Forums, there is a fix that is available to US customers. Hopefully Hyundai Canada gets this fix to Canadian customers ASAP.

Now over to the things we like:

• Though the Tucson is smaller than the Honda CR-V and the Toyota RAV-4, at least on paper, we’ve been pleasantly surprised with the amount of interior space that you get. I had to pick up a pair of people from Pearson Airport after they flew in from the United Kingdom and they had no problem getting in and relaxing after a long flight. I should also note that they were both over 6 feet tall and they commented that there was “loads of space” in the back.
• There’s a lot of cargo space in the back for stuff with the seats upright. I was able to fit multiple large suitcases with ease back there when I had to pick up those people from the UK at the airport.
• Fuel economy is pretty good. It tends to be between 9 and 11 L/100 KM’s which is very good as far as I am concerned. Plus if you use ECO mode, you can get your fuel economy down to the low 9 L/100 KM’s range or lower easily. Though the driving experience isn’t nearly as fun.
• The backup camera with rear parking assist and cross traffic alerts is a welcome feature to have as I am certain that this will help us to avoid us hitting something in the parking lot of a grocery store or Home Depot. I should also point out that the clarity of the camera in all lighting conditions is excellent.
• The hands free liftgate is a brilliant. If you have your hands full with stuff, you don’t have to fumble for the fob, nor do you have to wave your foot under the bumper (good luck with that if you have balance issues or you’re on uneven ground) to get the rear liftgate to open. Simply walk up, stand there for three seconds and the liftgate opens. This feature alone is worth the price of admission.

One thing that we didn’t get with the Tucson was a privacy cover. It’s an option, but in our opinion it should be standard. So we ordered it and a rubber mat for the cargo area from Hyundai Of Oakville and here’s a look at the result.

Now over to a question that I’ve got from a reader. They want to know the details on the all-wheel-drive system as there isn’t a whole lot of info on it. The system that Hyundai using comes from Canadian auto parts supplier Magna who supplies the all-wheel-drive hardware to car companies like BMW. Dubbed Dynamax, this is a very sophisticated system that provides you with traction in all conditions. Rather than wait for a slip to occur and react to it, the system anticipates events and adjusts to them in almost real time by sending and receiving information to the control electronics of the car. That way, the system tries to be one step ahead of the car, which means you get ideal torque and traction at all times. To add to that, the system has torque vectoring capabilities which I’ve found to be useful in situations such as taking an on or off ramp a bit too quickly (which for the record I’ve done and this system has bailed me out of that situation). In this application, a mechanical differential splits front-rear power distribution. The left-right power split is via inside-wheel braking, which under-drives the inside wheel relative to the outside wheel traveling the greater arc. All of this works and works pretty well. We’ll have a good chance to test this system this winter. Assuming that winter ever makes an appearance in Southern Ontario as it hasn’t thus far. I’ll report back as to how it does in those conditions.

Another question that I got from a reader is how do I deal with the fact that this trim level doesn’t come with a CD player. My answer is that it doesn’t affect me or my wife for three reasons:

• We listen to a lot of AM and FM Radio. Plus while we had a trial of Sirius XM, we listened to that too.
• The music that we want to listen to is located on our respective iPhones.
• You can use a USB stick full of MP3s to play music from. If you need help doing that, I’ve wrote a post on the Hyundai Forums on this topic here.

I should note that lower trim levels do come with CD players.

There’s another item that I’d like to highlight. There is a rumor that Apple CarPlay and Android Auto is coming to the 2016 Tucson in the form of a software update. I think that’s great if that’s true and I hope it is a free update as Hyundai charges for their software and map updates. Thus it would really suck if they charged for this one. I’ll post a story on the update process and my experience with CarPlay/Android Auto if that update appears. Having said that, there’s already a software update that includes updates to the maps for the navigation system. But at $235 US, it’s a steep price to pay to make sure that you don’t drive off course.

Speaking of software updates, the Tucson got a software update at my first oil change which was at 6000 KM’s. The software update is for the engine control module. Apparently there was an issue where the engine control module thinks that the engine is not warming up quickly enough, and therefore it would throw a error code which could result in the Check Engine Light being turned on. I haven’t had this issue, but it is nice to know that it is not going to happen in the future. Speaking of oil. Thus far, I can find no evidence that the engine consumes oil unlike our previous vehicle. That’s something that my wife and I are thankful for.

Finally, we’re looking at replacing the Hankook all season tires that came with the Tucson with all weather tires. Let me explain the difference between the two. All season tires are tires that work in three seasons. Spring, summer, and fall. Below 7C they don’t provide optimal levels of traction. Since we live in Canada, that’s bad. Now many people use dedicated winter tires, but there’s the expense of extra rims, tire pressure sensors, and the cost and hassle of swapping tires twice a year and storing them. Thus there’s a new class of tires that called the all weather tire that works in all four seasons and is winter rated (which is denoted by a picture of mountain with a snowflake inside it on the sidewall of the tire). That takes away the hassle of swapping tires and storing them while giving you traction in any condition. The specific tire that we’re considering is the Nokian WRG3. Seeing as this is the company that invented the winter tire and they are from Finland which gets a fair amount of snow, we feel that this is the best choice for us.

I’ll be posting another update in three months and I should have some more things to say about our experiences with the Tucson, along with anything else my wife or I encounter. Please keep an eye out for it. Also, if you wanted to see the original review of the Tucson, click here for that along with the follow up that we did after we bought it.

UPDATE: The “welcome lights” have been fixed. Click here for details.

After my review of the 2016 Hyundai Tucson Limited AWD, my wife and I were so impressed by it that we bought one. When someone who reviews products buys something that they review, that’s a pretty powerful statement about how the reviewer feels about the product.

Here’e a look at our new Tucon:

We got ours in black and it really looks good. It kind of looks intimidating from the front.

Here’s the side view which looks really striking. I’d like to focus on the wheels for a second.

The design of the 19″ alloy wheels is pretty striking. They also fill out the wheel wells really well.

In my original review, I didn’t highlight the fact that you get turn signals in the body colored mirrors. That gives the Tucson an upscale look.

The rear of the Tucson really looks bold if I may say so.

Now there were some things that I became aware of after purchasing the vehicle. For starters, the Tucson supports Siri Eyes Free which allows you to make phone calls, send texts, check weather, make appointments in your calendar, post updates to Twitter and more via your voice without ever taking your eyes off the road. All you need to do is press and hold the voice command button on the steering wheel. This wasn’t mentioned on Hyundai Canada’s website which I find strange as I think you’d want to promote this feature as it would be a feature that would get some attention from potential buyers.

One thing that I wish was present was the ability to import saved addresses into the navigation system. I couldn’t find a way to do it, so I was forced to retype the addresses from my Garmin 2595LMT into the Tucson’s navigation system. It wasn’t the biggest deal in the world and it took an hour. But an import feature, and an export feature for that matter to allow you to back up your data, would be preferable. Now to be fair, Hyundai isn’t the only car company in this boat. But car companies may want to take this under consideration so that users of their cars can treat them like the rolling computers that they are.

Finally, the glove compartment is a bit small. I can have the owners manuals (which are really thick by the way) along with a couple of pairs of gloves in it and not much else. Fortunately, the center console is deep and it allows me to keep stuff in there.

Here are some other things that caught my attention:

For the front passenger, there’s this area to store something like a map or a magazine. Very clever.

The interior is very upscale and easily rivals the interiors of luxury nameplates. For example there’s this stitching on the dash that is very well done. Most of the materials are soft to the touch as well which adds to the upscale feel.

In the cargo area is a 12V outlet which can come in handy for camping or tailgating.

There are cargo hooks all over the cargo area to allow you to strap down your cargo.

Speaking of hooks, there’s this handy flip down hook in the cargo area that allows you to hang a shopping bag from it so that it doesn’t slide around the cargo area.

I highlighted this feature before, but I want to show it to you. You can drop the floor down to give you additional depth in the cargo area. The only downside is that you no longer have a completely flat load area for long cargo.

Behind the driver and near the grab handle is this hook to hang your jacket on. Or, the other use case that I can think of is that this is where you would hang your clothes when you pick them up from the cleaners.

Behind the driver and passenger seats on the “B” pillar are hooks like the one in this picture. I was able to hang a jacket here and I can see how this might come in handy.

In terms of driving the Tucson, the impressions that I had in the original review are still the same which is that I never was left wanting for power and even though this is a turbocharged engine, there’s no turbo lag that I could find. Speaking of power, something else I really like is the fact that you only need 87 octane gas to power the Tucson. That combined with single digit fuel economy (8.7 l/100KM as I type this) means that it will be good on my wallet. In general, the driving experience feels solid…. Almost Germanic. Visibility is good all around. Though the mirrors are slightly smaller than I am used to. As a result, it took me a while to find a position to set the mirrors so that I could see what’s around me comfortably. Fortunately the blind spot monitoring system helps with this by warning you of what’s in your blind spot. Speaking of blind spots, my wife said that she had a bit of a bind spot over her shoulder. But I didn’t find that myself. Thus I think that this might be one of those “your mileage may vary” things. Getting in and out is easy as we didn’t have to step up into the Tucson. Handling is very good and it has a tight turning radius and it is much more nimble than the size of the vehicle would suggest. Finding the ideal driving position does take some work, but you’ll be very comfortable once you’ve found a position that works for you. Passengers will be really comfortable as well as there’s a lot of head and leg room available in the front and the back of the Tucson. The fact that the rear seats recline is a bonus for passengers in the rear. Another item in the plus column is the audio system. With 8 speakers scattered throughout the Tucson, you get impressive sound that will make you want to play all your music inside the Tucson instead of your home. Finally, road and wind noise is minimal…. If you hear it at all. That’s a trait that you normally associate with BMW and Mercedes rather than Hyundai which illustrates how far they’ve come as a car company.

Gripes? Memory settings for the drivers seat would have been welcome. And I did mention the size of the glove box earlier. But the big item on the list are non-working “welcome lights” which is Hyundai speak for lights in the door handles that activate when you walk up to the Tucson with the key fob in your hand. Apparently Hyundai made a “boo boo” and didn’t turn this feature on for people who were supposed to get it. Such as yours truly for example. There’s a very lengthy discussion about this topic on a third party forum called the Hyundai Forms and apparently Hyundai is working on a fix. If Hyundai were smart, they should get this fix out to owners quickly…. As in right now.

The Hyundai Tucson is getting attention wherever it goes. I’ve personally been stopped a few times to answer questions about it since we’ve got it. So it will clearly attract enough attention for Hyundai to get people into showrooms. What may turn them off is the price. When we got it, the price for the 1.6 Limited AWD trim level was $36,649 CDN. But I hear rumors that prices might be going up as of October 1st. You can likely blame the weak Canadian dollar for that. Still, you get a lot for your money. Thus I believe buyers will be able to get past the sticker shock and Hyundai still has a winner in the form of the Tucson and other car companies in the “cute-ute” space will have to up their game as a result.

Just fix my welcome lights sooner rather than later Hyundai.

UPDATE: I spoke to Hyundai Canada Customer Relations. They have confirmed that the non-functional “welcome lights” is a known issue and they are working on a fix. I got a case number regarding this (Hint: Always get a case number when you deal with any customer service department) and they promised to reach out to me when a fix was available.

UPDATE #2: I’ve posted a three month follow up on the Tucson here.

UPDATE #3: The “welcome lights” have been fixed. Click here for details.

The compact SUV market is competitive one. If you want to be a player, you have to bring a competitive product to market or dealers will have inventory on their lots that they can’t sell. In the case of Hyundai, they’ve got something that I guarantee won’t stay on dealer lots for long in the form of the 2016 Hyundai Tucson. I got the 1.6L Limited AWD trim level to drive around for a day thanks to Hyundai Of Oakville, and I have to say that I walked away impressed.

Let me start with the outside. One thing that I should note is that my review unit was just pulled off the truck, so it still had a lot of the stickers and the like from being transported to the dealership:

From the front, it looks really sharp and modern. I have to admit that that this look really works for this vehicle. Consider me a fan of what Hyundai calls Fluidic Sculpture 2.0. You get HID Headlights with Dynamic Bending Light which is Hyundai speak for the headlights ability to bend around corners. The foglights have LEDs in them that act as the daytime running lights.

From the side it looks muscular. It sort of reminds me of the Hyundai Genesis that I drove last year.

The rear continues the muscular look and the chrome tailpipe is really cool looking.

Plus the tail lights look really cool.

Exterior wise, everything was put together well and the build quality is excellent. There’s nothing to complain about here. It’s easy to see why they placed fourth in the JD Power 2015 US Initial Quality Study.

This particular Tucson is powered by a 1.6L turbocharged 4 cylinder engine that puts out 175 horsepower and 195 lb-ft of torque and is mated to a 7-speed dual clutch transmission that pushes the power to all four wheels via an AWD system. If you prefer, you can lock the torque-split yourself for a continuous 50/50 power split between the front and rear axles as long as you stay below 30 km/h. If this is too much power for you, there’s a 2.0L engine that is good for 164 horsepower and 151 lb-ft of torque and is mated to a 6-speed automatic. But take it from me, you want the 1.6L as I never found myself wanting for power when merging onto highways or trying to pass a car on the highway. The dual clutch transmission shifted without drama and it always felt like it was in the right gear. You can shift it yourself if you want to, but you shouldn’t bother as it does well all by itself. One thing that I’d like to point out is the lack of paddle shifters. Without them you have to shift with the gear shift. You also get the ability to switch between three driving modes. Normal mode isn’t exciting, but it’s a good balance between fuel economy and power. Then there’s Eco which absolutely dulls the driving experience to save you gas. The real fun can be found in Sport mode which sharpens the throttle response along with the steering and makes the dual clutch transmission shift more aggressively. To add to the fun while you’re in any driving mode is the fact that the AWD system uses torque vectoring to allow torque to be redistributed along the rear axle to the wheel that has best traction, and will brake the inside rear wheel to mitigate understeer. Potholes and road imperfections were soaked up with a minimum of fuss or suspension noise. You’d have to go over something really severe to really send shockwaves up your backside. It feels solid, and it it is largely quiet. Only a minimal amount of road noise makes its way into the cabin and wind noise really only appears at highway speeds. Even then, it’s minimal. Handling is good as I found it to be easy to maneuver and there’s more than enough road feel for me to know what the Tucson was doing underneath me. Though I will note that if you take an on-ramp too fast, you’ll be reminded that this is a compact SUV in a hurry.

Let’s move to the interior:

The window and side mirror controls are on the armrest. By the way the metallic door handle and lock is a really classy touch.

The driver and passenger seats are made of leather and are heated. The driver’s seat is 8-way power driver seat with 2-way power lumbar adjustment. The drivers seat was very comfortable. Though if I could make a minor observation, it could use a bit more bolstering on the sides.

There are controls to the left of the steering wheel for lighting and the electronic overseers. It also has the button that allows you to open the rear hatch.

The steering wheel is a very good size and is heated and leather wrapped. It also has controls for your phone, audio, and cruise control.

I’m zooming in on this part of the steering wheel to highlight a small but significant detail. The volume control can be pushed to mute audio. That doesn’t sound like a big deal until you get into a car and you can’t figure out how to mute the radio in any other way than to crank the volume down.

The gauges are clear and easy to read. They are also highly customizable as you can set up the center portion of the gauge cluster to display the info that you want.

There’s a 8″ touchscreen with a suite of buttons that allow you quick access to the infotainment systems functions. That’s something that I really appreciate. You also get the HVAC controls below the touchscreen which gives you dual zone climate control.

Here’s the shift lever which is leather wrapped. To the right you get two cupholders. There’s also a coin holder below the shift lever and above the cup holder. You’ll also note that above the shift lever is a cubby that has a USB port and an AUX in port.

Here’s a look at the cubby that is big enough to hold an iPhone 6 Plus. You also get a pair of 12V jacks along with the AUX in and USB ports.

As you can see, the cupholders will hold a Starbucks Venti sized drink.

Behind the shifter are the controls for Drive Mode, locking the AWD system, turning off the Rear Park Assist System, and setting the Downhill Brake Control.

There’s a deep storage area in the center console.

A lit glove box is really handy to have.

There’s bottle holders in the doors. My wife really like that as she considers that to be a key requirement for any car that she owns.

There’s a massive sunroof that reminds me of the one found in the Genesis.

The rear seats are made of leather. They recline and are heated. Plus you can flip down the center section to reveal an armrest with cupholders. The seats also fold down in a 60/40 manner. I should note that there is plenty of headroom and legroom back here and nobody will complain about being in the back.

There’s a HVAC vent for rear seat passengers.

Rear cargo area is plentiful. You will have no issue getting your cargo into the Tucson. The hatch is powered and it has a handy feature. Simply stand behind it with the key fob on your person and it will open. That’s a feature that’s straight off the Genesis that you’ll really like. Theres a false-floor that opens up an additional 5.1 cm of depth if you need it. Under that false floor resides a spare tire.

All the materials inside the Tucson are top notch and are put together well. There’s soft touch material all over and I found nothing to complain about interior wise.

When it comes to the safety tech, you get the following:

• Front Airbags, Front Seat-Mounted Side Airbags and Roof Mounted Side Curtain with Rollover Sensor
• Anti-lock Braking System with Electronic Brake-force Distribution and Brake Assist
• Downhill Brake Control and Hill Start Control
• Vehicle Stability Management with and Traction Control
• Blind Spot Detection system with Rear Cross-Traffic Alert and Lane Change Assist
• Rear Park Assist System with backup camera (which is exposed to the elements)

This a very extensive suite of safety tech that will make sure that your new Tucson stays shiny side up as well as keep you safe. If that’s not enough, there’s three additional options that are part of the Ultimate trim level that are worth mentioning:

• Autonomous Emergency Braking (the Tucson will stop itself if you don’t react quickly enough to a dangerous situation)
• Forward Collision Warning (It will warn you if you don’t react quickly enough to a dangerous situation)
• Lane Departure Warning System

Now over to the infotainment system. Hyundai has a winner here with an 8″ touch screen with redundant controls and a logical layout that makes the operation of this system via tap and swipe gestures a breeze. I should also mention that pairing my phone took a minute and plugging my iPhone 6 which is running iOS 9 into the system via USB allowed me to browse playlists and see album art. Let me highlight the fact that the system worked with an mobile OS from Apple that was out for precisely one day when I tested the Tucson. Impressive! Navigation is excellent. Verbal directions are clear and it has lane guidance (it tells you what lane or lanes that you need to be in) and even replicates road signs including speed limits and highway signs. It’s also easy to enter addresses into the system. You can get traffic alerts as well via a subscription package with Sirius XM if you want to make the system even smarter. So, what’s the only negative….. If you want to call it that? While you’re driving, the system limits what you can do to keep you focused on the road. If you want to do anything interesting, you’ll be forced to use the voice guidance (which works well, but can be slow when recognizing words) or pull over. I completely understand why Hyundai did that, and given the fact that distracted driving laws are becoming more strict in most places it’s likely a good thing. But I am certain that it will annoy someone out there.

The sound system inside the Tucson is top notch. Besides having the usual AM/FM radio, Sirrus XM and access to the music on your phone and the like, it comes with 8 speakers which make all that music sound amazing. Music was crisp and well defined and bass was notably impressive. I should also note that regardless of where you were sitting, this was the case.

Fuel economy is the last point on my list to look at. The specs say that I should get 9.9L/100km in the city, 8.4L/100 km on the highway, and 9.2L/100 km combined. I got 8.8L/100 km in mixed city and highway driving. That’s pretty good!

So, what does the 2016 Hyundai Tucson 1.6L Limited go for? List price is $36,649 CDN. But the Tucson starts at $24,399 CDN with the 2.0L engine and front wheel drive. There’s also a trim level above the Limited which is called the Ultimate which goes for $39,599 CDN. Whatever configuration you choose, Hyundai has a compact SUV which will scare the completion to death. In every way that I could look at this vehicle from, it is a quality vehicle that’s also a good value. The competition will take one look a the Tucson and realize that they need to up their game if they want to avoid having their products sit on their dealer’s lots.

UPDATE: For some reason, an earlier revision of this story was posted which had some content missing. The proper version is now online.

UPDATE #2: I’ve posted a follow up to this review with additional pictures and details.

In preparation for reviewing the 2015 Hyundai Genesis, I talked a customer into letting me drive his 2013 BMW 535i sedan. That way I could have a baseline comparison. He asked me what I was going to test this time, and he reacted this way when I told him it was the Genesis:

“That’s not even close the same class of car when compared to the BMW.”

And having driven the Genesis, I can say that he’s right. It’s not in the same class. It’s better. Here’s why. Let’s start from the outside:

The front end is bold and aggressive. People in front of you will know that you mean business:

The side is very well sculpted and gives the Genesis a very bold look. I really like the character line that runs on the side of the Genesis.

I love the look of the rear. The way the tailpipes are integrated into the design of the car is first class. Those taillights look cool too.

In short, it is a very head turning design. Hyundai has that part dialled in. But let’s talk about what’s under the hood:

The engine under the hood of this Genesis is a 5L V8 that puts out 420 horsepower and 383 pound feet of torque. It’s mated to an 8 speed transmission sourced from famed transmission maker ZF and comes standard with all-wheel-drive. Called HTRAC, this is a rear biased AWD system that was tested in some of the toughest places such as the old Nürburgring road course in Germany, the new Yeongam F1 circuit in Korea, and in Europe during the winter in snow and ice. Now all of this is great marketing material, but how does it drive?

Amazing would be my answer.

This car has amazing amounts of power that is direct and linear and keeps building and building. The AWD system gives you the feel of a rear wheel drive car, which is what someone who wants a sporty luxury car wants, while giving you the added ability to carve corners better and stay shiny side up in inclement weather. This vehicle may have 8 gears, but I never, ever, felt the transmission shift gears once. And if you really want some fun, put it into sport mode and hang on. You’ll hear more engine noise when compared to the normal setting, but you also get more aggressive shifting and tighter handling. Let me focus on handling for a moment. There is minimal body roll, the steering is well weighted and has a “point and shoot” feel to it, and you can feel the road perfectly. In fact, compared to the BMW 535i that I drove, the Genesis has much, much better road feel. If you want a great driving experience, this is the car for you. Braking feel is very modular in nature which is something that drivers will love.

One other thing. This car is quiet. There is a minimal amount of road noise, and if you put your foot down you can hear the engine. But other than that, the Genesis is bank vault quiet. That leads me to the interior:

The drivers seat while not being a sport seat will keep you in place during spirited driving. It also supported my back and thighs well and never felt uncomfortable. It can be adjusted in 16 ways and has two memory settings. The front seats are heated and vented.

The steering wheel is perfectly sized and all the controls fall easily to hand.

The gauge cluster is clear, easy to read, and is customizable. If you look carefully on the left side of the steering wheel, you can see one of the paddle shifters. The Genesis comes with a 9.2″ screen that’s not only class leading, but I’m sure that nothing else in any class has anything that size. A smart move by Hyundai was to have all the controls for the HVAC system independent of the touchscreen so that you can adjust the interior climate with minimal fuss. I should also mention that the HVAC system includes a CO2 sensor that monitors the amount of CO2 in the cabin and will turn on the HVAC system to get rid of it. Impressive. The analog clock is a nice touch as well.

Right below the HVAC controls in a cubby that can be covered are 12V outlets, aux-in jack for audio and a USB connector. Plus there’s space left over to put your phone in and hide it from potential thieves.

Here you see the shifter, and in front of it is the cubby that I showed you that has the 12V outlets and the USB port. To the right of the shifter is where the cupholders are and behind it are the controls for the infotainment system. More on that in a second….

But let me show you the cupholders. I think a Venti drink from Starbucks might be a stretch. But a Grande will fit for sure.

Here’s the driver’s (and passenger for that matter) armrest….

That has a tremendous amount of storage inside it.

The moonroof is absolutely HUGE. Plus the sunshade is in two pieces and closes from the front and back at the same time. Very cool!

You have tons of space in the back seats. It will seat three people, but the person in the middle will have to deal with the protrusion on the floor for the driveshaft.

In the middle of the seats are cupholders and controls for the rear seat warmers.

There’s also a ski pass through.

The rear seat passengers get their own HVAC controls as well.

The fit and finish is exceptional. I could find nothing to complain about. Everything was put together with precision and anything that you touched felt very upscale. One thing I liked was the open pore wood as it added a touch of class.

Now about the trunk….. It’s huge and it has one trick up it’s sleeve. Rather than write about it, here’s a video where I explain it:

The trunk isn’t the only cool piece of technology, here’s a list of the safety technology in the Genesis:

• This particular Genesis came with an automatic emergency braking system that uses both cameras and radar sensors. If a crash is imminent and the driver does not react, the system warns you and can even apply full brake force stopping power from speeds between 8 to 80 KM/H.
• One of the cooler safety related items is a heads up display that is perfectly placed within the line of sight of the driver. Speed, navigation, warnings for the Lane Departure Warning System and Blind Spot Detection, as well as the speed limits of the road that you’re on are displayed there.
• You also get Lane Keep Assist which automatically detects when a driver has difficulty staying in their lane and helps by using gentle steering compensation above 70 KM/H. The steering wheel will also vibrate when the vehicle drifts outside the lane without signaling. Additionally, the Lane Departure Warning will alert the driver with an audio cue, or a visual warning on the Heads-up Display.
• The HID headlights can automatically switch from high beams to low beams when an oncoming car is detected. This is a very handy feature for country roads at night.
• The cruise control system automatically adjusts its speed based on the car in front of you. It’ll even come to a full stop and then start again without any driver input.
• There’s blind spot detection and cross traffic alerts which is a radar based system used to detect when a vehicle is in the driver’s blind spot or in the rear cross path while backing up. I will note that the blind spot detection really has an excellent area of coverage that gives you some extra space between you and cars around you.

As for the infotainment system that the Genesis comes with, it has replaced Chrysler’s UConnect system as the best system out there as far as I am concerned. This Genesis comes with a 9.2″ screen that is sharp and readable in any lighting condition. Plus the knob that the driver users to control the system is extremely intuitive. And so is the menu structure that the system uses. Within a minute I had my phone paired with the system via Bluetooth. Two minutes after that I figured out how to dial by voice and enter addresses in the navigation system, stream music from my iPhone 5S, or anything else I wanted to do. All without cracking open the user manual. This alone should make BMW rethink iDrive and Audi to go back to the drawing board to redo MMI.

The Hyundai Genesis 5.0 Ultimate version that I had was impressive. But what does it cost is the big question? This one is $62,000 with every option checked. But it starts at $43,000 with a 3.8L V6 under the hood. So you’ll find something that fits your budget but still give you the luxury experience. My verdict? I’ll say this: If you cross shop it against the Audi A6, Mercedes Benz E Class, and the BMW 5 Series, you’ll be shocked by how well the Genesis stacks up against them. The Genesis is very much a player in the luxury category and it will make shoppers have to choose between buying a status symbol, and buying a quality luxury car that beats the status symbols in many ways and save some money in the process. If it were me, I’d choose the latter. But don’t take my word for it. Go to your Hyundai dealer and see for yourself.