A toy for big boys
After waking up its 306 horses with the touch of a button, drivers put them to work via a beefy shifter and heavy clutch. Use of one's bicep and thigh muscles are required to drive and shift this car, but it pulls them into the experience and rewards them for their efforts.
Genesis Coupe remains entertaining regardless of its fairly hefty size and weight, and it offers up flat cornering, a sharp and heavy steering feel and a slippery but predictable rear end if drivers push too hard. The tester was fitted with snow-tires on my mid-March test-drive, though it managed a locked-down and stable feel in fast corners.
Upon exiting said corners, drivers can exploit a meaty powercurve that starts just off idle, and stays on strong until near the 6,500 RPM redline. A loud, infectious and semi-exotic howl is available at any prod of the throttle, and it's accompanied by a notable ramp-up in forward momentum-- and in the roaring yelp from the factory short-ram air intake.
In all, Hyundai's got this engine dialed in beautifully. Drivers will love blasting its sound off of nearby buildings and tunnel walls, and there's no need to install an aftermarket exhaust or intake, because it's already that loud. Heck, there isn't even a plastic engine cover to muffle escaping sound effects.
The traction control system is set up nicely, too. It's extremely sensitive and effective when left on, dials itself back in the snow, and can be dismissed fully with a simple button press for on-demand wheelspin. If that's your thing, you can make your buddies in front-drive coupes jealous that your car can drift, like in those youtube videos.
There's one complaint regarding the traction control, though. Even an imperceptibly small amount of wheelspin kills the throttle for a second or two-- which may pose a safety concern when, say, passing an 18-wheeler.
The bang-for-the-buck benchmark?
Pricing came in at $36,495 for the six-speed, six-cylinder 'GT' tester with navigation, Infinity audio, leather seating, Bluetooth and a sunroof. This puts the highest performance and most heavily-equipped version of the Genesis Coupe into the same pricing ballpark a base-model, V8-powered competitor.
And, unlike cheaper six-cylinder powered versions of machines like the Camaro or Mustang, the Genesis 3.8 doesn't mean settling for second-best with the smaller engine, either. It's also nearly $10,000 cheaper than a comparably-equipped Nissan 370Z.
For thirty-six-five with all the toys, you'll have trouble doing this well for the money elsewhere. End of the day, where bang for the buck is concerned, the Genesis Coupe 3.8GT is like a three-dollar bag of dynamite.
After waking up its 306 horses with the touch of a button, drivers put them to work via a beefy shifter and heavy clutch. Use of one's bicep and thigh muscles are required to drive and shift this car, but it pulls them into the experience and rewards them for their efforts.
 |
| A loud, infectious and semi-exotic howl is available at any prod of the throttle. (Photo: Justin Pritchard/Auto123.com) |
Genesis Coupe remains entertaining regardless of its fairly hefty size and weight, and it offers up flat cornering, a sharp and heavy steering feel and a slippery but predictable rear end if drivers push too hard. The tester was fitted with snow-tires on my mid-March test-drive, though it managed a locked-down and stable feel in fast corners.
Upon exiting said corners, drivers can exploit a meaty powercurve that starts just off idle, and stays on strong until near the 6,500 RPM redline. A loud, infectious and semi-exotic howl is available at any prod of the throttle, and it's accompanied by a notable ramp-up in forward momentum-- and in the roaring yelp from the factory short-ram air intake.
In all, Hyundai's got this engine dialed in beautifully. Drivers will love blasting its sound off of nearby buildings and tunnel walls, and there's no need to install an aftermarket exhaust or intake, because it's already that loud. Heck, there isn't even a plastic engine cover to muffle escaping sound effects.
The traction control system is set up nicely, too. It's extremely sensitive and effective when left on, dials itself back in the snow, and can be dismissed fully with a simple button press for on-demand wheelspin. If that's your thing, you can make your buddies in front-drive coupes jealous that your car can drift, like in those youtube videos.
There's one complaint regarding the traction control, though. Even an imperceptibly small amount of wheelspin kills the throttle for a second or two-- which may pose a safety concern when, say, passing an 18-wheeler.
The bang-for-the-buck benchmark?
Pricing came in at $36,495 for the six-speed, six-cylinder 'GT' tester with navigation, Infinity audio, leather seating, Bluetooth and a sunroof. This puts the highest performance and most heavily-equipped version of the Genesis Coupe into the same pricing ballpark a base-model, V8-powered competitor.
And, unlike cheaper six-cylinder powered versions of machines like the Camaro or Mustang, the Genesis 3.8 doesn't mean settling for second-best with the smaller engine, either. It's also nearly $10,000 cheaper than a comparably-equipped Nissan 370Z.
For thirty-six-five with all the toys, you'll have trouble doing this well for the money elsewhere. End of the day, where bang for the buck is concerned, the Genesis Coupe 3.8GT is like a three-dollar bag of dynamite.
 |
| You can make your buddies in front-drive coupes jealous that your car can drift, like in those youtube videos. (Photo: Justin Pritchard/Auto123.com) |
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