BY H. THROTTLE
AUTOMOTIVE COLUMNIST
The car of my dreams arrived this past week in the form of a 2021 Genesis GV80 all-wheel drive SUV. This is the luxury car manufactured by Hyundai in Ulsan, Korea. The vehicle is loaded with every safety, comfort, and electronic feature in the auto galaxy. Luxury comes with a cost and the GV80 suggested retail manufacture’s price is $66,475 with options included.
The electronically con-trolled suspension system gives the most comfortable ride of any test vehicle ever tested, bar none. The car just floats over the many potholes and cracks in Colorado’s deteriorating highways. The car rides on premium Michelin tires on 20” alloy wheels.
The powertrain transmission is as smooth as the ride with a V6 3.5L engine delivering 375 horsepower that provides spirited performance for the three-row seated SUV. The auto industry has moved to four-cylinder engines with turbo-boost engines. This powertrain combination works provides 20 mpg average. In many instances a turbo boost can cause a brief pause, and then a sudden burst of power when the turbo “kicks in” to boost performance. Not the case with the GV80 that accelerates smoothly with the powerful engine and eight-speed trans
mission with paddle shifters. The transmission has a dial selection of R, N and D. All drive modes are selected while pressing down on the brake pedal; all that is ever needed is the “Drive” mode.
The exterior paint is de-scribed as “Savile Silver” and the interior is attractive with leather seats with the color described as “Dune.” The driver’s seat has a special “Ergo” feature with the buck-et seat embracing the driver when accelerating and relaxing when slowing.
The interior has many special buttons and perforated ridge dials for tuning the Lexicon 21-speaker audio system and making channel changes. A really sophisticated control located on the steering wheel is a chat with the “gentle” computer voice to change the channel on the XM radio or ask questions about navigation or make a dinner reservation.
This Genesis is scarce and with the factory computer chip shortages some new car models are delayed. This is the first GV80 to make the test car fleet. he vehicle has not been scored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, but I’m re-minded that this is likely the vehicle model that professional golfer Tiger Woods was driving when he had his serious auto accident and the 10 airbags and car safety features contributed to saving his life.
Safety features in the GV80 are numerous from the multiple air bags, forward collision avoidance, smart stop-and-go radar cruise control, and when signaling a turn or lane change the adjacent lane is pictured on the dashboard near the speedometer, a really great safety feature with so many lane changes in today’s driving.
Overall, this is a luxury sedan for the ages with every desirable feature for comfort, drive, and safety. The Gen-esis comes with a 10-year, 100,000-mile power train warranty, with both engine and transmission made at the home factory in Korea. They are very proud of this car and they should be, it is terrific.