The Genesis brand, Hyundai’s foray into luxury, has made some inroads with growing into their luxury skin with vehicles that greatly undercut competitors as far as pricing goes. To bring home such a notion, there’s less compromise in Genesis vehicles than ever before, which is a good thing, and the new G80 moves the needle forward for being a serious contender in the highly competitive automotive luxury landscape.

The Genesis G80 has been a vehicle that I’ve seen grow up and mature into a viable contender for the midsized luxury segment. After having a week with the new G80, which is refreshed inside and out, there’s a lot to digest in the delicate tastes of luxury that it exudes from its clever use of technology and elegance in a design that nicely blends sporty and luxury. Undoubtedly, buyers who have just entered the luxury spectrum shouldn’t sleep on the G80 as it has brought thoughtful attributes to the game of automotive luxury.

Performance and Driving Character

The Genesis G80 gets a refreshing for the 2025 model year but retains a well-to-do powertrain in the upper two 3.5T trim levels, outputting a decent 375 horsepower and 391 lb-ft of torque. The G80 now only comes in an all-wheel-drive setup even with the base 2.5-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder engine setup with its 300 horsepower and 311 lb-ft of torque paired with an 8-speed automatic transmission – the same as found in the 3.5T trims. The more powerful engine in the 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6 setup moves along well but tends to be one of the very few un-luxury-like characteristics of the new G80 mostly due to its grumbling sound that finds its way into an otherwise quiet cabin, which makes for a case for power output that’s not nearly as smooth as competitors.

The twin-turbo engine does well to get the G80 moving without wanting much more power and hitting 60 mph from a standstill in 5.2 seconds while being more surefooted than before with its standard all-wheel-drive setup. The one drawback here, which I think Genesis had an opportunity to improve upon but didn’t, is the slight turbo lag, which is only defeated by using the launch control feature in the Sport+ drive mode.

Overall, the driving dynamics are good but not up to the level of German competitors. However, the electronically controlled suspension setup with a road preview system that virtually reads the road through a forward-facing camera works very well for mitigating body upsets upon going over potholes or moderately sized road inclines and undulations. There’s a new level of elegance in the way the G80 rides, more on the side of luxury instead of sport, even in the Sport or Sport+ drive modes that slightly firm up the adaptive dampers.

Where things get very interesting, on the good side of interesting, is the new four-wheel steering, where the rear wheels steer in the opposite direction from your steering input at lower speeds and then delicately steer in the same direction and highway speeds. The four-wheel steering may feel a bit aggressive to some at times, but it helps to greatly reduce the turning radius and adds a newfound level of agility when combined with the rear electronic limited-slip differential if you ever push the G80 close to its limits to power out of turns with a little rear end sliding.

Fuel Economy

The Genesis G80 doesn’t exactly impress for its fuel consumption but conscious driving cases can easily match and sometimes surpass the EPA estimates of 16 mpg city, 24 mpg highway, and 19 mpg combined. A full 19.3-gallons of recommended premium fuel will give you a highway cruising range of about 463 miles.

Interior and Technology

Probably the most notable change for the 2025 model year refresh in the G80 is the dashboard layout that now has an inviting 27-inch OLED screen that combines both the driver’s gauge cluster and infotainment touchscreen in a singular glass housing. The screen is a nice touch as it cleverly utilizes its unique cohesiveness to display navigation graphics along with other information in a seamless flowing method.

The graphical interface does well to give you several options for displaying an integrated 3D mapping landscape or display of various vehicle data and infotainment functions, such as the wirelessly integrated (or USB-connected) Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. There’s also a smartphone wireless charging pad conveniently located just in front of the armrest storage compartment, which is a thoughtful passthrough for your USB cord to the inside of the storage area.

A color head-up display adds quick convenience and safety to viewing the road ahead with the proper information at a quick glance. For safety and added highway convenience, the latest highway driving assist feature works well with adaptive cruise control for somewhat of a semi-autonomous experience but will require that you place your hands on the steering wheel in addition to monitoring your attentiveness to the road.

While the new infotainment system is a nice addition that adds an upscale feel to the refreshed G80, the seating areas remain luxurious with heating, ventilation, and massage functions through the Ergo-motion front seats. The rear outboard seats get heated, while there’s a separate automatic climate control for the rear. The seating areas have decent room but leave the middle rear occupant somewhat on a rise and straddling the floor center hump. The rear window has a power sunshade, and the rear door windows have manual sunshades.

Over the years, Genesis has added luxury elegance to the interior of the G80 with the latest having plentiful soft touch surfaces along with leather wrapped areas and a suede-like headliner. There are hardly any hard surfaces other than the limited amount of stylized trim that’s often accented by color-selectable ambient LED lighting.

Pricing

Genesis pulled out many luxury stops in the new G80, which adds a value proposition that simply cannot be beaten for the amount of luxury that you get in a midsized vehicle. The new 2025 G80 starts at $57,100 for the base 2.5T AWD, and moving on the way up to my G80 3.5T Sport Prestige AWD test vehicle, you will have a price of $79,780, including the optional $1,500 Makalu Gray Matte paint, $30 NFC Card option, and an inland freight and handling fee of $1,250. At such a price, you’re still greatly undercutting comparable luxury vehicles, which retains the slight edge for the Genesis brand if they can somehow appease buyers in the traditional Hyundai dealerships while they continue to roll out additional standalone Genesis dealerships.