What if the luxury SUV everyone is overlooking is the one that should be at the top of your list? The Genesis GV80 Coupe 3.5T e-Supercharged AWD arrives with breathtaking styling, explosive performance, cutting-edge technology, and a price tag that raises more than a few eyebrows—but one unexpected detail could change everything.
John Rush and Richard Rush put this luxury SUV through its paces, uncovering surprising strengths, hidden compromises, and a comparison that could leave longtime BMW, Mercedes, Audi, and Porsche shoppers rethinking their next purchase. Before you decide where to spend your money,
And we are back. Again, Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. All right, Richard, let’s do this, that time of the week where we do car reviews. We’ve got one to do right now that you were not able to drive. You’ve driven one, I think, though, in the past, but I was able to actually drive it, and that is the new Genesis GV80, and they call this one a, and this is a long one, by the way, really quick. Let me get you the full name here. GV 80 Coupe 3.5 TE-SC MHEV. Black all-wheel drive. That’s a mouthful. Can you translate that for me? Oh, my word. That is just, I mean, 91,545, I will say. All in all, and I’m not exaggerating, this year, and again, we’re halfway through the year roughly, nicest car I’ve driven yet this year. Wow, that’s saying something. So, yeah, very nice car, by the way. Very, very nice car.
SPEAKER 02 :
As well, and you and I talk about this all the time with Genesis, and you have mentioned in my reviews, they do a tremendous job. Their vehicles are just really well done, the fit and the feel. And honestly, I don’t know if it’s surprising anymore, but just some of their higher-end vehicles… really feel like, I don’t know, they almost exceed expectations if that’s possible, just with how they design them, how they don’t, and from what you were saying, telling me about this vehicle, even more so just with how this thing drives, how it operates, and just how everything kind of comes together.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, this thing, I mean, again, now, let me make sure that we’re clear on this. I mean, this is a high-end vehicle. You know, Genesis is the high-end line of Kia Hyundai. You know, Hyundai-Kia is probably what I should say, and it is. It’s their high-end version. And, you know, do they do a really nice job on this car? I mean, even my wife was like, wow, this is really a nice car for the money considering it. everything that you’re getting and richard there is a litany of things that you actually get with this car and i mean folks there is literally all of your normal driver assist features from you know lane lane keep assist lane follow assist forward attention warnings blind spot monitoring rear cross traffic assist parking distance warning parking collision avoidance i mean on and on we go i mean there are so many different things that this thing has got and all of the course connectivity that you get and and it has a really nice sound system and they’re I will say this, their radio nav system, all in all, is… is probably, Richard, I think, given everything that it does, how do I want to say this? Top-notch. About the only thing, and this is kind of key with all of them because of the processing power, and so I actually talked about this on Drive Radio on Saturday a little bit, the biggest processor in the entire car and what it has to do is everybody’s nav radio screen and so on. That is the biggest processing power in the entire vehicle, and Because of that and because it’s in an automobile with extreme temperature changes, keep in mind the interior of a car can be 150 degrees and get all the way down to way below zero. And that chip and screen and everything has to work in those wide range of temperatures, meaning that the chips themselves, Richard, are always a little bit behind because they have to be super robust. And where I’m going with this is the only complaint I have with this vehicle, the only complaint, because there are none others, is the loading of… Of all of that, when you first get in the car is just a, I mean, I say a tad slow because we’re so used to things loading up on our iPhones and so on and our Android phones and so on so quickly that it does take, I don’t know, five seconds or so, maybe 10 to get all of that loaded up before you’re actually able to really see what’s going on. That’s really, Richard, my only complaint, and that’s not much of a complaint.
SPEAKER 02 :
No, you’re sort of splitting hairs there, right?
SPEAKER 01 :
You are. I mean, it is what it is. Can’t complain about it. But outside of that, and again, that’s really not much of a complaint, does this thing work well and is it comfortable to drive? Absolutely it is, yes.
SPEAKER 02 :
I was just going to ask that. What was the performance on this? Because I know that that’s been one of the – I know that when I saw this car, that was one of the things I was most excited about. I bet you this thing just gets up and goes.
SPEAKER 01 :
It does. It runs really well. I did not look up all the horsepower ratings on it because, frankly, I didn’t need to. When you get in this car and drive it, literally, it just goes. I mean, there is no problem with pulling into traffic, getting around – cars or semis or whatever, I mean, this thing runs as well as anything else in its class as far as I’m concerned, and it just works. It works fabulous. It really does. It’s a twin-turbo 3.5. It doesn’t give the horsepower, but twin-turbo 3.5, and it works.
SPEAKER 02 :
And it’s got the, you mentioned it, right? It’s got the E quote unquote supercharger, right? Which essentially gives you that immediate off the line. And some of these vehicles, especially these performance SUVs especially, are sort of starting to go to this where they’re not fully electric, right? But they are giving you kind of that electric torque piece of it to get up and go, right? From the stoplight, you can squeal the tires, you know, depending on the mode you put it in and how you operate it. And like you say, with Genesis, one other thing I’ll say is this, Dad. I love the looks. I love what Genesis has done. Oh, it’s a beautiful car.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thank you, Richard. By the way, it’s 409 horsepower, and you’re right. It’s a striking car is probably the best way for me to say it. It looks that good. It’s a striking car. It looks very, very good.
SPEAKER 02 :
It does, and I was going to say, as you just see going down the road, and like you said, I’ve been in this car several times, but just seeing these cars, they are sort of, I don’t want to say second, they’re just striking in a good way, and you mentioned this car is a little bit under $100,000, but it looks, believe it or not, folks, more expensive than that. It does. Like, you think this car should be 50% to 60% more money than that. than it actually is. And I think that that’s a testament to Genesis because they’ve done some really sleek styling, really cool updates with the outside to where people, number one, don’t know it’s a Genesis. And I think that’s a good thing. And number two, they just think that this car is… Really, I guess, kind of in that higher echelon.
SPEAKER 01 :
And for those of you listening, it competes with BMW X6, Audi Q8, GLE Coupe on the Mercedes side, Porsche Cayenne, Range Rover Sport. I mean, this thing is competing with a lot of high-end cars that, by the way, depending upon which one of those I just mentioned, you’re probably saving $20,000 or more buying the Genesis.
SPEAKER 02 :
And I was just going to say that. And that’s the thing I think that people sometimes miss on this is you can.
SPEAKER 01 :
And if you’re looking for similar performance, similar creature comforts, things like that, we encourage people.
SPEAKER 02 :
It maybe has been a long time since you’ve either seen a Genesis or even been in one. When we say we encourage you to go experience these cars, Dad, we do for a lot of factors, this one being one of them, to where you may not know that that car is as affordable or more affordable than this because maybe you see some of these other, as you mentioned, uh you know other different not different class but competitive competing vehicles driving around like i can’t afford that well you might be able to and you’re really in a similar class on on all accounts dad um and you’re going to save money and to me and especially in today’s day and age that’s not a bad thing and that’s also not a knock on genesis because i don’t think you’re getting an inferior product i think you’re getting a very comparable product to those vehicles you mentioned
SPEAKER 01 :
No, yeah, I would agree with that wholeheartedly. So again, folks, if you want to go out, if you’re in the market for this type of a car, go test drive one. Actually, no people that actually own these, Richard, but go test drive one at your local Genesis dealer. And when you do, make sure you tell them that John and Richard Rush both sent you from Drive Radio. And again, Richard, just to close things out. Yeah, phenomenal vehicle. My favorite vehicle so far this year.
SPEAKER 02 :
They have a propensity to do that. It seems to be that usually when I get in one or two Genesis of the year, or I just say one or two vehicles, Dad, and it just so happens that a lot of times it’s Genesis, and they just do a really nice job. Like you say, if people haven’t checked them out in a while, we encourage them to do that.
SPEAKER 01 :
Awesome, Richard. I’ll let you go. Have a great rest of your day. Sounds good to see you. All right. See you later. This is John Rush from Rush to Reason and Drive Radio. Thank you so much for listening. Check out more of our podcasts at RushToReason.com or Drive-Radio.com.
