By Martin Fretwell
About ten years ago my wife and I went to Paris with friends in their Hyundai estate. As I had lived in Germany at one stage, I was used to driving on the wrong side of the road, so I drove. As it was someone else's car, I didn't go quite as fast as maybe I would have in my own car, (at the time a rather nice Nissan 200SX) but nevertheless the Hyundai proved an adequate cruiser despite the 1600 cc engine. It was also surprisingly quiet for an estate, they are usually a bit "boomy" and the estate was certainly big enough for all our luggage (the friend has a bit of a "thing" about shoes and so had one suitcase more than anyone else and we still had room for all the cheap French beer and wine we were bringing back
On balance the Hyundai was an adequate car. No frills, (no aircon or cruise for example) but a reasonable drive and eminently suitable for our little jaunt.
Move on about ten years and the friends have had a variety of cars by now, but the new Hyundai S Coupe is launched (you know the one that looks like the Toyota Celica) and they decide to give the new Hyundai a try. Nice styling, a shark lime air intake just in front of the front wheel arch adds to the look. It goes well, has air and leather and all in all is an adequate sports coupe.
And that's where I had a problem with Hyundai. Now if you didn't know, Hyundai build ships. Hyundai also build monster trucks, they also build power stations. They are a huge construction company. In all these fields of operation adequate is just fine. Time was when Rolls Royce described their performance as adequate, and with Rolls Royce that was fine - because you just knew that their definition of adequate meant something a whole lot different to adequate from a shipbuilder. For a shipbuilder, I guess adequate means it will float.
But with cars, adequate just isn't good enough.
But it looks like Hyundai finally have the message as the new Genesis is something more than adequate. Now funnily enough there is no badge and you could be forgiven for thinking this is a lexus, or maybe a baby Merc. The lines down the bonnet to the merc like grille reminded me of the BMW 5 series a little. Why no badge - well Hyundai = adequate and so does their badge, so, they've left it off!
Now here we have a serious attempt by a major manufacturer to enter the American market. And they're doing it in style, but at a sensible price. $30,000 for a V6 which will rocket you to 60 in under 6 seconds. And there's a 4.6 litre V8 version too!
And how about toys and gadgets? Well there's an eight inch satnav, reversing cameras (for the wife) radar cruise control cooled seats air conditioning (USA well of course). As to the handling, Hyundai say it's been specifically designed to be stiffer than the latest BMW 5 series, having 5 link suspension front and rear and the drive is to the rear wheels through a six speed auto ZF gearbox.
Well done Hyundai - the new Genesis is going to make the "established" car makers sit up and take notice.
Style, performance and luxury at a reasonable price, keep em coming!
I really do drive a Merceded S Class, (S55 AMG) but I was enthralled to see the latest Hyundai as it looks so similar to my own car, but at a fraction of the price. It has all the bells and whistles too.
http://www.theverybestautos.com/hyundai-genesis
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Martin_Fretwell
About ten years ago my wife and I went to Paris with friends in their Hyundai estate. As I had lived in Germany at one stage, I was used to driving on the wrong side of the road, so I drove. As it was someone else's car, I didn't go quite as fast as maybe I would have in my own car, (at the time a rather nice Nissan 200SX) but nevertheless the Hyundai proved an adequate cruiser despite the 1600 cc engine. It was also surprisingly quiet for an estate, they are usually a bit "boomy" and the estate was certainly big enough for all our luggage (the friend has a bit of a "thing" about shoes and so had one suitcase more than anyone else and we still had room for all the cheap French beer and wine we were bringing back
On balance the Hyundai was an adequate car. No frills, (no aircon or cruise for example) but a reasonable drive and eminently suitable for our little jaunt.
Move on about ten years and the friends have had a variety of cars by now, but the new Hyundai S Coupe is launched (you know the one that looks like the Toyota Celica) and they decide to give the new Hyundai a try. Nice styling, a shark lime air intake just in front of the front wheel arch adds to the look. It goes well, has air and leather and all in all is an adequate sports coupe.
And that's where I had a problem with Hyundai. Now if you didn't know, Hyundai build ships. Hyundai also build monster trucks, they also build power stations. They are a huge construction company. In all these fields of operation adequate is just fine. Time was when Rolls Royce described their performance as adequate, and with Rolls Royce that was fine - because you just knew that their definition of adequate meant something a whole lot different to adequate from a shipbuilder. For a shipbuilder, I guess adequate means it will float.
But with cars, adequate just isn't good enough.
But it looks like Hyundai finally have the message as the new Genesis is something more than adequate. Now funnily enough there is no badge and you could be forgiven for thinking this is a lexus, or maybe a baby Merc. The lines down the bonnet to the merc like grille reminded me of the BMW 5 series a little. Why no badge - well Hyundai = adequate and so does their badge, so, they've left it off!
Now here we have a serious attempt by a major manufacturer to enter the American market. And they're doing it in style, but at a sensible price. $30,000 for a V6 which will rocket you to 60 in under 6 seconds. And there's a 4.6 litre V8 version too!
And how about toys and gadgets? Well there's an eight inch satnav, reversing cameras (for the wife) radar cruise control cooled seats air conditioning (USA well of course). As to the handling, Hyundai say it's been specifically designed to be stiffer than the latest BMW 5 series, having 5 link suspension front and rear and the drive is to the rear wheels through a six speed auto ZF gearbox.
Well done Hyundai - the new Genesis is going to make the "established" car makers sit up and take notice.
Style, performance and luxury at a reasonable price, keep em coming!
I really do drive a Merceded S Class, (S55 AMG) but I was enthralled to see the latest Hyundai as it looks so similar to my own car, but at a fraction of the price. It has all the bells and whistles too.
http://www.theverybestautos.com/hyundai-genesis
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Martin_Fretwell
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