Seriously, that’s a Hyundai?
My recent fascination with the Infiniti G37 (this one, specifically) has caught google’s attention. Every where I go, there’s a google ad for a G37. Or, in some cases, an ad for another comparable car. Then I saw this one. $40K for a Hyundai. Seriously. Now, like Hondas before, I’ve always thought of Hyundais as cheap cars. But, apparently, the Hyundai Genesis kicks all kinds of ass, as Hyundai is getting into the the luxury car market. Emunds notes it is a solid car but a con is that it lacks brand recognition for a luxury car. It looks sharp too.
Hyundai, who knew?
March 9th, 2010 at 1:00 pm
Hyundai has really come up in the world in the past 10 years…they’re stepping up to the plate with the enthusiast market, too, while Toyota’s basically told us to piss off.
By “us” I mean the “tuner” crowd. Scion was a great idea at first, but in performance they failed miserably.
March 9th, 2010 at 1:47 pm
I need two things, an adapter kit, and a $500 dollar Excel to swap that mowhunkin’ V/8 into.
—
Little Jerry
March 9th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
I’ve wanted a Hyundai Genesis Coupe since I first read about them in MotorTrend. Good power in both engines, and RWD. Hyundai quality is super high these days, too…apparently…and can’t beat the warranty.
March 9th, 2010 at 2:55 pm
I found a 2 year old Mercedes for 1/2 of list price. Still has 2 years warranty, excellent quality, etc. Main problem I have is I park in the far end of the parking lot so some asshole doesn’t key it like the last one I had.
March 9th, 2010 at 3:09 pm
I bought a Hyundai Elantra 2 years ago. Because of the warranty. It’s a bit underpowered with the auto tranny.
But it’s an excellent commuter car.
March 9th, 2010 at 4:08 pm
The father-in-law has a Hyundai Azera, bought new a couple years ago. Quite nice, roomy, has some get up and go–replaced the Grand Cherokee he had.
March 9th, 2010 at 5:15 pm
“Lack of brand recognition” is a “con”? To me that says “Nice comfortable car, less likely to get ripped off.” Maybe growing up in Detroit has something to do with that.
The Koreans are doing to the Japanese what the Japanese did to the Big Three for a while now. I think the biggest problem Hyundai had when they first started selling in the states was that they came out at the same time as Yugos, and folks conflated the two.
March 9th, 2010 at 5:22 pm
I drove a Hyundai in High School; I think I was the only one of my friends who actually knew how to drive a standard, and very few of my college buddies could either, which meant hardly anyone ever asked to borrow my car 😉
We also used to own an Hyundai IBM PC clone in the late 1980s/early 1990s (amber screen model), but I don’t know if Hyundai still makes home PCs for the consumer; I think not as I haven’t seen any in any computer stores in the past several years.
March 9th, 2010 at 6:01 pm
I’ve had a Genesis coupe for about 6 weeks now, the 2.0t which is the smaller engine… this thing is great, and has enough performance for this old man…. cruises nicely at 90+MPH and handles like a roller skate…. I strongly recommend it.
March 9th, 2010 at 6:19 pm
“I found a 2 year old Mercedes for 1/2 of list price. Still has 2 years warranty, excellent quality, etc. Main problem I have is I park in the far end of the parking lot so some asshole doesn’t key it like the last one I had.”
excellent quality and Mercedes are two terms that might have been linked together for a long time, but are sadly no longer the case.
As for Huyndai – yeah. They are going to eat everyone’s lunch.
March 9th, 2010 at 6:50 pm
Not that they aren’t trying to change that recognition issue. That car had a lot of camera time in season two of Leverage. Both my wife and I commented on it specifically so the product placement apparently worked.
March 9th, 2010 at 8:43 pm
http://bit.ly/aD0OnB
Infiniti G37 Coupe vs. Hyundai Genesis Coupe. About as much car with 2/3 of the price. You can get a well equipped Genesis Coupe 3.8 V6 (308HP) for $25k out the door. I’ve got 5k miles on my 2010 model, and it’s a solid vehicle — also gets 26MPG in mixed driving.
March 9th, 2010 at 9:55 pm
Check out the VW CC @ $30,000.00. Very impressive.
March 9th, 2010 at 9:58 pm
I had a 1st-gen Kia Optima (Hyundai Sonata) as a rental for a month a few years ago. While there was nothing extraordinary about its performance, handling, comfort, or quality, there was also nothing about it that bugged me.
It turned me into a believer.
March 9th, 2010 at 10:00 pm
If you buy that G37 you will have reached ‘baller status.’
March 9th, 2010 at 10:50 pm
As for branding: to the best of my knowledge, except for a discrete ‘H’ front and rear, the Genesis sedan doesn’t have any external Hyundai branding.
Also, from what I’ve read, it is a luxury sedan, not a sport sedan. For the first few years I expect it will be more of a threat to Inifinity, Acura, and Lexus – at least until the drivetrain is revised to up the sporting credentials. That said, I don’t think this would have happened:
“http://blogs.insideline.com/straightline/2009/11/rhys-millen-racing-midengine-v8-hyundai-genesis-coupe.html”
if they didn’t have their sights set higher.
March 10th, 2010 at 2:15 am
Have never driven a Hyundai, but do have a Kia which comes with the Hyundai big engine. I love it. of course I’m halfway through my 7th decade
March 10th, 2010 at 2:15 am
Ok, just so you know, my grandson say “you don’t drive like an old man”.
March 10th, 2010 at 2:59 am
I have owned my g35 for 4 years now and I can tell you exactly why you ALLWAYS want a G over a Hyundai.
APS Twin Turbo + a bit of engine work = 550HP easy
March 10th, 2010 at 10:17 am
I used to sell used cars (I know, you’re all probably shocked), and my philosophy on buying a new car is to look at a 5+ year old one first to see how they hold up.
Look at a 5 year old Hyundai, then look at a 15 year old Honda or Infiniti and see which are still tight and have good paint and interiors and which has fading paint and extra rattles with cracking dash and fraying seats.
Anybody can make a new car that looks good, it takes quality control to make a car that looks good 5+ years later.
Friends don’t let friends buy Hyundais.
Unless you want a crappy commuter car, then by all means, get a 5+ year old Hyundai. If it lasts that long, it’ll be a piece of garbage for a long time, but it’ll run.
I had one once I bought for a couple, three hundred dollars. It lasted me a couple years until my hatred for the underpowered POS got too much and it needed a new clutch.
I gave it to my brother and he drove it for years with nary a problem until it just died.
I then got an Integra and it was as nice at 160,000 as it was at 60, right up until the stupid wench slammed into it while it was parked.
March 10th, 2010 at 10:25 am
Do explain.
March 10th, 2010 at 4:38 pm
OK…
The G35 and the G37 are basically the same engine (VQ35DE vs VQ37VHR)
Both of these engines share a platform that has been in the passed and is now being supercharged and turbo’ed (I.e. the VQ38VHRTT int he GTR and in the past the VQ35SH in the Xterra)
Needless to say this engine LOVES Forced Induction. Now it is advisable to do some internal work (larger injectors, Better Con rods, New pistons and some head work (i.e. studs not bolts and a ceramic head gasket) …. and of course you may want to change the Comp ratio from 10:1 to 8.5:1.
To top it off you would want to have it tuned and probably even go the piggyback route
Now you could go and do what i did (that list would be very long) and sleeve, new pretty much everything, and new ECU but that would cost as much (if not more) than the car itself. Oh and if you have an auto trans …. well you better be prepared for a LOT of money spent on an upgrade to ….. well everything
When you are done you can go the conservative route and end up somewhere between 8 to 10 grand and 375 to 450 hp or you can get all excessive and do about 15 grand to 20 grand and you are now running in the 650 to 800 hp range (i have dyno’ed on straight gas at 875hp but the car is somewhat undrivable at that point.)
But there is NOTHING more enjoyable than raping a 200k sportscar in your sub 100k Luxury Coupe. Oh and the shear goodness of laying the hate down on a corvette ……..
pure heaven
not to mention the hate that is creates in an IS350 owner.
March 10th, 2010 at 4:50 pm
that sounds like more than “a bit of engine work” 😉
March 10th, 2010 at 4:53 pm
OH …. BTW
Your g37 can’t use the APS …. and frankly unless you have some serious understanding of Comp maps and fuel maps (and a severe understanding of automotive tuning) you are better off with something like this:
http://www.gtmotorsports.com/product.php?productid=17253&cat=258&page=3
In many ways the GTM stuff is better … of course its all relative ehh ?
March 10th, 2010 at 5:44 pm
ehh its all relative i guess. its about the same price as 5 high end rifles. It did take me 6 months to finish but much of that was because I can be lazy in the boating season.
I have machine shop with a lift for my 3 hobbies. (guns boats and cars) So it lowers the cost a lot. (like my MP5SD cost me only about 900$ to build because I have the machines to make many of the harder to locate SD parts)
March 10th, 2010 at 5:48 pm
well, now I wish you were my neighbor 😉
March 10th, 2010 at 6:41 pm
funny … my neighbor would love to trade places with you I am sure. My neighbor is one of those high nosed northwest cali refugee liberals who thinks that “manufacturing should be left to the businesses” and “no one needs a machine shop in his back yard”.
He has never had a hard day of work in his life and thinks that “our neighborhood is not of that class of people” (yeah he actually said that)
Can’t imagine what he would say about what is going on in the basement of the shop. Lets just say that my shop was designed for me by me …. much to the displeasure of my wife.