Like a fine Niagara wine
Hyundai’s refreshed luxury sedan is getting better and better
JORDAN STATION, ONT.—When I was a teenager, we lived in Niagara Falls and had two cherry trees in our backyard. In fact, most families in Niagara in the ’50s had fruit trees out the back or side door, because that was what the Peninsula was all about back then: cherries, peaches, the odd apple.
Developers would buy orchards to build subdivisions and were careful not to cut down all the trees. If you had cherries, and your buddy’s family had peaches, the mothers would trade six-quart baskets-full so they could bake a variety of pies instead of just one kind. Those really were The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and Leave It to Beaver days.
I was thinking of that time a few weeks ago when I went to Niagara to learn about, and drive, the Genesis G90 luxury sedan. I didn’t see many fruit trees, if any, but I sure saw lots and lots of grapes.
Wineries are everywhere in Niagara these days, and what started out as plonk now wins awards, particularly the ice wines, and it’s amazing how things have changed in the last half century.
For instance — and maybe I shouldn’t be talking about this, considering it’s behaviour that should never be condoned — I had a friend that we’ll call Don. I usually put everybody’s full name in the paper when I tell these stories, but I’m leaving his last name out today because I wouldn’t want to embarrass him. I am leaving it out particularly because he later joined the Ontario Provincial Police and had to uphold the rules of the road, which he was most certainly in the habit of breaking when we were kids.
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In any event, every orchard was/is laid out in rows. North and south, east and west, the grid was uniform. So, Don and I would be driving along in his Volkswagen Beetle, and it would be after dark, and he would say, suddenly: “Holy cow, it’s the cops! We gotta lose ’em!” And before you could blink, Don would have turned off the main road, we’d be into an orchard and we would be blasting along between rows of fruit trees. And he’d shift down and we’d take a sharp left and bomb along between more trees and then right, left, right, left, and by that time, we’d have reached the other side of the orchard and he’d say, “They’ll never find us now.” And then we’d go home.
That there were never any police was immaterial. Don just loved driving fast and showing off and I loved being along for the ride.
You sure couldn’t do that today. The rows of grapes in Modern Niagara can go forever before there’s a hole in the fence. And for that matter, they’re not really far enough apart for a VW Beetle or any other car to go between them.
I was telling all this to Richard Trevisan, the brand director for Genesis, during a conversation we had at the Megelomaniac Winery we were visiting. I didn’t tell him about Don and flying through orchards in the dead of night, but I told him about everything else. He, in turn, told me all about the G90 and how the brand is going to great lengths to separate itself from the rest of the automotive pack.
Let me tell you about the car, first, before I get into the marketing.
The 2020 Genesis G90 is a four-door luxury sedan that Korean automaker Hyundai considers its flagship model. In fact, it’s the automobile that transports the president of South Korea around as he goes about his official duties. And when I say luxury, I mean top-of-the-line beauty and elegance that will set you back $89,750.
The all-wheel-drive G90 comes with a standard 5.0-L V8 engine, capable of producing 420 horsepower and 383 lb.-ft. of torque. You have the option of purchasing another engine, a 3.3-L twinturbo V6, but it really is a special order.
The G90 has an eight-speed automatic transmission, an adaptive control system and 19-inch aluminum alloy wheels. The car holds 83 litres of regular unleaded, using 15.4 litres to drive 100 kms in the city and 10.2 on the highway (13.1 L combined).
There are four driver modes to choose from — Eco, Comfort, Sport and Custom. Drive modes allow the operator to change the chassis (suspension, steering) and the powertrain (engine, transmission, AWD). Custom mode allows the driver to configure their preferences — a little like mix ’n’ match. And when it comes to saving fuel, coasting — where the transmission disengages from the engine — is possible.
This is a long, sleek-looking car (5,205-millimetres long, 1,905-mm wide — without taking the exterior mirrors into account — and 1,495-mm high). Depending on the colour (Vic black and Adriatic blue are my favourites), it can look like a panther. The designers — and just about everything has been refreshed for the 2020 model year — have enlarged the front grille and emphasized the spacious hood so you can really tell at a glance that a Genesis is coming.
Of particular interest are the quad headlights — four independent full-LED modules that adjust projection according to speed and steering angle. The quad tail lights stand out because of the lighted link that runs across the trunk lid and connects one lower-level light to the other. The dual exhaust outlets are miniature front grilles and a pattern called G-Matrix — inspired by the way a diamond sparkles in the light, the manufacturer says — is evident just about everywhere, including on those 19-inch wheels and the interior leather seats.
Speaking of the interior, there’s a gold mine inside. The seats are all power adjustable. In fact, the driver’s seat can be adjusted 22 ways and your guests can adjust the passenger’s seat and the ones in back to their liking, too. All have heating and ventilation, and an integrated memory system “remembers” the way you like to sit and readjusts itself to you accordingly. Sink into any of these seats and it’s like settling into your favourite easy chair to watch Hockey Night in Canada (hockey season is just around the corner, come to think of it.)
A 312.42-mm (12.3-inch) high-definition display screen is front and centre with full touchscreen capabilities (navigation, radio, Android Auto/ Apple CarPlay) and a DIS multimedia controller. The audio and climate-control switches are chrome-plated. A Premium Lexicon audio system with Quantum Logic surround sound (17 speakers, by the way) is more than evident if you crank it right up — although you don’t really have to, because double-panelled sound resistant glass and an improved body structure make the interior extremely quiet indeed.
Three interior-colour trim variations are available for 2020 — black with olive ash, beige with grey ash and Havana brown with olive ash. The hands-free smart trunk has 444 litres of cargo space available, good for golf clubs, suitcases and long runs to Loblaws. Towing is not recommended.
There is the usual array of safety features that are now de rigueur on just about every new car — you know, things like 10 airbags, including a newly mounted front-passenger knee airbag, lane-follow assist and so on — but a couple popped out as being really interesting, such as the blindspot collision-avoidance assist.
When you’re changing lanes to either pass the vehicle in front or to get out of the way, the side-view cameras show video of the rear side and blind-spot areas by displaying it on the information cluster screen between the speedometer and tachometer. Translation: right before your eyes.
And the Genesis Connected Services — things like remote start, the ability to turn on heated seats and steering wheel, vehicle locator (you’ll never lose your car again), diagnostic reports, etc. — are new (and standard) for 2020.
The car is a dream to drive — just what you would expect from a premium luxury automobile. The older you get, the harder it is to get into a sedan (you’re stepping down and sliding in, actually), hence the popularity of SUVs as the population ages (and Genesis has a compact SUV coming in the spring of 2020). But I didn’t find that to be a problem with the sedan and thoroughly enjoyed the test-drive experience.
I like the power of the V8 engine; there’s no getting away from it. I never had to slam on the brakes, but the ventilated front and rear disc brakes with ABS worked effortlessly as we meandered our way up, down and through the Niagara Escarpment.
OK, I saved the best for last. I believe the Genesis is the only vehicle in Canada that you can purchase completely online.
As brand director Trevisan explained it to me, the Genesis at Home program means you go to the website, you “build your car” (pick the stuff you like and want), notify the company you want a test drive and they will bring the car to you. You drive the car, decide you want to keep it and return to your computer, where you determine the price, arrange to pay for it (all at once, or the financing) and click “Buy.”
A day or two later, they will deliver your new car to you all spiffed up and ready to go. And when its time to change the oil, you can go online and make the arrangement. They will bring a courtesy car and take your car away for servicing.
It’s a brand new world out there, folks, and Genesis is determined to lead the way. Right now, I’d say they’ve got a pretty good jump on the competition, that’s for sure.
Norris McDonald is a former Star editor who is a current freelance columnist. Follow him on Twitter: @NorrisMcDonald2