This Genesis Coupe 3.8 Track is the best Hyundai that I've driven, hands down. It's not perfect, though. The steering, while trying to be direct in offering good feedback, is just way too twitchy. Sneeze at the wrong time and you're in a ditch. And for a car with as much sporting ambitions as this one, the brakes need to bite much harder and quicker than these do. While I have just the two complaints, they're both important matters for a car that has the word "Track" in its name.
The driveline in this car is good. The V6 spins up to redline rather quickly. Clutch engagement is quick and near the top of the pedal travel, and the shifter engages the gears with relatively short throws. The interior layout is rather straightforward, albeit with a couple of gimmicks. The torque graph on the top of the dash is particularly gimmicky.
I have long complained about two things in Hyundai vehicles: the flat-bottom seats that offer little support and the suspensions that fail to limit body roll or absorb much of the harshness of imperfect roads. With this car, I have no complaints about the seats or suspension. The seats are comfortable and supportive and the suspension is firm without being too harsh.
Overall, this is a car I'd like to spend some more time with, either on a track or a cross-country drive.
I came out of the Ford Mustang V6 and went directly into the Hyundai Genesis coupe, arguably the Mustang's closest import competitor. Whether the market considers that to be the case or not, the two cars are similar on paper yet just as dissimilar behind the wheel.
Where the Mustang feels somewhat plodding and heavy, the Hyundai appears a few hundred pounds lighter than it is. But the Genesis is also a much more challenging car to drive smoothly, with a stiff clutch, quick takeup and a notchy, awkwardly placed shifter. It was by far the sportier of the two vehicles but at the end of the day, I'd rather have the easy driving dynamics of the Mustang. It likely comes down to the Ford being tuned for a wider audience than the Hyundai, which feels finely focused on the male-youth performance market.
Inside, the Genesis is refreshingly open and reasonably well trimmed, with supportive seats and a good driving position. But quiet it isn't; road rumble is present and the grumble of the V6 is ever-present as well. It's nice, though, as it has the same cammy mechanical sound as the Mustang's 3.7-liter powerplant, and it doesn't sound as though there's some missing insulation on the firewall as one could argue about the Ford.
Exterior styling being subjective, I vastly prefer the Mustang's appearance. The Hyundai is worlds better than the Tiburon it replaced, but the front of the car has a shovel-nosed appearance that makes it look way wider than the rest of the body.
So the Genesis coupe is far from perfect. But considering where Hyundai was just a decade ago, this is yet another car from the Korean automaker that should have every competitor sitting up and taking notice.
I was impressed with this 2011 Hyundai Genesis Coupe 3.8 Track. It's a really good-looking coupe and there's good power from the six, which has a nice growl to it.
The interior is upscale, more on, say, an Infiniti scale than what we're used to from Hyundai. The seats are comfortable, everything is where it should be, it seems nice and gimmick-free and the material quality was better than decent. Plenty of room for me, too.
Driving the car, I thought it felt tight and responsive. There's good grip and the body stays flat. I loved the steering, too.
I have not driven this car without the Track package so I don't have much base of comparison. But I can say the car didn't beat on me here in Detroit, and that's something one can't say about a lot of cars with "tuned" suspensions. I thought the ride was just fine.
Overall, I was quite impressed. I would love to try one with the 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder.
