Hyundai Genesis Coupe (2008) CAR review and video

CAR Online has just driven Hyundai’s new rear-wheel drive Genesis Coupe. And it’s good. Very, very good. Hyundai hasn’t yet committed to bringing the car to the UK, but our first drive confirms that – like Barack Obama and the US – the Genesis Coupe would be a transformational character for Hyundai.

CAR getting hot under the collar about a Korean coupe? Are you well? Is the Hyundai Genesis Coupe that good?

Absolutely. We drove this car hard for three full days on everything from motorways to dual carriageways and the twistiest, emptiest back roads we could find. As you can tell, we came away impressed.

Don’t confuse this Genesis Coupe with the front-wheel drive variants Hyundai has been knocking out since the 1990s. This is an all-new rear-wheel drive platform developed not only for the Genesis Coupe, but also the Genesis saloon and the VI Equus – a large four-door saloon that posh Korean hotels use as taxis.

There are two basic versions to chose from: a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo making 207bhp and a 299bhp 3.8-litre V6 with six-speed manual and six-speed automatic transmissions. We sampled the larger engine with the auto gearbox, although it’s worth pointing out that any UK cars would be fine-tuned to suit our roads.

Put me in the driving seat.

Climb inside and you’ll sink into comfy leather seats, find plenty of headroom and clear, simple controls. The plastics covering the upper sections of the dash have a soft-touch quality feel to them, and while the quality deteriorates lower down and the centre console is a little bland, it’s hardly a deal breaker.

What’s particularly striking are the echoes of Infiniti G37 – the black dials that fade to blue at the edges, as though you’re looking at a solar eclipse; and there are even similarities in the seats, rooflining and the thin and tactile steering wheel.

Press the starter button and the deja vu continues: the V6’s hollow warble is strangely familiar and it can be no coincidence that, at 3.8-litres, the Hyundai out-punches the Nissan 370Z/Infiniti G37 by 100cc.

Scroll down the page to the embedded player to view Hyundai's uneditted footage of the Genesis Coupe

Click 'Next' below to read more of our Hyundai Genesis Coupe first drive