Like every other Genesis—Hyundai’s up-market brand—the G80 sedan is a fine automobile. Especially in options-rich Sport Prestige trim, with the big engine and all-wheel drive, the G80 is smooth, powerful, luxurious, high-value, satisfying and near flawless. Yet paradoxically, it also feels slightly old-fashioned—at least to me.

Context: Summer is EV season for NEMPA, the New England Motor Press Association. We rarely get electric vehicles during the colder months because the batteries don’t hold up as well then. The 320 or so miles of range offered by last week’s electric Ioniq 6 (also a Hyundai) in July will shrink to around 260 miles in February, and we members of the motoring media would point this out in print. Tiresome, no? 

And so, this being summertime, five of the previous six vehicles covered here were battery-electrics. They were dead quiet and, at any speed up to at least 85 MPH, and with a mere touch of the driver’s big toe, they accelerated forcefully and right now. They could also do the opposite: Lifting said toe caused them to decelerate so well that the brakes were almost never needed, even coming to a full stop. 

Drive an EV long enough (a day or two) and this dynamic behavior begins to feel normal. Go back to an internal-combustion-powered vehicle—even one as posh and powerful as this G80 Sport—and the acceleration disappoints slightly. We have to wait for all those mechanical bits to spool up in order to make torque. And when the light turns red, we have to actually, physically move our right foot, that big toe, over to a different pedal and push on it to stop! Quel horreur!

All this feels slightly retrograde, like we’re settling for yesterday’s technology. However, drive the G80 Sport long enough (three or four days, this time) and internal combustion begins to feel normal again. Power and acceleration swell over time—just a few extra seconds—and there’s even a sound track, in this case a lovely muted growl. After all, for the vast majority of my own 60 years of driving, this has been the status quo. 

The growl comes from a twin-turbo 3.5-litre V-6 engine that gins up 375 horses and 391 torques. This is the engine that comes with Sport trim; the standard G80 motor is a 300-horsepower turbocharged four-cylinder. With its 8-speed automatic transmission, the V-6 delivers velvety thrust and all-wheel drive, also standard on Sport models, delivers the power to the pavement without slippage. 

Our top-trim G80 also has an electronic suspension that scans the road ahead and automatically adapts to suit what’s coming. Even in Sport mode, though, the G80 Sport is softer-edged than comparable German sedans.

The bottom-rung G80, the 2.5T, with rear-wheel drive, bears an MSRP of $58,595. Then there are three more ever-pricier trim levels before we reach our car, the top-end 3.5T Sport Prestige AWD with its MSRP of $78,495. Here, the list of amenities is especially long, and even includes electrically self-latching doors. (Slamming doors is so lower-class, don’t you think?) One of my favorite touches is how the driver’s seatback snugs up slightly when Sport mode is selected, for more support during hard cornering. It’s pretty much pure theater, but it makes me smile.

For 2025, Genesis has combed through the G80 and made a number of improvements. Cosmetically, these include a snazzier grille, front fascia and rear bumper as well as wood trim and diamond-quilted Nappa leather upholstery. Functional upgrades include brighter and more focused Micro Lens Array headlamps and a sweeping 27-inch OLED (organic light-emitting diode) computer display that places the instrument cluster and infotainment interface onto a single screen. 

One of my friends calls the G80 a budget Bentley; I think of it as a Costco S-Class Benz. Price-wise, the G80 approaches the E-Class and 5-Series BMWs, but it’s larger than those sedans and projects more chutzpah and charisma, hence the comparo to the larger Merc. Now if only it were electric . . . 

But wait, there already is a battery-powered G80! Genesis rolled it out in late 2022, at the height of the EV frenzy, and we loved it and covered it in June of 2023. Today, with the downturn in EV buzz, Genesis seems to be downplaying the G80 Electrified. It’s still available, though, priced at $78,225 to start and $80,975 in Prestige trim. When stacked up against the EV’s addictive whoosh of power and its silent, near-ghostly grace, not to say the environmental and financial benefits of not vaporizing gasoline, the small surcharge seems worth it. For drivers whose needs are met by an EV, that is, and who have a place to plug it in. 

Next week: Mitsubishi Outlander