Gojirra99

Surely you are not comparing a quarter million dollar Ferrari Enzo to a $100000 Lexus

You guys up North pay more for for all brands of cars, I guess its due to the smaller market.

 

The point still stands that they do make limited production cars regardless of the price with firm production limits, they refused to add even one single unit of 600hL production after they have filled out the 150 units/year Canadian allocation, which disproves your assertion that they will just build more and sell as many as they can to make more money if they have more orders than their pre-determined production limit.

 

I have had LS's and GS's since '95, and I put 200,000 miles on all of them. My wife has an '05 RX. I was going to trade my 2000 LS (195,000) and get the new loaded 4.6 Genesis. I took one home for a test drive, and hated the ride. Also, it looked a little cheap inside. But the biggest reason that I didn't get it was that the Hyundai dealer is also the Ford dealer. I knew that when I needed service, the shop was likely to have a Ford mindset or lower end Hyundai mindset. Also. I felt that I probably not be happy in anything other than another Lexus. I ended up with an '07 LS460 with 19,000 miles, and am glad I chose the Lexus.

 

thanks for your write-up. just wondering, why did you 'hate the ride' of the genesis?

 

Hyundai these days looks good, but when entered the Genesis four-door, the interior was tacky

 

It better be tacky, if the interior was any good, it'd be better than Lexus all-around except for residuals and dealer service.

 

The Genesis interior looks much nicer than the GS interior so I don't know where you get "tacky". The leather in the 4.6 is really nice, much nicer to the touch that Mercedes, BMW, or Audi. All of this in a car about the price of a loaded ES. Tacky?
Steve

 

It looks good in the pictures, but I feel the plastic materials are a bit cheap. I don't know I think it's me.

 

I don't think its tacky either, I think its done well. I do prefer my GS interior though. The optional leather dash is nice but I wonder how it will hold up over time. This is their first luxury car.

 

I dont like the Hyundai interior either, its not tacky, but it just looks like a .....well it looks like a Hyundai interior

 

You are simply not going to get away from plastic interior parts today. I don't necessarily like it any more than you do, but, like it or not, it is a fact. It has simply become the norm for virtually all mass-produced vehicles. Some vehicles have more plastic inside than others.....some, much more. But, all vehicles, today, have a fair amount. Cost-cutting and weight reduction ae the two main reasons why.

However, not all interior plastic is cheap or flimsy. The new Subaru Impreza and Forester, for example, are almost all interior plastic, except for the padded door armrests, but it is a thick, solid, durable plastic. Some Dodge/Chrysler and Mitsubishi interior plastics, on the other hand, are flimsy junk.

 

According to KBB, the 2009 Genesis sedan is predicted to have much better residuals than the M35/45 and even slightly edges out the 2009 GS (granted, it's a prediction).

Huh?

Hyundai is known for making many safety equipment standard (such as ESC) unlike most other mainstream manufacturers.

The higher trim Genesis coupe has Brembo brakes, the steering is said to have a BMW feel and has LSD (which the G37 does not).

As for crash tests - pretty much all the newer Hyundai/Kia models are at/near the top (for instance, the Kia Soul bests the Honda Fit on the NCAP crash test).


BMW's "eyelid" lights were first done by the Buick Rendevous.

Audi's oversized grille is just Audi's take of Chrysler's oversized grille (and Mitsu, w/ the Lancer, just took Audi's grille and inverted it).

As for the MB grille, just add a divider down the middle and many Lexus, Infiniti and Acura models' grilles would look like the MB grille.

For the most part, Lexus, Infiniti and Acura models have had either vertically slatted grilles or horizonatally slatted grilles (ooh, how original!) in order to make their models fit the "lux" mold (only recently have they begun to split from that, most notably Acura).

One can easily say the models w/ vertically slatted grilles for Lexus and Infiniti copied the look of Buick/Jag grilles.

And while the grille for the Genesis has the divider down the middle, one can't say that the grille is the same since MB doesn't have the waterfall/Klingon effect.




That's what people used to say about Lexus (and many still do - w/ the few original Lexus designs being regarded as ugly).

LS430 = S Class

2nd Gen GS = E Class w/ Buick/Jag grille

1st off, have to separate out the Equus since it was design for the Korean domestic market - a market which likes its luxury sedans to be "traditional" (much like the Japanese market).

As for the Genesis, Hyundai knew the design was derivative, but they did it on purpose, since entry/acceptance into the lux market is predicated on looking like a luxury vehicle (i.e. - like other vehicles in its class).

Only recently have Lexus, Infiniti and Acura felt the freedom to stray from their earlier conservative designs.

As for the L-Finesse (at least w/ regard to the LS), I'd argue that it hasn't yet shown originality - the LS went from a S Class clone (LS430) to a toned down version of the Bangle 7 Series (which is why the toned down new 7 looks eerily similar to the LS from the side and rear).


Uhh, many models (even some econoboxes) have similarly shaped taillights.

And there are some taillight shapes/designs that have been used on many more manufacturers - such as the one that has been used on a previous gen Camry and many other makes (the Civic's taillight shape is eerily similar to that of the A4 and even Ian Callum's new Jag's taillights/trunk design, unfortunately, looks like a mash of the Hyundai XG350 and the Kia Amanti).

As for the exhaust tips, it has already been established that the LS wasn't the 1st.

 

The LS is at a class above the Genesis.

Lexus in Japan until recently was "just a Toyota" and the top of the line Toyota/Lexus is still a Toyota, the Century (even the Crown Majesta was considered "higher" than the Celsior, aka the LS).

Whether they "copy", it still costs the same to hire the designers (I guess Lexus must have saved $$ when designing the LS430 and the 2nd gen GS).

I guess Mercedes must heading for a period of copying (aside from the new E Class) since they hired Joel Piaskowski, Hyundai's former head of its Cali design center.

Really, this is such a silly claim.

Anyway, Hyundai really isn't a Lexus competitor until it establishes a separate luxury make for the US market.

As it is, Hyundai is very much like what Toyota is in Japan, a full-line auto manufacturer/brand.

Och - it would help if you got your facts right.

The under $30k set price was for a particular trim of the Genesis sedan, the trim w/ the 3.3L V6 engine which is available in SKorea; Hyundai prudently decided, ultimately, not to bring that variant to the US.

And yes - Lexus did emulate Mercedes w/ the LS430 (w/ the greenhouse/C-pillar and rear).

 

genesis steering with bmw feel?! i don't know what "higher" trim is that, but the genesis i drove, the steering feel was far from anything like bmw. if anything it's probably more like lexus, with even slower response time

 

I agree with rominl, Genesis' steering feels more like a Lincoln MKS. It lacks feedback and responsiveness. And to the poster above with the picture of a black Genssis park next to the black MB e-class in the driveway, your neighbors must get a good laugh from Hyundai commerical in your driveway