Before I start here are the first two paragraphs on the first page of the Equus brochure. From the horses mouth, who they consider the best and who they admire and who they give credit to for paving the way.

From here on out I don't want to hear any derogatory comment about the LS from a Hyundai homer. None. The brand has the highest respect for what Lexus accomplished with the LS, maybe you should too.

As I stated in another thread I inquired about my interest in the Equus to one local dealer a few weeks ago. I asked to be e-mailed. What happened after was my info was shared and multiple dealers tried to contact me and call me. I didn't want to be called. To be honest I wasn't really breaking my neck to see this car but the threads about MMarshall popped in my head and I wanted to check it out for him as a "get well review". Get back soon bud! In particular one sales rep was persistent so I spoke to them and agreed to stop by. They were friendly on the phone and not pushy.

I arrive at the Hyundai dealer and its a slow day. Tons of inventory around, a lot of Genesis's parked. The first signs are see are "6,000 off a Genesis" and then "get a flat screen tv with purchase" (pics below). I am greeted by a friendly man but his apperance is far short of what is the minimum requirement of luxury dealerships. As I walk in it hits me "oh snap, I am in a well, regular dealership" and Nissan/Toyota/Hyundai/Honda/Chrsyler etc, they all look and smell the same with the same noise levels and same lack of class one expects when they purchase a luxury car. Mind you it wasn't bad and I don't want to come off like a snob but there simply is a giant difference in a BMW/Benz/Lexus dealership compared to this.

To their credit everyone was friendly and things felt up beat. There is a Sonata turbo inside and a new Elantra. I think the Elantra in person is fantastic. What a wonderful looking econo-car! Great proportions and my favorite design of theirs. The inside is very well, designed and different to anything else. Plastics were hard though and you realize how fortunate we are driving luxury cars. If you don't drive luxury cars, the interior is really sweet. Good seats, good room. I liked the hidden compartment for the MP3 and other media connections.

The Equus sits by itself and they only had one, a silver loaded premium model. An "Equus specialist" comes to greet me and he is friendly and helpful the entire time. No one is allowed to drive the car but its open and I got to sit inside and use the controls that were on and check things out. Thus this is not a full review, never got to drive it.

First off the car looks good to me. Completely inoffensive but has proper luxury proportions. Its amazing Hyundai has figured this out but Acura has not. For a big car it didn't feel overwhelmingly big. There are no intricate details that others in this class have, the most interesting feature is the rear kick in the rear panel that Mercedes is using now. It has 19" wheels and they are staggered, the wheels look like Bentley wheels to me. You then notice how puny the brakes look behind the wheels. Again overall it won't turn heads but you won't barf either. Well done to me.

I open up the door and you notice the Equus badge on the steering wheel and the leather top and stitching on the dash. Sadly you then notice that the center console seems like an Infiniti design they rejected. Familar Nav, controls and clock to an Infiniti. The painted metal wasn't very well done, its a dark charcoal that just doesn't work well. Mind you its not bad at all but to me, it felt like sitting in a 2002 Q45 well in 2002. It felt two maybe 3 steps behind the LS/S/7/A8. I am sure the next generation will be better.

Tons of controls and buttons and everything is easy to reach. The interior was black but inside up front felt less spacious than the LS/S/7. It lacked the "man that is a lot bigger" feel up front than say my GS or the 5 series. Note there are no Hyundai badges inside OR outside from what I saw.

Doors opened and closed with good thunk. The wood seems like something Lexus rejected. It was nice but lacked polish and finesse.

This was the premium model with the 2 rear seats and center armrest with tons of controls and a fridge. Like the LS the passenger side rear seat reclines. I have to say I was really disappointed with the room in the rear. Mind you all I am 6'5 240 but it felt substantially smaller inside than the LS/7/S LWB I've sat in recently. To most though, I am sure its more than enough and if you haven't experienced those cars this is a great rear seat(s) to be in. It reminded me of the LS 460 in the rear a lot. Notice the TV in the center that swivels left to right which I thought was a nice touch. That small sensor in the pic in the seat lets the computer know someone is back there so the seat doesn't move back on you and I think it moves the seat up if you recline.

The trunk is huge and very well thought out, it combines the rear depth of a Euro car with the sides of a Japanese luxury car. The guy then mentions the fact you don't have to take the car in for service and you get a Genesis loaner. What is not mentioned is this is for the first 5 years or 60,000 miles.

The engine compartment is there and the guy makes mention it makes 385hp on Super or 375 on regular gas. I could appreciate that the guy wasn't pushy and let me take my time with the car. Oddly the iPad wasn't mentioned.

Note the transmission is made in Germany. The car loaded is $65,000, that is A LOT of car for the money. However I never came away feeling like I would take it over a LS/S/7. Not even close, even if its tens of thousands cheaper. It felt cheaper and it didn't feel on par with those cars from touching/feeling. It is still well done though and a superb first effort here.

What did make me scratch my head was for $65,000 you can get an Equus or a GS/5/E class and now that is something. The Equus is clearly a bigger car for the money. Its amazing to me Hyundai has a true flagship here and so many "luxury" brands do not. I'm in a Hyundai dealership looking at a superb D-class car! I can't go to some "luxury" dealerships and find competition for this!. I think those brands have far more to worry then Lexus, BMW, Benz here.

Another worry is how will this car hold up over time? How will it hold up in 10-15 years? Will resale plummet? Will the electronics work? Will the engine still be smooth? Hyundai's new wave of cars is simply not tested long term. I know what a LS/7/S etc will be like in a decade. I have no idea how well built this is after the "honeymoon" is over. That is something I think they will have trouble overcoming.

I'm not even upset I didn't get to drive it. I can imagine it drives like LS. I'm not going to hustle the car nor will owners. Reviews seem to be solid. I understand this is Hyundai's flagship so they can't really have their only car racking up miles. On the other hand since I am a luxury car buyer these kinds of cars are "common" to many of us and its no big deal to drive them or be in them, so "why not let me drive it"? Its one of the negatives that this car is under the Hyundai umbrella.

Overall its not for me or much anyone I know, there is no buzz outside of a few on the internet. I do think this does have appeal though and its quite possible there are 3,000 people in the USA that will buy this. I can imagine in a few months this car will get discounts galore and then people will be in a 50-55k Equus. This is A LOT of car for the money at that point.

Honestly, color me impressed. I'm sure MMarshall will feel the same way.

Mike

 

Again well done inside and out. Hyundai has to be proud of this car, its really good. Note that the 4.6 you see here will be replaced with the new 5.0 just next year.

 

is that a hyundai badge on the engine cover? that may be the only one

i look forward to sitting in this car next year at the auto show.

design wise, it has a pretty good looking front and rear, however ,the side profile doesnt show any striking flair like there is on the Sonata or even the new elantra.

 

My neighbor has been driving an Equus for the past 6 months. I guess he works for Hyundai as the badge says V400 or something..

I find it funny that Hyundai is marketing their higher end cars with names rather than numbers/letters. I guess they really want people to call their cars "Equus" or "Genesis" rather than Hyundai KX460 or something. It's the opposite from Acura that didn't like that the Legend name was more known than Acura.

 

A bit off topic, but to support a couple of 1SICKLEX's observations at the Hyundai dealership.

True Car lists the top 10 2010 vehicles with the Longest Days In Inventory and the Genesis is #5 at 203 days.

They also list the top 10 2011 vehicles with the Shortest Days In Inventory and the new Elantra is #1 at only 4 days.

I came across this info while shopping for a new daily driver and found it interesting. We took a couple of looks and test drives of the Elantra. Nice small car. No longer the price value it used to be, but maybe it doesn't have to compete just on price any more.

 

Nice review 1SICKLEX. Your review sounds very "fair and balanced". It's funny how you started off the post with your opinion on the new Elantra. I just saw the first one on the road today and it looked damn good for a compact.

I've seen the Equus on the road and it is a proper size luxury sedan. Acura really needs to take notes and see where it dropped the ball.

As much as I like that Hyundai is brining this car to the US, a part of me thinks it's a couple years too early. I think the Genesis still has a lot more ground to cover and people my not be ready to make the jump to the next class of luxury cars from them.

 

I agree with you on the design.

I think Acura and Caddy should have kept names. Acura dropped names for letters and to this day they are an irrelevant system. Legend today still overshadows Acura.

Yeah the Genesis is sitting on lots, they had tons there. The Elantra looked GREAT will request to rent when the time comes.

Thanks. TO be honest the Elantra caught my eye and in a VERY good way. I really thought it looked great stock. So many cars today are just ugly or need huge wheels and a drop to look good. This looked great just sitting there. Couldn't believe it. And to me it doesn't look like anyting else whereas the Sonata looks like a fake Benz CLS and the Equus looks like a LS. I agree its "early" but its still pretty good.

 

The new Elantra is rated at 29/40 mpg for both manual and automatic trannies. Not bad.

 

Hmm I wonder why they were so **** about not letting you drive it? I am thinking that they don't want the people shopping for used Elantras test driving it for fun. If the dealer starts refusing people arbitrarily someone might sue them or something

So how does the "home test drive" program work? Is that the only way to test drive the Equus? Does the salesman drive the Equus to your house or they bring it with a flat bed? I imagine the salesman would drive the car and miles will starting racking up very quickly.

 

Great review! Thanks for posting!

I saw the new Elantra in person the other day and loved the exterior design of it! 29/40 is amazing mpg for it too. Good stuff from Hyundai

 

I was at SJ car show for 2 days and noticed how little attention this car received.

Sonata Hybrid was always busy.


Thanks for posting the review.

 

Nice review. Too bad they weren't making the cars available to drive. Also thought it looked cheap parking new cars on dead grass. This is yet another running example of why I believe Hyundai should have branched off with the Genesis name and kept them away from Hyundai cars/dealerships.

 

Just recently I was in 5 different Hyundai dealers looking at the new Elantra. Two of them weren't bad at all and the sales reps were OK. The third not so good - Plus this one had added $500-$1K of dealer applied stuff to all of the cars on the lot and in the showroom. Paint/Interior Protection, Nitrogen, spoliers, pin striping etc.

I also noticed that about 15% of the Chicago area dealers are official Equus Dealers (5 out of 32) so it looks they are keeping it somewhat limited.

 

v. nice car, but very 'derived' from everything else out there, and it kinda looks to me like what the nfiniti m56 should have been. regardless, it's remarkable how quickly and how far hyundai has come.

trunk is cavernous.

 

If the Genesis (best value in its class) are sitting for 203 days on the lot then the future does not look too bright for the Equus either.