Text: Yousef Alvi // Photos: Geoff Dennis

Welcome to the 2018 Genesis G80 Sport. What is it? It is a twin turbo’d, rear wheel drive, luxury machine. The perfect combination for a sporty luxury car. The current generation has been with us over a few iterations and was formerly called the Hyundai Genesis. Now that Genesis has spun off, the G80 is made to compete against the Audi A6, Lexus GS, BMW 5 series and host of others I’m too lazy to type out. But you get the point. It’s a highly competitive market.

Now on the styling front the word here is ‘copper’. It’s tastefully placed everywhere on the G80 Sport. On the exterior you have it on the new front and rear facias, doors and wheels. As a whole, it really defines the ‘Sport’ range of vehicles and adds a further classy elegance to the car. The copper accents also find their way into the interior with piping on the sport leather seats, the clock and door stitching. Other than that, it is standard G80 fare and that is not too bad. Everything that needs to be squishy is squishy, the panel gaps are small and fit and finish is generally very good. Unfortunately, there are still some Hyundai parts bin parts strewn about but that is about it. Rear space is huge, the trunk is massive and the car is just made for you to sit in and go ‘ahhh’.

Now is it actually ‘sporty’? Well that is a complicated answer. Compared to the standard G80 it is. The suspension is stiffer, the steering a bit more accurate and everything just feels tauter. It also comes with a standard limited slip so it can be playful around the bends. But compared to its competitors…it airs to the side of luxury rather than sporty. The G80 is just too heavy to be considered a sporty vehicle but that additional heft lends itself a wonderful ride, quiet cabin and solid footing.

The 3.3 liter twin turbo 6 is a gem of a motor. It is smooth, quiet and shelves out 365 horsepower and 376 ft/lbs of torque. The power comes on boil around 2k rpm and gives you a steady stream of thrust until about 5k RPM. It makes passing a breeze, stoplight launches laughably fun and we were getting around 17mpg in mixed driving.

So how do I sum up the 2018 Genesis G80 Sport? If you take the word ‘sport’ out of it then it’s a wonderful, solid and beautiful looking luxury sedan. Add the word ‘sport’ back into it and are looking for a spirited ride then you may be a bit disappointed.