Genesis GV60 – First Impressions

Guy Loveridge takes the wheel of this important all-electric newcomer…

(All words and photographs by, and copyright, Guy Loveridge).

Freshly launched and barely run in, I could nor resist the opportunity to drive an absolutely mint Genesis GV60 at the recent Scottish Open Golf. This event, to the East of Capital City Edinburgh, is title sponsored by Genesis and so what better place to take a quick dash up to the North and enjoy exquisite company, hospitality and some world class golf as well as having the chance to spend an hour with the very latest offering from the Kia/Hyundai premium brand’s stable.

The example I was allowed to drive was personally ordered and driven at the event by PR Chief Simon Branney and he was most insistent that I should have a drive. Once ensconced in the luxurious interior, the “plant based leather” is a standard fit, and away from the rigidly enforced 20 miles per hour speed limit of the Renaissance Club’s grounds, I was able to get used to my new surroundings on the 30 mph drive to Guilane.

Much of the interior architecture is, unsurprisingly enough, familiar to those who have encountered the KIA EV6. That this machine is based upon its Kia stable-mate is simple common sense, it is a good and tried EV platform after all. But, the difference here is in the way things are presented. The example I was given to drive had fully £9,840.00 of optional extras.

Clearly this was a fully loaded machine, presented to show every imaginable bell and whistle. Impressive was not the word, really, this car was an astonishingly comfortable place to be. The sound system was a £990 extra from Bang & Olufsen and boy did it sound good. The comfort seat pack which was featured front and rear is a rather chastening £3,990 extra, BUT it does make the car flawless in terms of the seat comfort. You get three levels of heating and three levels of cooling, plus more combinations of seat positioning than I could achieve in an hour, coupled with the “Sport” setting’s “cuddle” feature where the side bolsters on the driver’s seat inch in a little tighter to keep you in place. I have always thought that a little “gimmicky” BUT – as we emerged from the 30 limits, I checked behind and in front of us. We were clear so I slowed and selected “Boost” – the instrument cluster suddenly developed speed lines as if Han and Chewie were urging me into Hyper Space. I floored the right pedal and……..in less time than it takes me to type this I was in licence endangering zone. 0-60 in 4 seconds…..I would wager less….0-75 in 6 seconds – I believe it! The power delivery is genuinely painful if you are not ready for it. This is a car that could damage your neck!

Once we had satisfied ourselves that Genesis’ claims for the performance were completely well founded, the real business of the test drive became our prime concern. Thoughtfully we had been given a selection of test drive routes with estimated times ranging from 40 minutes up to an hour. We were able to pick and choose so as to experience all varieties of road from single track up to motorway. The GV 60 coped supremely well with all of them.

The big challenge was remembering that we did not have to wave at everyone who gawped! This was, we decided, a combination of the “newness” of the model on the roads and the eye bleachingly bright optional colour scheme of Sao Paulo Lime – a £740 optional extra. This colour is bonkers…almost as bonkers as the boost button that sends you into Death Star approach mode! When we pulled over to take the photographs for this piece, we discovered that the colour is amazingly attractive to insects. This proved a challenge for the pictures, but also quite a nuisance as Scottish midges bite hard!

The features to make life with the GV 60 as easy as they can are almost as impressive as its shatteringly rapid acceleration. One is given rear view cameras as opposed to wing mirrors (please see picture, below) and there is a fully surrounding camera system to assist with reversing as well.

The very large load space at the rear is accessed by a push button boot/hatch back which also closes at the touch of a button in the lid’s lip. This is nothing new, I know, but serves and is mentioned to illustrate that it does not lack much!

I was especially impressed by the charger point. This is in the off-side rear wing, exactly where you would expect a fuel filler cap to be. It is a touch sensitive surface opener, lifting to reveal the socket, and then a button press to close again. It is not just linked to the central locking, as one would expect, but it also is linked to a finger-print sensor on the centre console. You can personalise your GV 60 and protect it not just as a motor vehicle but also as a source of up to 77.4 kwh of electrical power.

On the road the GV60 is well mannered, almost silent and such a capable motor car. It has neutral handling characteristics, only the most over enthusiastic of driving leads to a tendency to oversteer. This is because the steering inputs are perfectly matched by the power to each corner four-wheel drive system and the way those electric motors spool up and drive their power through the tyres, which are really rather large, if one is honest, at 255/40R21.

VERDICT

In conclusion, this is an electric vehicle with which I could be happy. Its regen braking and free wheel system is highly efficient and feels to be putting a lot of electricity back in. I would not bother with many of the ”optional extras”, the wing mirrors cameras were actually distracting, but the biggest elephant in the room is price. As a base model this is £65,404. Volvo will sell you an electric XC60 for £44,460. That’s a big price gap, for all the luxury.