What’s Good
Great Styling
Rorty engine
Handling

What’s Not Good
Doesn’t feel fast
Clumsy automatic transmission
Plasticky interior

Road Test Reviews score: 6 out of 10
Dealer Experience – Frank Hyundai: 5 out of 10

Thanks to Frank Hyundai for letting us test the 2013 Hyundai Genesis Coupe 2.0T with an automatic transmission. I really wanted to test a manual transmission but we couldn’t get one so …..oh well. I had high hopes for this car after all it looks terrific and if you are in the market for a small 2 door sports car with a 4 cylinder engine then this is one to look into. The outgoing model was not particularly good so let’s hope this one will wow us.

So the engine is all new this year up from 210 hp to 275hp and 274lbs torque.

The problem is the torque is there but it seems to kick in too high in the rev range. When you’re out of boost the car labors, then the turbo comes on suddenly, making it really tough to be smooth mid-corner….I’ll come back to that later.

Ok I am back….The new twin scroll turbo and continuously variable valve timing means that max torque arrives at 2000rpm……really? It didn’t feel like it, but I believe this may have something to do with the transmission. You see in flappy paddle shift mode it takes an age to choose a gear, especially under hard acceleration and in auto mode it can’t find the right gear… it hiccups and burps a bit before engaging and this makes the car feel not particularly fast. It’s like the guy at the Bingo place picking a number, he takes a while.

Hyundai claims 0-60 in 5.7 seconds but it just seems much less sharp than it should be.Sure the car corners well, feels well glued to the road (new suspension to thank) but it doesn’t have that sports car feel. You know just adding more power is not always the best way Hyundai. On the plus side it sounds great on the move with a rorty honking noise coming from the exhaust. Outside the car it sounds raucous and we like that a lot.

The inside doesn’t match what the outside promises, but it is all new and has a great
look but suffers from a cheap feel and a lack of attention to detail. The soft feel
plastics work but they are mixed with gaudy looking hard plastic in other areas. This is something that really needs some fine tuning.

The seats are not very supportive and for taller drivers would be uncomfortable (lack of headroom) after a while. The steering wheel blocks the speedometer when it is in the lower position.

This car is squarely aimed at under 35′s  because no one in this age group wants to be caught driving a Mustang!  The upcoming  Scion FRS and Subaru BRZ are going give this car a hard time as they are more purist sports cars outright.

So not what I expected overall; it checks certain boxes but it feels a little lazy and I would expect more from Hyundai at this point.  As I stepped out of the car I felt like I had a drive in a competent car that completely lacked zing, and how would life be without a little bit of Zing? Boring…….

What would we do?
Bin the lazy transmission and fit a DSG transmission a la VW Gti or buy a manual transmission (which we haven’t tested yet), upgrade the interior (its cheap) and you might have a winner here. Otherwise were heading to the Subaru dealer and getting a Subaru BRZ which we should be testing soon, stay tuned…….