A welcome respite from the madness
Last week, I was in Houston, Texas, for four days after being invited as a member of the media to cover community-oriented charity events hosted and funded by the Hyundai Motor Group. Hyundai Hopes and Genesis Gives held events Thursday through Saturday, inspiring school-aged kids to explore the arts and STEM activities, and donated to local children’s hospitals to enable them to buy and give away car seats.
Genesis Newsroom
When I was going in between these events, I was driving around my press car: a 2025 Genesis GV70 3.5T Sport Prestige AWD. I was incredibly grateful for it, because even as a native Californian who spent the first decade of their driving career navigating the suffocating bumper-to-bumper traffic and crazy drivers of the San Francisco Bay Area, the highways and streets surrounding downtown Houston came close to putting me in a hospital from the stress and anxiety. But the GV70 had my back the entire time. Here’s how it helped keep me sane in the heart of Texas.
A long list of responsive driver assistance features was much appreciated
It would be harder to find a brand-new car that didn’t have a laundry list of driver assistance features that make it nearly impossible to crash. In fact, out of all the 45 cars I’ve reviewed and tested, all of them had their own version of the same systems: automatic emergency braking, blind spot detection, lane keep assist, adaptive cruise control, and more. Hyundai and Genesis, though, have some of the most responsive ADAS features in the business, and they came especially in handy in the GV70.
Genesis
First, my favorite feature (that’s also seen in Kia, since, you know, same parent group) is the blind spot camera that automatically toggles a camera on the side view mirror and displays a live feed of what’s happening in your blind spot. It’s a high-resolution camera, too, and while it doesn’t have infrared or particularly strong night vision, it’s still a high enough resolution to get a rough idea of what is or isn’t there. It’s especially helpful when you’re parking and have your signal activated, too. I preferred the camera being activated over the mirrors automatically tilting down to face the curb when you shift into reverse. The visibility out of the front windows helped a lot, too.
Kristen Brown
In addition to the mirrors and cameras, I found the automatic rear braking to be the most reliable and quick-acting of any other car I’ve tested. After the car seat event at a local fire station, I came out to find a Honda Civic parked right up against my bumper, blocking me in next to another car to my left. To my right was a curb. Without a spotter, I had to rely on the cameras and mirrors to perform a million-point turn and get out of the parking spot. The cameras in the front were high-resolution, and the parking lines were accurate, but any time I got a bit too close to anything, the brakes would automatically apply. This made it much easier to relax, knowing that the GV70 simply wouldn’t allow an accident to happen. Of course, I eventually got out of that tight spot, and I have the car’s ADAS features to thank for that.
Driving was made easier by the same features, too
The cameras that would turn on with the turning signals naturally made driving down Texas’s 45 North and South highways so much easier. My press car had California plates, which may have played into why other drivers were so adamant about not letting me in front of them, but having those cameras left no room for guessing as to whether or not another car was in my blind spot. If a car was coming up on me fast enough, red, radar-looking lights would appear on the dashboard to warn me of it. It would also alert me if a car was coming into my lane from the front. At one point, the Genesis even slowed down to create more space between me and the car that forced its way in, thanks to the company’s Highway Assist feature.
Genesis Newsroom
The lane following assist came in handy, too, since a lot of downtown Houston was under construction, and many of the lane markers were faded or missing. When I couldn’t figure out where the heck the lines were, I could tell the GV70 was following the car in front of me to help keep me centered and out of the way of other drivers. I appreciated that feature the most. In addition to road sign assistance, speed limit readings were based on navigational data, as many speed limit signs weren’t clearly visible. I also heard from locals that police actively target out-of-state license plates to ticket drivers for speeding, so I’m glad the Genesis took care of that as well.
Genesis Newsroom
This one’s funny, but the GV70 had a posture correcting mode designed to help reduce fatigue and back pain, which came in handy when I was stuck in traffic on highways 610 and 288. I had been driving for over thirty minutes, and all of a sudden, the lower back massagers came on, accompanied by a message that said, “posture correction session has begun.” When I’d take a corner with a bit of spice, the bolster that was burdened with the added weight of my side would push me back into the center of the seat, making it so much easier to pay attention to what’s in front of me. Who knew that being completely comfortable helped keep me focused?
Then, of course, there’s plenty of power when you need it
The GV70 is available with two engine options: a 300-horsepower 2.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine, which is standard on the lower-end trims, or a 375-horsepower twin-turbocharged V6. The trim I drove, the 3.5T Sport Prestige AWD, was the top-of-the-line model, so it had the engine with the highest output. While it wasn’t necessary for navigating downtown Houston, it definitely made getting around on the highway a lot more fun. When it came to passing other cars or trucks that were dawdling in the left lane, picking up speed was nothing for the GV70. That too helped with stress.
Genesis Newsroom
As the old saying goes, “With great power comes great responsibility,” and all that power working in tandem with all-wheel drive most certainly comes at a cost. Around town, I was lucky to see figures just about 18 mpg combined, and on the highway, I saw around 24 mpg. When gas costs about $2.49 in the Lone Star State, it isn’t a huge deal. I can’t say the same for other states, though.
It’s pricey, but it seems fair when features and interior quality are taken into account
There are three trims per engine choice, meaning six trims in total. The base model, the 2.5T, starts at $48,985 before taxes and delivery fees. The 3.5T Sport Prestige AWD has an MSRP of around $71,095. My tester had a few add-ons listed on the Monroney, so it had a sticker price of $72,225. When you consider all the features I listed off, plus the powerful engine with a competent AWD system, a gorgeous interior, and unique exterior styling, I’d happily pay that over some of the similar models from BMW, Mercedes-Benz, or Audi.
Genesis Newsroom
Genesis as a brand has a very well-earned seat in my nitpicky heart for interior design and quality. Every single model I’ve tested (which is all of them except the new GV60) had me starstruck by the quality leather seats, crisp and responsive touch screens, contrasting color schemes, tasteful ambient lighting, large panoramic sunroofs, Bang & Olufsen sound systems, and overall thoughtfulness. My GV70 had orange contrast stitching on the steering wheel, all five seats, dashboard, and all four doors, which proved to be a great contrast against a primarily obsidian black leather interior. The flashy orange seatbelts matched that stitching as well. There are also carbon fiber accent pieces on the two front doors and surrounding the cupholders, gear selector, infotainment controller, drive mode selector, and A/C controls. They didn’t add any performance points, obviously, but they added a lot of points to styling. It helped make it feel a lot more expensive than it was.
Final thoughts: I hated driving in Texas, but I’d drive a GV70 there again and again
If you haven’t gathered already, driving in Houston wasn’t the most fun I’ve had in my career. I found it to be just as bad as driving in California, and that’s saying something. But the Genesis GV70 helped make it bearable, safe, comfortable, and most importantly, fun. I wouldn’t sign myself up for another few days of driving in Houston’s commute traffic again, but if I knew a GV70 was waiting for me, I could be convinced without much resistance. For the price, there’s a whole lot of safety and comfort features that make it the underdog of luxury SUVs, and I can’t wait for the brand to finally start setting standards for the industry.
About the author
Kristen Brown
Contributing Writer, Autoblog