The 2023 Genesis Electrified GV70 is, like many top-tier electric cars, sickeningly quick, with a colossal amount of instantaneous torque that’s capable of rearranging the contents of your stomach on offer. But there’s something else that’s also sickening about it, and that’s the price tag – an extraordinary $127,800 before on-road costs are even factored in. That is a crazy amount of money for what might be derided by some as a tarted-up Hyundai… or is it?
The Electrified GV70 sits atop the Genesis’ five-seat, mid-size GV70 SUV range that starts from $68,500 with a turbo four-pot under the bonnet. However, the Electrified GV70 is, as the name suggests, the sole electric-powered offering in the otherwise internal combustion-powered GV70 lineup.
While Genesis may be Hyundai’s luxury offshoot, the Electrified GV70 certainly doesn’t look at all like any Hyundai you’ll have seen before. Unlike most SUVs which look as interesting as a bar of soap, the Electrified GV70 – particularly in this Brunswick Green matte paint, a $2000 option – is a properly sexy bit of kit.
The Electrified GV70 looks similar to the petrol-powered GV70 but also features intricate 20-inch wheels shod in Michelin Pilot Sport EV tyres that look the part but are downright painful to clean. The Electrified GV70 also has a filled-in, Bentley-esque G-Matrix patterned grille with a concealed charging flap, along with restyled front and rear bumpers. The only chink in the Electrified GV70’s otherwise handsome armour is its awkwardly placed C-pillar and small rear three-quarter windows that disrupt its clean lines.
The interior isn’t quite as adventurous as the exterior, although it is still a lovely place to spend some time. The 18-way power-adjustable driver’s seat offers plenty of support and is undoubtedly a royal’s throne in the rolling castle that is the GV70. While it features heating and cooling functionality like the front passenger seat, it also benefits from the ‘Ergo Motion’ massage function that automatically activates during longer stints behind the wheel to adjust your posture and keep you comfortable. The multi-function leather steering wheel can also be heated and is a pleasure to hold.
The 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster offers ample information and the head-up display is clear. It is a bit of a stretch to reach the slick 14.5-inch multimedia display that sits atop the dual-level dash, even for someone with my orangutan-like limbs. However, there is an intuitive rotary controller on the centre console that can be used to operate the display instead.
The Electrified GV70 benefits from wireless phone charging, although rather nonsensically, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto still require a wired connection. The average person will no doubt also appreciate the 14-speaker, 1050-watt Lexicon audio system, but I couldn’t help but shake the feeling that it lacked some pizazz.
In addition to the already extensive equipment list, the Electrified GV70 includes a number of tasteful luxury touches including a panoramic sunroof, ambient lighting, and extensive use of Nappa leather on the seats and around the rest of the cabin, and it’s these touches that help elevate the GV70 into true luxury territory.
Downsides? I’m nitpicking, but the gearbox tunnel in my tester felt a little loose when pressed against, some of the materials are a bit cheap, and the slick centre screen uses recognisably Hyundai-based software; I would have liked a more visually bespoke system considering the asking price.
Thanks to a lower transmission tunnel compared to its ICE sibling, rear space in the Electrified GV70 is ample, although people over six-foot tall may struggle for headroom. Rear occupants can adjust the temperature in the rear separately from the front, but also, inexplicably, the fan speed throughout the entire car. This proved a downright pain as I failed to disentangle the front fan speed from the rear and thus had to endure a Category 5 hurricane to the face every so often when travelling with juvenile man-children in the back.
Those in the outer rear seats will also love that their seats can be heated, too, while for children, the GV70 features ISOFIX points on the outboard second-row seats and three top-tether points. The rear seats can also recline and be split 60:40. With the rear seats up, the Electrified GV70 has 503 litres of boot space with the rear seats in place – down on the standard model’s 542 litres – which expands to 1678 litres with them folded down flat. Being based on an internal combustion car chassis, however, there isn’t a massive frunk up front, although there is a disappointingly small 20-litre storage cubby for keeping charging cables. There’s also no spare tyre, but instead a repair/inflator kit.
Under the skin, the Genesis Electrified GV70 features an electric motor on each axle (giving it all-wheel drive) which during everyday driving combine to deliver 320kW and 605Nm, enabling it to lunge from 0-100km/h in just 4.8 seconds. However, if you press the ‘Boost’ button on the steering wheel, the GV70 pops a fast-acting peptide and can then muster up 360kW and 700Nm for 10 seconds. In this mode, with the traction control disabled, the 0-100km/h sprint drops to 4.2 seconds – quick enough to leave you feeling queasy.
While the Electrified GV70 can bruise egos in a straight line, it isn’t a traditional performance car by any stretch of the imagination – as clever as it is, the Electrified GV70 simply cannot beat physics. Weighing in at a gargantuan 2310kg, it struggles to control its weight when pushed and will default to understeer at the limit.
Its steering, however, offers a surprising level of feedback and is wonderfully weighted in all drive modes except Sport, in which it is hell-bent on ensuring the steering is aggressively centred with how heavy it is. But corner-carving is hardly the point of the Electrified GV70; instead, it is far more concerned with delivering a smooth, relaxing ride, and it delivers that in spades.
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The Electrified GV70’s commendable ride is helped in no small part due to its Active Road Noise Control system which minimises road noise, along with its ‘preview electronically controlled suspension’ which draws information from the front camera and navigation system to recognise potential impacts such as speed bumps and adjust the suspension accordingly. Thanks to it, it’s a supremely comfortable car to ride in.
The Electrified GV70’s brakes – four-piston monobloc caliper fronts with 360mm discs, along with single-piston floating rear calipers with 345mm ventilated discs at the back – are impressive and offer plenty of stopping power, though you get the sense that they’re trying hard to reign in the Electrified GV70’s whale-rivalling weight. That’s still the case even with the electric motors’ regenerative braking factored in, which can be dialled up and down using the steering wheel-mounted paddles, and one-pedal driving is also possible.
Although I didn’t get a chance to test the off-road limits of the Electrified GV70’s all-wheel drive system beyond some easy gravel trails, though it does feature a bespoke ‘e-Terrain Mode’ that redistributes power and torque between the front and rear axles to maximise stability and traction in several off-road environments, including dirt or snow.
Although the Electrified GV70 is currently not ANCAP tested, its four-cylinder petrol and diesel siblings were awarded a five-star rating against 2021 criteria. On the topic of safety, its active lane-keeping assist and lane centring systems proved to be frustratingly fussy, but the speed and distance control of its adaptive cruise control system did work flawlessly. Other standout standard safety features include autonomous emergency braking, blind-spot assist, rear cross-traffic assist, and a 360-degree camera with a 3D view which, from what I could gather, uses pure wizardry to construct a virtual representation of your car into a live 3D environment on the centre screen.
Genesis claims the 77.4kWh battery pack in the GV70 can deliver 445km of range on a single charge according to the WLTP cycle. However, my testing in the hot Australian summer showed that 330km was a more accurate real-world figure with the AC turned up enough to prevent me from melting. Genesis has ensured the Electrified GV70 can be charged from 10-80 percent in as little as 18 minutes… but, that’s assuming it’s plugged into a 350kW charger which is currently about as common a sight in Australia as a Tasmanian tiger.
At least a 50kW charger will do the same job in 73 minutes, while a 10.5kW wall charger will take around 7.5 hours to go from 10-100 percent. My advice? Tick the box for Genesis’ complimentary home charger and charge your car overnight while you sleep. Alternatively, Genesis offers owners a complimentary five-year Chargefox subscription with access to over 1400 charging stations Australia-wide.
Every Electrified GV70 comes with a five-year unlimited-kilometre warranty, along with an eight-year battery warranty, 10 years of complimentary roadside assistance, and five years of complimentary servicing. Moreover, Genesis will arrange for an employee to drive your car to a service centre from a location of your choice and leave you with a courtesy car – so long as you live within 70km of the Melbourne, Sydney, or Brisbane CBDs.
However, there is no getting around the fact that the Genesis Electrified GV70 is a majorly expensive piece of kit, costing over $37,000 more than its petrol-powered equivalent, the 3.5T Sport with the optional Luxury package. Sure, the Electrified GV70 boasts superior straight-line performance and doesn’t melt ice caps every time it accelerates, but a 30 percent price increase is A LOT.
And yet, if you look past the badge associations and just look at the GV70 Electrified for what it is – a really fast luxury SUV – then the numbers add up. Sure, a Tesla Model Y would be cheaper, but last I heard, Tesla was measuring the panel gaps on its cars using metre-long rulers. A Mercedes EQC is also similar money but looks like someone threw a handful of Play-Doh on a table and added wheels to it.
Minor bugbears aside, the Electrified GV70 is undeniably imposing, boasts ample performance, and is loaded with kit. It may be expensive, but considering the competition, it might just be worth it.
2023 Genesis Electrified GV70 List Price: $127,800 | As Tested: $129,800
- Performance - 8.5/108.5/10
- Ride & Handling - 7.5/107.5/10
- Tech & Features - 9/109/10
- Practicality - 7.5/107.5/10
- Value for Money - 7/107/10
Pros: Prodigious power, relaxing ride quality, luxurious cabin, adventurous styling
Cons: Range isn’t quite as good as promised, it’s exceptionally heavy at 2.3 tonnes, some cheap-feeling interior materials
In a nutshell: The 2023 Genesis Electrified GV70 is undeniably expensive, especially when you look at the massive increase in price over its V6-powered equivalent, but this luxurious electric SUV is loaded with enough kit and boasts enough power to make you feel that it might just be worth it.
Full Disclosure: The vehicle tested here was provided by Genesis Motors Australia for a week with 90 percent charge upon collection. All additional public charging expenses were covered by the author.
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