Once in a while we get to test drive a new car for about a week. The latest one, the Hyundai Genesis Coupe, is most especially memorable — first, because it’s a sports car and second, because we get to use it for a little over 2 weeks.
I’ve been eyeing the Genesis Coupe since December last year and completely forgot about it until the opportunity came to review a unit early this month. It also comes in our favorite yellow color for a sports car (unfortunately, this color variant is no longer available).
So you can only imagine all the fun we had driving this sports coupe. Check out this little video we made from our test runs in Nuvali.
Since the slight re-design of the 2012 model, the Genesis Coupe was made to look more bad-ass. It gained more curves, an optional power-tilt and slide glass sunroof, and the hood scoops (which isn’t actually real but merely a cosmetic addition to the hood design).
The body looked small as what you’d expect from a sports coupe, almost the same size or a little smaller than the Hyundai Elantra, but the interior feels actually a little roomy.
The trunk or storage compartment is small and perhaps can only fit smaller bags or a carry-on luggage.
The two front seats have very large leg room, especially the passenger side. The 2 back seats is still usable for small-sized passengers and can still have enough leg room when you push the front seat rows a little bit further up.
The variant that was loaned to us was the Genesis Coupe FL 3.8L V6 8AT which comes with 19-inch Hyper silver alloy wheels, 24-valve, 8-speed automatic (introduced in the 2013 model) with appx. 345 horsepower. It has keyless entry, Push Button Start/Stop with Smart key, auto Cruise Control, Climate Control and Speed-Sensing Auto-Lock doors.
Here are some more photos we took during our test drive.
The interior of the Genesis Coupe looks more streamlined, has that sporty look especially with the analog dials and knobs in the middle, comfortable sports bucket leather seats that hug the body of the passenger, manual 6-way power seat adjustments, and a luxurious finish.
There were USB ports and iPod connection (for the older iPhones and not the lightning cable) but the in-dash LCD monitor was smaller than we wanted (just 6 inches wide). Those are the only minor things that we could complain about as everything else looked great and beyond expectations.
Driving is very smooth in the highway but you’d certainly feel the bumps and unevenness of the road along the service roads and alleys. Our un-scientific speed test got us from 0-100kmph in about 6 seconds.
The prescribed maximum speed is about 245kmph but we could not go past 200kmph during our test runs (mainly due to traffic and road safety). The engine noise isn’t as noisy or scandalous as we thought it would be, which is nice since we didn’t want any more attention than what we’re already getting.
Needless to say, it’s a gas-guzzler — we’re only getting around 7km per liter.
On a side note, driving a sports car like the Genesis Coupe has its inherent benefits you don’t get compared to other types of cars — you’d certainly feel the special treatment, get to park right in front of restaurants, other cars tend to give way to you in road traffic (except for the jeepneys, because they really don’t care), and you can easily get off a driving ticket even in the very-strict BGC area.
The 2013 Genesis Coupe starts at Php1.518 million for the 2.0L variant, right up to Php1.988M for this 3.8L variant that we drove.
Story by @abeolandres. Photos, video and driving by @markclutario.
The post Test Drive: 2013 Hyundai Genesis Coupe 3.8L V6 appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.