- So, you want a Genesis G90?
- You want the hippest car in this snack bracket
- You want something genuinely sporty in a luxury sedan
- But I really want something more modern in a Genesis sedan
Well, aren’t you the automotive iconoclast? No SUV or prestigious spinning propellor badge for you, huh? Going your own way, are we? Don’t care what the (Forest Hill/Mont Royal/West Van) neighbours think as you ponder the prospect of a Korean luxury car? A flagship Korean luxury car, no less.
So, you want a Genesis G90?
Well, if these really are your last vestiges of teenage Rebel Without a Cause defiance, congratulations, you’ve settled on an excellent magic broom, for the 2023 Genesis G90 really is the old school luxury sedan at its best.
The brand, Genesis, may have no tradition — being not even 10-years-old yet — but the car itself is as hoary and hidebound as any Mercedes and BMW. In fact, more so. While German luxury sedans have embraced modernity from everything from technology (always good) through exterior styling (we’re less sure) to interior décor (some of it is downright hideous), the G90 remains resolutely restrained by the past.
2023 Genesis G90 Photo by Nadine Filion
2023 Genesis G90 Photo by Nadine Filion
2023 Genesis G90 Photo by Nadine Filion
2023 Genesis G90 Photo by Nadine Filion
2023 Genesis G90 Photo by Nadine Filion
2023 Genesis G90 interior Photo by Nadine Filion
2023 Genesis G90 interior Photo by Nadine Filion
2023 Genesis G90 Photo by Nadine Filion
2023 Genesis G90 Photo by Nadine Filion
2023 Genesis G90 Photo by Nadine Filion
2023 Genesis G90 Photo by Nadine Filion
Photo by Nadine Filion
2023 Genesis G90 interior Photo by Nadine Filion
2023 Genesis G90 interior Photo by Nadine Filion
2023 Genesis G90 interior Photo by Nadine Filion
If you’re thinking that’s an insult, you’re completely wrong. Plop your butt into the 18-way adjustable driver’s seat — the passenger’s perch has but 16 — just once and you’ll understand that everything old is not necessarily outdated. We’re talking glove-soft Nappa leather here and enough comfort that horizons, no matter how distant, can be chased without worry of discomfort.
The dashboard features more tradition. Oh, it’s full of LCD screens all right — the main one a satisfying 12.3 inches across — some of them touchscreens. But the front face of the cabin is still recognizable as a traditional dashboard, not some giant Hyperscreen (a la Mercedes) that reminds you your kids spend way too much time playing video games.
This emphasis on traditional layout does not mean the big Genesis lacks in modernity. Said touchscreens in that traditional dashboard, for instance, communicate with one of the best infotainments systems extant, all easily-deciphered submenus and logical command structure. The various aluminum switchgear — gnarled knobs, milled gear shifter et al — control modern functions, the transmission selector one of those modern, electrically-actuated rotary controls that make changing gears so easy. Indeed, the G90 is the resto-mod of interiors, its visage, as I said, totally traditional, but managed by the latest in technology. The Bang & Olufsen audio system even looks like it was stolen out of an old Audi, complete with the same pop-up tweeters that use to grave top-of-the-line A7s and A8s. But, lest that sound like I am saying that the 23-speaker, 1,400-watt system is passe, fear not for audio reproduction excellence. B&O’s automotive audio package is still the best ever installed in a car’s cabin. In other words, if you like your modernity dressed up in conservative clothes, has Genesis got an interior for you.
The same applies underhood. What was once powered by an old-school naturally-aspirated V8 is now propelled by a 409-horsepower, 3.5-litre V6, its twin turbochargers augmented by a 48V electric supercharger. It still feels like a luxury V8 — it’s so smooth and silent at idle that the only way to ensure the engine is running is to check the tachometer — all instant torque and relentless acceleration. Indeed, it was only looking into the specification spreadsheet that I saw that the old 5.0L was gone. Genesis’ ability to mask the G90’s modernity is not relegated to cabin alone.
It is worth noting that the G90’s comportment — that would be its ride and road-holding — is old-school as well. While most German — and some Japanese — luxury sleds keep upping their sporting bona fides with firmer suspension and lower-profile tires, the G90 remains wedded to the floaty comfort of luxury limousines. Its suspension doesn’t so much absorb road irregularities as glide over them. In a G90 there are no potholes, just road irregularities. That said, its road-holding is kind of floaty as well despite the inclusion of air springs and variable damping. There are limits to modern technology and if you want the G90’s magic carpet ride, you can’t also have M4 sharpness of steering or AMG roll resistance.
In other words, the G90’s ride down memory lane, while tinged with interior modernity, is real when it comes to comportment. If you want a little more emphasis from The Way We Were than Blade Runner in your luxury sedan, then the G90 is the best thing going. On the other hand, if…
You want the hippest car in this snack bracket
May I suggest Lexus’ LC 500? Yes, I know it’s a coupe. But how many times do you really drive anywhere significant with four people in your car? If the answer is “not too often,” then the LC is the slinkiest thing in this price range. Yes, more than anything comparable in the Mercedes-Benz, BMW or, of course, Genesis lineup. That Lexus boasts one of the sexiest cars extant is incredible enough, but when you consider that the LC 500 is little changed from the LF-LC show car shown way back in 2012, it really points out how right Lexus’ original designers got its styling a decade ago.
2022 Lexus LC 500 Convertible Photo by Elle Alder
But the Lexus is the polar opposite of the G90, its modern styling masking technology that, if not quite dated, is little past its due. The engine, for instance, is a naturally-aspirated 5.0-litre V8, a style — and displacement — of powertrain soon to be left behind. And yes, I know that Lexus offers a hybridized 3.5L V6 in the LC 500h, but that’s the only hybrid in Toyota’s entire lineup that I don’t recommend (especially since it costs $20,300 more than the regular 500’s $105,200). The LC is something you don’t see very often — avante garde styling married with Lexus legendary dependability. And, if you really need four doors, the LS 500 sedan is available with a powerful, 416-hp twin turbo 3.5L V6 for almost the same price. It’s not nearly as stylish though.
You want something genuinely sporty in a luxury sedan
Look at BMW’s Alpina B8 Gran Coupe: The very epitome of sporty luxury sedan, Alpina’s B8 is the epitome of BMW luxury performance sedan. Sleekly modern outside, fully Teutonic inside and blessed with steering precision the G90 can’t even dream about, the B8 is also ultra-exclusive, its starting price of $162,900 some $47,900 removed from the G90’s $115,000 all-in MSRP. It too has a few old school bits, most notably the twin turbo 4.4-litre V8. Despite its age, however, the BMW mill still feels the business, its 612-hp and sophistication resolutely state-of-the-art. And, if you crave a Gran Coupe without the stratospheric price tag, BMW will sell you a regular 8 Series for a Genesis-like $117,900. In either case, the BMW is the very antithesis of the G90, trying to be as modern as it can be while remaining fossil-fueled.
2022 Alpina B8 Gran Coupe Photo by Graeme Fletcher
But I really want something more modern in a Genesis sedan
The best foot forward is the company’s Electrified G80. After all, what says avante garde more than a long-range battery electric vehicle. And, reinforcing that modernity is the fact that the G80 is the most energy efficient EV we’re driven in our Range Finder testing. Its 21.2 kilowatt-hour/100 kilometre — that being L/100 km equivalence for battery-powered vehicles — is by far the best we’ve seen, sufficiently efficient, in fact, that the Electrified G80 is tied for the longest range we’ve ever achieved in our 125 kilometre an hour testing. This despite having a comparatively small — 87.2 kWh of Lithium ions on board. It’s also — because electric motors are torquey and the G80 has two — passably powerful and, like the G90, fairly hedonistic inside.
The 2023 Electrified G80 with Beaver Dam in the Ozarks Highlands region of northwest Arkansas in the background. Photo by Andrew McCredie
The only thing that doesn’t scream revolutionary, in fact, is its relatively conservative stylings. But then, if you’re shopping Genesis at all, you probably consider that a win in the ‘Pro’ column. The Electrified G80 is my favourite electric vehicle of the year and a truly unexpected and unheralded new entry into the growing ZEV segment. Genesis keeps on breaking down new doors.
Keyword: Want a 2023 Genesis G90? Consider these luxury sedans, too