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" Hyundai&amp;#039;s expedient rollout of its aggressively revamped vehicle line has undoubtedly gained it a few fans and invigorated the brand&amp;#039;s image over the past year. From the award-winning Sonata sedan to the compelling new Equus luxury coach, the Hyundai movement we&amp;#039;re currently witnessing was most certainly set in motion with the arrival of its Genesis range.   Eager to experience this new halo car in full, we signed up to put the top-of-the-line model\u2014a 4.6-liter 385-bhp V-8 Sedan\u2014through its paces for a year. Would it be the new ultimate luxe bargain of its segment or would it simply be an attractive veneer peeling off its cheap substratum the minute you drove it off the lot? Here&amp;#039;s what we found after 34,000 miles.   From our first encounter we were impressed, like many others, with the complete package Hyundai was offering with the Genesis. Although we didn&amp;#039;t find its exterior all that inspiring, it wasn&amp;#039;t offputting either. It looked to have borrowed some elements from Mercedes-Benz (hey, if you&amp;#039;re going to borrow), none of which combined to form a unique design language, but it was a huge step in the right direction.   Scanning over the options list, there wasn&amp;#039;t much to choose from, simply because the V-8 model came with almost everything included. The one thing we could and did add was a $3500 Technology Package (now standard on the 2011 model) that bumped our total surrounding Lexicon speaker count to 17 from 14, upgraded our navigation system to an 8-in. screen, added Smart (radar) Cruise Control, adaptive (turning) xenon headlights and a rear backup camera, among other interior comfort and convenience items. And yet among the spoils of standard leather-wrapped surfaces, wood trim, Bluetooth, iPod integration and dual climate control, we still had some trouble getting beyond the fact that there wasn&amp;#039;t an option for a cooled passenger seat (only the driver gets one).   A couple of staffers occasionally managed to coerce some weird glitches out of the infotainment system (corrected with a cycle of the ignition), but for the most part we found the system to be sound and intuitive, albeit a little basic in appearance. But given the choice between basic and effective or pretty and overcomplicated, we&amp;#039;ll take the former any day.   The interior of the Genesis is spacious and comfortable, and sports a pleasant layout, although some of the tactile items such as the multimedia control knob and the wood-trimmed gear selector lack a high-quality heft. That said, nothing ever broke, or felt to have loosened in tolerance on our watch, but we&amp;#039;d have to reserve comment on longer-term durability.   In terms of the more essential hardware, we approve of the Genesis&amp;#039; Tau V-8 engine and the 6-speed transmission. Power and torque aren&amp;#039;t exactly up to our highest power-oversteer standards, but are sufficient to snap off a 5.5-second 0\u201360-mph run while averaging a respectable 21.1 mpg during regular driving. As for the 6-speed automatic, we commend its smooth, jerk-free operation, but we also believe that if there&amp;#039;s a manual shift mode, it should rev-match on downshifts, a feature this transmission didn&amp;#039;t have.   The biggest area for improvement on the Genesis, though, would have to be the electrohydraulic steering. Some complained about an overboosted, odd-centering feel while others found, especially at higher speeds, the car&amp;#039;s front end would feel too light for comfort.   Nevertheless, given the car&amp;#039;s premium status, we can&amp;#039;t complain about the non-premium cost of our maintenance, or the fact that we would still have 9 years/65,925 miles left on our powertrain warranty. Or that, based on our post-test trade-in value (courtesy of Kelley Blue Book), our Genesis has the lowest percentage of depreciation out of the last 15 cars we&amp;#039;ve tested with the exception of the Audi R8.   Times are changing at Hyundai and the Genesis is just the beginning. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/road-tests/reviews/a16931/road-test-wrap-up-2010-hyundai-genesis-46/>