The G80 is a modern luxury sedan, like a Lexus ES, Volvo S90 or Mercedes E-Class; no sporty executive option like a BMW 5 Series, Audi A6 or Jaguar XF. It’s roomy and feels lavish, especially if you’re traveling in the back seats of a high-end version with nappa leather and rear-seat entertainment screens. It has a really considerable tactile quality and variety of materials, as well as the latest in digital infotainment and display technology that you would expect from it. It drives smoothly and isolated in motion, with relatively light and moderate controls.
Genesis offers double glazing as standard for the front side windows of the vehicle and optionally for the rear ones (which our test car had). It’s also a car with electronic refinements for active noise cancellation; and as a four-cylinder petrol engine, it sets a very high standard for mechanical insulation. The rolling smoothness in the case of our test car, which rode on 20-inch alloy wheels, was generally good, albeit a little under the slightest roughness and the slightest fidgeting on poorer surfaces in the city. But overall, the feeling of calm in the G80’s cabin is really noticeable. Only a few mid-range sedans feel so committed to a confident, relaxed and uncomplicated driving experience.
The G80’s 2.5-liter petrol engine is flexible and smooth-running and ensures a fairly high level of performance when needed and always easy to drive. The eight-speed automatic transmission it works with matches its smoothness; it can be managed on the paddles in manual mode, but the occasions you likely find necessary should be few.
The handling of the G80 is safe, cautious and predictable; a little unexciting and without sporty serenity, with a clear build-up of roll when you approach the limits of the chassis. However, it is sufficiently grippy and poised that most of the time you can take advantage of as much of the car’s gently potent performance as you feel inclined. The car is not pleasant to drive, but it certainly does not suffer from body control which is so loose or uncontrolled that it seems weighed down by its obvious fondness for relaxed driving.