2023 Genesis GV80 Reviews, Pricing & Specs

The GV80’s exterior styling exudes sophistication and grace with quad-lamp headlights and a bold grille. This midsize SUV is stately, coming in at just shy of 5 metres long. In Canada, 20-inch wheels are standard, but our Prestige trim tester goes big with 22-inch alloy wheels.

The quad lamp look is echoed in the rear in the four-part taillamps above the dual exhaust. The hands-free liftgate is pretty boxy—no coupe styling here, though that’s on the way in the recently announced GV80 Coupe—but the SUV doesn’t suffer for it. In fact, our tester’s matte Brunswick Green paint job gives it quite an elegant look.

The dark green colour continues on the inside on the quilted leather seats, where it looks excellent. The dash is split by thin, horizontal air vents and there is plenty of metal and matte wood trim. The centre console is set off by three large dials. One controls the infotainment, one the transmission, and the other is for drive modes. Genesis’s two-spoke steering wheel is here as well, looking quite different than the offerings from other luxury manufacturers.

Our one quibble is with the 14.5-inch infotainment screen that looks to be kind of plunked on top of the dash. It would be nice if it were built in just a bit more, but it’s a small annoyance. This interior is spacious and luxurious, and it’s a very nice place to spend some time.

All-wheel drive (AWD) is standard equipment in the GV80, and for 2023 it comes with your choice of a turbocharged 2.5-litre four-cylinder engine or a twin-turbo 3.5-litre V6. The smaller mill is good for 300 horsepower and 311 pound-feet of torque, but our tester came equipped with the turbo V6, pushing out power specs of 375 hp and 391 lb-ft of twist. Both are mated to an 8-speed automatic transmission.

The GV80 is neither athletic nor nimble. In fact, it’s not even that quick. The five and a half seconds or so it takes to scoot to 100 km/h is a bit slower than some competitors. It will attack a turn just fine, but it seems a bit sloppy when compared to its German rivals.

However, the GV80 excels at highway driving. Power delivery and shifts are smooth, and the electronically controlled suspension can prime the dampers for upcoming roughness by scanning the road with the forward-facing camera. When combined with the active noise cancellation, your daily highway commute has never been so smooth or so quiet.

What the GV80 lacks in the fun-to-drive department, it makes up for with its myriad features and luxury touches. In Canada, heated and ventilated front seats, heated rear seats, a heated steering wheel, and heated outboard mirrors are standard. Our tester went big with ventilated front and rear seats that are adjustable seven ways to Sunday. Also here is the Ergo driver’s seat. This isn’t a traditional massage function, but the seven pockets inside the seat can inflate and deflate to help reduce fatigue. Further, the seats are Nappa leather and positively sumptuous.

If you want even more seats, you can opt for a third row, but legroom is limited to just 76 centimetres. We recommend it only for children or your worst enemies.

Approach the car and you’re greeted with Genesis puddle lamps. The proximity key unlocks the car as the driver approaches, but there is also a digital key for those who don’t want to carry around a key fob. It’s great to have a standard tri-zone climate control system so everyone can be comfortable, and audiophiles will enjoy the available 21-speaker Lexicon sound system. The available suede headliner and standard panoramic sunroof are a nice touch as well.

The GV80 has plenty of utility too, with one of the largest cargo spaces in the class. Behind the second row, there are 988 litres of space. Fold those seats down—at the touch of a button, naturally—and cargo space expands to a whopping 2,378 litres. Towing capacity sits at a healthy 2,720 kilograms (6,000 pounds), as long as the trailer is equipped with trailer brakes.

All trims get a 14.5-inch touchscreen housing the infotainment system, but our tester also came equipped with a 12.3-inch 3D digital gauge cluster as well. Yes, there are some 3D effects here, but it seems a tad gimmicky. There is also a standard head-up display that projects information directly into the driver’s field of view.

The infotainment screen is just a tad too far out of reach to use via touch, but the dial is equally cumbersome. We like the “clicky” feel of the dial, but it’s a pain to have to cycle through every single icon. The top of the dial can detect handwriting, useful to search for satellite radio stations or enter navigation addresses. The menu structure here is inconsistent and, on the whole, there is a pretty large learning curve to the system.

The good news is that Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity is here. The bad news is that neither is wireless. There is, however, wireless charging, four USB ports, a 12-volt outlet, and a 110-volt outlet. No device should go dead in this car.

The Genesis GV80 is equipped with remote smart parking assist, a cool feature that helps folks maneuver in and out of tight parking spaces. Unlike other parking assist systems, the driver need not be in the car to use the technology. Simply press a button on the fob and the car moves forward or backward out of a parking spot and steers itself into perpendicular or parallel spots. It’s pretty cool.

The GV80 is awash with standard advanced driver’s aids. Safety features include forward collision warning, lane-keeping assist and follow, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert and collision avoidance, adaptive cruise control... you get the idea. However, there are a few key differences from much of the competition.

Firstly, Hyundai Motor Group’s Blind-Spot View Monitor system is standard equipment. Genesis puts a video feed of the car’s blind spot into the digital gauge cluster. Signal, and the driver gets a clear view of what is or isn’t there streamed right to their line of sight, no neck craning required. It’s an excellent feature and while we’re not a fan of just copying someone else’s idea, we wish more cars had it.

The GV80 also has standard Highway Drive Assist, which uses the forward-facing camera and radar, the navigation system, and the lane-keeping aids to provide a hands-on/eyes-up driving aid. It can be used only on approved highways and at speeds under 150 km/h. It can also change lanes automatically if the driver signals, slow down for curves in the road or speed limit changes, and learn from the human driver’s habits to make the whole process more smooth.

During our time with the GV80, Highway Drive Assist seemed to have difficulty when facing into the sun. Granted, the lane markings were hard to read even for our human eyes, but the car ping-ponged within the lane a bit too much for our liking. Once the sun was not so blinding, however, the system worked great, providing fantastic stress relief in stop-and-go traffic.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has given the 2023 Genesis GV80 a full five stars as an overall safety rating, including five out of five stars for a side crash rating and four out of five stars in a rollover and frontal crash.

The GV80 received a rating of Good for crashworthiness by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and Superior in front crash prevention involving cars and pedestrians. However, the headlights and LATCH system both received ratings of Acceptable.

If value is of utmost importance to you in a new mid-size crossover, the Genesis GV80 should be on your shortlist. Like the rest of the cars in its lineup, Genesis manages to provide a level of luxury and features at a price that is much lower than the competition. While the GV80 with the smaller engine starts at $76,000, the V6 is a bit more, starting at around $83,000. That is less than the starting price for similar offerings from Germany. Our top-of-the-line Prestige tester is priced at $90,500.

In Canada, Genesis offers all-in pricing. This means there’s no haggling, and you pay what you see: this price includes destination charges and all purchase-related fees (but not sales taxes). You’ll also receive pick-up and delivery at your home for test drives, purchase, and scheduled maintenance appointments for the first five years of ownership (which, incidentally, are also included in the price). Five years of map updates are also included.

However, the Genesis GV80 lags behind its AWD competition a bit when it comes to fuel economy. Natural Resources Canada gives the 2023 Genesis GV80 fitted with the four-cylinder engine a rating of 11.3 litres per 100 kilometres in city driving, 9.5 on the highway, and 10.5 combined. With the V6 engine, those ratings go up to 12.9 L/100 km city, 10.4 highway, and 11.8 combined. That’s higher than similar offerings like the BMW X5, Volvo XC90, and Mercedes Benz GLE, although it does a smidge better than the most powerful Audi Q7. Over 530 kilometres of driving, we averaged 10.9 L/100 km.

Still, it’s tough to find a reason not to buy the 2023 Genesis GV80. Its looks are second to none, the interior feels special and there are plenty of luxury and technology features to satisfy. The driving experience is not the sportiest—get a Porsche Cayenne or a Mercedes-AMG if you want to go screaming around the corners—and the fuel economy is a bit higher than the competition. But it still represents an incredibly good buy in today’s market.

Note: Images show a US model.