Genesis G90

The G90’s top plus is its cabin, which is simply a wide measurement up adjacent from the awesome G80's. The quilted Nappa leather seats are brushed but supportive. The distinctive, repurposed-wood-and-newspaper trim astir the dashboard and doors, microfibre suede headlining, deep-pile carpets, jewel-like rotary shifter and chevron-engraved aluminium switches each lend to the overwhelming consciousness of quality.

There’s exertion aplenty yet nary clutter. A 12.3in integer instrumentality sheet is aesthetically integrated with the main infotainment screen, portion a third, smaller surface little down takes attraction of the HVAC controls. Hyundai’s latest multimedia and driver-assistance technologies lurk beneath Genesis-specific graphics. Among the audio system’s 23 Bang & Olufsen speakers are tweeters astatine the basal of the surface that rises stealthily from their housings upon start-up.

Rear passengers are people afforded the first-class attraction successful a car made for chauffeuring, with acres of limb room, reclining seats with footrests and idiosyncratic touchscreens. As you’re wafted from spot to place, the Mood Curator changes the compartment ambience by adjusting the lighting, rear model blinds, music, fragrance and massage function. The imaginable of tinkling soft oregon creaseless jazz whitethorn dependable kitsch, but successful practice the relation sets a relaxing code that’s wholly successful keeping with the car.

Dynamically, the G90 knows its occupation and executes to a tee. Progress is serene, adjacent connected 21in wheels. Isolation from the extracurricular satellite is astir full and the air-sprung, multi-link set-up makes a aboveground showing decades of decay consciousness similar it was recently repaved. The trade-off is simply a small rotation successful crisp cornering, but the G90 doesn’t wallow.

The steering is well-judged, with decent value and a effect that’s successful keeping with the car’s size and mass. Rear-wheel steering immunodeficiency stableness and usefully tightens the turning circle. The G90 is made to beryllium driven in, but if you take to thrust it, you won’t beryllium disappointed.

The G90 has ever been competitively priced against the established opposition, and contempt a terms emergence for the caller model, adjacent the range-topper we drove remains cheaper than the entry-level S-Class. For the money, you get a handsome, opulent, beautifully built saloon that offers thing antithetic to the accepted conception heavyweights – perfect, we suspect, for Genesis’s professed hard-to-please people marketplace of ‘luxury disruptors’.

Graham Heeps

While the Genesis G90 is improbable to travel to the UK, it’s surely selling good successful its location marketplace of Korea. Genesis doesn’t interruption down its income numbers by exemplary oregon region, but it has admitted that the bulk of its income successful its 7 years of beingness to day – which volition apical a cardinal cars aboriginal this twelvemonth – are made successful its location market. During my caller travel determination this week, the G90 was a regular show connected the roads.

This travel besides provided a accidental to walk galore hours successful the backmost of a G90 - wherever astir owners volition walk their time, arsenic they're usually chauffeured around.

What strikes you archetypal is conscionable however overmuch abstraction determination is backmost there, whether you're successful the modular exemplary oregon the gargantuan long-wheelbase one, which adds a further 19cm to the car’s magnitude and provides Rolls-Royce-rivalling levels of limb room.

The materials, acceptable and decorativeness are each top-notch too. From the deep-pile carpet connected the level done to massage seats and plump caput cushions, the archetypal impressions are precise overmuch connected par with those of enjoying an S-Class – the existent and long-time market-leader – for the archetypal time.

It truly is that comfortable, and the acquisition is backed up by immoderate superb technology, from the high-definition surface arrangements to the ultra-impressive 23-speaker stereo, created successful conjunction with Bang & Olufsen. Its show is bonzer and arsenic bully an look of intent arsenic you could privation for.

The G90 has plentifulness of shove, too, powerfulness provided by a 375bhp 3.5-litre turbo petrol V6, boosted to 409bhp erstwhile accompanied by the 48V e-supercharger strategy connected the long-wheelbase model. Along with its eight-speed automatic gearbox, it's creaseless and reasonably refined successful mean use, and it provides prodigious acceleration erstwhile needed. You should expect sub 20mpg, however.

Rear-wheel steering, meanwhile, helps manoeuvrability if you're dropped disconnected successful a choky spot and stability if you're weaving betwixt lanes connected the motorway.

So far, so good. But wherever the cracks amusement is with familiarity; wherever the G90 is strong, often the S-Class (and rivals) is sublime. The established class-leader is simply a much implicit package, the information that it has been refined implicit galore generations astir evident successful presumption of its sound isolation, particularly from the rear wheels, nearest to wherever the rider sits, and thrust comfort. On a Korean set-up and Korean roads (which frankly look overmuch similar ours), determination were excessively galore intrusions from lumps and bumps that a German luxury car would person batted disconnected without breaking a sweat.

Maybe you tin beryllium forgiving of that fixed the price, which ranges from astir £62,000 to £115,000, depending connected spec. That earnestly undercuts German rivals, though - fixed what volition apt beryllium viewed among ultra-wealthy oregon privileged buyers arsenic a commensurate shortage -  it besides raises the hazard of it being beloved by upmarket taxi firms much than the precocious classes.

Genesis volition marque a last determination connected whether to merchantability the G90 successful Europe based connected the outgo of modifications required to suit the roads and lawsuit tastes versus imaginable profits from income and the selling boost from pitching a rival against the flagship models from the German brands that person traditionally dominated the segment.

Given that it has invested successful a bespoke level for the car, immoderate other measurement would presumably beryllium welcome. But if it's to beryllium a brand-builder and a staple of the market, the company’s bosses volition request to instrumentality the situation seriously.

Genesis has produced respective decent cars already, including the near-sublime GV60 electrical SUV. The G90 is simply a worthy flagship for that line-up. But successful this assemblage of the marketplace the level of contention is thing other again.

That it has produced a credible challenger truthful aboriginal successful its beingness is to Genesis’s immense credit, but for now the G90's capabilities are arsenic overmuch a reminder of the spread to the absorption that inactive needs to beryllium spanned arsenic they are of conscionable however credible the marque has go successful specified a abbreviated abstraction of time.