Genesis Ups The Ante With The New 2025 G80 Luxury Sedan (2024)

The Korean phrase “son-nim,” is translated into English as, “Honored Guest.” That’s how Genesis wants you to feel when you step into one of their vehicles, no matter which vehicle it is. Genesis extended the ideology of “son-nim” to the test drive event of the 2025 Genesis G80. It took place in Lexington, Kentucky which is considered the “horse capital of the world.” There they wanted to intermingle Genesis’ brand ideology with the southern hospitality of Lexington. It was also a cheeky way to show that their newest G80 has a lot of “horse” power. Puns aside, the Genesis G80 is receiving a slight redesign refresh for the 2025 model year. Historically, the G80 namesake is what got the brand off the ground to begin with.The G80 technically started life as the Hyundai Genesis in 2009 . It was Hyundai’s initial attempt to make something luxurious and sporty. It succeeded, however and received a redesign in 2013, giving it the iconic Genesis name and logo you know and love today.

Genesis G80 Gets A Bold And Athletic Design

The second generation G80 that is most recognizable today was unveiled for the 2020 model year, implementing its “athletic elegance” design language that is supposed to denote beauty and grace, no matter if the car is at a stand still or attempting an apex. This motif continues in the slight changes made to the 2025 model year. Overall, the design language has stayed relatively the same from the dual horizontal LED daytime running lights, to the large (but somehow understated) front grille. The devil is in the details and that's where the changes come into play. The front and rear fascias have more pronounced details to them, including new air ducts in the front fascia and a more squared off rear bumper. Depending on whether you get the Advance or Sport Prestige package will also determine the design of the exhaust tips.

Some other new exterior features are the micro lens area LED headlamps as opposed to the projector LED headlamps. These were first utilized on the G90. There’s also a new grille design, doubling up on the cross-linear pattern. Finally, from an exterior aesthetic standpoint, there are two new 19” and 20” wheel designs that you’d find on some of their SUV and more premium models, as well as a satin chrome piece on the side skirt panel that runs up towards the lower half of the back bumper.

Engine And Specs

Powertrains remain the same, by way of offering either the 2.5-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder that outputs 300 horsepower or the twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6 engine that outputs 375 horsepower. They are both controlled by an 8-speed automatic transmission, but the six-cylinder receives a slightly better calibrated transmission to handle the more torque output from the V6. From the 2024 models onwards, they have only been offered in all-wheel drive, but now, only the Sport Prestige models will come with rear wheel steering as well as a rear electronic limited slip differential.

Other mechanical upgrades to the G80 include an electronically controlled suspension system that uses the car’s cameras to read the road and pre-empt how the vehicle should handle the oncoming road situation, four-piston front brakes on all models, and foam tires in the Pirelli P-Zeros all-season tires. Finally, there is a new Sport+ Mode for a more performance-oriented G80 and even a launch control setting, not to mention comfort and sport brake settings.

Genesis G80 Interior: Luxury And Spacious

The interior is where the G80 has seen the most updates, and improvements. The outgoing interior on the G80 is a gorgeous one. However, the newest version is equally, if not more stunning. Even though the back seat is technically a bench seat, the driver and passenger side seats feel like executive class seating. It’s made even more evident with the full-sized arm rest, including heated seat controls (that are standard) and rear sun shade controls. The front co*ckpit in the G80 is the most stunning feature of the interior, however. From the all-new 27 inch OLED display that is a continuous panel screen that stretches from the garage cluster to the infotainment system to the new three-spoke steering wheel in place of the two-spoke one. The designers also made the interior itself much more appealing from a design perspective with a continuous center console that leads into the center stack, and a tiered dashboard that gives the interior more depth and beauty. My favorite thing about Genesis is its attention to detail, especially in the interior. While most luxury automakers are currently resting on their laurels, Genesis tries to make every little detail count from every individual material being nice to touch to the way the stalks on the steering wheel have textured knobs where you’re supposed to turn them.

Genesis G80: Drive And Handling

Starting the Genesis G80, you have two options, either the traditional key fob or the digital key that you’re able to text up to three people a “shared key” at a time. I started off testing out my favorite feature on any sports or sport adjacent car, the launch control. There are two ways automakers go about making launch control: really simple, or really convoluted and confusing. Genesis’ is very simple. Put it into sport plus mode, turn off the ESC control, put your left foot on the brake and rev the engine with your right foot and you’re off. The launch control itself is a neat party trick, but you could probably achieve the same amount of acceleration from a regular accelerator mash from stand still.

The undulating hills of Lexington, Kentucky were the perfect spot for this drive, and to be honest, the G80 did great. There really was a staunch difference between the four drive modes. Comfort offered no sport feel whatsoever and you really had to mash to the accelerator if you wanted more power from it. Sport mode was the next step up that offered more precision tuning and faster shifting times from the transmission. Finally, the Sport+ mode really is the star of the show if you’re looking for a hooning good time.

Even though Genesis touts that the camera system watches the road to predict optimal suspension tuning, I believe it used the same system for the transmission. Sport+ mode’s transmission shifting was near perfection as you would slow down to a corner, the transmission knew exactly what the best, most ideal, gear to be in was at that moment in time. This offered fun and fast cornering at the drop of a hat. There are paddle shifters in the G80, but I do wish it did offer a manual mode so that you would be do your own shifting at all times instead of wondering when it will shift back to automatic.

While the G80 was a ton of fun to drive from a dynamic perspective, it wasn’t perfect. The suspension felt a little too loose, and there was a ton of body roll going into and coming out of Apex corners. We had the top of the line Sport Prestige with all the aforementioned mechanical goodies, so I was half expecting it to perform like an M or an AMG car, but to be honest, it felt kind of flimsy. That might be expected though, as it is still technically a luxury mid-size sedan and there’s going to be a fair amount of leeway from the suspension.

Genesis also proudly brandishes their new augmented sound that helps bolster the V6 engine note, but, it didn’t really elicit much change no matter what you put it on. Not to mention, the V6 engine didn’t sound the most refined, especially for a sport version. According to Genesis, the 2025 model should get 0 to 60 mph somewhere around five to six seconds and even though that is quick on the get-up and go side of things, it still somehow felt slow on lift off. It was fast and fun around corners (even thought it felt like a float boat), but it just felt heavy and cumbersome when the accelerator gets mashed.

Safety And Features

In terms of safety and driver assistance features, the 2025 Genesis G80 comes standard with Hyundai’s Highway Drive Assist 2. Genesis specifically mentioned they are currently not interested in offering fully automated or hands-free driving at this time, but they did mention that it’s not completely off the table. The adaptive cruise control worked well to keep you at a safe enough distance without keeping you too far from the lead car, and it did stop and go without any hiccups. The HDA2 did leave something to be desired, however, as it felt as though it needed some assistance to keep it in the center of the lane.

Should You Buy A Genesis G80?

In general, the 2025 Genesis G80 is a great refresh for this iconic model. It offers a gorgeous/stunning new interior that is equal parts futuristic and equal parts user-friendly. The exterior was already a gorgeous piece of work, and Genesis knew that, therefore the front and rear fascia redesigns are very minimal, but welcomed. In terms of performance and handling, the Sport+ feature is a huge improvement over any G80 previously, as its near clairvoyant predictions of the turns seconded by the transmission really empowers the athletic elegance of the G80. I’d like to see some improvements on the suspension side, but it wasn’t the worst, by any means, that I’ve driven when it comes to a sportier aspect. Plus, with a starting MSRP of around $58,000 and the top of the line just coming in under $80,000, there’s really a ton of features and capabilities that some competitors will charge you an even bigger premium for.