The 2024 Genesis G70 3.3T Is A Exemplary Twin-Turbo Powered RWD Sports Sedan

Roughly five years ago, Genesis was on a mission to prove to enthusiasts that it too could compete in the heart of the sports sedan segment with the introduction of the original Genesis G70. And for those of you who didn't know about this vehicle, it was never a guzzied up version of a Hyundai Elantra sized front wheel drive vehicle. No, Genesis actually took the Kia Stinger, a rear drive platform, and shortened it by about 10 inches to create basically the Korean BMW 3 Series. Now over the years, even though the segment has continued to shrink, the G70 has remained and Genesis has given this car a pretty significant refresh back in 2022. But for 2024, we are also getting another round of updates. And as you can see this week, the company has loaned me this G70 3.3T painted in this beautiful shade of Vatna Gray. So the big question I want to answer, for those of you who are still in the market for a sports sedan, but you don't necessarily want to break the bank with one of the German rivals, how does the 2024 G70 3.3 stack up? Stay tuned to find out. So before we start talking about the exterior styling for 2024, which I have to tell you guys, there aren't really that many changes. Let me go ahead and pop the hood and show you guys what's powering this thing. Now, the G70 continues to be offered with two different engine choices. The base engine got a big upgrade, but this motor here, this is the motor that a lot of enthusiasts have been choosing. It's still a 3.3 liter twin turbocharged V6. Now, if you guys are familiar with the Hyundai and Kia family, you'll know that this engine was also in the Kia Stinger, but you'll also find it, of course, in a variety of Genesis products. It is being phased out, however, by a bigger and more powerful 3.5 liter twin turbo V6, but it's still a good engine. It's a 3.3 liter gasoline direct injection twin turbo V6 delivering 365 horsepower and 376 pound feet of torque. I believe the two turbos push out a maximum of around 13 pounds of boost pressure, which is pretty low. I mean, you could easily do a tune on this vehicle and get even more power. It all goes out through an eight speed torque converter automatic transmission that is a Genesis designed transmission. And this model that I'm showing you here is rear wheel drive and it includes a limited slip differential. You can also add all wheel drive for an extra $2,000. My test car, of course, does not have it. Fuel economy is rated at 18 in the city, 27 on the highway, that's on premium gas. This vehicle has a 15.8 gallon fuel tank. So you're looking at around 330 ish miles of range on a full tank. Genesis claims zero to 60 is around 4.7 seconds. I suspect it's going to be even quicker than that based on my testing of a 2022 model, which was around four and a half seconds. This vehicle should have a top speed of just shy of around 160 miles an hour. And as this vehicle sits, it's actually a little bit lighter than its competitors. It weighs in at just under 3,900 pounds. But let's go ahead and close up this hood, which as you notice is held up by a struts as opposed to a prop rod and take a look at the exterior styling. Now, first of all, this color is called Vatna Gray. It's a new exterior color for 2024. On the configurator on Genesis website, it kind of looks a little bit champagne beige, but as you can see, this is very much like a matte cement, sparkly gray color, which is kind of similar to, you know, like Audi's like Nardo Gray, for example, or the ceramic silver that Kia used to offer on the Stinger. But with the Sevilla red interior of my test car, it's a wonderful color combination. This vehicle got a pretty significant refresh back in 2022. You can see it's got the new Genesis design themes here with the dual line LED, full LED headlights. So you can see there's just two LED projectors, an LED low and high beam, LED turn signals, LED daytime running lights. The crest grill on this vehicle is certainly very bold. I have to be honest though, I actually still prefer the pre-refresh design of the G70. Before this model, you can see there are no fog lights. Instead, you have kind of like the diamonds, diamond insert pattern in the grill. That little area there is for the sensor for the radar cruise control. You have the front camera system. I also really love the Genesis logo that kind of has these two creases along the hood. But overall, let me know what you guys think of the design. Clearly this vehicle is starting to show its age. I just don't think this new design language kind of blends cohesively with the body lines of this car because it wasn't technically designed to incorporate it, but it's still a nicely proportioned sedan. I just think I prefer something like the TLX or the Lexus IS500 or 350 in terms of the exterior design. Now moving around the side profile, you can see this vehicle is a compact sports sedan, which means it rides on a 111.6-inch wheelbase. It stretches 184.6 inches long. This is about the same size as something like a Lexus IS or a BMW 3 Series. It's a little bit shorter versus like an Audi A4, for example. The Stinger, when it was in production, was around 10 inches longer. You can see the wheels. Genesis basically includes these 19-inch wheels on the Sport Prestige models. The four-cylinder will have the same kind of style wheel. It's a new wheel for 2024. I think it looks better versus the last 2022 G70 that I tested with the V6. You can see all G70s also come standard with these upgraded vented disc brakes. You can see there are 13.8-inch rotor at the front with clamped down by a four-piston Brembo caliper painted in red. The rear has a 13.4-inch rotor. So again, upgraded brakes for better stopping performance. You have four-wheel independent suspension with adaptive dampers on this model here. And you can see there are some functional vents over here that allow for air to pass through. But overall, I still think this is a nicely proportioned sedan, even from this angle here. You can see the mirror here is body colored. You can really see the metallic fleck in the paint. I love how this looks as the sun hits it. It has an integrated turn signal. There's also power folding. You have cameras underneath here. You can see this Panoramic sunroof is included. It is a Pano style, but on the inside, it's really just slightly larger than a standard sunroof. You can see there's still kind of like a painted area here as opposed to it being a full Pano roof. The chrome work here is kind of like a brighter or darkened chrome as opposed to a bright chrome. And then looking at it from this angle here, you can see clearly it's a rear drive proportioned vehicle. For those of you who have never heard of this car or seen it, this is definitely not like a rebadged version of a Hyundai Elantra, even though the two vehicles are the same size. This is a rear drive architecture with a longitudinally mounted engine. It feels very much like a premium sports sedan. Now coming over to the rear, you can see that dual line theme continues with the new taillights. Nothing here is really different from a 2022 or 2023 model. The wheels really were the only indication you have an updated version. You can see the taillights have a full LED design with LED turn signals, LED brake lights. You have kind of like a built-in duckbill spoiler over here. You have a nicely integrated camera. It spells out Genesis boldly back here. And then there's the 3.3T badge. This is all wheel drive. It also would say H-track, I believe, underneath that. You can see down here, that's where you're gonna find your reverse lights. And then you can see there's a dual outlet exhaust system. Although technically, if you zoom in a little closer, that's actually a quad outlet system. It's just the pipes. The actual piece outside is just a dual system. Now opening up the trunk, this Sport Prestige version includes a power opening and closing trunk lid, which is nice. But this is kind of where the G70 does give up some practicality compared to its rivals. You only have around 10.6 cubic feet of storage space. Now the seats do fold down in a 60-40 manner, which is nice. You have a little bit of storage here to the side. You have a little bit of underfloor storage, although mostly it's been taken up by the temporary spare tire. But overall, as you can see, compared to some rivals like the BMW, which offer about two cubic feet more, this is a little bit on the small side, but it's still relatively practical. So aside from the new wheels on the outside, let's go ahead and move on to the interior of this 2024 G70 and show you guys some of the small changes that Genesis has made. Before we get inside, however, let me show you guys the key fob. You can see this is the newest key fob that the company first introduced on the fully electric GV60. So this is a new fob for 2024. It's not necessarily matched to the exterior of the car. This color, you can see it's a really beautiful white with the diamond pattern on it. It's a nice looking key. It includes your usual buttons here for lock, unlock, remote, open the trunk, panic, and then there's also a remote start from the fob itself. You can see there's no smart part function. Some of the newer Genesis models have that as well, but not here on the G70. So again, when you lock the vehicle here, you can see the mirrors will fold in. This car does not offer a walkaway lock or unlock feature. So as I approach the door handle, you can see a traditional door handle. There's an area there that you can also touch to lock the door, touch the back of the door handle. That's what will unlock the door for you. Now, I love this color combination of the Vatna Gray, which is new for 2024, with the black and Sevilla Red, or Sevilla Red premium Nappa leather interior. These seats are unique to the Sport Prestige if you guys go for the V6 with the diamond quilted pattern and whatnot and the contrasting stitching and piping. The seats also are a little bit sportier in the sense that they have bolsters that'll hug you. You have an extended thigh cushion there. They adjust in like 14 different ways. They're heated and ventilated. I also love this kind of metal trim over here. It just looks for a much more upscale and premium seat, and it really just adds to that great first impression as you open the door. Now, looking at the door panel here, you can see there's a soft touch injection molded plastic up here, some real aluminum trim along the door handle, along the actual door panel itself, more of that diamond quilted premium Nappa leather, which is nice and padded here. You have beautiful metal accented buttons here, or knobs for the door window switches, and also these buttons here to control the mirror controls. And you can see down here, it is hard touch plastic. I also love the metal speaker covers for the Lexicon premium sound system. And overall, it still looks pretty modern, but at the same time, it just feels very familiar and not overwhelming. Now, getting inside, you can see as a sedan, it has a pretty low step-in height. As I get in and shut the door, the door has a nice solid sounding funk, which adds to that impression of quality. Now, starting the vehicle up, you can see the button is right where you'd expect it to be. And then when the vehicle fires up, this is not a hybrid or a mild hybrid, which is kind of not as high tech as some of the German competitors, but the engine still makes a nice little meaty burble as I switch the drive modes here and I start. I don't love the rev hang when you're kind of revving the engine up. And you've also noticed there's kind of like a fake induction hell that's played through and amplified from the speakers. You can turn that fake sound on and adjust how loud you want it to be. I have it on its loudest setting now, but overall it still makes a nice, you know, first impression. Now, looking at the rest of this interior, you can see the instrument panel has kind of like a combination of an LED and a analog display. The speedometer is analog. You can see the tack is LED. You can also kind of adjust the way, you know, what you have in that actual middle screen here. I'm surprised that Genesis didn't want to go with a full LCD display like they have on the newer models. The company says they just didn't need to for this model. You can see the steering wheel is an older steering wheel, but it's got, you know, nice contrasting red stitching. I love the Genesis logo. It's got paddles on the wheel. It's got a power tilt telescoping adjustment, which is kind of a harder feature to find in this class, which is nice to see and have. But the horn, it sounds pretty nondescript, but it sounds appropriate given the size of the vehicle. You can see there's a heads up display that's also included on this Sport Prestige with the V6. And then you also have these padded upper dashboard with the fake contrasting red stitching. There's real stitching here with kind of more leather covering this lower portion, more aluminum trim. And then you have a 10.25 inch display here, which was upgraded back in 2022 up from the eight inch display. That looks better, but it is starting to look a little bit small versus some of its rivals. If I signal right, or if I signal left, you can see it has the blind view cameras, depending on which signal you have. That is, again, exclusive to the Sport Prestige when you guys go for the V6. So there's a reason to go for the V6. That's included, of course, in that upgraded $4,400 package. You have nice knobs here and buttons for the volume knob, for the tuning knob to adjust your infotainment system. And you can also use this as a touch screen. You can see if I go back to the Genesis display there, this is their older software, which is still pretty easy to use. You have built-in embedded GPS, which most of you will just use the CarPlay anyways. If I put the vehicle into reverse, there's your full top-down 360 surround view camera. That's included, again, with this upper Sport Prestige package. You can also kind of go into multiple views, a curb view there, a top-down kind of view, although it kind of gives you that already in that side of the screen. The quality and the resolution is fine. Nothing super class-leading, but it's about what you'd expect it to be. Down here, you can see this is new for 2024, is you now have this digital climate screen. So before, you didn't have quite this big of a screen, but it's actually a touch panel, so I can actually turn on the heated steering wheel there, the heated and cooled seat control, which they offer three different levels. You can also adjust the airflow. That's definitely nice. That was taken from the GV60. You still have actual physical buttons, which I like how they kind of have a combination of the two end dials for the temperature control for the dual zone. You have a wireless phone charging pad here. You have a USB-A connector there. That's how you connect your phone to the CarPlay because it's not wireless. You also have a 12-volt power outlet over here, and then this controls the eight-speed automatic transmission. There's a trigger here. You push that, push forward to go into reverse, kick it back to go to drive, push this P button to go to park. The drive mode selector is here. It's a nice big knob. There are four different drive modes, including a custom setting. Sport Plus kind of puts it into a less restrictive stability control setting. Most of you will just drive it in comfort or custom in most of your day-to-day driving. There's cup holders here. There's nice leather stitching kind of coming down from the console here and over here, which is nice. You have an electronic parking brake here with more metal button controls, padded armrest here, which is nice. Open that up, you can see it's a little shallow. There's another USB-C charging port, which I think is new for 2024. That's just to charge the phone, not to actually connect it to the screen. You can see, I love how Genesis and Hyundai puts this little kind of button here where you can adjust the passenger seat if you'd like. From the driver's side, you also get these really nice red seatbelts, which I love. And you can see over here, the glove compartment is damped and lined with felt. It's a bin style. It's not the biggest glove compartment. And then if you guys are an audiophile, the Lexicon sound system sounds really good. The mirror here is a frameless, auto-dimming, which is nice. You have a nice woven, or I'm sorry, suede headliner material on the roof. That's exclusive, I think, to the Sport Prestige with the V6. LED map lighting here, and you can see a panoramic style sunroof, which has a power retractable shade, but it doesn't go into the back seat, only over the front. And then you can see it actually opens up to vent air, which is nice. And it opens up a pretty decent amount, almost the entire way, but that's the max that it'll open up. So overall, the interior of this vehicle certainly still has some nice touches. It has a lot of nice materials. It has good space for the front seat area, but sadly, things start to fall apart if you guys need a bigger back seat. So let's go ahead and hop back there and show you guys what that space is like. Now, this car does have a relatively long 111-inch wheelbase, but sadly, that does not translate into the back seat space, because Genesis says you have 34.6 inches of legroom. That's pretty much where I have the seat to drive. That, to me, looks more like 33 inches of legroom. This is small, even by this class standard. So kind of keep that in mind if you need a decent-sized back seat. Material quality back here is the same as the front. Soft touch, more of that diamond-quilted leather with the contrasting stitching, beautiful aluminum trim. And then getting back here, let's go ahead and see what the space is like for somebody my height. It's not wonderful, but as I shut the door, you can see this is pretty tight. Even for me, I'm 5'7", and this is still not the roomiest. Now, there is good foot space underneath here, but if you wanna cross your legs, I can literally barely get my foot out from underneath here because it's just so tight. And then you can see there's a fairly large hump here for the rear driveshaft tunnel. You have rear seat air vents back here, which is nice. You have two USB-C charging ports, which I think is new for 2024. You have two map pockets here. You can see the seatbelts are red back here as well, which is nice. If you fold this down, there's an armrest that gives you two cup holders, a little bit of storage in the door pockets. In terms of the headroom space, you can see for somebody my height, my hair actually gets pretty close to the ceiling. So if there's one thing that Genesis needs to address for the next gen, if they do do a next gen, is they need to actually increase the rear seat legroom because this is very tight, even by compact sports sedan class standards. So here we are back in the 2024 Genesis G70. In fact, it's been a couple of years since I had a G70 back home for a full week to test. I had a chance to drive the revised version a few months ago out in Arizona, and I was pretty impressed with the overall package and the updates. I mean, this car has been around since 2019, and it's still a phenomenal driving sports sedan that's an incredible value. Although Genesis has increased the price pretty significantly over the years, but this model that we're driving is the twin turbo V6. So we've got the 3.3 liter twin turbo with rear wheel drive with a limited slip differential. It comes with an eight speed automatic transmission. To be honest, I think most people would be happier with the all wheel drive version for an extra $2,000, but if you're an enthusiast and you wanna go fast, you wanna take this thing out to a track, it certainly is capable. I had a chance to drive it out there, but let's go ahead and see what we can get zero to 60 wise. Now I've tested a variety of sports sedans in this segment on this road, and the number to beat is like 4.7 seconds, especially considering the price tag. So let's go ahead and see what we can get here. We'll go ahead and we'll brake torque it. Oh, wow. Zero to 60 in 4.3 seconds there. I was not expecting it to be that fast. Remember, this is the rear drive model. So the all wheel drive version should allow you for even harder launches, but that time makes it around a 0.4 seconds quicker versus the TLX Type S and the Lexus IS500 F Sport performance that I tested literally, it was either earlier this year or late last year. And that's something that Genesis should be very proud of. Now that time does still trail something like a Audi S4 and a BMW M340i, but that time is very potent considering the fact that the, you know, how old this vehicle is, this engine with this automatic transmission is just a wonderful combination to, you know, basically turn or propel you forward with a lot of authority. And I think that's the reason why, you know, the G70 continues to be a very popular option here. So let's go ahead and try it again one more time. We'll just floor it this time from a stop. So much torque. It just feels so quick, 4.4 seconds there. Now that's with it more going slightly uphill. The surprising that this vehicle puts the power down well, I had it in its sport plus setting with, which automatically puts the trans or the stability control in a sport, a less restrictive setting. This car is supposed to have launch control, but I wasn't able to get it to do the launch control by brake torquing it. Usually it will engage there and it'll say launch control ready or something like that, or engage. But regardless, you know, for a car with 255s in the back, we do have these Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires. It does put the power down nicely. And then every time you just put your foot down. Now I will say the sound is augmented. I don't love the fake sound. It doesn't sound pleasant to me. I mean, I much prefer the noises you hear from an Acura TLX Type S with its pops and bangs from its exhaust or, you know, the intake howl that you hear from the Lexus IS500. Even the BMW straight six is just more, you know, pleasurable, at least to my ears, but it's not a bad sound. This definitely sounds better versus the 2.5 liter four cylinder turbo that I tested a few months ago back in Arizona. That vehicle did zero to 60 in 5.9 seconds. So clearly you have at least a second, maybe a second and a half improvement by going with this V6. With this Sport Prestige package, you do have, you know, a sportier tune to the overall dynamics. The steering is sharp, it's direct. It provides a decent amount of feedback. And the car in general just feels light. It feels playful. It feels like a proper rear wheel drive sports sedan. The shifts from the eight speed automatic are also smooth. They're quick. And in Sport and Sport Plus, they also shift a little bit faster and you kind of feel the extra shutter from the shift to kind of create that sense of, you know, sportiness that I appreciate. It's a torque converter automatic. It's a Genesis source transmission. It's pretty much up there with the ZF eight speeds you're going to find from a lot of its competitors. It's a lot better for me versus the 10 speed in the TLX and the eight speed in the Lexus IS. So I think Genesis did a pretty good job with tuning that. But let's try it here one more time just for consistency matters. Oh. That time it got a little bit squiggly, but 4.4 there. So we'll take 4.3 as our quickest time. I think that is a phenomenal number, especially in considering the age of this vehicle. Yes, it's not quite as fast as the Germans, but at the same time, it's still faster than the other Asian rivals from Japan. So I think Genesis should be very proud of that. Man, there's just so much mid range grunt with this car. And that's what I love about these turbo engines is they just have so much pull. Like the mid range is fat, but this engine also doesn't mind to rev. It will, you know, the transmission will allow it to rev all the way up to like 6,500 RPM, which is a good, you know, a good engine speed. As I go around this corner here, the suspension in sport mode or sport and sport plus, you can feel the dampers get a little bit stiffer. The steering gets a little bit heavier. The transmission's holding gears. If I start pulling the paddle here, you can hear it rev matches pretty quickly and responsively, which is nice. And then the sound. Man, this thing is fast. This is fast. I mean, if you guys have never driven, you know, a G70, and you're thinking this is just like a fancy Hyundai, this car feels different. It feels like a proper rear wheel drive, luxury sports sedan, you know, with a good ride, with a good, you know, balance, good control. The steering is sharp. The one thing about this car that I do notice is the ride is a little bit on the firmer side with this vehicle. I mean, yes, I'm driving around the sportiest model with the 19-inch wheels. I switched it over into its comfort setting. The steering got noticeably lighter. The suspension feels a little bit softer. And the car quiets down, and it's quiet in here when the fake engine noise isn't kind of, you know, overtaking the, you know, drone in the cabin. But I definitely noticed the ride is on the firmer side. I felt a softer ride in the Lexus IS500. The TLX also feels like it has a slightly softer ride. I had a chance to take this vehicle on a longer, you know, 200-mile road trip to New York City. And I definitely noticed, while the ride doesn't beat me up, it reminds me constantly of the more sportier mission of this vehicle. At the same time, you know, I don't think it's too harsh. That's the beauty about, you know, driving around a vehicle in this class is you can get a sense and drive the vehicle with, you know, on the road. You can also take it to the track if you'd like. It's certainly track capable, especially with the upgraded brakes that Genesis gave this year. Let's go ahead and talk a little bit about the fuel efficiency. In my weeks worth of testing, it averaged around 18 mpg in mostly city driving. On the highway, the best I could do is around 26 mpg. So that's not wonderful. And that is on recommended premium fuel. You'll do around 330-ish miles of range on a full tank. 350 if you're, you know, being a little bit more, you know, responsible with your driving and you're just driving at lower speeds. The driver assistance tech in this car is not the latest version from Genesis, but it does have, you know, good lane keep assist. It has this full speed range adaptive cruise control. Overall, Genesis has done a good job with keeping this car fresh, but there are elements, especially if you spent time in the newer Genesis models that, you know, make you realize the age of the G70. But I am, you know, still impressed with how well this car has aged over the years. It gets me curious, of course, for next generation. Genesis also just showed off their Magma high performance, you know, vehicle line. Although that may not be the final name of their high performance division. The G70 is begging for a Magma version, but at the same time with the Stinger gone, I don't know, I wonder what the future of this car is going to be like. Now it does still account for about 20% of Genesis's total sales here in the US. So it's clearly an important enough model. And if you guys are one of the few people that are looking for a sports sedan and you want something that's still quick, almost as quick as the Germans, but quicker than the Japanese competitors, but priced along the same lines as the Japanese competitors, with a better warranty, and you don't necessarily need the extra space in the backseat and the trunk, the G70, the refreshed G70 is definitely still worth a look. So even though the Genesis G70 is getting a little long in the tooth, the company has done a pretty good job in keeping this model fresh by giving it continuous updates. I mean, obviously the biggest change that we saw happened in 2022 when they completely revised the styling. But for 2024, we also got a new base engine, which you also got, which you also had a chance to see me drive back in Arizona. That is going to be enough power for most, but what really surprised me is just how good the twin turbo V6 continues to be. Obviously this model here with rear wheel drive, you guys saw zero to 60 happens in just 4.3 seconds. That makes it quicker versus the latest Acura TLX Type S and Lexus IS500 that I tested, but not quite as fast as its German competitors, like the Audi S4 or the BMW M340i. In terms of the handling dynamics, this is also still one sharp handling rear wheel drive sports sedan. Its ride quality is a little bit on the firmer side, but it doesn't really beat you up. It's just a little bit firmer than something like the Lexus or the Acura. And the interior, while the tech has been updated back in 2022, it still requires a wired connection for Apple CarPlay. It still has the older Genesis interface. The screen, while it is, you know, nicely sized, it is starting to look a little bit small, especially compared to some rivals like the BMW 3 Series. And really the backseat and the trunk space is definitely on the small side. So if you guys don't require a bigger backseat, this is definitely still worth a look. And the other great thing about the G70 is the fact that this vehicle continues to be a little bit less expensive versus its rivals. Although I will admit that Genesis has updated or increased the price pretty significantly, especially for this model year. This car now starts at around $41,500 for a base version. That's around $3,000 more expensive versus the 2023 model, which had the old two liter turbo four cylinders. So you got more power, more equipment, better brakes, but they also increased the price. Now, if you guys want the V6, that's going to cost you at least $9,000 more for a starting price of just under $50,000. My test car here with the Sport Prestige package, which includes like the premium Nappa leather seats, the upgraded Lexicon sound system, for example, these beautiful 19 inch wheels, and a few other upgrades that my test car has all in this model here comes in at around 55,700 bucks. So the mid $50,000 range is certainly still pretty reasonable. You could also get a Lexus IS 350 for a little bit less. You could get an Acura TLX Type S for a little bit more. If you wanted all wheel drive, it's going to cost you another $2,000. So if you're comparing this to something like the S4 or the BMW, the Genesis is between five to $10,000 less expensive, but it is also around the same price as its Japanese rivals. So kind of keep that in mind. You do get, again, more performance, similar to better handling, a little bit stiffer ride, but you also have a little bit less practicality because this is still a smaller vehicle. With all that said, I hope you guys have enjoyed my full overview on the brand new 2024 Genesis G70. If you're also looking to see the latest cars I'm testing, be sure to follow me on Instagram at redline underscore reviews, like us on Facebook. And as always guys, please keep subscribing to the Redline Reviews YouTube channel for all the latest reviews. Thank you so much for watching. I'll catch you all in the next video.