I’ll be honest, I didn’t know much about Genesis before this review. I’d seen them at a few events but hadn’t realised they’re Hyundai’s luxury brand, in the same way Lexus is to Toyota. Consider me educated and, frankly, impressed.

The GV60 is a small to mid-size electric SUV with a sporty coupe-like rear that looks absolutely stunning. My test car came in a lovely dark grey with 21-inch alloys, and more than one person mistook the spread-wing Genesis badge as an Aston Martin one. While there’s no connection, I can see why they wondered.

Inside, it’s packed with clever touches. The flush door handles pop out as you approach, keeping everything sleek when parked. There’s masses of cabin space and, like many EVs, the absence of a conventional engine means there’s a cavernous storage area under the centre console.

Undeniably cool

The party piece is the crystal ball that rotates when you start the car, revealing a rather impressive gear selector knob. It’s undeniably cool, though I did spend the first few days accidentally grabbing the entertainment system control knob instead when trying to shift from drive to reverse. Muscle memory did eventually kick in, though, so that one’s on me!

The display is exceptional – one continuous LCD screen flows from directly in front of you across to the centre console, showing everything from speed and range to navigation and media. The heads-up display even works with Apple CarPlay’s Google Maps, which isn’t always the case. Best of all, there’s a great safety feature: when indicating, the corresponding blind spot appears on your main display via rear-mounted cameras. Genuinely useful.

Every gadget you could want

The ride quality is impressively smooth – even on the pot-holed roads of the Forest of Dean with those 21-inch low-profile tyres. A friend with a shoulder injury specifically commented on how comfortable it was for them. There’s heated and cooled seats, a comfort-stretch function that’s almost like a massage, ambient lighting you can customise, and every gadget you could want. Visibility is excellent, thanks to the panoramic sunroof.

Performance-wise, it’s properly rapid. There’s a boost button on the steering wheel that unleashes the full beans, and it genuinely pins you back in your seat. Like I say, properly fast.

Now for the elephant in the room: range. On paper, it’s 311 miles... In reality, during winter testing with lights, heating and wipers in constant use, I was getting around 225 miles from a full charge. That triggered a bit of ‘range anxiety’ for me, particularly as I regularly drive more than 100 miles to family on Exmoor, where I can’t charge.

A couple of hundred miles might be plenty for most people, especially with home charging, but for my specific needs, I’d want that theoretical 300-mile range to actually deliver 300 miles, regardless of conditions.

Goes like the clappers

Range issues aside, this is an absolutely beautiful car that I loved driving every minute. It’s comfortable, spacious, well-equipped and goes like the clappers. For most people, this would be perfect. To my mind, it’s just missing that extra range reassurance, but that’s just me, not the car’s fault.



Toby Aiken is a copywriter and marketer with more than 18 years' experience writing for many different topics. A self-proclaimed petrol head, he loves all things automotive, and keeps an ever-changing five-car dream garage in his head at all times. While that line-up will always include at least one EV, he is a die-hard fan of a V8.