Genesis Electrified G80 review

The Genesis Electrified G80 – it's a name that's as literal as it is promising. Because while the regular G80 had its charm, its engine was gruff and thirsty, falling short of German rivals' standards.

We mention the G80 in the past tense because the Electrified G80 is now the only version you can buy in the UK. That’s not such a bad thing, because at a bare minimum a luxury car needs to deliver decent levels of refinement and smoothness for the passenger, along with low running costs and emissions for the owner. Those are far easier to achieve with an electric car – which brings us to the finer details of the Electrified G80.

Out goes the 2.5-litre petrol engine and in comes a sizeable 94.5kWh (total capacity) battery pack that sends its power to two motors – one mounted on each axle to give the Electrified G80 four-wheel drive. Combined, you get 365bhp and an official 0-62mph time of just 5.1 seconds. Not too shabby.

To succeed in the luxury electric car market, the Electrified G80 will need to take on the likes of the BMW i5 and Mercedes EQE. And now, because it’s only available in long-wheelbase (LWB) form following a recent update, it’s also targeting the likes of the BMW i7 and Mercedes EQS.

Read on to find out how we rate the Genesis Electrified G80 against the best electric cars…

The Genesis Electrified G80 comes in just one dual-motor, four-wheel drive variant. It has identical 182.5bhp motors on both the front and rear axles, delivering a combined total of 365bhp. The rear motor drives the car most of the time, with the front motor kicking in when extra power or traction is needed.

It’s an effective system that even in wet conditions allows you to accelerate hard out of a junction with limited wheelspin.

It actually feels quite a bit quicker than its official 0-62mph time of 5.1 seconds suggests and will keep accelerating up to motorway speeds with no real let-up in forward momentum. While a Mercedes EQE 350+ or BMW i5 eDrive40 wouldn’t see which way it went in a traffic light grand prix, the four-wheel drive versions of those cars are much quicker.

With that, the Electrified G80 is no match for an Audi E-tron GT or Porsche Taycan either. It’s evident that it's geared towards comfort, as opposed to sporty driving, but it's not perfect.

The accelerator could do with better calibration in Sport mode because it feels quite sensitive, and even in Comfort mode, the set-up takes some getting used to. For a smoother driving experience you can select Chauffeur mode, which smooths out the accelerator response, allowing you to accelerate with more grace, with a gentle surge in power as you press on.

The front-end has plenty of grip but the steering is a touch vague and body control is rather loose. That forces you to be reserved and smooth with your inputs on the kind of give-and-take country roads that would be a riot in an i5. Even an EQE feels better tied down, with the G80 tending to pogo its way down undulating roads.

The lack of control can also be felt around town, where the G80 sometimes thumps over raised ironwork and potholes. That's also a problem in an entry-level EQE, but at least Mercedes gives you the option of air suspension. The G80 relies on the same concept as all Genesis car models – it sits on steel coils and adaptive dampers, giving it a narrower operating window. A BMW i7 is more comfortable overall with its air-sprung set-up.

Ultimately, the G80 feels at its best on a smooth motorway, where the suspension can breathe with the road and the lack of wind and road noise makes for a relaxed driving experience. It’s a good thing, then, that the official electric range is a useful 354 miles, which is better than the i5 M60 xDrive (315 miles) but some way short of an EQE 500 (385 miles), i7 xDrive60 (387 miles) and EQS 450 (467 miles).

Usefully, the Electrified G80 is available with rear-wheel steering. It’s an expensive option but we’d be tempted to go for it because it makes this long, limo-like car surprisingly easy to manoeuvre in town.

“I could happily do a lot of motorway miles in the Electrified G80. It has triple-sealed door surrounds, soundproof glass and an Active Noise Cancellation (ANC-R) system that does a great job of isolating occupants from road noise.” – George Hill, Used Cars Writer

We’ve few complaints about the driving position in the Genesis Electrified G80. The driver's seat has plenty of fully electric adjustment, including for lumbar support.

What’s more, you’re lined up well with the steering wheel and pedals, making it a generally comfortable affair. Our only gripe is that, depending on your driving position, the steering wheel can block out the corners of the digital driver’s display.

Unlike an electric SUV, the G80 positions you closer to the road yet still offers good visibility to the front and at junctions, making it easy to manoeuvre the car. Along with that, rear visibility is decent thanks to its rear quarterlights, while standard blind-spot monitoring and a rear-view camera help matters further. 

One of the highlights of the interior is the large, 27in display, which combines the infotainment touchscreen and the digital driver’s display. Usefully, the infotainment section can be operated with a large dial between the front seats, like the iDrive dial in the BMW i5.

Although it’s easy to accidentally grab the controller when reaching for the gear selector, it remains less distracting than the touchscreen-only interface in the Mercedes EQE. Similarly, the driver’s display is operated with physical steering wheel buttons, which are easier to use than the haptic buttons in the EQE.

If you prefer, you can operate the infotainment system with the touchscreen, which is sharp, responsive and very well laid out. It includes DAB radio, Bluetooth, and Android Auto and Apple CarPlay smartphone mirroring. Additionally, an 18-speaker Bang & Olufsen system is standard, providing a powerful audio experience with active noise cancelling for improved refinement.

Unfortunately, Genesis has replaced most of the physical controls in the pre-facelift car with touch-sensitive buttons for the climate controls, which are fiddly to operate on the move. That said, you still get physical dials for the temperature adjustment, which is a significant advantage over the i5's interior, where the temperature and climate controls are adjusted using the touchscreen.

The Electrified G80’s interior looks elegant and feels solidly put together, and most buttons and switches have a suitably expensive feel to them. There are a number of colour schemes and real wood choices, along with plenty of aluminium highlights, so the interior can be as light and airy or dark and conservative as you choose.

The level of quality and sophistication continues in the back seats, where the soft-touch plastics and leather from the front can be found, such as on the doors.

To aid passenger comfort, the Electrified G80 is available with a Second Row Comfort Pack, which adds heated outer rear seats, power closing and soft-close rear doors, sun blinds and a centre armrest control panel. It's a noticeable step up from the i5 but doesn’t offer the level of comfort or luxury found in a BMW i7 with its Rear Comfort Pack.

“I’ve sat in the back of an Electrified G80 with the optional Second Row Comfort Pack and I found it very comfortable. However, I did find it odd that the rear control panel only lets you control certain aspects of the front infotainment screen. There’s also no back button, so you can easily get stuck in a menu.” – George Hill, Used Cars Writer

You’ll find lots of space in the front of the Genesis Electrified G80, with seats that slide back a long way on their runners and plenty of head room.

The same goes for head room in the back, where even six-footers won’t find their heads rubbing against the roof. Leg room for people sitting in the two outer seats is very good too, no doubt thanks to the extended wheelbase.

As such, the Electrified G60 offers more leg room than you’ll find in the BMW i5 and Mercedes EQE and a similar level to the BMW i7 and Mercedes EQS. It’s more comfortable in the back than an EQE or EQS (the rear seats in those cars place you in a slightly upright position and the seatbases lack support). 

If you want to carry three people in the back of the Electrified G80, it’s a bit of a squeeze. The slightly raised middle seat will mean taller people might need to duck slightly to fit in. 

As the Electrified G80 is a saloon, the boot opening is quite small, but the same goes for its key rivals. A bigger problem is that the 354-litre boot space is seriously compromised, with the battery pack eating into load space. That's way down on the i5 (490 litres), i7 (500 litres), EQE (430 litres) and EQS (620 litres). 

Thankfully, you can fold down the rear seatbacks electrically, and they split in a handy 40/20/40 arrangement. A powered tailgate comes as standard.

“I think it would be useful if the Electrified G80 had a front boot. Even though its closest rivals don’t have one either, it would add some much needed storage capacity.” – George Hill, Used Cars Writer

The Genesis Electrified G80 costs considerably less than a BMW i7 or Mercedes EQS but is priced in line with its main electric car rivals – the BMW i5 and Mercedes EQE. All electric cars attract very low BIK tax rates so it will set you back a tiny amount as a company car.

Genesis gives you a huge amount of equipment as standard. We’re talking 19in alloy wheels, matrix LED headlights, a 17-speaker Bang & Olufsen sound system, leather upholstery, a head-up display, heated front seats, a heated steering wheel, three-zone climate control and a powered tailgate.

You can add a number of attractive option packs. These include a front Comfort Pack (which adds ventilated and massaging front seats, among other things), a Second Row Comfort Pack (as mentioned previously) and a Nappa Leather Seat Pack. There are a number of standalone options too, including vehicle-to-load (V2L), which lets you use the Electrified G80’s batteries to power other things.

​​The amount of standard safety kit is impressive and is one of the reasons the G80 scored five stars out of five in its Euro NCAP safety test.

The G80 comes with automatic emergency braking (AEB), rear cross-traffic alert, blind-spot monitoring and lane-keeping assist. It also has a useful surround-view camera system and Remote Smart Parking Assist, the latter of which lets you remote park the car by pressing a button on the key fob.   

The Electrified G80 has a sizeable 94.5kWh battery pack that can top up at a maximum charging speed of 187kW. That’s a quicker charging rate than an EQE (170kW), but it’s less than an i5 (205kW), i7 (200kW) or EQS (200kW). That said, its charging time is competitive with those cars, with a 10-80% charge taking around 25 minutes at a rapid public charger.

We don't have any reliability data for Genesis but every car is backed up by a five-year unlimited-mileage warranty. Parent company Hyundai did very well in the 2024 What Car? Reliability Survey, which bodes well for its premium car division.

“The driver monitoring system in the Electrified G80 is very sensitive. It told me to look at the road when I was looking at the infotainment screen for a very short period of time.” – George Hill, Used Cars Writer

For all the latest reviews, advice and new car deals, sign up to the What Car? newsletter here