The Genesis G90 was always a car with an identity crisis. In a past life it was the Hyundai Equus before becoming the flagship executive sedan for the newly formed Genesis brand. As a flagship, the G90 was great car lacking any semblance of visual flair or style—in other words, it was a great luxury car for those hoping to blend in seamlessly with the background. With a slew of new cars and SUVs expected next year, the fledgling luxury automaker refreshed the 2020 Genesis G90, finally giving it the styling needed to help it stand out from the crowd.
Genesis’ efforts on the G90 redesign were almost entirely focused on its sheetmetal. Every line, crease, and corner—save for the doors and roof—was massaged and tweaked to give the G90 both more of a presence and more of a personality on the road. The two most controversial aspects of this big sedan’s new styling are bound to be up front and on its flanks. Its nose is now beset with Genesis’ new “Chest” grille and quad-LED headlights—the latter of which is split by another LED lighting element. In photographs, the grille and headlights combine to give the G90 a sort of frumpiness, but the nose job is far less polarizing in person. The G90’s new ’90s throwback wheels are bound to be controversial, too. Not everyone will appreciate the dish-and-web-spoke aesthetic, but the 19-inch wheels do a great job at visually filling the G90’s wheel arches—a difficult feat to accomplish as some luxury automakers are looking toward massive 22- and 23-inch wheel designs.
The rest of the changes to the 2020 Genesis G90 are relatively minor—which is probably for the best, considering a pre-refresh G90 beat out the BMW 7 Series (also pre-refresh), Lexus LS, and Lincoln Continental in our most recent big luxury sedan shootout. Inside, Genesis adds a splash of color to the G90’s cabin, in the form of five new interior color schemes (joining black and beige, for a total of seven) and two new wood trim options (for a total of four).
Underhood changes are even more minor. The G90’s base 3.3-liter twin-turbo V-6 and 5.0-liter V-8 are mechanically identical to the pre-refresh versions, though both are said to have revised tuning. The V-6 makes a healthy 365 hp and 376 lb-ft of torque, while the V-8 produces 420 hp and 383 lb-ft. Both are paired an eight-speed automatic, revised to make it quieter than before. Rear-wheel drive is standard, and all-wheel drive is optional on both engines. The G90 3.3T is EPA-rated at 17/25/20 mpg city/highway/combined in both rear- and all-wheel-drive forms, while the G90 5.0 nets 16/24/19 mpg with rear-drive and 15/23/18 mpg with all-wheel drive.
Unsurprisingly, once you slip into the G90’s bank vault–quiet cabin and fire the car up, the 2020 model feels much like the version that preceded it. Both the G90 3.3T Premium and 5.0 Ultimate (both engines come with single-specification trim packages) drive impossibly smoothly. With any flagship sedan, going with the largest engine possible is usually a safe bet. The 5.0-liter V-8—the rare naturally aspirated engine in the segment—is almost old-school American-like in the way it’s tuned. The big 420-hp mill is powerful but slow to rev—a trait amplified by the gearbox’s long ratios and dislike of being rushed. The charmingly lazy V-8 only reveals its power with the pedal to the floor, letting out a muted, guttural roar as it pins you back in your seat.
Because the G90 V-8’s throttle response is so muted, the 3.3-liter twin-turbo V-6 model surprisingly feels much like the 5.0. Power delivery is smooth, with just the slightest hint of turbo lag, and the engine offers up much of its 376 lb-ft of torque off the line at low speeds. Like the G90 5.0, the eight-speed auto in the G90 3.3T is tuned for smoothness and quietness over all else—shifts lack urgency, but they also seamlessly blend into the background as the transmission surfs wave after wave of torque. It’s just about the closest you can get to the experience of an electric car with an old-school internal combustion engine.
Aside from the subtle powertrain differences between the two G90s, both drive near identically. Steering is light and low-effort, but it’s communicative enough to always let you know what the front wheels are doing; brake pedal feel is tuned to help make every stop limolike. Body control and ride quality are similarly excellent, though the G90 doesn’t quite iron out bumps in the road in the same convincing manner as a Mercedes-Benz S-Class would.
Just like the drive experience, the 2020 G90 feels largely like the pre-refresh iteration inside—quiet, well-built, and sadly a bit boring. The added color and trim options do liven the G90’s cabin up somewhat, but the sense of sterility is inescapable, especially considering the new sheetmetal and comparing the G90’s cabin to rivals like the beautifully designed Lexus LC or Lincoln Continental Black Label.
Even so, the G90 does have a handful of neat features of its own, the party piece being the 22-way driver’s seat with a new “posture analysis” feature. Pressing the “Smart” button on the door cues up a new page on the G90’s 12.3-inch infotainment display. Input your height, weight, and inseam, and the seat will automatically adjust to a position that would make your orthopedist proud. Personally, I found the suggested position too close to the wheel and uncomfortable, but the system is also capable of providing visual feedback on your preferred driving position, which helps you find a comfortable medium between the optimal driving position and trips to the chiropractor.
Although lacking the automatic functionality and 22 levels of adjustability, the G90’s back seats are pretty nice, too. Both V-6 and V-8 cars offer up limousine levels of room and comfort with their own executive-style center consoles. The V-8 car has the nicer back seat package, though. Due to the monospec way Genesis builds G90s, it gets a supremely comfortable 12-way left rear and 14-way right rear seat unavailable on the G90 3.3T. The passenger-side seat is especially nice, notably with the front passenger seat folded forward against the dash, giving your legs plenty of real estate to spread out.
Overall, the 2020 G90 remains a tremendously compelling executive sedan. What this flagship lacks in an outright wow factor inside, it makes up for in both its quiet capability and its bargain-bin (for the segment) price. Prices of the G90 3.3T are expected to start around $71,000, while the G90 5.0 Ultimate will start around $75,00.
Back in 2017 I wrote: “Although we admittedly wish the G90 made more of a visual statement, the cabin is comfortable, luxurious, and filled with the latest creature comforts and semi-autonomous technologies. The drive is smooth yet engaging. And its value story is undeniable.” With the G90’s sheetmetal finally addressed, the rest all remains true to this day. More than ever before, the 2020 G90 is a credible alternative to the traditional flagship sedan, and it’s a compelling option for those hoping to stand out from the sea of S-Classes, 7 Series, and Audi A8s.
The post 2020 Genesis G90 First Drive: Finally a Standout appeared first on MotorTrend.
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