Hyundai’s luxury brand Genesis has confirmed pricing for its G80 luxury sedan. It looks amazing, with headlights hiding behind slits in the bumper, with a massive three-part grill occupying the front end. Big sweeping lines arch over wheels with seemingly perforated spokes, all the way to its liftback rear end. The 2022 model is going to be more expensive than the 2021 was, but maybe these features will make up for it.

New G80 Sport has a bigger engine

Genesis made it clear that buying the Sport trim is the only way to get the bigger 3.5-liter twin-turbocharged V6 engine. It produces 375 horsepower to all four wheels, which is standard. Buying the non-sport model gets the 2.5-liter turbocharged inline-four, making 300 horsepower and starting at $48,000. The sport package starts at $63,450, which is a massive jump for such little horsepower gains. If those numbers are scary, then maybe consider the G70.

The base G80 has lots of standard equipment

At just $48.000 the G80 starts its owners off right. The car comes standard with a 14.5-inch HD multimedia display, tons of safety features and a plethora of driver assistance features. Drivers can enjoy variable gear ratio steering, forward collision avoidance-assist, highway driving assist, smart cruise control, high beam assist, and many other amenities outlined by Genesis. 

Owners who desire rear-wheel-drive must unfortunately settle for the 2.5-liter turbocharged inline-four. The 3.5 doesn’t appear until the Sport and Sport Prestige models are selected. Thankfully it’s not a big difference in power. If the car needs to stay affordable but with all-wheel-drive, the G80 2.5T AWD is the best bet, at $51,150. 

What’s different between the G80 and G60 Sport?

Besides a bigger engine, the Sport receives various aesthetic trim pieces including a panoramic roof and aluminum trim. New technology includes an Ergo motion seat, a surround view monitor and a blind-spot view monitor. It also gets electronically-controlled suspension and bigger tires. 

Opting for the Sport Prestige costs at least an extra $6,300 (with all-season tires) on top of the Sport model. This includes suede headliner and pillars, remote smart parking assist, forward attention warning, and ECS with sport tuning. 

Is the sport trim worth the money?

It appears that the G80 is well equipped in its base trim, and the only way to make the Sport worth the extra money is ponying up a little more for the Prestige, which gets arguably more technology included. There’s also an option for a Prestige with summer tires, which is an extra $500, but beyond tires the features are identical. However, the Prestige with summer tires also gets active road noise control. 

At its base the G80 is perfectly reasonable at $48,000. It’s a lot of car, and offers plenty in the way of comfort, style and speed. At its most expensive the G80 3.5T AWD Sport Prestige with summer tires costs $70,250. It’s not an outrageous price, but for the same amount of money there are other, faster luxury sedans available, like the BMW M3 or Audi A7. Looking into the electric G80 might be a better use of time.