2023 Genesis Electrified GV70 video review: Australian first drive

First there were medium SUVs, then there were luxury medium SUVs, and then hybrids and plug-in hybrids joined the fray. Now, there are electric luxury medium SUVs, and Genesis has muscled right in with its 2023 Genesis Electrified GV70.

I'm not crazy about a time when we can't buy regular internal combustion engines anymore, but I do long for the time when this is simply a GV70 and we can lose the 'Electrified' part. Nonetheless, a protracted drive on closed roads in a pre-production version had us looking forward to the launch drive proper.

That Genesis builds high-quality vehicles is now broadly accepted. Australia was earmarked early on as one of the brand's most important overseas markets.

As such, we're in line to receive as much of the model line-up as we can possibly get our hands on. Good news for buyers, and good news for anyone looking to step up into the luxury sphere without necessarily coughing up for a stratospheric asking price.

Early Genesis vehicles undoubtedly felt like a step up from 'regular' Hyundai models. Even the use of the word regular seems a little unfair given the robust quality and value for money offered by Hyundai in Australia now.

There was a sense that the engineering and design teams had waved the wand a little more demonstrably over Genesis vehicles. Still, some of the earlier releases shared a little too much switchgear, and as well executed as it was, it didn't quite hide their Hyundai DNA.

You're asking about Genesis vehicles too. Quite regularly, which is promising for a brand that has guaranteed it is here to stay.

While the initial launch phase has been slow and steady, I get the sense the shift to electric will give Genesis a real boost in our local market. Crucially, the quality of the vehicles and the ownership perspective need to be right on for luxury buyers demanding a special experience.

All that means we're pretty excited to sample the Electrified GV70 on some of NSW's best rural roads. Our pricing estimation at that early drive turned out to be a little under the real asking price, and the Electrified GV70 enters a market with more electric options on an almost daily basis. The fight is well and truly on.

We had hoped – at that initial experience – that the asking price would round out around the $115,000 mark; however, the final number upon release is a little higher than that. The Electrified GV70 starts from $127,800 before on-road costs, but as per the Genesis MO, there is a stack of standard kit included for the simple, single-model range.

For reference, the GV70 range starts from $66,400 before on-road costs, and steps up through the four-model range to $82,467 before options and on-road costs before you get to the new kid on the block.

Whether the step up to fully electric is justifiable is not really the point given the inherent cost of electric vehicles right now. I reckon if you're looking for an electric vehicle, and you've considered a Genesis, the included kit, the ownership experience and the included value make a lot of sense.

The exterior is attractive – as is the regular GV70 – but I love the way it doesn't scream its EV credentials. If you want to own an electric vehicle, but look like you're driving a regular medium SUV, this could be the best way to go about it quietly and under the radar. It does get 20-inch Electrified-specific wheels and grille, silver brake callipers with the Genesis logo, adaptive LED headlights, puddle lights with the Genesis logo, and a powered tailgate.

From any angle, the GV70 is a sleek SUV, and while the matte paint colours look fantastic and would be tempting in the showroom, don't go down that road unless you have a garage or very good carport. You'll be forever worried about bat and bird droppings damaging your very cool paint.

The cabin, in terms of the design, fit and finish, materials and quality, is an undeniable Genesis strong point. As good as a Hyundai is in 2022, Genesis is a step above. It's a beautiful place to be – an important factor for a medium SUV that is likely to spend some time with the family on board out on the open road.

The first strong point you'll notice after the cabin ambience, though, is the fact that the Electrified GV70 looks like any other GV70. It's not silly and modern simply for the sake of it, neither is it a cutting-edge design study, practicality be damned, deal. This is a clever, useful cabin. We only get one model in our market, and as such, Genesis has made sure all the niceties you'd want in the vehicle are indeed standard.

Active noise control ensures the cabin is beautifully quiet on any road, at any speed. The 18-way power-adjustable seats are finished in nappa leather and are heated and ventilated with a massage function. Luxury indeed.

Luxury extends into the second row, where the seats are also heated, and fold down 60:40 to open up a useful luggage space. There's leather trim on the dash, door linings and console lid. Tasteful suede headlining, and pillar trim, as well as a heated steering wheel add to the ambience.

On that note regarding ambience, something as simple as ambient cabin lighting makes a huge difference to the confines of the interior. It really does feel more premium. The Electrified GV70 might not need it, but it benefits from it.

There's plenty of room, too, meaning the cabin feels comfortable and spacious. Even if you have tall occupants up front, there's still enough room for the second row to be comfortable, something not all medium SUVs can boast. I love the innovation of a fingerprint scanner to remember driver settings – so simple yet so clever.

You get two ISOFIX points on the outboard second-row seats, as well as three top-tether points. The luggage space offers up 503L with the second row in use, out to 1678L if you fold them down. The floor in the luggage area hides a space-saver spare tyre – not ideal but better than nothing at all – and the cargo cover when you're not using it.

Under the bonnet there's an additional 22L of storage space, not the roomiest, but not something always found in electric versions of petrol powered cars. It's ideal for out or sight cable management.

As you'd expect, the infotainment part of the equation is very well catered to, and Apple CarPlay as well as Android Auto are both standard. Now, we've mentioned before that we'd like wireless smartphone connectivity, given you can access it on Hyundai vehicles at the lower end of the price range, but not high end models.

However, that argument is a double-edged sword for me, because I don't love wireless charging given its propensity to heat your phone up. So, I end up using the cabled connection anyway. If you want wireless smartphone connectivity, however, you don't get it.

Back to the infotainment specifically in a minute. The 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster with 3D capabilities is excellent, visible no matter where you like your seating position, and classy in its execution. There's a lot to unpack in terms of customisation inside the cabin, which we'll look into when we get the Electrified GV70 into the Drive garage for our longer testing.

Central to the interface is the 14.5-inch infotainment touchscreen, which controls everything else you'll be doing in the cabin. It's neatly mounted down into the centre of the dash and doesn't look like an afterthought. Partly because it could look like an afterthought, given how broad it is.

Makes you wonder how we ever operated with tiny screens. I prefer the touchscreen functionality, but you can also use the controller in the lower part of the centre stack – it works but isn't as intuitive.

On test, the proprietary satellite navigation worked responsively, as did Apple CarPlay, Google Maps and music/radio streaming apps. The system is all as intuitive as you'd expect it to be, and we'll crank the standard premium audio system up when we spend more time with the Electrified GV70 to properly test its chops.

Petrol and diesel variants of the Genesis GV70 range carry a five star ANCAP rating from 2021, however the Electrified GV70 is unrated by ANCAP at the time of launch.

Despite structural similarities, the positioning of powertrain and battery components, and a heavier vehicle weight may result in different crash protection, with without an official ANCAP ruling, we can't comment on the safety rating it might – or might not – get.

There is – as you'd no doubt expect – a long list of standard safety equipment. That list includes, eight airbags including a front centre airbag, rear occupant warning, autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection and junction assist, lane-keep assist, lane-following assist, evasive steering assist, and adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go.

Also included are blind-spot monitoring (with braking support), rear cross-traffic alert (with braking), 360-degree camera, safe exit assist, blind-spot view monitor, forward attention-warning, traffic sign recognition, intelligent and manual speed limit assist, low-speed rear autonomous emergency braking, tyre pressure monitoring, adaptive headlight functionality and semi automated parking assist for perpendicular and parallel parking.

When you buy the Electrified GV70, Genesis provides the option of a five-year subscription to Chargefox for on-the-road charging, or a home AC wallbox charger. The latter includes the installation, and you can only pick one, so work out which is most beneficial to you before you sign on the dotted line. This offering is just the start of the included value that will stay with you well after you've bought your new SUV, though.

The Genesis range is covered by a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty, which is extended to eight years on the high-voltage battery pack of electric models, including the Electrified GV70 . Genesis also provides you with five-year subscriptions to its complimentary servicing and valet programs, as well as 10-year roadside assistance and complimentary map updates. In effect, then, you're not paying a cent beyond consumables to maintain the Electrified GV70 for the first five years.

The Electrified GV70 costs $3503.42 per annum to insure based on a comparative quote for a 35-year-old male driver living in Chatswood, NSW. Insurance estimates may vary based on your location, driving history, and personal circumstances.

We'll assess the real-world energy usage more accurately when we're not on the confines of a launch drive, but the claim of 19.2kWh/100km is right where we'd expect it to be for a medium SUV. Interestingly, the Electrified GV70 allows for up to 350kW charging, which means you can get from 10–80 per cent as quickly as 18 minutes.

It's also capable of offering the flexibility of vehicle-to-load (V2L) charging back to your house, for example, at a rate of up to 3.6kW.

Electric vehicles are starting to deliver more and more impressive driving dynamics on-road, and are seemingly less beset by the issues they initially faced as significantly heavier vehicles. The Electrified GV70 delivers some sporting intent, too, even though that's not the focus, and it's equally as comfortable on country roads as it is around town.

Anyone who's driven on the east coast in the last 12 months knows we have some horrible surfacing, thanks largely to incessant rain, and the GV70 dealt with them neatly. There is the occasional jar if you nail a deep or sharp-edged pothole, but the regular roads you'll traverse are taken in its stride.

A claimed 0–100km/h in 4.5 seconds is rapid, and as such, the GV70 feels genuinely sharp if you nail the accelerator pedal. We expect that with any EV to some degree, but it's still an impressive party trick. Dual electric motors, 10-second overboost added power, and totals of up to 360kW and 700Nm are formidable numbers on any road. There's no sense of pace lacking when you're driving the Electrified GV70.

Outside of Boost mode, regular outputs of 320kW and 605Nm are still impressive, with Eco mode trimming torque back to 350Nm.

A one-pedal driving style is something you can bring into play if you like that sensation, and I find that you get used to it pretty quickly. Instead of accelerating, coasting, and braking, the accelerator becomes your stop and go pedal, using energy recuperation to bring the car to a standstill leaving the brake pedal for sudden stops only.

You can tell that the GV70 is heavy – certainly heavier than its internal combustion siblings – but that's the reality of any electric vehicle at the moment. While it's not as nimble or agile, then, as it would be if it weren't electric, it still turns in truly and sharply and maintains balance through corners as well. The brake pedal has a consistent, meaty feel to it, and we didn't notice any fade on a decent twisty run.

We liked the accuracy of the steering, the balance of the chassis, and the general roadholding on any surface. Adaptive dampers help iron out nearly all road surfaces, and the ride inside the cabin is almost always smooth and unruffled.

The Electrified GV70 is primarily two things – another quality offering from Genesis, but also a well-executed electric vehicle. While its price tag puts it out of the reach of many, it is nevertheless a compelling alternative for luxury SUV buyers who want to go electric, but aren't attracted to the more expensive premium offerings.

That you lose nothing in terms of luxury and quality by getting into a Genesis is one tangible benefit, but there's also the premium nature of the after-purchase service and included value. By no means are electric vehicles for everyone in 2022, but the Electrified GV70 is a very good one.