Spin Class: All-Electric Genesis GV60

Genesis and The Crystal Sphere. Hmm, sounds like a new rip-roarin’, high-action Indiana Jones movie starring Harrison Ford. By now, a ripe old 93.

But this latest piece of automotive eye-candy is surely worthy of its own movie. Or at least a TikTok short or Instagram Reel.

Climb aboard the new, all-electric GV60 crossover from Genesis and gaze in total awe at the glowing glass orb mounted in the center console.

Press the start button and, in more total amazement, watch as it spookily rotates and transforms into a rotary gear selector.

Passengers will be in awe, small children will applaud your David Copperfield magic skills, and you’ll just grin knowing you’re driving perhaps the coolest piece of visual tech you’ll see this side of K.I.T.T. from that Knight Rider TV show.

For me, this lovable EV crossover really breaks the mold, raises the tech benchmark way high, and makes you fall in love with driving all over again.

All its mechanical bits are shared with the Hyundai Group’s other mid-size EV offerings: the Kia EV6 and Hyundai Ioniq 5 and 6. But the GV60 takes the rule book, rips it up, and dumps it into the shredder.

Yes, there’s no shortage of fancy new electric cars and trucks on the market, especially around this size. Tesla Model Y, Polestar 2, Cadillac Lyriq, BMW’s i4, and Audi’s e-Tron. To name just a few.

But the Genesis dares to be different, with its quirky love-it or laugh-at-it styling, fun technology (did I mention the facial recognition and fingerprint reader?), and stunning, baby Bentley interior.

I’ve just spent a joyous week piloting the flagship GV60 Performance, with electric motors front and rear giving all-wheel drive, and a combined 429 horsepower. That’s a lot.

But there’s more. Right there on the steering wheel is a little button that says “Boost.” Push it when you have the urge to merge with traffic from an on-ramp, or need to zip past that 18-wheeler, and max power gets boosted to 483 horsepower coupled with 516 pound-feet of torque.

You get it for 10 jaw-dropping, fun-filled, eyes-wide-open seconds. If you were using it to smoke that Mustang GT from the stop light, you’d see a 0-to-60 time of just 3.6 seconds.

Fast it is, but what I really love about the GV60 is its refinement. Electric cars are quiet, but this is ghostly-quiet. No tire noise, no wind noise and just the faintest distant hum of the electric motors. Snoozing kittens make more of a racket.

What that does is allow you to hear every nuance, every guitar string, every orchestra crescendo from the car’s magical 17-speaker Bang & Olufsen surround-sound system. It might just be the best in-car stereo my ears have been treated to.

Part of its sound purity comes from the system’s built-in noise-cancellation technology, which literally cancels-out any engine, wind, and tire noise. It’s truly impressive.

As is the entire cabin. All that diamond-quilted and perforated Nappa leather, the plush microfiber suede, and twin 12.3-inch curved-glass displays deliver a true luxe look and feel.

Slide into the rear seat and stretch out with the generous legroom and headroom. You really can cross your legs while luxuriating back here. Pop open the high-lifting tailgate and there’s more than 24 cubic feet of space. Fold down both rear seats and that goes up to more than 54 cubic feet. Not bad for a fastback design.

Of course, not every car is perfect, and the GV60 does have one hang-up, and that’s range. Our dual-motor Performance model with this big 21-inch wheels, will take you an OK-but-not-great 235 miles on a charge. That compares to 285 in Tesla’s Model Y Performance.

Pricewise, our flagship GV60 Performance stickers at $69,550, which is right in the ballpark for such a high luxury, high performance EV crossover. A better deal, perhaps, is the slightly less powerful Advanced model that goes for $60,550.

But to see that Crystal Sphere doing its thing and feel that boosted 483-horsepower rush? Priceless.

The post Spin Class: All-Electric Genesis GV60 appeared first on Palm Beach Illustrated .