Road Test: Hyundai Genesis 3.8 GDi V6 4dr DCT

The days of Asian superminis foundering in the wake of their European counterparts are long gone, but if you still crave a more risky Korean investment, might I recommend spending £47,995 on the Hyundai Genesis?

Sized and styled like a 7-Series but priced at 535i money, the kit-laden Genesis has been a smash hit in the US and China, confounding badge snobs and critics alike.

Naturally, there’s heated and cooled electric leather seats, near-autonomous cruise control, much space and varied and plentiful gadgetry (accessed via a low-rent touchscreen), but besides stack high/shift cheap toys, is there real engineering substance to the Genesis?

Not enough to shift allegiances, despite the well-judged ride and handling. It’s not so much that the eight-speed gearbox is narcoleptic when you demand urgency. Neither that the single engine option – a 3.8-litre, oddly vocal V6 – is never going to set CO₂-paranoid UK sales alight. It’s more that if you’ve earned the right to buy a £50k luxury car, well, you wouldn’t buy a Hyundai, would you? Well, that’s what they thought in the US and China…