Car shoppers have a relatively new problem that, if you’re old enough to have owned CDs, tapes, or even 8-tracks, you may find hard to accept: Most new cars are good.
Most new luxury cars are exceptionally good.
So, when we tell you that the Genesis GV70 now sits atop our list of the Best Compact Luxury SUVs, what, exactly, do we mean? The Jaguar currently sitting in 10th is an extraordinarily nice car that can alternately cocoon you in comfort and thrill you on a winding road. How is this much better?
Honestly, it’s not much better. Cars in the 2026 model year are so well-balanced and considered that the differences are now small details. So what we’re telling you is that the GV70 gets almost all of those details right.
I spent a week driving the compact SUV from Hyundai’s luxury brand around urban and suburban Washington, D.C., this winter. It was my second exposure to the current generation. Like the first time, I walked away charmed.
Which Trim Level
Genesis builds the GV70 in six grades. Four have a 2.5-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder engine making 300 horsepower. Two have a twin-turbo V6 making 375 hp. The company loaned me the latter, in top-of-the-line form, the 3.5T Sport Prestige all-wheel drive (AWD). It includes a few features not available on any other trim, including softer Nappa leather upholstery and heated outboard rear seats.
New 2026 Genesis GV70 Prices
|
Retail Price
|
Fair Purchase Price (92620)
|
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
$50,480 |
$47,400 |
|||
$53,380 |
$50,100 |
|||
$57,930 |
$54,400 |
|||
$61,290 |
$57,600 |
|||
$65,910 |
$61,900 |
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$72,590 |
$68,200 |
Favorite Feature
You pay more when you buy a luxury car, and much of what you’re paying for is professionals with great aesthetic judgment investing their care and time in design.
An automaker designing a more affordable mainstream car will often choose textures and colors with an eye toward keeping costs down. The same company makes different choices when designing a luxury car. This is where Genesis excels.
They pick more interesting colors, textures, and interior shapes than most. My GV70 tester wore a paint the company calls Ceres Blue that is gray-blue in sunlight and nearly purple in shadow.
Inside, it was upholstered in a creamy combination Genesis calls Vanilla, Beige, and Obsidian. It included soft Nappa leather in off-white with orange contrast-color stitching and orange seatbelts. The headliner in dark suede added a visual depth and softness, and showed that designers made careful choices even in spots you rarely touch.
Switchgear is real metal with a nickel look, with crystal-look knobs on the center console.
Buyers also have the choice of a cabin color scheme Genesis calls Ultramarine Blue, which I don’t think any other automaker would create in 2026. Color is gradually making its way back into luxury car interiors this year, but it’s happening as other automakers see Genesis take risks and decide they can, too.
Maybe getting so many little details right won’t set this apart for long.
What It’s Like to Drive
Genesis does a fantastic job with drive modes. The GV70 comes with five – Eco, Comfort, Sport, Sport+, and Custom. Each feels quite different than the others. The steering takes on a pleasant weight in Sport and Sport+.
In an old shorthand, automotive journalists often say that BMW is the performance luxury SUV brand and Lexus is the one to choose if you want a refined, cushioned ride.
The GV70, in Sport+, isn’t quite as athletic as a BMW product. But it’s very close.
The GV70, in Comfort mode, isn’t quite the serene lounge a Lexus product can be. But it’s very close.
That’s ideal – you can toggle back and forth between the two experiences.
The turbocharged V6 in GV70 3.5T models has a throaty rumble under acceleration and provides more power than you’ll ever need. I do suspect that the turbocharged 4-cylinder option is more than quick enough for most people.
One neat trick – the side bolsters of the front seats cinch into your sides just a bit when you switch into Sport or Sport+. That probably does little, in practice, to support you better in hard cornering. But it’s fun.
Interior Comfort and Technology
The GV70’s cabin is its best feature. Twenty-seven inches of screen surface curve behind the steering wheel, technically a separate driver’s information screen and central touchscreen, but so seamless they appear as one. It’s nearly the only rectangular shape in a cabin heavy on ovals and curves, which lends it a softness.
Metal switchgear and crystal knobs have real tactile weight, which feels like quality.
In 3.5T Sport Prestige AWD form, the upholstery is mostly plush Nappa leather. Other trims feature either real leather treated to slightly less extreme softening, but still pleasant to the touch, or convincing faux leather.
Quilted seats – heated and ventilated up front and heated at the outboard positions in the second row – are quite comfortable.
The Bang & Olufsen premium audio system in upper trim levels has more range than you might be used to in non-luxury cars, but can’t match the concert quality of the best systems in Lexus or Cadillac vehicles.
Limitations
The GV70 is a compact SUV and a little tight on space. That’s true of most compact SUVs, but this loses the second-row-legroom comparison, by a tiny margin, to many rivals. It makes up for it, somewhat, with more luggage space behind the second row.
Key Considerations
I question the value of 375 hp in a compact luxury SUV. The 300 of 4-cylinder models is more than enough highway passing power. That said, the 2.5T Sport Prestige AWD and 3.5T Sport Prestige AWD are not identical except for the engine. The V6-equipped model also comes with niceties like a higher grade of leather and a microfiber suede headliner. The price difference between the two is sharp enough, at more than $11,000, that I’d still probably opt for the less powerful engine.
