Genesis GV60 review (2022 - 2025)

What is the Genesis GV60?

The Genesis GV60 is a mid-size luxury electric SUV, and was the first fully electric model from Genesis, Hyundai’s luxury arm. It plays rival to premium SUV competition such as the Audi Q4 E-Tron, BMW iX3, Jaguar i-Pace and Mercedes-Benz EQB.

Those are some very desirable cars, so how does it compete? Well, it’s based on the same underpinnings as the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and the Kia EV6, which on the face of it, might not sound like the most positive of starts when faced with premium competition. However, these are two of the most capable and likeable mid-size EVs around, and give the Genesis GV60 an incredibly solid base on which to work.

And how does the Genesis mark itself out? Well, it has an interior that's considerably plusher than you'll find in the products of its parent company, and sits perfectly comfortably within the premium market into which Genesis has thrust itself. It offers decent everyday practicality, a good driving experience, plenty of power, decent range and smart looks. Most of all, however, it offers one of the most unique and hassle-free buying and owning experiences anywhere in the car market, which might well be a massive draw for customers who are cash-rich but time-poor.

How practical is it?

Climb aboard the GV60, and the first thing that’ll grab you is the sense of space in the front seats. That’s thanks in part to the floating centre console and large windscreen, which results in good visibility out to the front. The interior is smartly finished (the ‘crystal sphere’ gear selector, which rotates to reveal a glowing orb when the car is turned off, is a particular highlight), the infotainment system is relatively intuitive, and the switchgear is clearly laid out and easy to use.

The back seats feel a little more claustrophobic due to the arching, coupe-like roof line, but there’s enough leg- and head room that you won’t find yourself feeling cramped. What’s more, each of the outer seats gets its own air vent and a cupholder in the door, a nice touch that makes you feel like you aren’t travelling second-class. It’s relatively easy to belt kids into the back, too, given this crossover’s tall stance.

The 432-litre boot is a touch on the small side when compared to that of a Volkswagen ID.5 or a Ford Mustang Mach-E, but you do get more room than you do in a Polestar 2. What’s more, the rear seat backs can be moved to a more vertical position, to create more boot space while still retaining the ability to carry passengers in the rear seats, although those passengers will have to sit uncomfortably upright.

What's it like to drive?

Even the entry-level Premium model is quite engaging to drive. You get a single 226bhp motor turning the rear wheels, which gives plenty enough shove for most people. It rides well enough, too, though it does sometimes clump its wheels into larger potholes, and on some motorway surfaces there’s a slightly wooden pitching sensation.

Upgrade to the Sport and you get an extra motor on the front wheels, which means four-wheel drive and a combined maximum output of 314bhp, However, it’s the top-spec Sport Plus that keen drivers will want to know about, with a whopping 429bhp on offer from its two electric motors. It’s more than fast enough to keep pace with a plethora of proper performance cars.

That’s not all, though. The Sport Plus features a boost mode, accessed by pressing a button on the steering wheel, which gives you an additional hit of 54bhp for 10 seconds, so that you can make overtakes with consummate ease. With it engaged, the Sport Plus can hit 0-62mph in just 4.0 seconds. There’s also a drift mode, intended for use off the public highway, which uses the Sport Plus’s standard electronic limited-slip differential to enable the driver to initiate power slides at will.

The Drift mode is a bit of a gimmick, but see past that and there’s no getting away from the fact that the all-wheel-drive Sport Plus corners with sensational grip and traction, tearing out of bends with immense ferocity. There isn’t all that much feel or deftness involved in the process – for that, you’ll want to look to the Jaguar I-Pace – but the GV60 still covers ground with an easily accessible intensity few EVs can match.

During the GV60's facelift in 2025, no changes were made to the powertrains themselves, but the names of the three versions were changed to Pure, Sport and Performance. All of them also got a new 84kWh battery to replaced the 77kWh one in the GV60 previously for a longer range.

Technology, equipment and infotainment

On early examples of the GV60, you didn’t actually get a lot of standard equipment with the entry-level GV60 considering how much the car cost. True, you did get LED headlights, adaptive cruise control, dual-zone climate control and digital dials, but then again, you’d rather expect these features as standard on a premium car in this day and age.

Moving up to the dual-motor Sport didn’t really get you any extra equipment, either, except for an upgrade to 20-inch wheels from the standard 19-inch items, and even if you splashed out on a Sport Plus the extra kit included is a little sparse: nappa leather upholstery, a suede headlining and 21-inch wheels were added.

Having said that, you did get adjustable suspension, which allows you to vary the suspension setup from soft to firm, and for a surprisingly modest fee you could upgrade this so that it can also read the road ahead using a camera and adjust the damping automatically when it senses a rougher surface. This works pretty well in practice, and although it doesn’t cure the GV60’s slightly sharp ride quality altogether, it does mean there’s no penalty for choosing the Sport Plus with its bigger wheels.

However, it’s worth noting that extras like heated seats and a heated steering wheel, which come as standard even on the most basic Kia EV6, were left to the options list even on the most expensive version of the GV60. What’s worse is that most options weren’t available individually, so if you want heated seats, for example, you'd have to specify them as part of the Comfort Seat Pack, which cost around £3,000.

A facelift in 2025 remedied this to an extent, adding more luxury kit to the standard roster. All versions now have heated front seats, a heated steering wheel, a power tailgate, a reversing camera and a wireless phone charger as standard. The names of the three versions have also been changed to Pure, Sport and Performance, and all three have been given a bigger 84kWh battery pack for a better driving range.

The facelift also brought a new infotainment layout. Rather than having two 12.3-inch screens sat side-by-side on top of the dashboard, these have now been combined into a single, massive 27.0-inch one-piece unit. The way in which the system works hasn't really changed, and it hasn't made the system any easier or better to use. It's rather complex and can take some getting used to before you can find your way around effectively, but at least you have separate air-con controls, and there's a rotary dial to scroll through menus with instead of relying solely on the touchscreen functionality.

Genesis GV60 running costs

When it was first launched, all GV60s got the same 77.4kWh battery pack. In the entry-level rear-wheel-drive Prestige version, this was good for an official combined WLTP driving range of up to 321 miles. The heavier four-wheel-drive versions - called Sport and Sport Plus - didn't do quite as well, with range figures of 292 miles and 289 miles, respectively, but these still aren't bad.

In 2025, the GV60 underwent a facelift that upgraded the battery to an 84kWh item. This improved the range of the entry-level car (now called Pure) to up to 348 miles, while the mid-range Sport improved to 318 miles, and the range-topper (now called Performance) improved to 311 miles.

With all these figures, though, view them very much as a best-case scenario. Even in perfect conditions, plan on getting around 15-20% less, and when it's cold or you're doing lots of high-speed motorway miles, plan on getting a lot less still.

Something all GV60s have always had, though, is extremely fast 350kW on-board charger, and this is a massive benefit. If you can find a DC public rapid charging point capable of supplying power at the same rate (although these are still rare at present), the GV60 has the potential to charge from 10% to 80% of its battery capacity in just 18 minutes. On a more widely available 50kW charger, though, that time increases to just over an hour, while at home, charging an empty battery up to full again will likely take between 12 and 14 hours. However, while charging at home takes a lot longer, it's also a lot cheaper. Overnight off-peak power will likely cost you around 10-15 pence per kWh, while at even relatively slow 50kW public chargers, it's not uncommon to see prices of 90 pence per kWh.

As for the GV60’s other running costs, well, there shouldn’t really be any: at least, not for the first five years. That’s the huge benefit of the package the GV60 comes with, and it means compared with any other EV on the market, it’ll cost next-to-nothing to run until it hits five years old. That’ll help to offset its rather high purchase price – indeed, when you consider how much you’ll save on servicing compared with other manufacturers, the Genesis doesn’t look like bad value after all.

Genesis GV60 reliability

Genesis is still a fairly new brand – it didn’t even exist in the UK until 2021 – and its cars sell in very small numbers. That means that there’s not really enough data around for us to be able to be able to make an accurate prediction on how well the GV60 will fare on the reliability front. So it’s a bit of an unknown.

However, the signs are promising. While Genesis isn't yet featured in the What Car? Reliability Survey, the brand is an offshoot of Hyundai, a Korean manufacturer known for its repeated good showings in that and other reliability surveys, and the same can be said of Kia, Hyundai’s sister brand. Indeed, those two firms finished 10th and 11th, respectively, in the brand standings of the most recent edition of the study (out of 31 carmakers considered). The GV60 is based on Hyundai and Kia mechanicals and uses those companies’ software and ancillaries, so in all likelihood, it should prove dependable.

Either way, that five-year warranty should add peace of mind; it means that even if your GV60 does go wrong, Genesis should be able to take it away and rectify any issues free-of-charge.