2014 Equus Review: Are You Ready For A $70,000 Hyundai?

By Anh T. Huynh
published

Would you be willing to spend close to seventy grand on a high-end Hyundai? Loaded down with a 429-hp V8 engine, heads-up display, numerous driver aids, and a back seat full of amenities, the automaker wants to give value-seekers something to think about.

When Styling And Technology Clash

The 2014 Equus is a classy-looking sedan. It's fairly simple, but still exudes professionalism like its more entrenched competition. The luxury segment is less about stand-out aesthetics and more dependent on the subtle elegance that demonstrates maturity. You want to show that you've made it in life, while not being obnoxious. To that end, Hyundai incorporates a lot of chrome to give the Equus flash, but contrasts the highlights with black detail work. I really dig the turbine-style wheels, too. They evoke sportiness without sacrificing the car's luxury target, in my opinion. 

Blacked-out headlights make the front of the Equus more aggressive than it'd otherwise be. The car's attitude lightens up as you make your way to the back, finishing in a clean rear fascia, dual exhausts, and LED-based tail lights. The trunk lid's badge is the only Hyundai branding; the Equus has its own badge up front, on the wheels, and on the steering wheel. 

To folks who just don't know any better, the Equus can certainly pass for a Lexus...right up until it drives past and the Hyundai badge comes into view, of course.

From afar, the Equus' exterior looks sharp. It’s when you get up close and start examining the details that workmanship falls short of the Germans. The Hyundai Multi-view Camera System's front sensor is perhaps most offensive. Audi stealthily conceals the front camera on its cars. Meanwhile, Hyundai slaps it right on the center of the grille. The camera doesn't even sit flush. It protrudes straight out. Even Nissan does a better job hiding the optics on its Versa Note, and that's a sub-$20,000 vehicle. There's absolutely no excuse for the sloppy execution of such a prominent feature. 

At least the side and rear cameras are better-concealed. There's one built into each side-view mirror, and another hidden beneath the trunk lid's chrome beauty bar.

Anh T. Huynh
54 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Hyundai and Kia sure have come a long way.
    Reply
  • Blazer1985
    O.o it is an exact replica of a mercedes e-class. Even the interiors match completely... Or is it just me?
    Reply
  • pilsner
    O.o it is an exact replica of a mercedes e-class. Even the interiors match completely... Or is it just me?
    Yes, they took a lot of styling cues from Mercedes. The front grille, headlights and rear lights are quite similar to the E class Mercs. The first thing I thought when I saw the pictures on the first page of this article was "that looks like a Mercedes copy". Surely not coincidental - other Hyundai models look like 1-series or 3-series BMW. I do not think it is bad to take cues from successful design, it should just not be so obvious that it becomes the first thing people notice when they look at your car.
    Reply
  • tuanies
    All vehicle styling is derivative nowadays. However, the Equus is a pretty good Mercedes replica. But they are still new to the luxury class so they're banking on familiarity instead of trying to stand out for the people who want bargain luxury but still want people to ask if its a Mercedes Benz.
    Reply
  • 10tacle
    Hyundai with this car is where Lexus and Infiniti were in the late 1980s: going after BMW and Mercedes flagships (7-series, S-class respectively). However, the difference is that Lexus and Infiniti are strictly a luxury car brand off their parent companies. This car is, well, still a Hyundai. It has a certain class stigma to it. If I had $70k to spend on a luxury ride, I'd rather buy a two year old off-lease certified car by Mercedes, BMW, or Audi over this thing brand new. Any day of the week. If Hyundai wanted to go after the top dogs, they should have spun off their own Luxury brand to shed the image of an economy-class Korean label. Besides, it remains to be seen how well these latest Korean cars that have come out looking pretty good over the last two or three years or so hold up long term. I wouldn't bet on them for a long term keeper.
    Reply
  • brenro12
    O.o it is an exact replica of a mercedes e-class. Even the interiors match completely... Or is it just me?
    Yes, they took a lot of styling cues from Mercedes. The front grille, headlights and rear lights are quite similar to the E class Mercs. The first thing I thought when I saw the pictures on the first page of this article was "that looks like a Mercedes copy". Surely not coincidental - other Hyundai models look like 1-series or 3-series BMW. I do not think it is bad to take cues from successful design, it should just not be so obvious that it becomes the first thing people notice when they look at your car.
    Reply
  • brenro12
    Actually, it's a copy of the Lexus LS 460 which is a copy of the Mercedes S Class.
    Reply
  • BhimaJ
    My Hyundai Elantra is a solid car. Having said that, if I had $70k to drop on a vehicle, it has to be something really special, something that represents the best of what we can engineer today in that class and a nod to inspire the future. Honestly there really isn't another luxury car in this price class that competes with the Tesla S. It is simply a technologically superior car to any of the others on the market in its class.
    Reply
  • JoBales
    Strange how when perceived low-cost company Volkswagen tried to release the high-end, technologically sophisticated VW Phaeton in the U.S. a while back, it didn't sell enough to continue the model here. But Hyundai sells the Equus and it seems to be the sweetheart of the car mags and blogs. Truthfully, I'd take the VW before the Hyundai. Of course, VW did start selling higher end products like the Toureg now. Maybe if they'd done this before offering the Phaeton the marketplace might have accepted it easier. Of course, the problem there is that when you get into the 70k-100k field that Phaeton was in, you are in competition with VW's Audi luxury division which, considering the two, would be a no-brainer.
    Reply
  • tuanies
    12788079 said:
    Strange how when perceived low-cost company Volkswagen tried to release the high-end, technologically sophisticated VW Phaeton in the U.S. a while back, it didn't sell enough to continue the model here. But Hyundai sells the Equus and it seems to be the sweetheart of the car mags and blogs. Truthfully, I'd take the VW before the Hyundai. Of course, VW did start selling higher end products like the Toureg now. Maybe if they'd done this before offering the Phaeton the marketplace might have accepted it easier. Of course, the problem there is that when you get into the 70k-100k field that Phaeton was in, you are in competition with VW's Audi luxury division which, considering the two, would be a no-brainer.

    That was their problem, they competed with themselves. The Phaeton wasn't much cheaper than the A8. The Equus is significantly cheaper than a comparable LS460 and on the LS you can't have adaptive cruise control with the executive rear seating in the same package.

    The Phaeton is an awesome car though.

    Reply