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.

Rear-Seat Comfort

Slide into the Equus' rear seats and you'll find what appears to be a standard three-person bench. Even though it's a luxury vehicle, this flagship will sit three back seat passengers comfortably. The two outboard positions are adjustable, and recline, so that you can kick back in comfort.

Additionally, the rear passenger-side seat has access to a Relax mode that pushes the front chair forward for maximum legroom. To make sitting back there sweeter, the rear seats are heated, ventilated, and armed with lumbar adjustments. Heck, the Equus' rear seats have more available adjustments than the driver's chair in a lot of inexpensive compact cars.

The car we drove around came with a rear entertainment system made evident by two 9.2-inch LCD displays and a matching set of controls hidden in a fold-down rear armrest. Unlike Audi's A8L, which features a second dedicated control unit for use independent of the front seats, passengers in the Equus must tap into the same system as the driver. Navigation, music, and some climate controls are all accessible. Rear passengers can also set a navigation destination, though the driver is able to lock them out just as easily. 

Unfortunately, there aren't any USB charging ports in the back. Hyundai does provide two 12 V cigarette lighter outlets in the center console. But a pair of high-amperage USB connectors would have been far more ideal.

The actual entertainment component of Hyundai's so-called rear entertainment system is actually pretty weak. You only get a DVD player as the primary source. That's not even the disappointing part, though. More unfortunate is the lack of separate playback sources for front and rear passengers. If the folks in the backseat want to watch a DVD, the driver can choose to listen along or shut down the system completely. And there is no support for wireless or wired headphones. Rather, sound is piped in through the Equus' cabin speakers. Without question, this collection of technology lacks the polish we'd expect from a luxury car.

It's hard to avoid, though. The rear entertainment system comes standard on the Equus Ultimate. And despite its lackluster implementation, you'll still pay about $3000 less for this ride as-configured than Lexus' base LS460. Just keep in mind that Hyundai retains is value message, even in the face of strong competition.

Powered side and rear sunshades round out the backseat's spin on comfort. The door-mounted shades are controlled by a switch next to the window control, putting everything in arm's reach. A button on the back of the center console takes the rear sunshade up or down, and there's another switch up front giving the driver similar control. Putting the Equus into reverse automatically retracts the sunshade, too.

The Equus' back seat is, overall, a comfortable place to be. It’s not going to blow your mind with lavish extras like a German luxury car, but keep price in perspective; Hyundai still delivers a high-end experience.

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