A Much Improved Interior
Step into the driver’s seat and you’re treated to a completely new interior, and it’s leagues ahead of the previous generation. The materials are excellent, with an abundance of soft touch surfaces, and leather comes standard. The layout resembles the flagship Equus, but further refined, with an improved switch gear. We like that Hyundai coats all the switches with a rubberized texture that’s soft and smooth to touch.
The center stack features a clean-looking analog clock. While we complained about the lack of a digital clock on the Equus, the 2015 Genesis sedan solves this problem and also provides the function at the top of the infotainment screen. Overall, the 2015 Genesis sedan interior layout isn’t as good as an Audi, but it definitely gives BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Lexus a good run for the money.
If the standard leather and fake wood trim isn’t luxurious enough, the Ultimate Package adds real matte wood and aluminum trim. All of the vehicles present at the launch event had the Ultimate Package. We found the real wood and aluminum well-executed. It looks very good and gives the interior an extra touch of class.
Front heated seats are standard on the Genesis sedan, but those who want ventilated seats have to add the Signature Package, or step up to the 5.0 V8. Heated rear seats and steering wheel are only available on AWD sedans. We tested the heated and ventilated seats, but they were a little disappointing. The seat heaters got warm, but not quite as toasty as an Audi, VW, or Ford. The ventilated seats cooled enough to prevent your rump and lower back from sweating, but they never felt cold like seats that pipe A/C through.
Hyundai uses traditional analog gauges with an LCD display sandwiched in-between. The standard display is a 4.3-inch LCD, which we didn’t get to experience. The Genesis sedans we drove had the optional 7-inch LCD, which is part of the Technology Package. It looks good in the gauge cluster, but doesn’t offer any advanced functions as its German competition has, but still a step above the display used in the Lexus GS series.
The usual functions are available with a lane keep assist, audio, and turn-by-turn navigation displays. The audio tab is disappointing as it only shows the music source and station for SiriusXM. It would be nice if the display showed the track information as well. You can adjust your vehicle settings in the gauge cluster LCD too, which includes driver assists, door locks, HUD adjustments, and more.