2026 Genesis GV70 3.5T Signature Sport review

The Genesis GV70 is proof there’s a lot to life beyond the familiarity of the BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi badges.

The cheapest variant is our reigning 2025 Drive Car of the Year Best Medium SUV Under $80K, impressing with its blend of space, luxury and features at a sharper price than its German competition.

For buyers with deeper pockets, Genesis will happily dial up the performance and luxury in more expensive GV70s, aimed at higher-end BMW X3, Audi Q5 and Mercedes-Benz GLC editions.

Is the most expensive petrol GV70’s juice worth the squeeze, or is the best value found at the bottom of the range?

On test in this review is the top-of-the-range Genesis GV70 with petrol power, the Signature Sport with a 279kW/530Nm 3.5-litre twin-turbo V6, priced from $100,800 plus on-road costs.

This vehicle is optioned with $2000 Ceres Blue Matte paint, and a no-cost Vanilla Beige interior, for a drive-away price in NSW of $112,497.

It’s a lot higher than the base four-cylinder GV70 Advanced’s $79,300 plus on-roads RRP – a cheaper V6 version is available, the $98,800 plus on-roads 3.5T Signature – but it undercuts the mid-tier sports versions of its key rivals.

The Audi SQ5 starts from $122,400, the Mercedes-AMG GLC43 is listed at $128,900, and the BMW X3 M50 xDrive is priced from $129,600, all before on-road costs.

About $100K plus on-road costs would only buy less potent four-cylinder versions of these vehicles (GLC300 from $105,100, for example).

Only a Volvo XC60 Ultra T8 is close on performance and price, at $101,990 plus on-road costs for a 340kW turbo-petrol plug-in hybrid. There's also a Tesla Model Y Performance for $89,400.

Standard features in the Signature Sport include matrix LED headlights, 21-inch wheels, adaptive suspension, sports styling, a 27-inch OLED interior display for instruments and infotainment, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a 6.0-inch climate-control screen, and a 16-speaker Bang and Olufsen stereo.

There are also 18-way power-adjustable heated and ventilated front seats, heated rear seats, nappa leather upholstery, a heated leather steering wheel, tri-zone climate control, wireless phone charging, keyless entry and start, a panoramic sunroof, a head-up display, and much more.

The latest generation of Genesis interiors have found fans at Drive for striking a great balance between the high-tech design of the Germans, and the plush, quality feel befitting of a luxury car.

The 27-inch OLED display is the star of the show – more on that in the next section – but it’s not just a big screen, with soft-touch materials everywhere from the door panels to knee pads on the centre console, plush suede headlining, and good build quality.

I would skip the cream upholstery option, as the seat bases of this test car were already starting to turn blue from the jeans of journalists who drove it before me, but there are three other colours available, all using the same supple nappa leather material.

Orange seatbelts and contrast stitching set the Sport grade apart, plus alloy pedal covers, and a lovely three-spoke steering wheel with a thick but purposeful leather-trimmed rim, and easy-to-use buttons, though the touch pad on the right spoke is a little fiddly.

Front-seat comfort is excellent, with no fewer than 18 ways of adjustment, including plenty of under-thigh support and lumbar control, an inflatable cushion for your calves, and bolsters that tighten automatically in Sport mode (or via controls on the seat bases).

Visibility is good out of all sides of the car, with plenty of space for drivers to get comfortable – helped by a power-adjustable steering column, with memory for it, the seats, and mirrors – and a high seating position.

Not as good is the rotary-dial gear shifter, which is easy enough to use on its own, but it has been placed beside a similarly sized rotary dial to control the infotainment system, so quick three-point turns require more attention than they ought to.

Genesis has retained volume, tuning, and air temperature dials, but other climate-control functions, as well as infotainment shortcuts, are relegated to touch-sensitive buttons that can be fiddly to use.

Storage under the front-centre armrest is decent, but it’s limited elsewhere, with a smallish glovebox, tight door pockets, and no oddment storage along the centre console, aside from the cupholders.

The GV70 isn’t short on amenities, though: two USB-C ports, a wireless phone charger with ventilation, UV-C sterilisation for your phone’s screen, a 12-volt socket, heated and ventilated front seats, a heated steering wheel, panoramic sunroof, head-up display, auto-dimming rear-view mirror, and even a fingerprint reader to start the engine.

Six-foot-tall (183cm) adults can fit behind similarly sized front-seat passengers comfortably, but it is not as cavernous as it could be in the rear, with head room starting to tighten for those above 190cm, a wide central floor tunnel, and reclining but not sliding seats.

The outboard positions are heated, there’s a third climate-control zone for the rear seats – with a panel to control it – and amenities are well accounted for, with map pockets, (albeit small) door pockets, retractable window shades, and a fold-down armrest with cupholders.

There are two USB-C ports on the front seatbacks, where rear passengers can also adjust the front passenger seat to unlock more space when stopped. Outboard ISOFIX and three top-tether anchors are also fitted.

Open the power tailgate – via a button on the rear wiper, or a kick sensor under the bumper – and you’ll find respectable space for an SUV of this size, with no load lip to clear but a fair distance from the ground to lift items up into the cargo area.

There is a 12-volt socket, a light, and tie-down points to access, plus a space-saver spare under the floor, alongside space to stow the cargo cover, but not much else. The rear seats fold flat in a 60:40 split.

Refreshed in late 2024, the facelifted GV70 featured a revised interior technology package: a super-wide 27-inch OLED screen that houses the touch-capable infotainment on its left side, and the instrument cluster ahead of the driver.

It’s a clear differentiator from a similarly-sized Hyundai unit, and looks fantastic. Its resolution and response times are acceptable, but not class-leading, and while the menu structure is confusing at first, we’ve found it’s something you learn quickly.

Wireless and wired versions of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are included, as well as satellite navigation, and AM, FM and digital DAB radio.

We thought the Hyundai group’s wireless smartphone connectivity issues were behind it, but we had frequent drop-outs of wireless CarPlay, and was unable to reconnect without giving the car a few hours to itself, no matter how many times we disconnected and reconnected our phone from Bluetooth, and restarted it and the car.

The touch-sensitive buttons below the screen are a little fiddly to use on the move, as is the climate control, but they’re better to have than not.

Should you not want to touch the screen, there’s a rotary controller for navigating menus, which includes a handwriting recognition pad for entering navigation routes and other keyboard-related functions.

The instrumentation side of the widescreen display is also excellent, offering customisation from two conventional dials to a full-screen map, and modes that blend content between both sides of the screen.

A head-up display is also standard in all model grades.

In our opinion, the 16-speaker Bang and Olufsen audio system is a step up over the Bose stereo in a high-end Hyundai, as well as a Mercedes-Benz’s Burmester, but it doesn’t have the measure of the B&O system in an Audi, nor the Bowers and Wilkins in a Volvo or BMW.

Access to Genesis Connected Services is included in the price, which includes an SOS emergency call function, a valet mode, weather and calendar integration on the screen, and a phone app with remote control of locks, lights, and climate control, remote viewing of the car’s cameras, and diagnostics information.

The Genesis GV70 is covered by a five-star safety rating from ANCAP, based on testing conducted in 2021 by its European counterpart Euro NCAP.

However, it only covers four-cylinder and electric variants, with the 3.5-litre twin-turbo V6 model left unrated.

A long list of safety features is standard on the Genesis GV70, from basics such as lane-keep assist, to tricks such as blind-spot cameras during lane changes, and remote parking in parallel, perpendicular and diagonal spaces from the key fob when standing beside the car.

Highway Driving Assist 2 builds on common lane-centring technology – which holds the car in the middle of the lane on freeways – with automatic lane changes, activated by a flick of the indicator stalk.

Adaptive cruise control is well calibrated, as is the autonomous emergency braking system, and the parking cameras are high-resolution, but some of the car’s other driver-assistance features would benefit from a bit more refinement.

Lane-keep assist is a little too active for my liking – tugging on the wheel when you’re close to the white line, rather than over it – while the driver monitoring camera is prone to beeping at the driver for inattention sooner than we’d like.

Blind-spot monitoring is also on the sensitive side, often chiming at the driver when they are making a lane change, and a car is two lanes across.

There is an overspeed warning that sounds when the car has exceeded the speed limit detected by the traffic sign recognition tech, but as with all systems of its type, it is prone to misreading sounds, and beeping it incorrectly believes the driver is speeding.

It’s easy to turn off – holding the mute button on the steering wheel for a few seconds – but it needs to be done every time the car is started, as do the other safety features, which are controlled via a menu in the touchscreen that can be pinned to the multifunction button on the steering wheel.

There is also a menu to turn down the volume of some of the safety systems.

Genesis vehicles are covered by a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty, unless they are used for commercial purposes such as ride-sharing or an airport shuttle, in which case coverage drops to five years/130,000km.

The GV70 is the only petrol-powered model in the Genesis range with service intervals of 12 months or 15,000km, whichever comes first, compared to 12 months/10,000km.

The first five services are complimentary, as part of an ownership package that includes a 24/7 concierge hotline, and roadside assistance for five years as standard, with every scheduled service at a Genesis dealer thereafter adding 12 months.

Customers who live within a 70km driving distance of a Genesis showroom can have their car picked up for its service by a brand representative, left with a loan car – for the first five rounds of scheduled maintenance, at least – and returned once maintenance is complete.

It’s a great offering for customers that is hard to match at this end of the luxury-car market.

A year of comprehensive insurance coverage with a leading provider is quoted at $2313, based on a comparative quote for a 35-year-old male living in Chatswood, NSW. Insurance estimates may vary based on your location, driving history, and personal circumstances.

The Genesis GV70’s biggest weakness is fuel consumption.

Twin-turbo petrol V6 variants claim fuel consumption in mixed conditions of 11.3 litres per 100 kilometres, across 8.6L/100km in extra-urban driving, and a significant 15.9L/100km in urban areas.

These figures were derived from lab testing, but we were able to get surprisingly close in the real world, the trip computer displaying consumption of about 8.0 to 9.0L/100km in extra-urban and freeway driving, and as much as 16L/100km around town.

Overall, we returned an indicated 13.3L/100km, with a skew to city and enthusiastic country driving.

Close to the claim they may be, but these fuel-consumption results are still high for a mid-size SUV, even one with the performance of the V6 GV70 – a BMW X3 M50 xDrive claims 8.2L/100km in mixed driving and 9.9L/100km in urban areas.

The four-cylinder model isn’t much better, claiming 10.3L/100km in mixed conditions, only one litre per 100 kilometres lower. A four-cylinder hybrid GV70 is on the way; something that will be very welcome.

Genesis quotes a minimum of 95-octane premium unleaded petrol for the V6, though it says it is “compatible” with E10 (10 per cent ethanol) fuel, equivalent to about 94 octane.

The 66-litre fuel tank can deliver an 825km driving range if the GV70 is using petrol at 8.0L/100km, but at 16L/100km, that is just 413km – less than the claimed range of the electric GV70 (462km).

The star of the show in the most expensive petrol Genesis GV70 is the engine, a 3.5-litre twin-turbo petrol V6.

Outputs of 279kW and 530Nm are on par with its rivals from Germany, but the GV70’s greater heft – at more than two tonnes – means zero to 100km/h takes 5.5 seconds as tested, which is on par with a quick hot hatch and nearing V8 muscle car territory.

In regular driving, it’s a lazy, relaxed engine with lots of low-down torque to lean on, but put your foot down and – after a moment of turbo lag – there’s no shortage of shove on offer, backed by a bassy note as it pulls hard to redline.

The eight-speed automatic transmission is not the last word in crispness or shift speed, and there is a hint of lag from a standstill, but it is a smooth, intuitive partner in around-town driving, and is decisive in its gear shifts when needed.

Sport in Genesis-speak means a vehicle not quite as aggressive and focussed as a BMW X3 M50 or Mercedes-AMG GLC43, which is a great thing for day-to-day comfort and usability.

There is a taut edge to the way the adaptive suspension deals with sharp bumps, but it is never harsh or uncomfortable, and it’s refreshingly supple over speed humps and most other road imperfections drivers will encounter around town.

Switching the dampers from Comfort to Sport naturally dials in some additional firmness, but even on a bumpy country-road test loop Drive uses regularly, it has enough compliance to deal with potholes and rough tarmac.

There’s a reassuring heft to the steering around town, but it’s not too weighty to make parking a chore, and it’s a quick rack, which means fewer hand-over-hand manoeuvres – but also that you find yourself running out of steering lock faster than you expect.

Sport mode increases the steering weight, alongside making the transmission more responsive and firming up the suspension, but there is no more feel transmitted through the steering rack, and it becomes a bit too heavy for our tastes.

Find a winding road and the GV70 handles itself well. It is not as engaging as an X3 M50, but it strikes a safe dynamic balance – that favours running wide (understeer) over being lairy and wanting to kick its tail out (oversteer) – with reasonable grip from the Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tyres, and good mid-corner stability.

A Sport+ mode is available that turns vehicle systems to maximum attack, but it also winds down the intrusiveness of the stability control, so we spent most of our time in My mode, which allows customisation of various vehicle parameters.

Drivers can choose between Comfort and Sport modes for the brake pedal response, the latter adding a firm and ‘grabby’ character to the under-foot feel that’s not always welcome in traffic.

Emergency braking performance is excellent, however, pulling up from 100km/h on our satellite timing equipment in 36.7 metres – on par with hot hatches.

There is a fair bit of wind noise at 110km/h to drown out with the stereo, but tyre roar is well contained, and the adaptive LED headlights are outstanding, with superb brightness and range under low and high beams, and well-tuned tech that blanks out part of the high-beam lights to avoid blinding oncoming drivers.

The petrol Genesis GV70 is rated to tow 2200kg braked or 750kg unbraked, which is par for the prestige mid-size SUV class.

However, the maximum towball downweight is rated at 159kg – less than the 220kg (10 per cent) often recommended for braked towing.

A payload – the maximum mass of passengers, cargo and accessories the vehicle is legally rated to carry – of 532kg can be calculated from the tare mass and gross vehicle mass (GVM).

Once a full tank of fuel is added (about 50kg), it’s enough for four 100kg passengers and plenty of cargo, or five 90kg occupants and a boot full of luggage.

The Genesis GV70 is an excellent mid-size luxury SUV that beats a different drum to its German and Japanese rivals, for the better.

It is at its best in flagship twin-turbo petrol V6 form – powerful and capable when you want it to be, and quiet and supple when you don’t – with a luxurious cabin, long list of features, and an ownership package that’s hard to match at this price.

It’s not perfect – fuel consumption is high, even compared to six-cylinder rivals; the safety systems would benefit from further fine-tuning, and Genesis is still a relatively new brand, which is something felt in the number of dealers and projected resale value of the vehicle.

Should those weaknesses not trouble you, the GV70 should be near the top of the consideration list for customers in the market for a luxury SUV around $100,000.

Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family. Highly Commended - Young Writer of the Year 2024 (Under 30) Rising Star Journalist, 2024 Winner Scoop of The Year - 2024 Winner

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