Hyundai’s luxury brand Genesis has been attracting increasing attention over its relatively short lifespan, and I recently had the opportunity to test drive a 2023 electrified GV70 SUV to see how the infotainment experience stacks up for an iPhone owner.
My test vehicle was a high-prestige trim with a beautiful 14.5-inch widescreen center screen, complemented by a 12.3-inch all-digital driver display featuring autostereoscopic 3D technology, plus an additional head-up display for viewing key information. Take your eyes off the road.
Infotainment displayThe GV70’s center display is mounted high on the dashboard and set a decent amount, which puts it in a good place to look without looking too far away from what’s in front of you, but the position and widescreen dimensions keep it within a bit of reach via the touchscreen. . To combat this, the Genesis includes a rotary controller and several buttons within easy reach of the driver on the center console.
Above the rotary shifter dial is the rotary controllerThe rotary controller includes a dial to navigate between user interface elements and you can press the dial to register your selection, but the dial can be rocked to move more quickly between pages and sections of the system. The controller’s surface is also touch-sensitive, allowing you to draw characters when trying to search for destinations or perform other tasks that require text entry. Voice commands are usually a much better method for this.
In addition to the rotary controller, the console has several buttons located directly above it for quick access to specific functions of the infotainment system, including dedicated home, menu and back buttons. Scroll-style buttons also allow for easy volume and tuning adjustments.
Steering wheel controlsSteering wheel controls are another method for controlling some infotainment functions, and there’s another strip of buttons on the center stack below the climate controls with quick access to map, navigation, radio and media functions. The strip and steering wheel each have a user-configurable “Star” button that can be set to jump you directly into CarPlay.
And yes, the climate controls have their own dedicated section separate from the main infotainment screen and have a combination of physical and digital controls that work quite well. The driver and passenger each have a knob to adjust the temperature on their respective side of the cabin, and beyond these dials are additional commonly used controls.
Dedicated climate controlThese climate controls aren’t separate buttons, but the small panels they’re on move when pressed, providing some tactile feedback. Other settings like heated and cooled seats, heated steering wheel, and manual fan speed adjustments are built into the digital screen, so they’re difficult to operate by feel, though they provide some haptic and audio feedback when pressed.
Menu screen for native infotainmentFor the most part, the native infotainment system has a sleek, modern look, with high-resolution graphics and a logical layout of screens and panels that are easy to navigate using rotary controllers or by touch.
the sound of natureA full array of functions are available from SiriusXM, from onboard navigation to EV data. There’s even a variety of soothing nature sounds that can be piped throughout the cabin and a weather app with a radar view.
Built-in navigationOnboard navigation is functional and helpful with both an overview and next-turn view simultaneously available during a route, but could stand some modernization to better match other infotainment systems.
In the driver’s display, the Genesis includes the neat Blind-Spot View Monitor system that Hyundai has offered for several years, which uses a camera in the side-view mirror to display a live video feed of your blind spot in a given direction when you engage your turn signal. . It’s a handy feature that I wish was common in more brands.
Driver display with stereoscopic 3D view and blind-spot view monitorThe other clever driver’s display feature that comes as part of the Prestige package on the GV70 is the 3D aspect. It’s something you have to experience in person to fully appreciate, but it takes advantage of parallax with offset images to turn the gauges and other digital aspects of the instrument cluster into three-dimensional representations that give a sense of depth.
A camera pointed at the driver tracks their position and gaze, adjusting the 3D effect accordingly. The whole thing is a bit gimmicky, but it’s kind of neat and stands out as something to help differentiate the higher-end Genesis trims.
USB port and wireless charging pad on the center consoleThe GV70 has a pair of USB-A ports (one for charge and data and one for charging only) in a small cubby in the center console that also houses a wireless Qi charger. As with many car chargers, getting a reliable wireless charging connection can be difficult, possibly due to the slab-style charger design and the iPhone’s camera bump and case lip interfering with the charger’s location.
Rear climate control and USB charging portBehind the center console are climate controls and a pair of USB-A charging ports for rear passengers.
Carplay
As you’d expect, the electrified GV70 supports CarPlay, but unfortunately only through a wired connection. The Genesis currently suffers from an odd split of Hyundai’s infotainment systems where lower-end systems support both wired and wireless CarPlay while higher-end systems with built-in navigation only support wired CarPlay. Hyundai and Genesis are rumored to add wireless CarPlay to some of these high-end systems on select models via a software update in the relatively near future, but we’ll have to see if that pans out.
‘CarPlay’ home screenSo if you want to use ‘CarPlay’, you’re going to plug your phone in, and it’s unfortunate that a more modern USB-C port isn’t included. There’s a spring-loaded cover to help keep things hidden in the charging and USB compartments, but if you’ve got a Pro Max-sized iPhone with a cable stuck at the bottom for CarPlay, you’ll have a hard time getting that cover off. . to close properly
Apple Maps in ‘CarPlay’CarPlay looks great on the GV70’s widescreen display, which leaves enough room for a sidebar on the right where you can view other functions from the native infotainment system. You can view your current radio station or audio track information, a compass, a dedicated clock, car battery information, and more.
Now the screen is playing in CarPlayOn the downside, CarPlay is a single-screen experience on the GV70, as it doesn’t get the latest dual-screen experience recently rolled out on Volvo and a few other brands, and it also doesn’t get the more basic Apple Maps. Navigation prompts on the driver display or head-up display found in many vehicles. Navigation prompts from the native navigation system appear on the head-up display, so this is a plus for using the Hyundai/Genesis system.
‘CarPlay’ dashboard viewfinish
The Genesis electrified GV70 starts at a little over $65,000, with my test model’s Prestige package, a paint upcharge and destination fee pushing things to just shy of $75,000. It’s not cheap, and it clocks in at just 236 miles of range (and a bit less than that in real-world reviews), but overall it’s a fun drive with a boost mode that lets you go 0-60 in under four seconds.
It is packed with technology from the gorgeous center display to the 3D driver’s display to the fingerprint authentication system. My main gripes on this front are the lack of wireless connectivity for CarPlay, the USB-A port instead of USB-C and an awkward phone storage/charging setup.
Hopefully, these issues will be resolved in upcoming model years (or via software updates to existing models, such as for wireless CarPlay), but still if the issues aren’t deal-breakers and you’re willing and able to spend that kind of money. For cash, the electrified GV70 is a pretty attractive package. A gasoline-powered version is also available for a fixed-premium but significantly lower price tag, but you’ll miss out on fun EV features like zippy acceleration.
