Text by Tom Appel
2025 Genesis GV80 Prestige AWD
Specs
Class: Premium Midsize Crossover
Color: Savile Silver
Seating Capacity: 5
Miles driven: 154
Real-world fuel economy: 19.8 mpg
| CG Report Card | |
|---|---|
| Room and Comfort | A- |
| Power and Performance | B+ |
| Fit and Finish | A |
| Fuel Economy | B- |
| Value | A |
| Report-card grades are derived from a consensus of test-driver evaluations. All grades are versus other vehicles in the same class. Value grade is for specific trim level evaluated, and may not reflect Consumer Guide's impressions of the entire model lineup. | |
| Big & Tall Comfort | |
| Big Guy | B+ |
| Tall Guy | A |
| Big & Tall comfort ratings are for front seats only. "Big" rating based on male tester weighing approximately 350 pounds, "Tall" rating based on 6'6"-tall male tester. | |
| Drivetrain | |
| Engine Specs | 375-horsepower 3.5-liter |
| Engine Type | Turbocharged V6 |
| Transmission | 8-speed automatic |
| Drive Wheels | AWD |
Driving mix: 60% city, 40% highway
EPA-estimated fuel economy: 16/22/19 (city, highway, combined)
Fuel type: Premium gas
Base price: $79,300 (not including $1350 destination charge)
Options on test vehicle: Special paint ($650)
Price as tested: $81,300
Pros and Cons
The great: Posh, comfortable cabin, quietness, long list of standard comfort and convenience features
The good: Satisfying acceleration, distinctive styling
The not so good: Average fuel economy, steering and handling composure aren’t quite at the level of class leaders
Review
Folks can get cranky about change. While consumers want new-feeling stuff to replace their old stuff, those same shoppers are likely to balk if the new-feeling stuff feels too new. The folks at Genesis seem to understand this.
Consider Tesla and its four-car lineup (excluding the Cybertruck). While Tesla has retailed more than six million electric cars in its roughly 15 years in the business, it hasn’t meaningfully updated any of those vehicles. As a result—and thanks in part to an onslaught of new EV competition—Tesla’s market share is falling rather dramatically, likely making 2024 the brand’s first non-record-sales year. In a nutshell, Tesla needs to freshen its product line, or shoppers will wander elsewhere. (Now, Tesla has other problems, but I digress.)
Changes
Just freshened for the 2025 model year, the Genesis GV80 midsize crossover is easily the Korean luxury carmaker’s most conventional offering, and while it has been updated for 2025, returning buyers will find the GV80 fresh, but also comfortingly familiar.
New for ’25 is a redesigned grille and headlamp setup, new wheel offerings, new colors, and a redesigned instrument panel and touchscreen, which we will talk more about in a moment. Also new for 2025 is a GV80 “Coupe.” Not a coupe in the purest sense (the GV80 Coupe features four doors), the new body style boasts a fastback sloping roofline and generally more rakish silhouette. You can read more about the GV80 Coupe here.
Engines
The non-Coupe GV80 is otherwise unchanged, and remains powered by either a 300-horsepwower 2.5-liter turbocharged 4-cyinder engine, or beefy 375-horsepower turbocharged 3.5-liter V6. Both engines mate exclusively with an 8-speed automatic transmission, and all GV80s come with standard AWD.
Prices and Trim Levels
For 2025 the ’80 is offered in six trim levels: 2.5T Standard ($59.050), 2.5T Select ($60.050), 2.5T Advanced ($66.950), 2.5T Prestige ($71,800), 3.5T Advanced ($75,150), 3.5T Prestige ($80,650).
Note that only the 3.5T Advanced comes with a 3rd-row seat, increasing passenger capacity from 5 to 7. All other GV80 trim levels come only with 5-passenger accommodations.
Consumer Guide recently spent a week behind the wheel of top-of-the-line 2025 GV80 3.5T Prestige in Savile Silver. Including destination charge, our test car came to $81,300.
Controls
In keeping with recent design trends, the 2025 GV80 now features a single, contiguous screen which replaces both the instrument panel and the center-console touchscreen. The look is clean and modern, and the touchscreen section of the element operates much as it did prior to the update. That said, we find menu operation somewhat less intuitive than it used to be, though we quickly learned our way around the new system. Other changes include the relocation of climate controls further up the console. Though this opens up more center-console space, the climate controls seem a little cramped in their new locale.
Cabin
The GV80 cabin is otherwise as warm, open, and welcoming as before. As we’ve noted several times elsewhere, the GV80 cabin would not disappoint in a Bentley, and features class-leading materials and workmanship. Space, too, is generous, as this large editor found plenty of room behind the wheel of the big Genesis, as well as easy access via the crossover’s generously sized door opens. The rear seat is only marginally less accommodating. And, speaking of the cabin, the standard Bang & Olufsen-brand audio system does an impressive job reproducing the mid-century American jazz favored by this editor.
Power and Performance
Underway the GV80 impresses as it always has. Though not as overtly sporty as similar offerings from Audi or BMW, the Genesis delivers plenty of smooth and useful power. The large, turbocharged V6 sounds both sporty and refined, and serves up immediate power from a stop, and ample muscle for passing and merging. The standard 8-speed automatic provides silky and timely shifts, and is rarely felt in routine driving conditions.
Ride and Handling
Ride quality is also top notch, with the suspension filtering out most minor road imperfections, while deftly handling larger ruts and potholes. Unlike its European brethren, the GV80 does want for steering feel, lacking the precision and reassuring heft of even mainstream crossovers including the Honda Passport and Pilot. Handling in general is competent, bordering on athletic, but the GV80 isn’t as much fun to drive as an Acura MDX or BMW X5. That said, the GV80 is far more engaging to pilot than the famously refined but utterly stoic Lexus RX.
Value
We’re big fans of the Genesis GV80. The largest Genesis crossover melds premium-car comfort with crossover utility, and long-drive passenger comfort. And, as we’ve noted recently when discussing the brand, while Genesis product are no longer bargains, they remain excellent values in the class, and trump all comers when it comes to cabin décor and materials quality.
The updates for 2025 are in line with industry trends, and don’t add that much to the vehicle’s overall appeal, but that’s OK, the GV80 was already an outstanding option in the Premium Midsize Crossover segment. A perennial Consumer Guide Best Buy, we find the GV80 to be among the smartest and most-rewarding picks in the Premium Midsize Crossover class.
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2025 Genesis GV80 3.5T Prestige Pictures
Click below for enlarged images
