In 2009, a new affordable rear-wheel-drive performance car was making a buzz, and it didn’t come from the usual suspects. It wasn’t the then-new facelifted S197 Mustang GT, the reborn Camaro, or even the Nissan 370Z. Since the Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ didn’t exist yet, it was the Hyundai Genesis Coupe that was the hot, small, affordable coupe of the moment. Fourteen years later, it’s in the same place the iconic Fox Body Mustang was when it was a well-used car — a sedan-based coupe that despite its shortcomings, is willing to indulge in shenanigans.
In the beginning, there was Genesis. Specifically, there was the Hyundai Genesis sedan, a surprisingly cromulent Mercedes-Benz E-Class competitor complete with a waterfall grille and a Lexicon sound system. It’s not the car you’d expect to spawn an affordable sports coupe, but that’s exactly what happened. On March 19, 2008, a fire engine red Genesis Coupe slid onto the stage at the New York International Auto Show, quickly followed by a silver one and pyrotechnics, signaling to the world that Hyundai was here to party.
The Hyundai Genesis Coupe was unlike anything Hyundai had ever made up to this point. Rear-wheel-drive, choice of a two-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine or a 3.8-liter naturally-aspirated V6, a proper manual or a six-speed automatic with paddle shifter, available Brembo brakes, and an available limited-slip differential. It was radical enough to upset the automotive paradigm. As 0-60 Magazine wrote: “The rear-wheel-drive, affordable sports car we all wanted is here. Funny thing is Hyundai built it.”
Keep in mind, this was the same company that had only discontinued the Tiburon one year prior to the unveiling of the Genesis Coupe, and that thing was a long-in-the-tooth front-wheel-drive liftback coupe with its roots firmly in the early 2000s. Sure, you could get it with a 2.7-liter V6, but it had nothing on the Genesis Coupe when it came to looks, let alone oversteer.
On the face of things, the Genesis Coupe had some stuff going for it. Track and R-Spec trims got adjustable camber bolts and a Torsen limited-slip differential, the available Brembo brakes were fantastic, the optional V6 engine was strong with 306 horsepower on tap, and planting your right foot would happily send this coupe’s tail out. So why did we all forget about the Hyundai Genesis Coupe? Well, first shots are never perfect, and the Genesis Coupe didn’t quite feel finished. While it’s cool that this car exists, Car And Driver tore into the two-liter R-Spec model, writing out a list of faults.
Although the car’s primary controls are well positioned and the steering offers decent feedback, hustling the car beyond a commuting pace reveals the notchy and imprecise nature of the gearbox. The ride is rather poor; the chassis feels willing and stiff overall, but the springs and the shocks never appear to know what each other is doing, making for noticeable body movement and harsh, crashing impacts over most bumps. Then there’s the underpowered 2.0T. We’ve experienced firsthand turbo tuners that sabotage a car’s drivability in the quest for more boost, but until Hyundai decides to offer the 2011 Sonata sedan’s optional 274-hp, direct-injected turbo-four in the Genesis coupe, an outside supplier is the only way to get the extra oomph the coupe’s chassis can handle (stepping up to the V-6 notwithstanding).
The current engine’s 223 lb-ft of torque at 2000 rpm make for good low-speed drivability and the car is very controllable if you manage to get it a little sideways, but with only 210 hp on tap, the throttle has a limited say in the car’s behavior. What’s more, the 2.0-liter engine—the foundation of which Hyundai developed in an alliance with Mitsubishi and Chrysler—sounds coarse and droning at all speeds, delivering precisely zero invigorating noises of the type that make driving a good performance car special and fun.
Ouch. It didn’t help that in Car And Driver testing, the two-liter turbocharged Genesis Coupe in lightweight R-Spec trim ran from zero-to-60 mph in 6.8 seconds, which meant it could be handily beaten off the mark by a Honda Civic Si, let alone a Chevrolet Cobalt SS. In many ways, the 2010 Genesis Coupe felt like a cut-rate Infiniti G35. It tried to emulate a more expensive, more sorted coupe and didn’t quite make the grade.
Mind you, Hyundai is an automaker that moves fairly quickly. For the 2013 model year, the Genesis Coupe was facelifted, and it gained a raft of upgrades. The four-cylinder engine saw its output rise from 210 horsepower to 274 horsepower, and the V6 gained 42 horsepower for a total output of 348 horsepower. The automatic became an eight-speed unit, suspension tuning got revised, the interior gained some gauges, and new styling made the car more aggressive or a little bit frumpy, depending on how you feel about single-frame grilles and fake vents. While the improvements were significant and appreciable, they weren’t quite enough now that the Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ existed. Instead of a sporty coupe based on a sedan, thrill-seekers could have a sports coupe that drove like an actual sports car for cheap. However, that was 14 years ago, and this is now. Because everyone forgot about the Hyundai Genesis Coupe, they’re now going for even cheaper than the Scion.
For instance, here’s a 2010 Genesis Coupe 3.8 GT up for sale on Craigslist in New Jersey for $5,900. Sure, it may have a roof spoiler, 171,402 miles on the clock, and a Crown Royal bag as a shift boot, but it’s $5,900 for a post-recession rear-wheel-drive six-speed manual coupe. If it’s been through as many rear tires as that shift boot seems to indicate, it’ll survive whatever you throw at it.
Maybe you want a facelifted model. No problem, here’s a 2013 V6 six-speed manual car up for sale on Craigslist in Georgia for $6,000. Sure, it may have a conspicuous amount of plasti-dip visible, but again, here’s a reasonably quick rear-wheel-drive, six-speed manual coupe that’s more spacious than a Scion FR-S and still reasonably priced, given the current market.
The Hyundai Genesis Coupe isn’t the segment’s best all-around performance car, but the forgotten facelifted model is much better than the original, and overall, given its age and how cheap examples often go for, it’s a great fuck-around car, just like the Fox Body Mustang was when it was nigh-on 15 years old. It will indulge in all of the well-judged degeneracy you could want while still having enough amenities to feel somewhat modern. Every backroad peel-out and rainy empty parking lot skid you desire, it’ll oblige, and it’s easier to find a cheap Genesis Coupe than a similarly-priced not-clapped-out manual Infiniti G35. Sure, the two-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engines did have a reputation for going boom, but if you can find a V6 or don’t mind the idea that the next owner will be a scrapyard, a Genesis Coupe isn’t a bad way to explore rear-wheel-drive.
Plus, the Genesis Coupe is tuneable, with fairly strong aftermarket support. If you don’t like the suspension tuning, buy coilovers you’re fond of. A litany of power mods from flash tunes to turbos can wake up output, and a short shifter can fix the somewhat rubbery linkage. With a few bolt-ons, a Hyundai Genesis Coupe can be a cheap and somewhat sketchy source of fun, just like late Fox Body Mustangs were in the mid-2000s. If you’re just looking to screw around, this used Hyundai is a pretty good option.
(Photo credits: Hyundai, Craigslist Sellers)
Support our mission of championing car culture by becoming an Official Autopian Member.
-
The Acura RL SH-AWD Is An All-Weather Flagship Luxury Sedan That Won’t Leave You High And Dry
-
The 2nd-Gen Mercedes-Benz CLK Is A Pillarless V8 Coupe You Can Genuinely Afford
-
The Stylish, Ahead Of Its Time, Original Toyota Venza Now Offers Near-Lexus Refinement For Used Honda CR-V Money
-
The Lincoln MKZ 3.0T AWD Might Just Be The Cheapest Way To Get A Sedan With 400 Horsepower And Apple CarPlay
-
Here’s Why The 2006-10 Infiniti M45 Is The Greatest Sports Sedan You Forgot About
Got a hot tip? Send it to us here. Or check out the stories on our homepage.
It looked beautiful and I always loved it.
The restyling made it uglier, the front became really bland, but the profile has always been beautiful.
I’ve always seen these as disliked, partially for their cheap execution/lack of cohesion and partially for their drivers. As always, cheap sportiness is a double-edged sword.
Hi! Made an account just for this article!
The genesis coupe is slept on my journalists because simply there are faster cars, and cars that handle better than it. And cars that are faster and handle better. The beauty of the Genesis Coupe is the compromise between the two. It’s a great daily. I got a brand new rear drive 6speed turbo sports car for $24K in 2013. That’s new Corolla money today.
I’ve got a ’13 2.0T base 6speed, and i got it new. 77K miles. Only time it left me stranded was when a clutch slave cylinder went out at 63K, which was time for a new clutch anyways. I drove it like one should as a newer sports car haha
Mine is probably one of few bone stock examples left. Lots of kids molested these and wrecked em.
The torque curve on the twin scroll has peak torque 2500-4500 and then peak horsepower kicks in around 5500. This isn’t really a rev out engine, but man is it fun.
The 274HP/274lb-ft is perfect for city driving. You can hoon this around and shift through gears without being irresponsible and doing 90 in a 35. Being able to go full throttle in 2nd gear in the city is great.
The 6 speed is a little notchy, and has issues with 2nd gear lockout. People on forums have a fix for this but I haven’t bothered. I don’t track this car, or do anything more than just sporty daily.
I drove this car everyday until last year I got a 98 4runner to go camping with and keep miles off my Genesis Coupe.
If anyone has any questions about this car let me know!
RWD is always nice but 0-60 slower than a Chevy Bolt? No thanks.
The 4 cylinder base model is meh but the v6 gets there in 5.2 which isn’t bad at all.
BK2 genesis coupes are a lot faster, especially with the manual.
my hair stylist has one of these with over 350k miles. She is crushed the upkeep at this point is equaling a new car payment and for financial reasons she’s going to have to say bye bye soon. Good car. I will say, the guitar pick shaped window always bugged me, although without it, it would just be a boring looking car so for that reason alone I embrace it.
I really investigated these when I was looking for new transportation in the 20teens. There wasn’t one big thing that turned me off, but a bunch of little ones. I don’t have my notes anymore, and don’t feel comfortable trying to relay details, I just thought the other options out there were preferable for the money.
I suspect these are better than the journo snobs (apologies to present journo snobs) reviewed them as being, but given Hyundais engines tendencies to go boom and how hard these get ridden I’d say go with a V6 Mustang instead.
That’s mostly the 2.4Ls in any other of their cars. I’ve had my 13 2.0T since new with 77K and no issues with the power train.
They never sold these in the UK, which is a shame, as we’re fast running out of used RWD bargain cars here. Everyone buys fwd hatchbacks now, or, increasingly CUVs, which is even worse. The amount of Nissan Jukes you see on the roads here is, frankly, nauseating.
Oh come on, at least you can buy cool JDM cars yo
Aye, but not for cheap anymore :/
import one 😛
I very rarely see these anywhere anymore. And when you do, they are like the examples for sale here. Beat to shit and questionable choices made by the 3rd or 4th owner.
Korean Muscle LOL
Too bad they didn’t offer it with the Genesis sedan’s V8
Also, 2010 is the only year you could get the 2.0T Track, which the R-spec with more features like the sunroof. These still command a premium.
GM could only get 200 hp from its 3.8L V6, and even with a supercharger it only made 240 hp. This one kicked GM’s ass without the supercharger.
The Mustang was a boat with a live axle until the S550 came along. Maybe Hyundai made them step up their game.
That’s only sort of true, as by the time these launched in 2009, GM had been using their High Value and High Feature engines for most of a decade and the 3.8L was out to pasture. The High Feature 3.6L was making 304hp in 2010, so it was right in line the Hyundai Lambda V6.
I’d put my money on the old GM engine lasting a lot longer and it’s not like it was intended for a primarily sporting car (maybe a sporting trim of a primarily non-sporting model).
I always liked the look of these EXCEPT for that damn droop in the bottom of the rear quarter window after the door.. it’s like the designer sneezed and went “eh, we’ll keep it”.
I think it looks cool, gives it a little snark 😛
I had a first year ’10 3.8 Track. As much as I enjoyed it. There was always a sense of being less than the sum of its parts.
The gearing was all wrong. Felt like in was dragging around 500 extra pounds, or was 50hp short of the rating. The transmission, like C&D mentioned, was really bad. It was like rowing gears in a jar of crunchy peanut butter.
I looked at a new 2011 3.8 Track, as I was seriously considering one as a summer car. I could not believe that the manual in my Jeep Rubicon felt more refined than the one in the Genesis. The engine feeling down on power was also true, so I left the dealership pretty disappointed.
I had a new facelifted 2013 with the 2.0T.
It was a fun car but, living in a very rural area around uneducated people, I was frequently asked about my “Bentley” (had Genesis wing badges after market) which always was a bit cringe.
However that car is my main holdback on ever buying another Hyundai product again.
The dealership experience was the absolute scummiest and painful experience I have had making any automotive purchase and I had multiple issues with the powertrain all covered under warranty thankfully.
I ditched it within three years because I was tired of dealing with it.
I remember when the coupe came out, it immediately made it all the more obvious how half-baked the Tiburon was. The 3.8 is not exactly known for being a terribly long-lived motor. My friend’s 3.8 decided to chuck a cam phaser at 120k which ruined the motor. Still though, I bet an LS-swapped Genesis Coupe would be a pretty good time.
My daily is a Kona N. I wonder how hard it would be to swap in the engines from the Veloster/Elantra/Kona N?
When it comes to looks, like the fox body, it seems to be aging as well as the cast of ‘Gravity’.
The only ones under $6k near me are crashed, with most being over 10k.
Being a former Veloster owner we lusted after these as they were RWD, they have dropped in price a bunch. I would consider this as a fun car. Not sure how many watched “Burn Notice” but this car was the center of many a car chase!
As very obvious paid product placement to replace a Saab.
I’m skeptical…I had a 2007 Hyundai Accent and yes it was their base model car, and a decent one at that. Buuuut it had next to 0 sportiness in it’s DNA and really fell apart if you went more than 5/10, I’m having a hard time believing the that the same company then built incredible dynamics into a budget performance car even if I thought these were kinda cool when they came out. Didn’t they have a whole marketing campaign with driving videos set to the Smashing Pumpkins? Honestly isn’t the Nissan 240sx a better comparison than the fox body? Kinda sad they didnt’ keep refining this concept, I imagine gen 2 or 3 would’ve been quite good given Hyundai’s general trajectory.
I mean the same argument would stand that Chevy could never have been building a good Corvette or Camaro while the Aveo was still in production right? I think the bigger take away is recession era sub-compacts were just awful vehicles in general. I like to think of the Genesis Coupe as a statement of intent from Hyundai, showing what they could really do with the time, money and focus required. Shame we haven’t gotten follow-up generations, but the N division is doing some great stuff right now, so it softens the blow at least a little bit.
Touche-that’s a great point actually. I guess part of my skepticism is I also drove a 1st gen Tiburon once and was not impressed but again Hyundai was making big leaps with every car generation back then (still are?). Man a Modern N division RWD car would be so awesome.
I will say for argument’s sake GM might be the exception that proves the rule…most other car makers seem to have less variation of experience from model to model that I can think of off the top of my head.
Also I guess I forgot about the fact that the Aveo was made by GMs Korean division, which backs up your original point about Hyundai in that era haha. And MAN would I strongly consider an N division Miata/BRZ/86 fighter, especially if it was at or under similar pricing
Ha I’d forgotten that as well-and honestly having driven an Aveo at the time the Accent was a waaaay better car. It just wasn’t made to be enthuiastically driven.
Having been in a generation newer than yours Accent, that is extremely damning for the Aveo, and I already had a not great opinion of that thing. Big big yikes.
Nice of somebody to park those two cars just so in the topshot, sure is a perfect visual representation of the piece.
Can’t think of a recent trip of the 401 where I haven’t seen at least one of these with a body kit and a massive spoiler. I see so many that I hadn’t checked to see that they aren’t in production anymore.
Well, you’re wrong.
I had a 2010 2.0T that I drove for 8 years and 256,000km. That was, by FAR, the most comfortable road trip car I’ve ever owned. The entire cockpit layout just makes sense. Right down to a physical button to shut off the radio display.
I beat that poor car senseless as I was in my 20s. The original engine locked up at 161k, I gambled on an unknown used block for $500 and it only lasted a couple months.
Finally, I swapped the later 2.0 long block in to my gen 1 (you can swap everything over, turbo and all) and ran it till I sold it.
The two biggest downsides to that car are the 2010-2012 2.0T engines and the 6speed box is indeed notchy and unrefined compared to competitors. But for the price it’s hard to beat if you want a cheap RWD hoon mobile.
Weird. I really liked the seats around town, but the first road trip I took in my 2.0T Track, I was terribly uncomfortable and fatigued after only a couple of hours. I recognize that I’m not average size, but my old Supra was much more comfortable.
My biggest complaint is that the bolsters were too wide for my small frame. The 2015+ R-spec seats fixed that problem. But yeah, myself and several other owners have done 8+ hour stints in those seats with zero issue.
When I was car shopping in 2011 these were on my list. Sat in one and nope, was never going to be comfortable in it due to lack of headroom.
Sure, it may have a roof spoiler, 171,402 miles on the clock, and a Crown Royal bag as a shift boot
I kinda like the Crown Royal bag. It harkens the zeitgeist of the Foxbody.
I’m confused: if you used the Crown Royal bag for your shifter boot, where did you keep your weed & paraphernalia?
In the OTHER Crown Royal bag of course!
Wait…people bought that shit more than once? 😉
Yes, while still under the influence of the previous purchase.