Driven: 2025 Genesis GV80 Coupe e-SC – Genesis Does What BMWon't in the Coupe SUV Sector

But no, CUVs are anything but extinct. In fact, the folks at Genesis might have ushered in an entire gosh-darn renaissance on the form factor. This is the all-new 2025 Genesis GV80 Coupe e-SC, and it's so much better than a CUV has any right being. It's actually not the first South Korean Coupe SUV; that title belongs to the Ssangyong Actyon, which was ironically released two years before the BMW X6 made the CUV breed a punchline. But even if it's not the first outright, it still is in North America. So, the addition of a fresh face to challenge the domination of German brands with a sprinkling of Japanese offerings from time to time can only be a positive. As you'll find, that's far from the only upside.

Across the backroads between the Minnasottan twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, I got a first-hand look at the first coupe utility vehicle that won't make normies who don't care about cars grit their teeth when they see you in traffic. It's also fabulously good fun to drive and surprisingly practical as a family hauler, so it really does cover all the bases. But that's the end of the Genesis GV80 Coupe's story, not the beginning. To get there, we need to go back to our arrival in Minneapolis for our test drive that day, back when my barely-contained hate obsession with CUVs was still very much intact.

But in the back of my mind, as we made our way to the lot where the test items were parked, I knew that if there were any OEM on the planet to change my "tude" on CUVs, it'd be Genesis. I know that I'd seen the unveiling of the GV80 Coupe Concept back at 2023's New York Auto Show, where I acknowledged, admittedly begrudgingly, that it looked quite a bit nicer than the CUVs I've been dunking on consistently for the last decade or so. So, after a brief pre-amble by some of Genesis team members from the design and product planning side, I was at least more amicable to change my mind if the finished result made me smile.

But that was roughly a year and a half ago now. Now, the production-grade GV80 Coupe is here, and I had the privilege of being among some of the first to get behind the wheel in the flagship of the GV80 lineup in Minneapolis. The goal that day was simple, hop in a matte black GV80 Coupe with a red leather interior, drive from Minneapolis to a waypoint in nearby St. Paul, and then all the way back to the start again. On first impressions alone, there was quite a bit to like.

For a design team lauded as being one of the most innovative in the sector, the front and rear fascias, plus the general silhouette of the GV80, is a combination of stately, sporty, dignified, and all-around handsome-looking. Add on the quad exhaust tips split into pairs of two at the rear on the e-SC trim, and it genuinely does look sporty enough to entice BMW fans over from their X6s. That redesigned and coupe-exclusive front grille does wonders to this effect. In a way that other coupe SUVs simply aren't, this one's balances brutish and sophisticated beautifully. All these visual goodies make it all the more enticing when you lay your hands on a weighty, quality-feeling electric door handle that actuates with a surprisingly tactile touch as it opens. The open door reveals an interior that very much befits its luxury status. When you step inside the cabin, plush, supple Nappa leather conforms to your body just enough to feel snug and secure but not so tight that it feels like Recaro racing buckets as you climb inside.

Once inside, a stunning 27-inch continuous OLED gauge cluster and navigation display pleases the eyes with crisp definition and equally snappy, practically smartphone-levels of touch responsiveness. Uninterrupted by by dividers connecting two or more screens like you see in a lot of modern cars these days, there is a genuinely thoughtful and interesting solution to working out perhaps the most vital part of any car's interior. With a tasteful and similarly lengthy HVAC vent running the length of the lower dashboard, there's everything you see, touch, and perceive inside this Genesis, clearly designed with a great deal of thought.

Where even some equivalent luxury vehicles of the last decade or so cheap out here and there with hard plastics in places you might not touch or see daily, I couldn't find any such blemishes in this Genesis. In a perpetual fight for market share against titans like the BMW X6 and Mercedes-Benz GLC Coupe, these little things all add up to give this South Korean competitor a fighting chance against the established German aristocracy. It was a fitting foundation for our drive that day, one that started by pressing a beautifully milled metal engine start button.

Speaking of the engine, it's a marvel in itself, a 3.5-liter, twin-turbocharged V6 engine which, by itself in the standard trim, makes a healthy 375 horsepower and 391 lb-ft of torque. But in this, the range-topping e-SC trim, you get an added 48-volt electric supercharger that begins adding boost at the stomp of the throttle. No turbo lag, no waiting two massive turbos to spool before unleashing all its wrath several seconds later. Just smooth, consistent power delivery at any point in the rev range, even in less aggressive driving modes like comfort and eco.

The secret sauce in all this is likely the eight-speed automatic shift-by-wire transmission. While it might not have as many gears as some luxury vehicle transmissions, the performance out on the road made it so that you likely wouldn't even notice. From first gear to top gear and each one in-between, power delivery was smooth and clean, and, depending on how aggressive your selected shift mode is, be it comfort or sport, just right when your right foot hits the accelerator. You can get thrown back into your seat if you stand on the brakes and load the drivetrain with torque at a red light if that's what you're after, and that's only going in a straight line.

Going around corners, the GV80 Coupe's rack and pinion steering with rack-mounted electric power assist feels insanely over-boosted like you'd expect in a North American-spec luxury barge like this. But surprisingly, you can still feel enough of the grip from the Michelin all-season tires on these test articles to really enjoy flinging it around corners. With its electronically controlled variable-pressure brake booster, the vented rotors, measuring 14.9 inches up front and 14.2 in the rear, can be as bitey or laid back as you care to make it. 22-inch alloy wheels be darned; it simply wasn't a handicap for the GV80 Coupe.

On top of that, it was genuinely difficult to get the tires spinning in this sporty coupe SUV. Only when the steering wheel's at full opposite lock and you floor it from a standstill did the all-wheel-drive allow the rubber on the road to chirp just a little. If you like a sporty vehicle that handles like it's on rails rather than breaking the rear tires loose like a psychopath, you'll find these handling characteristics to be nothing but positive. All the while, an 18-speaker Bang & Olufsen stereo system with a 14-channel, 1,400-watt amplifier brings enough bass to blast 21 Savage and King Von just as easily as it lulls you with Billie Eilish and Lana Del Rey.

The steering wheel volume and radio controls were responsive and easy to use to boot. Oh, and the super fast-charging USC-C port worked like an absolute treat, especially if you don't even have that luxury in your home. Add on a high-definition heads-up display for the driver, and it feels enough like an airliner cockpit in here to give an Airbus a run for its money. Given that most modern airplanes have fully glass displays, the comparison isn't as ham-fisted as you might think.

Up until this point, there was really not much to complain about regarding the particulars of the GV80 Coupe experience. But along the way from Minneapolis to St. Paul, one or two indicators that Genesis might've overdone it a bit with all the electronic driver assistants made themselves known. It's all well and good that the 16-way adjustable power driver's seat can massage your most soreness-prone areas during a long drive, for instance. But when the system kicks on automatically with little more than a notification on the center display seconds before it kicks on, it can definitely be a bit disconcerting.

In fairness, the system did work to knead some of the knots out of my already mildly arthritic lower back, and the power four-way lumbar support ensures just about any body type feels comfortable behind the wheel of a GV80 Coupe. But a simple option to select yes or no before going to town on my lower back muscles would've been nice. So, too, was the collision avoidance software and sensor array seemingly top-of-the-class. But it's to the point where, when active, the steering wheel might automatically counter-steer slightly against the direction you intend to turn the wheel.

It's not exactly a dire situation. For instance, it's not like we have HAL 9000 going rogue on our hands here. But if any Genesis dealership personnel are reading this, please make sure to point out how to to toggle these systems on or off in the settings menu before someone leaves the front lot. But once all the electronic aides were dialed back or turned off to your liking, what we had on our hands was a surprisingly quick, surprisingly competent handling coupe SUV with leather for days inside and a brutish, sharp exterior outside.

But outside pure looks and raw performance, there was also more space inside than you might expect from an SUV with its roofline cut in half. With 108.7 cubic feet of passenger space regardless of the trim package, the five occupants you can fit inside this CUV won't at any point feel cramped, nor will their bags and other riff-raff likely be longing for some extra breathing room. By lowering the rear seats electronically, by the way, you're netted a cargo area that at least feels like about three-quarters of the average eight-foot pickup bed that you can use to haul a family of ten's worth of groceries, move out of your apartment, or whatever else you decide to shove underneath the rear hatch.

Sadly, the fuel economy we managed of around 20 mpg according to the trip computer isn't anything to write home about. But at an asking price of $79,950 for a starting MSRP, the kind of people who finance or outright buy a vehicle of this caliber are probably better steeled against the cost of 91 octane than the average Joe or Jane. A fully-loaded one like this e-SC will run you $85,750 before taxes and fees. That's Porsche Macan and Range Rover Sport territory from a brand that's been around for less time than some Porsche engineers have spent building cars in their lives.

For any other moniker, that'd be nothing short of groundbreaking. But for Genesis, that's kind of par for the course at this point. The way they dominate seemingly every domestic auto show these days, we should expect nothing less if Genesis truly wants to bring it to the Germans, the Japanese, and even the Americans. At least on the coupe SUV side of things, it's safe to say Genesis just scored one of its first major victories. It's a five out of five automobiles every day of the week; once you quiet down the slightly overzealous driver assistants, there's really nothing here to dislike whatsoever.

As an introductory course to what the coupe SUV form factor can produce when long-standing egos from legacy luxury brands aren't running amuck, the GV80 Coupe is nothing short of sensational. Then again, the man arguably most responsible for making Genesis the brand it is today worked for BMW for decades. But let's gloss over that for the moment.