These days, it’s easy to feel like all the luxury performance cars you want to drive have already been made. Not only are the days of manual gearboxes and natural aspiration thoroughly in the rearview mirror, many of the fast cars today are a touch disappointing on paper. A BMW M5 that weighs more than a crew cab F-150 and a four-cylinder Mercedes-AMG C 63 may put down big numbers, but they don’t get everyone going. So what about something completely different? The Genesis GV60 Magma isn’t just the first performance car from the Korean marque, it’s also an electric crossover. An unusual move, but if it’s any indication of where performance cars are going, it makes me want to stick around for the future.
Just like how BMW has M, Genesis has Magma, a Dr. Evil-esque name for cars that go properly fast. The GV60 Magma is the five-pepper variant of the marque’s smallest EV, and here are the headline figures: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive, 601 horsepower normally, 641 horsepower in boost mode, an electronically variable limited-slip rear differential, drift mode, heaps of cooling, and thoroughly reworked suspension. It’s all rather tempting, so let’s take a closer look.
The first impression of the GV60 Magma is that it’s almost unbelievably orange from its roof to its monoblock brake calipers. So orange, you’ll likely miss the functional dive planes and barge boards at first glance. Yes, barge boards, like on a race car. This is the wildest factory aero package I’ve seen on a crossover in ages, one that certainly reads like a letter of intent. In theory, this is the smallest, most recently-developed high-output electric car from Hyundai Motor Group, and it’s no shrinking violet.
Mind you, even though the GV60 Magma is more than three inches shorter than a Hyundai Ioniq 5 N, don’t expect it to be light. The Korean-market model tips the scales at 4,938 pounds. That’s 254 pounds lighter than the new Audi RS5 and 591 pounds lighter than a BMW M5 Touring, but still, oof. That sort of mass requires a lot of tire and suspension to control, so the GV60 Magma gets stroke-sensing adaptive dampers, 275-section Pirelli summer tires, and a whole host of proper suspension geometry tricks.
While the ride height of the GV60 Magma sits eight-tenths of an inch lower than standard, roll centers have been lowered by 3.17 inches up front and 3.52 inches out back for more gradual weight transfer. The track width is four-tenths of an inch wider at each axle, the effective arm up front is millimetrically longer, but the big party piece is how the caster trail’s been increased by 0.63 inches or 53 percent for a variety of sweet gains. Better steering centering, heavier steering weight, increased negative camber on the outside front wheel when it’s loaded up in a turn, all without the straight-line tire wear and grip penalties of increasing static negative camber. Promising stuff.
Of course, all of that’s theoretical until I put tire to tarmac, but I can definitely talk about sound. Genesis promises increased serenity thanks to measures like thicker insulated door glass and reworked door seals, but I bet that’s not what you’re curious about on the GV60 Magma.
Like the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N and the Dodge Charger Daytona EV, the Genesis GV60 Magma lets you toggle simulated engine sounds. However, Genesis doesn’t have a dedicated high-performance road car engine, and when you’re essentially starting from scratch in a digital audio workstation, why not aim for something slightly unusual? Something like, say, a 9,000 RPM V6.
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It would’ve been all too easy to get this completely wrong, especially considering how there are still racing video games being released in which the cars sound like Hoovers, but Genesis seems to have threaded the needle well. There’s a real crescendo to the soundtrack, from a low bass rumble at idle through a charming mid-range growl to the way it comes on cam for the last 2,000 simulated RPM. Intensity varies based on how far down you press the accelerator pedal, and though it’s a touch saccharine up top, it’s an interesting piece of sound design. Think McLaren Artura with a touch of autotune.
Of course, this simulation of an actual engine isn’t the only thing to take in once you’re sitting inside the GV60 Magma. The front seats are fabulously bolstered heated, ventilated, power, memory-equipped units. That three-spoke steering wheel is the right sort of diameter and thickness, the driving position feels better than on the standard model, and multi-tone stitching on the seats and door card inserts almost has a touch of tartan to its orientation. Even the key is orange, because of course it is.
Beyond that, you really get the sense that Genesis threw everything at the GV60 Magma. The sueded headliner finish comes all the way down the B-pillars, almost every surface chest-height and up is covered in some sort of stitched material, brightwork gets swapped out for black chrome, and almost every toy imaginable is present and accounted for. A Bang & Olufsen sound system, a high-res suite of parking cameras, advanced driver assistance, a head-up display, you name it.
It all makes you wonder: what does the GV60 Magma actually compete with? The Cadillac Optiq-V is down 122 horsepower on the GV60 Magma and doesn’t have nearly the same quantity of go-fast bits as the Genesis. The Tesla Model Y Performance is almost as rapid on paper but nowhere near as luxurious. Genesis hasn’t released pricing, but a similarly potent Porsche Macan Electric will almost certainly command a premium large enough to buy a typical compact car. Until something like a BMW iX3 M shows up, the closest competitors to the GV60 Magma will be its own E-GMP sibling, the bar-brawler Hyundai Ioniq 5 N. For those who care more about performance than luxury, perhaps manual seats and normal plastics are worth the savings.
Regardless, there’s something endearing about the form of the GV60 Magma. I like the three hole-punched nostrils in the front bumper. I like the lairy barge boards and the way the interior stitching has a bit of hot hatch flair. I like how the spoiler end plates form horns that make the whole car feel like it’s the imp on your shoulder, daring you to mash the skinny pedal into the carpet. But most of all, I like how it’s not afraid to have a sense of humor.
Sitting still, the GV60 Magma feels experimental, consciously designed to not be a high-volume model. It might be too much for some people or too weird for others, but that seems to be on purpose. Unless you’re Uniqlo, it’s hard to build a reputation by aiming for normal. Between this and the GMR-001 Le Mans Hypercar, Magma is off to an interesting start. The only thing left to find out is how the hottest GV60 actually feels on the road. With sales starting this summer, that shouldn’t take too long.
Top graphic image: Thomas Hundal
that interior!! oh my thats amazing.
Genesis is squeezing a lot of juice out of those motors. That’s power you can feel behind your navel while you peel out and pulp some tires. It’s enough to make you creamsicle your jeans.
Banana
Hahaha!
I don’t know who sits in these focus groups telling marketing folks that people want quiet EVs to sound like screaming ICE motors, but they’re pissing me off.
Ripping 4 second -0-60 runs in near silence is a feature, not a bug.
Ooooh, focus group! I thought they were saying … never mind.
They’ll sell dozens!
5000 pound electric Crossover with simulated engine sounds. At least the color is cool.
I absolutely love the color.
Good grief, this will make my GV60 Performance look slow. And I already need to make sure there’s clear road ahead before poking the boost button.
I will never be able to accept something so heavy as a fun, performance car regardless of how pointlessly fast they are in a straight line (in reality, stuck in traffic or doing 35 in a 50 behind yet another eunuch in a CRV). These are glorified modern muscle cars without the style, drama, or noise relying entirely on tire advancement and electronic BS to be able to merely go down the street, the surfaces of which seem to get increasingly worse every year. Who’s even buying these things? Cool color, but for whom? Even most Uruses I see are black, white, or maybe red. And the ridiculous aero on a shape that’s inherently bad for aero because it’s designed for utility? I’ll be surprised to see more than two of these in that color. How about, instead of another lame-ass “performance” CUV thing poorly suited to purpose and appearance that nobody uses the capability of, they take the high weight and turn it into an advantage? Combined with the low cg afforded by the battery, why not make a vehicle that actually f’n rides great with seats you can sit in all day without issue? That has switches and dials with solid positive feedback that exude quality and make them a joy to use with nice interior materials that aren’t just a bunch of ugly screens like the lowliest POS rental penalty box has? You won’t need fake engine noises, either, because quiet fits the mission of luxury. I can’t be the only one who doesn’t want to worry about blowing out expensive tires on local roads and being tossed around the interior* on what’s supposed to be a practical, daily-driven utility vehicle. The AMGs and all the other stupid BS overpowered SUVs I see are bought because the badge conveys status, nobody’s throwing big SUVs around the suburbs. OK, give them the sporty body kits (with stupid sized wheels optional for the sad idiots who think it makes their corporate slave mobile look cool), but make them nice to drive in the real environments they inhabit and for passengers they are intended to carry.
*This is more of a putting-myself-in-the-shoes-of-others comment as, ironically, I actually daily a GR86 and it rides quite well on the smaller available wheels and I’ve also never actually blown out a wheel on bad roads in 1M miles of driving non-premium, uncosseting cars.
I agree with everything except the Urus- there are a fair few of them around here in SWFL and they’re in just about every crazy Skittles color that Lamborghini sells. It’s pretty much their only redeeming quality.
There’s a few in colors like poison frog green around Boston, but the RAV4s they look like seem to be in brighter colors more often by percentage.
Yup. They come in great colors. It’s a hideous, incredibly stupid, cynical, deeply embarrassing monument to late capitalism…but at least it comes in colors other than white, silver, black, gray, slightly lighter gray, and slightly darker gray.
“These are glorified modern muscle cars without the style”
Like the engine noise, the style is simulated
BY GAWD THAT’S TOECUTTER’S MUSIC
“nobody’s throwing big SUVs around the suburbs”
Tiger Woods begs to differ.
How big of a fucking dork do you have to be to sonically model a V6 rather than a V8 or a V12. Could have been anything. A methanol-injected twin cam flat-plane crank V8. But nope. A V6.
The best kind of dork.
These are the kinds of details I appreciate.
I’ve seen the load ratings on some older bridges up in horsey country where I’m sure the local HD pickup drivers towing know they shouldn’t cross. I’m just waiting for some unsuspecting owner of one of these portly EVs to go crashing through one.
It’s ugly and overstyled and in that bright orange all it does us scream bad taste.
And I kinda like that. Don’t apologize, you’re proud of who you are. Maybe the devil’s horns spoiler is a bit much. I like the interior material choices as well. And it will be stupid fast.
As long as the fake tachometer and fake engine noises can be turned off, I don’t care. Though I also don’t get why anyone wants to lie to themselves like that.
Cool car, in its weird compromised excessive way.
5000lbs before my fat ass gets in the driver’s seat? And fake noise? ROFLMAO.
If this is what the kids think is cool today we are f’ing DOOMED.
Friggin’ batteries.
Good news is your weight becomes a smaller proportional increase so you won’t affect the performance.
I prefer my cars sized such that the best performance mod I can make is going on a diet.
Fully agree. This is the opposite of “add lightness”. It’s not even “remove lightness”, it’s “take anything remotely resembling lightness behind the barn and shoot it”.
But with that kind of curb weight you’re now a pretty good match for a Honda Pilot in crash. For what that’s worth.
That plaid/not plaid interior is the coolest trick I’ve seen in a while and I wholeheartedly LOVE it. The styling is great and works well with the eye-searing orange paint too. But I’ll never get used to the weight penalty of vehicles like this. I know that sticky tires and clever suspensions can do a lot to circumvent Newtonian physics, but there’s just something obscene to me about a “compact” vehicle that weighs two and a half tons.
How much weight can you save getting rid of the Internal Combustion Insecurity Speakers?
Whatever gets us closer to the Genesis Wagon.
I can’t wait to buy a certified one of those for $59,999
Being willing to buy one new would actually help with actually getting them sold here you know.
I don’t have $100,000 to spend on a car, and even if I did I wouldn’t spend that much on a car
Beggars don’t get to be choosers then. Though I think that car should be $60K to start with.
15 years ago I didn’t want to part with $40K+ for my RWD 6spd stick BMW wagon, but I sucked it up and did it anyway because the alternative was not having one. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. 15 years on I love it as much as day one, and absolutely zero regrets. At the time, that was a bigger financial leap than a $100K car would be for me today.
And of course, because so few were willing to buy them new, they are worth a relative fortune used.
I love the interior, the exterior is a lovely color, but these electric cars are just so damn heavy. Hopefully some new battery chemistry can help with this.
I have been surprised how much I like my father’s new Bolt, but it weighs only 300 lbs less than my Challenger. At least the weight is down low, which helps the handling, but the mind boggles at how something so small can weigh so much.
I hope there is an off button mandate for fake engine sounds. I hate even the idea of fake engine sounds.
They need to come up with an appropriate sound for electric cars. I hate that smug sound that some EVs make.
What ever it is just make it not fake ICE sounds.
I agree, but the ones I’ve heard so far that are clearly an EV sound are mostly awful. The Bolt mostly just runs fans and stuff but I can tell it also makes some weird intentional fake noise.
I f’n hate that noise. It’s not quite nails on a chalkboard, but it’s up there.
Jetson’s car.
I wish the Bolt made that noise!
Normal door handles or riot.
Hard agree. I hate the powered button activated doors on our Mach E.
I really want to love these but the general consensus among owners online is that the Ioniq 5 N is a hard car to live with. They apparently struggle to make it 180 miles on a charge in real life and if you want to actually enjoy the power you’ll be lucky to even see that…not to mention none of the Hyundai/Kia performance EVs get NACS ports since they’re made in Korea.
I think most buyers would gladly sacrifice some performance to have actual range, but alas. I think if you want to make one work as anything but a city car in Yee Haw land it’s probably going to best to wait for the second generation of this platform…but if you want to try to pull off Matt Farrah style road trips in one than more power to you.
<180 miles? Ouch.
I personally don’t think they are that appealing. Especially when factoring the nearly $80k price.
I see these are totally DOA.
And what gets me is that Genesis is probably going to blame enthusiasts for the small sales and not the fact that they read the market wrong. The market is sick of these nearly $100k EVs. This car is just all wrong.
They are going to read the market wrong again if they release that gorgeous G90 Magma wagon. Yeah, its a stunning car, but the regular G90 is a slow seller at $90k. The go-fast bits that are part of the Magma edition are probably another $20k on top of that. They are pricing themselves out of the market.
While I think the rumors of the demise of EVs are greatly exaggerated I also don’t see Genesis selling any of these. Household name luxury brands are all about to sell 300+ mile EVs for way less money than this will cost. BMW, Mercedes, and Volvo are all releasing them this year, and Cadillac already has several.
I just can’t see ponying up the $75,000+ this will run when you can get something with more range and more prestige for $60,000.