Genesis GV60 Review
This might just be the perfect electric car. On paper, the Genesis GV60 ticks nearly every box: a claimed range of up to 320 miles, a rear-wheel-drive setup that promises engagement without excess, and an interior so refined and lounge-like you half expect someone else to take the wheel while you recline in the back.
But can a car that looks this good, feels this luxurious, and claims this level of efficiency really deliver on the road — and in everyday life? That’s what we set out to discover during a week-long test in the rolling hills and coastal lanes of Cornwall.
Design
When you glance over at the GV60, there’s a definite reminiscence of the Jaguar I-Pace in its stance — that same hunkered, coupe-like silhouette with a purposeful forward pitch. But where the I-Pace leans toward the athletic and aggressive, the GV60 feels altogether softer and friendlier, especially in this ‘Saville Silver’ colour. The front end, with its sweeping LED headlights and slightly upturned ‘grille’ area, gives the impression that the car is smiling — not in a cartoonish way, but with a serene, welcoming confidence. There’s a warmth to the GV60’s overall shape: rounded haunches, a gently tapering rear, dashes of chrome and smooth surfacing that eschews harsh creases in favour of elegant curves. We’re not quite sure how to categorise the GV60 either; it’s sort of an SUV, yet it doesn’t lurch off the ground any more than a saloon. But it still has the height presence and is certainly commanding on the road nevertheless.
Details delight too. The door handles sit flush until approached, at which point they illuminate and elegantly present themselves, projecting the Genesis logo in a crisp beam of light onto the ground; a subtle flourish that makes each entry feel like a sense of occasion. The frameless wing mirrors, perched on slim stalks, add to the futuristic profile. Around the back, the full-width rear light bar gives the car a planted stance after dark and adds visual width in daylight, accentuating its low, wide hips.
Our test car rode on 19-inch alloys, which suit the shape well and contribute to a composed ride, though the wheel design almost entirely obscures the copper brake callipers behind them — a shame, as the copper accents are a standout Genesis signature worth showing off. Still, the overall aesthetic remains cohesive, with thoughtful touches everywhere you look.
It’s a design that’s playful, premium and quietly confident, while not trying too hard to be futuristic.
Interior
Slide inside the Genesis GV60 and you’re met with an ultra-luxurious cabin that genuinely surprises. It feels crafted rather than assembled, the sort of place where time and care have been spent not just on materials, but on the atmosphere itself, whether sitting in the front or back. As you approach the GV60 at night, ambient lighting gently pulses to life in the doors and trim, while roof-mounted LEDs bathe the cabin in a warm, welcoming glow — more high-end lounge than car. Inside, the jewel-like rotary gear selector theatrically rises into place when the car starts, signalling readiness with a touch of ceremony. Paired with entry and exit animations on the digital displays, these thoughtful touches create a sense of interaction that feels curated rather than gimmicky.
Our test model featured the Dark Gray / Glacier White interior scheme, and this is the one we’d get! It’s a beautiful pairing that adds a modern elegance, and Genesis seems to have banned the use of hard plastics entirely. In their place is a medley of vegan leather, brushed aluminium and soft-touch, stitched materials that span the dashboard to the doors, the intricacies of which are shown by the panoramic sunroof that floods the cabin with natural light. In contrast, vehicles like the new Tesla Model Y feel almost cold by comparison. Their interiors are minimal to a fault, devoid of warmth, softness or charm. And when you’re spending upwards of £50,000, it’s fair to expect more than a tablet and a sea of plastics. The GV60’s interior not only outshines Tesla’s, but also gives the Mercedes EQ and BMW i models a run for their money. There’s a consistent sense of quality wherever your hands land; door handles, window switches, and then there’s the seating.
Let’s start with the rear seats; they’re soft and supportive, heated, and anyone sitting here will appreciate that there are air vents that aren’t mounted in the typical middle; instead, they’re on the sides, a position which turns out to be a more effective way of distributing hot or cold air. In fact, everyone who sat in the back for short or long journeys remarked on just what a nice space it was to simply lounge and look up at the sky, being such a light and very airy space with ample leg and headroom.
Hopping into the front heated and ventilated seats of the GV60, you’re immediately struck by how incredibly comfortable they are, quite possibly the most comfortable car seats we’ve ever had the pleasure to sit in. This comfort doesn’t just come from the soft materials, but the seats’ impressive range of electric adjustability, allowing you to fine-tune virtually every aspect of your seating position. From precise lumbar support and cushion length to side bolsters and recline angle, the seats adapt effortlessly to fit your body perfectly, whether you’re embarking on a short trip or a long motorway haul. For the driver, comfort is taken a step further thanks to the automatic ‘Ergo Motion’ functionality. This thoughtfully designed feature offers several modes that gently knead, massage and pulse by inflating and deflating air pockets in key areas like the lower back, easing tension and fatigue during longer drives. It’s one of those luxury touches you didn’t know you needed until you’ve experienced it!
Built on a dedicated EV platform shared with the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6, the GV60 benefits from a completely flat floor, front and back. Genesis takes advantage of this with a floating centre console, offering open space underneath for bags, alongside a deep central bin (big enough for a DSLR), twin cup holders, and smartly shaped door bins that hold bottles with ease. In the rear, fold-down cup holders, phone slots, and even more bottle storage bring the total up to six cup holders and eight bottle holders — yes, we counted. Storage is impressively well thought out throughout, but the glove drawer really surprised us. It slides out smoothly and fits a camera, lenses, and a Nintendo Switch 2 — way more usable than a typical glove box. In the back, the 432L boot is practical and well-lit, with a low load lip and hidden underfloor compartment. The rear seats fold 60:40. And up front, our RWD model included the largest frunk available in the GV60 range — roomy enough for a backpack or a couple of shopping bags, making it genuinely useful rather than just a gimmick.
Infotainment
Firstly, the Bang & Olufsen sound system in the GV60 is nothing short of phenomenal. Its bass response is thunderous yet controlled, delivering deep, immersive lows that feel cinematic in scale. We tested it by watching a film through the system, and the surround sound performance genuinely rivalled a home cinema setup; directional, rich, and spatially convincing. When it comes to music, tracks come alive with clarity and warmth, and there’s a real sense of soundstage as if the performance is unfolding all around you.
Whilst brands like BMW have begun phasing out their physical iDrive controller in favour of full touchscreen interfaces, Genesis has taken a more pragmatic and frankly more driver-friendly approach. Alongside the responsive central touchscreen, there’s a large rotary dial on the centre console that serves as a tactile companion for navigating the system. It’s satisfyingly smooth to use, allowing you to scroll through menus (like Apple CarPlay) with a comforting clickiness that feels precise and premium. Just push to select — it’s intuitive and means you can keep your eyes on the road far more easily than constantly jabbing at a screen.
That’s not to knock the touchscreen itself — far from it. It’s one of the best infotainment systems we’ve ever used. It's bright, not reflective, and ultra-sharp. Responsiveness is immediate, whether you’re diving into system settings or flicking through CarPlay. There's zero lag, menus transition seamlessly, and everything is logically laid out. Even multitouch gestures like map pinching or scrolling through music playlists feel silky smooth, almost smartphone-like in their fluidity.
Climate controls feature physical buttons and a dedicated touch panel, which makes adjusting temperature, fan speed, and seat ventilation refreshingly straightforward — no digging through menus or tapping a screen multiple times just to cool down. The buttons are well spaced, backlit, and offer a gentle click that reinforces the GV60’s premium feel. It’s a welcome contrast to the trend of burying everything in digital menus, and it means essential adjustments can be made quickly, even on the move. It has dual-zone climate too, so passengers will find it equally as easy.
A particular standout is the 3D vehicle visualisation feature — a digital avatar of your GV60 that rotates in real time on screen. It’s not just there to look pretty (although it certainly does), it’s interactive. You can tap on different parts of the car to access settings for that specific zone, and there’s also a 3D view of the interior that works the same way. It’s a visual, playful way to engage with features that are usually buried in tedious submenus — and while those menus still exist, we found the 3D interface much easier to use. There’s a comprehensive but to-the-point selection of settings, which never feels overwhelming. Driver profiles keep everything tidy, with electric seat positions, phone pairing, ambient lighting colours, even the last-used temperature settings, and all other settings saved to your personal setup. Impressively, it’s activated via fingerprint recognition, with the reader built into the centre console. In fact, you can even use facial recognition to unlock and access the car, so it knows who’s about to take the wheel before they even open the door. There’s no need to carry a physical key, either: the GV60 supports Apple Car Key, allowing you to store a digital key in your Apple Wallet on both your iPhone and Apple Watch.
Altogether, the GV60’s infotainment setup strikes a rare balance: well designed, richly functional and genuinely enjoyable to interact with, whether you’re stationary or on the move.
Driver's Display deserves a mention
A crisp digital display ahead of the driver shows far more than just speed and range — from regen strength and energy use to navigation and media, it's all cleanly presented. You can even toggle a front-facing camera or 3D map view, whether using built-in nav or Apple CarPlay, so the layout is customisable to suit your preferences. Steering wheel controls and regen paddles make interacting with the system intuitive, keeping everything at your fingertips without breaking focus. There’s also a superb head-up display, which projects pin-sharp speed, limits, and directions directly in your line of sight; everyone who drove the GV60 remarked on how clear and helpful this was, and that it was never distracting.
Charging and Range
For most buyers, the single-motor rear-wheel-drive GV60 is the one to get. It strikes the sweet spot between performance and efficiency, and crucially, it banishes any notion of range anxiety, even in a more rural setting like Cornwall where we’ve been driving it for the past week. The region is now surprisingly well-equipped with rapid chargers, most offering 100-200kW, but we did spot several 350kW bays, making longer trips and top-ups effortless; favourably, the GV60 offered enough range for us not to need these. However, impressively, thanks to its 800v architecture, the GV60 is officially one of the fastest charging EVs currently on sale, making it a road tripper’s delight. Plugged into a 350kW ultra-rapid charger, it will top up the battery from 10–80% in just 18 minutes (GV60 supports up to 239 kW) — barely enough time to grab a coffee and a pastry.
Efficiency has been excellent throughout our testing. Cruising steadily at 70 mph on dual carriageways in classic British summertime conditions, we were consistently getting 4.0 miles per kWh — with four people onboard and air conditioning blasting. That efficiency held when darting around tighter countryside lanes and stop-start traffic through coastal villages; where it still happily exceeded 4.0 miles per kWh, proving just how well-optimised this EV is for mixed driving. Then, when the Cornish skies finally turned grey and the roads wet, efficiency dipped only slightly to around 3.4 miles per kWh — still a solid figure considering the added rolling resistance and HVAC use. The heat pump impresses too — it kicks in quickly, keeps the cabin toasty, and only shaves a single-digit mile from the total range. Even with air conditioning and heated or ventilated seats constantly in use, we noticed no meaningful drop in range. That’s not something we can say about many EVs, especially in this segment. Genesis is really good at efficiency!
Genesis claims 321 miles of range from its 77.4 kWh battery, and from our mixed driving using air conditioning, and speakers blasting most of the time, we were able to see a range of 310 miles.
Luxuriously Performative Driving
It’s quiet in the Genesis GV60. Even at speeds of 70 mph, it’s just not noisy; passengers can whisper to each other if they wanted. There’s a combination of reasons why: acoustic glass, very good insulation, and the Bang & Olufsen audio system actively cancels out road noise by emitting inverted sound waves. It all culminates to make the cabin a very serene, quiet place to be while driving. Thankfully, the drive itself can be just as gentle, with a gracious, almost gliding smoothness delivered by the GV60’s well-tuned suspension. It soaks up potholes, broken tarmac and uneven surfaces with ease, often ironing out imperfections before they ever reach the cabin; maintaining a composed and unruffled ride, protecting passengers from the harshness underneath. It’s genuinely one of the smoothest EVs, or, for that matter, car of any kind, we’ve driven, and that refined ride quality makes it an ideal companion for families, commuters and anyone planning to spend long stretches behind the wheel. Whether you're doing the school run or a cross-country road trip, the GV60 keeps things calm, collected and impressively quiet.
But don’t let this sereneness fool you; the GV60 feels alive, connected to the running surface beneath, and very happy to be shoved into the corners. The latter point makes it very clear why Genesis has resisted bolstering the ride height of the GV60, though oddly, the seating position and windscreen angle do allow you to push the seat low into the floor of the car or elevate it for that above-road feel. A surprisingly sporty attitude is shown by the GV60 when it’s powered into sharper bends, in any of its modes. But for the most performance hit sport mode, and you get thrilling throttle response, much heavier steering that feels like it also has more feedback, and the electronically controlled dampers tighten up. The handling is direct and steering very precise, with only tiny movements required to nudge it about. Its body doesn’t roll around because the suspension keeps things hunkered down and grippy; it feels light too, so it was a shock to discover this thing weighs 2192kg.
But even in Eco or Comfort modes, the 168 kW (229 PS) rear-wheel-drive single motor delivers more than enough oomph to confidently overtake or make a quick dash onto a roundabout. This thing is just naturally zippy, with instant torque always on tap, and it's genuinely fun to drive because of it. It feels light on its feet, responsive and eager, whether you're gliding through town or pressing on down a country road. Regenerative braking is also a highlight. At its highest setting, known as i-Pedal mode, you get true one-pedal driving. It allows you to slow down smoothly, or even bring the car to a complete stop, simply by lifting off the accelerator. Once you get used to it, it becomes second nature, and the way it's been implemented here makes driving feel fluid and effortless while actually recapturing more energy for the battery.
Visibility is generally good, though the thick pillars can obstruct side glances at junctions. Thankfully, the side camera view that appears in the driver’s display when indicating is helpful to mitigate this. Around the back, the rear window is more of a slim letterbox, offering limited visibility — especially for spotting lower objects or judging near-ground clearance. That’s where the GV60’s camera system truly earns its keep. The ability to spin the virtual car around using the 360-degree view adds confidence, making tight manoeuvres far less stressful — especially useful when navigating between some of the narrow stone bridge pillars around North Cornwall, though the top-down view can sometimes feel a bit flat, making it trickier to gauge object depth precisely. Camera quality is sharp during the day, offering great clarity, but less effective at night, although the GV60’s incredibly expansive illumination, produced by the quad LED headlamps, helps to illuminate close proximity judgement along with the sensors. These lights automatically adjust the beam pattern to avoid dazzling other drivers while still giving you maximum visibility — essentially providing what appears to be, from a driver's perspective, high beam visibility all the time.
Its smart driving tech feels effortless and not experimental. The ‘Navigation-Based Smart Cruise Control' (NSCC) simply works — no fuss, no constant corrections needed. It smoothly reacts to even the subtlest speed changes from cars ahead and changing speed limits, and its cornering behaviour feels natural; never grabby or overly cautious on dual carriageways to B roads. The same goes for ‘Remote Smart Parking Assist’ (RSPA), which parks itself into empty bays perfectly, but performs this task a great deal slower than we would. When outside the car, it can be driven forwards or backwards in or out of tight parking spaces using the remote.
Verdict
The Genesis GV60 turns the ordinary into the memorable. It’s not just another electric car — it’s a thoughtfully crafted, boutique alternative that feels indulgent without being over the top. From its whisper-quiet cabin and incredible Bang & Olufsen sound system, to its ability to switch from a refined cruiser to a playful, corner-carving machine in sport mode, the GV60 blends comfort and performance with real finesse.
It’s also easy to live with. Real-world range holds up impressively, charging is rapid and widely compatible, and there’s a confidence-inspiring 5-year warranty — plus 10 years or 120,000 miles of cover for the powertrain and EV components.
But it’s the interior that truly sets the tone: a space that feels personal, calming, and quietly futuristic. The GV60 doesn’t shout; it welcomes — and in doing so, shows that luxury can be both smart and soulful.
