2025 Genesis GV80 Coupe Looks Gorgeous and That's All That Matters

The 2025 Genesis GV80 Coupe puts a premium on appearance, like wearing a matching Lululemon set to grab a milkshake or buying a vintage motorcycle jacket without intending to attend a race.

Genesis created an SUV that promises to be “sporty” without the sacrifices required to achieve it: low ground clearance, uncomfortable seats, a cramped cabin, or god forbid, sweat. But there’s an appeal to looking sporty without actually playing the part.

The Genesis GV80 Coupe is new for the 2025 model year, a derivative of the existing GV80 SUV. It follows the trend of regular SUVs, cutting its roofline diagonally to create a “fastback” profile, and calling it a coupe, even though it has four doors.

But while car enthusiasts like me are fond of criticizing SUV-coupes for being “not coupes” (true), I actually like the GV80 Coupe. That’s partly because I like Genesis’ current design language. Genesis is different from other luxury brands, but not so different that it’s obvious when you look at it.

The GV80 Coupe’s sloping roofline is more agile than imposing—the kind of SUV I’d expect a successful young adult to choose. Genesis wants people to see its sloping roofline SUV as sporty, and people who don’t like cars want that. It rides on big 20- to 22-inch wheels, a choice of bright orange stitching, and a piped-in engine sound to add to the ambiance.

The Coupe has 375 horsepower in the base model and 409 horsepower in the top trim I tested. Instead of the GV80 SUV’s 300-horsepower base four-cylinder, the Coupe gets a twin-turbocharged V-6 as standard. All-wheel drive is also standard.

But individualism comes at a price. While the 2025 GV80 SUV starts at $59,050 (with destination) and $75,150 for the 375-hp engine, the Coupe’s base price is $81,300—about $6,000 more for the same power. Anecdotally, though, the price hike makes sense.

Pros: Looks Cool, Feels Comfortable

The GV80 Coupe has a brighter interior than its SUV peers. I drove the 409-hp Coupe with Ultramarine Blue Genesis interior and bright orange stitching. My first thought was, “If I squint, this is a Bentley.” I’ve driven this exact combination—dark blue with red stitching and a quilted diamond pattern on the seats, plus a winged logo—in a $400,000 Bentley Continental. (The Genesis design boss did come from Bentley, after all.)

But the GV80 Coupe isn’t just about looks; it’s also about the feel of the ride. The Coupe has four driving modes across all vehicles: Eco, Comfort, Sport and Custom. The 409-hp coupe gets an additional Sport+ mode, which increases the car’s engine revs and provides sportier shifting, steering feel and electronic stability control.

The GV80 is powerful but not overly noisy. It weighs 5,000 pounds, so its 409 horsepower gives it a lot of power without making your stomach churn. Throttle response is relaxed in Comfort mode, quicker in Sport mode, and much more lively in Sport+. Genesis uses the extra engine noise in the cabin to make the car feel more powerful than it really is, and to me, the noise an SUV makes isn’t going to bother anyone. Even when you know it’s fake, it makes the car more enjoyable to drive.

There’s a 27.0-inch display that stretches from the driver’s instrument cluster to the infotainment system in the GV80 Coupe, and when you use the turn signal, part of the instrument cluster transforms into a blind-spot camera—a feature common to other Kia and Hyundai products. In Sport+ mode, the needle on the digital speedometer turns into a red light stick with animated sparks descending, like digital Independence Day fireworks in your car.

The GV80 Coupe’s brakes respond well, and the gas pedal is heavy, which is a good thing. A feather-light gas pedal makes you feel detached from the car, and a firm pedal reminds you that you have a big vehicle at your feet. In an era when soundproofing makes 70 mph feel like 40, it’s important to remember that you’re driving a 5,000-pound SUV at high speeds.

There's not a lot of road noise in the Coupe, and without the audio, there's only a little wind noise at highway speeds. But overall, the car is big, luxurious, and classy. When a friend asked me what I thought of the Coupe, I said, “It's really good.”

Cons: Where's Wireless Apple CarPlay?

I drove and rode the GV80 Coupe for about five hours total, and there were only a couple of things I found to be lacking. The first is that wireless Apple CarPlay isn’t available yet—it’s only available wired for now—but Genesis says an over-the-air update will eventually bring that capability to the car. The second is that even though the seats have automatic posture adjustments, my back still felt sore after a few hours behind the wheel. I asked a friend who also drives the car if they felt the same way, and they did.

That last complaint is silly, but Genesis brings up the fact that the GV80 Coupe has exposed exhausts versus the SUV’s hidden ones (remember, sporty versus comfortable). The Coupe has four exhaust tips at the back, and mine are chrome-plated trapezoidal.

However, when I crouched down to take a look, the chrome trapezoid was just a piece of the rear bumper that didn’t connect to the tubular exhaust tip behind it. It was like watching a kid’s “match the shapes” game. I didn’t expect the exhaust tip to be a perfect chrome trapezoid, but I did wish the actual tip was hidden a little better.

Overall, the GV80 Coupe fits Genesis’s bill: to appeal to a younger, more fun-loving buyer who wants to combine the practicality and grandeur of a luxury SUV with the sportiness of bright orange stitching and a sloping roofline. It’s for people who want to wear fancy sportswear to go shopping. Sometimes, that’s all people want.

That’s why the GV80 succeeds. Because even the true purists—those who think driving a true sports car should be hard work and uncomfortable—can’t deny the appeal of a big, comfortable SUV with heated armrests and a sloping roofline.

Besides, being pampered is fun.