It was at dinner on the second night of my Korean adventure to drive the 2009 Hyundai Genesis on behalf of Popular Mechanics when I finally decided to try kimchi. If you've never tried the stuff, you'd better have a stomach built like a steel-clad clay pot. I don't. But after spending a few hours running the first luxury sedan from the Korean automaker through its paces at their proving grounds outside of Seoul I figured it was the right time to finally introduce the uniquely Korean delicacy — a pungent, brine-fermented mixture of cabbage, garlic and chili pepper — to my delicate corn-fed Midwestern stomach. The moment the smell hit my nose I had flashbacks to laying on the floor of a wrestling mat in 6th grade with my coach cracking open smelling salts to rouse me. For a brief moment I thought that maybe this was a bad idea. But it was the moment it actually hit my mouth that I knew it was a bad idea. My eyes began to water, my mouth filled with fire and as I forced it down my throat I could already feel it burrowing its way toward my colon like a Northern soldier tunneling to Seoul. Later on that stomach-twisting night — spent alternately clutching the side of the hotel toilet bowl or my bed's sweat-soaked sheets — I had a lot of time to think about the day. Maybe it was some sort of as-yet-unknown hallucinogenic properties of the kimchi, or more likely it was the lack of sleep, but for whatever reason, I started to wonder what this fiery side dish as old as Korea could teach me about the 2009 Hyundai Genesis sedan.

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Hyundai execs refer to their new Genesis luxo-sedan as an "industry disruption." It's the same kind of disruption, they say, Lexus achieved back when Japanese luxury cars in America were as much a nonentity as, well, Korean luxury cars in America. Nonetheless, most of you already know the details: Rear-drive, 375bhp, 333 lb-ft Tau "V8," zero-to-60 in under six seconds, five-link front and rear suspension, smart cruise control and more airbags than a press luncheon (bam!). Hyundai's apparently reverse-engineered competitors like the BMW 5-Series, Mercedes E-Class, Lexus GS and Infiniti M. [UPDATE: Lest we forget, the Genesis is also planned in 3.3- and 3.8-liter V6 versions.]


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More Pics Of The Hyundai Genesis, SUSSUDIO!

We've got more hi-res pics of the Hyundai Genesis than you can shake an 8-inch LCD nav display at. We've cleverly divided them into exterior and interior, so you, dear reader, can decide were Hyundai stole borrowed from their predecessors. Hey, we're not hating. Good designers borrow, great designers outright steal from those that came before them. And by that measure the people who designed the Genesis are the greatest designers ever.

Hyundai just unveiled the above shiny winged silver name-badge for the new rear-wheel drive power sedan from the Korean automaker. Yes, we know it's not very attractive. But the good news is the badge is only for the Korean and Chinese markets where, according to Hyundai, the wings will "symbolize the spirit of flight and soaring above it all..." Oh yes, they certainly do. Totally. But that's not the only Genesis news from the kim-chee commanders. They've also revealed some engine details...that...we...already...kinda...figured... More »