It’s rare for an automaker to do everything right, but Genesis is in that position right now. From the G70 sport sedan to the G90 flagship and everything in between, every vehicle Genesis makes is stellar. That continues with the 2025 GV80. Recently refreshed, Genesis’ biggest SUV enters its fourth model year with small impactful tweaks but no major changes, because why mess with a winning formula?
Full disclosure: Genesis loaned me the GV80 on a whim with a full tank of gas. It handled Costco runs and school trips in beautiful, quiet luxury.
If you’re wanting luxury with a presence, the GV80 is the way to go. Sure, badge snobs will cry over the fact that it doesn’t have a German emblem on the hood, but at this point, I think we’re a little past having to explain the winged Genesis badge to people — though if you’re looking for a “budget” Bentley Bentayga, this really is the SUV for you. Just looking at Genesis sales over the last few years shows how well received the brand has been. Genesis’ sales have increased every year since 2018, when it sold just under 10,000 vehicles in the U.S, to nearly 69,000 cars being sold in 2023. Genesis knows it has a good thing going, that’s why the updates to the GV80 are subtle.
You’ll have to squint to see the difference, but the GV80’s front fascia has been tweaked for the 2025 model. There’s a new grille that Genesis calls the Two-Line Crest, with double the number of interconnecting lattices making up the mesh pattern. Below that are larger air intakes along with a wider faux skid plate that should have been left off the design, but also somehow works. At the rear, the deletion of exhaust outlets cleans up the rear design.
While the GV80’s design is refreshed, its powertrains are carryover. The GV80 is powered by either a turbocharged 2.5-liter inline-4 with 300 horsepower or a twin-turbo 3.5-liter V6 with 375 hp, the latter of which is what powered my tester. Customers who go for the new-for-2025 GV80 Coupe can get that V6 with an electric supercharger added on for a total of 409 hp, but it’s not offered on the standard SUV. My GV80 was a Prestige AWD trim, which meant it was loaded. Pricing for this trim starts at $80,650 including destination. The only option on my tester was its excellent matte Storr Green exterior paint for $1,500, bringing the total to $82,150.
Getting behind the wheel of GV80 you’ll quickly notice it is a big vehicle. The GV80 measures just over 194.5 inches long, 77.8 inches wide and 67.5 inches tall, making it about the same length as a Mercedes-Benz GLE and slightly shorter in height than a BMW X5. That’s all emphasized by the big 22-inch wheels that come on the Prestige trim. You really feel the GV80’s 5,148-pound heft when driving, and it’s in no way a sporty SUV. Don’t go looking for back roads to tackle in this thing.
Body lean will quickly remind you that you should slow down before things get bad. That isn’t to say it’s as bad as a luxo boat from the 1980s or ‘90s, but it’s enough to make you come to your senses and slow down. The twin-turbo V6 pulls strongly, though, and despite the GV80’s size and weight, the powertrain has no trouble getting the SUV up to speed; independent testing shows the GV80 with the twin-turbo V6 can hit 60 mph in just under six seconds. And with nearly non-existent turbo lag, passing and merging are a breeze.
The GV80 is best experienced when calmly cruising along so you can enjoy the serene, tranquil interior. Almost no outside noise seeps its way into the cabin. It’s honestly one of the quietest cars I’ve been in outside of a Bentley thanks to Genesis’ active noise control. The system is really complex but essentially, microphones placed in each seat actively listen and cancel outside noise before it reaches passengers in milliseconds. The result is an interior that Car and Driver says is one decibel quieter than a Bentley Bentayga. Even more tech is used to give the GV80 a buttery smooth ride. A technology called Road Preview utilizes the vehicle’s front camera to scan the road ahead and adjust the suspension accordingly. It really helps minimize the hit you feel from going over things like potholes and speed bumps.
It’s also just plain beautiful inside. Genesis’ designers seem to be inspired by home interiors and modern art. Every surface, color, texture and angle is gorgeous and high quality. The interior of my tester was finished in the Earth Brown Smoky Green color combination, which used a gorgeous green on the upper half of the doors, the dashboard, the outer rim of the steering wheel and the lower half of the center console, while everything else is a warm shade of brown. This includes the Nappa leather seats and the microfiber suede headliner. It was topped off by an equally beautiful light colored matte wood finish that wouldn’t look out of place in a home.
The highlight of the interior is the massive 27-inch OLED instrument cluster, which is new in the GV80 for 2025. While other automakers have been releasing similar curved displays, they’re not one entire seamless screen; there’s usually some kind of blank or false space between the screens. Not so in the GV80. The display is truly one big seamless unit.
Genesis is forgoing what other automakers are doing by burying all controls into the screen. There are actual physical knobs and buttons for the audio and climate functions. Well, they’re not buttons per se as they’re haptic, but still, it’s nice to have them be anywhere else but in a damn menu.
My tester was also loaded to the hilt with features. In the Prestige trim you get things like a Bang & Olufsen audio system, a dual-pane panoramic sunroof, three-zone climate control, soft-close doors, a head-up display, and heated and cooled front and rear seats with power adjustments for the second row. It even has a mood curator that helps you to relax with different themes that play sounds, show images and change the color of the interior lighting. Speaking of which, the ambient interior lighting of the GV80 is some of the coziest I’ve experienced, especially at night.
The GV80 isn’t without faults. One of them is the gas mileage. A twin-turbo V6 and a 5,000-plus-pound curb weight means this thing is thirsty. Its EPA ratings of 16 mpg city, 22 mpg highway and 19 mpg combined are V8-like; I averaged one less than its combined rating at 18 mpg during my time with the GV80. What’s wild is that these fuel economy numbers aren’t far off of a Bentley Bentayga. Despite the GV80 being down two cylinders and 167 hp to the Bentayga’s twin-turbo V8, EPA ratings are just off of the Bentley: just two mpg better in the city, one mpg better on the highway and and three mpg better combined. A lack of a bigger engine or hybrid option might turn some buyers off as well, especially given the fact that the GV80 plays in a segment where both are available elsewhere.
A lack of a third-row seat is also a problem. For some reason Genesis relegates the GV80’s available third row to the Advanced trim, which sits one rung down from the Prestige. The lack of this third row does free up cargo space, as it has 36.5 cubic feet behind the second row and 71.7 cubic feet with both rows folded. That shrinks to just 11.6 cubic feet when equipped with the third row.
So is the GV80 really as good as a Bentley? Yes and no. As our own Erin Marquis pointed out, the two SUVs take totally different approaches to luxury. Nothing can beat the Bentayga’s opulence because it’s a Bentley, of course. And with its $200,000+ price tag, the Bentley’s presence speaks for itself. That doesn’t mean you should count out the GV80. Despite being on a lower price and prestige level, the GV80 is excellent and should be the envy of every person who drives a German or Japanese luxury car. Its brilliant combination of luxury, performance, comfort and quality matches or beats what its competitors are doing, for less money and with an excellent warranty on top of that. For being a fledgling brand in a stacked segment, it’s wild that the GV80 really is this good, and as time goes on, Genesis will probably make it even better.