A month in and our long-termer is show high-tech smarts but a worrying appetite for energy

Long-term review: Genesis Electrified GV70 month 1

November 6, 2024 Matt Allan

A month in and our long-termer is show high-tech smarts but a worrying appetite for energy

As suspected, after a few days of just jumping into my long-term GV70 and driving, I began to feel the need to personalise things. Normally in a short-term test car, I won’t mess too much with the driver profiles, display settings and so on. But since this Genesis is mine until next year, it feels only right to have things the way I like them – from memory seat settings to the colour of the ambient lighting.

The good news is that the controls and menus on the massive letterbox screen are pretty straightforward. Thanks to an obvious menu structure and the tactile rotary controller I quickly managed to get rid of the odd 3D effect on the instrument dials, programme 6 Music to the radio favourites, and set the driver assistance systems so they’re not constantly nagging. The only function that requires a reset every time I start the car is the lane keep assist and, thankfully, a long press on a steering wheel button turns off that most irritating of ‘assistance’ systems.

Outside the car, I’ve also hooked it up to the Genesis Connected Services app, which allows me to remotely monitor and control many aspects of the car. This ranges from seeing if the car is locked (and locking it if it isn’t) to checking the range, and programming a charging schedule to take advantage of my off-peak electricity tariff.

It’s just as well I have an off-peak tariff as it turns out the GV70 is a bit of a thirsty beast (if an EV can be thirsty).

So far, the car has spent most of its time bimbling gently in Eco mode as I desperately try to get more than 3 miles per kWh out of it. Whatever the GV70’s other qualities, efficiency doesn’t appear to be one of them and I’ve averaged 2.86m/kWh.

Against a WLTP range of 283 miles, our car has never promised more than 240 miles. That should make for interesting times later this month when I join a coast-to-coast range challenge with a fleet of other Genesises (Genesi?). That’s likely to really test the car’s range and my ability to drive efficiently.

In Eco mode, the GV70’s throttle response is dulled down, and it behaves like any other largish electric SUV. The pick-up and acceleration are perfectly sufficient to keep up with traffic but don’t suggest that this is a 400bhp+ machine. Of course, in a car with a massive boost button on the steering wheel, it would be rude not to press it and the impact is immediate. This temporarily delivers the full 483bhp and turns this stately SUV into a veritable rocketship. It’s not mature or good for efficiency but there is something satisfying about launching this unassuming big beast towards the horizon with Porsche-like pace.

There hasn’t been much opportunity to use that silly pace though. Since its arrival, the GV70 has largely been pressed into the essential but humdrum everyday use. That means low-speed school runs, sports club runs and, inevitably, a trip or two to the tip. I can confidently say that, with the rear seats down, the 1,610 litres of load space is enough for two giant bags of garden waste. I can also confidently say that the interior now needs a really good clean.

Thanks to a busy launch schedule, the GV70 has also already become very familiar with the delights of Edinburgh Airport’s multi-storey car park. On my driveway, it looks like a pretty big machine but in the car park among the endless Range Rovers and pick-up trucks it feels relatively compact.

There are more airport trips in the offing but coming weeks should also offer some opportunities for longer journeys where I’ll be able to test the car’s abilities as a long-distance family hauler and, hopefully, improve on that efficiency.