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Friday March 21, 2008
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What's inside the Hyundai Genesis sports coupe may be as important as its swoopy design and estimated $20,000 price tag: Not much at all. The cockpit's center stack, usually overrun by buttons and switches, is a study in simplicity - more BMW than Acura. The center stack area (what's between the instrument panel and glovebox) has two big rotary knobs flanked by buttons and a multi-information display at top. There are actually 25 switches on the center stack, by my count, but they're not sprayed all over the center stack. And that's without an iDrive-like cockpit control knob that has, in reducing button count, increased frustration on the part of some BMW owners. Acura is the current poster child: a cockpit control knob and nearly 60 total buttons on the center stack on some models.
The rear-wheel-drive Genesis coupe was unveiled in a squeal of tires at the New York International Auto Show this week in up upstairs pavilion overlooking the Hudson (actually, overlooking the rain that obscured the Hudson) as two coupes made a noisy entrance and spun around a small, barrier-studded track. This was the unveiling of a production-ready design that arrives in the spring of 2009 as a 2010 model. The base model, about $20,000, has a four-cylinder turbocharged 212-hp engine, while an upmarket model, about $26,000, will have a 306-hp V6 engine with a bit more horsepower and a lot more torque. All models get two useful tech features standard: Bluetooth and a USB jack allowing dashboard control of most music devices.
Posted By:
Bill Howard
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