2022 Genesis GV70: Is this small SUV award-winner worthy of the hype?

2022 Genesis GV70 AWD 2.5T Advanced vs. 2022 Lexus NX 350 F Sport AWD: Small luxury SUVs.

This week: Genesis GV70

Price: $50,695. Pretty burgundy paint, $550. Advanced package added leather seats, parking distance warning, rear occupant alert, and more for $4,150. More noted below.

Conventional wisdom: Named Motor Trend’s SUV of the year, Car and Driver likes the “pair of gutsy engines, high-end interior design, surprisingly athletic chassis,” but not the “snug rear seats, a few questionable ergonomic choices, paltry towing capacity.”

Marketer’s pitch: “Make way for want.”

Reality: Kinda nice, especially for a Genesis, but SUV of the year?

What’s new: The whole thing. It’s the fifth model in the luxury Korean brand’s lineup. So Mr. Driver’s Seat pits it against the Lexus NX 350, different variations of which have not impressed over the years.

Competition: In addition to the NX 350, there’s the Mercedes GLC, Acura RDX, BMW X3, Audi Q5, among others.

Up to speed: The 2.5-liter turbo inline four creates 300 horsepower, and it gives the GV70 a nice feel. The accelerator always feels responsive, and 0-60 takes 6.0 seconds, according to Motor Trend. What’s more, passing is easy and zipping around country roads is fun, as well. (If that’s not enough, a 3.5-liter turbo six is also available, shaving more than half a second off that 0-60.)

The exhaust buzzes a pleasant note, as well, sounding like a European sports car more than an SUV.

On the road: The handling adds plenty to the country-road zip. The smallish SUV feels like a sports car, just darting hither and yon as the road changes direction and height.

Sport mode really tightens up the steering, but the handling is fine in Comfort mode, so I left it there after a few drives.

Shifty: This is not really part of the fun, though. Dial controls don’t really do it for me, although I prefer the Genesis “twist left for Reverse, right for Drive” approach.

Where it goes off the rails — the infotainment system dial sits just in front of the same-size shifter dial, so ask me how many times I scrolled though all the camera views while attempting to shift from Reverse to Drive. Fortunately, I haven’t hit Reverse while trying to adjust the song; read on for a reason why.

Paddle shifters have the 8-speed moving through the gears if you want them to. It seemed hit-and-miss as to whether it wanted to stay in Shift mode or switch back to Drive.

In the weather: I happened to have the GV70 out on the highway during a rainstorm and was glad I got a chance to test it out.

Comfort and Sport modes seemed to be less than ideal for the watery road surfaces, so I thought I’d give Snow mode a crack at things, where I found the handling to be ideal. The GV70 seemed quite under control, and I found fellow travelers to be traveling slower than I needed to.

Driver’s Seat: The cockpit is a pleasant place to be (for the most part), with a comfy, supportive seat, a pretty dashboard, and plenty of luxury touches. The silvery console dials became even more of a problem when Mr. Sunshine came back out for the first time in several days. Holy glare, Batman.

Play some tunes: Since we’ve segued to infotainment and lack of intuitive controls, the volume and tuning controls leave a lot to be desired. They are controlled by little silver rolly bars — one marked with on-off and up-down icons and a raspy silver bar on either side of it. Try rolling the marked bar and watch as nothing happens. That’s just the instructions, silly! You’re supposed to roll the raspy things! I think the workers at Genesis had a camera on me and were laughing hysterically while Mr. Driver’s Seat failed. Haha!

I tried messing around with the big console infotainment control dial, but it’s a pain. Fortunately the large 14.5-inch HD screen is touch operated, as well, or I’d be yelling as I typed this.

Sound from the Lexicon Premium 16-speaker audio system — part of the $4,000 Select Package, which also cooled the seats, added a sunroof, and more — is less than I expect at this price point, about a B+.

Keeping warm and cool: Further complicating the matter is the pretty screen providing HVAC comfort. The seat heaters-coolers are drawn as arrows — red up, blue down — on the screen. Until you turn one on. Then they switch to cooler or heater operation. I’m driving a car, not looking at my iPad, Genesis.

Friends and stuff: Rear seat space is nice, with great headroom, legroom, and foot room. The seat is comfortable, as well.

Cargo space is 28.9 cubic feet, 56.9 with the second row folded.

Fuel economy: I was averaging a pitiful 17 mpg until I put it out on the highway and brought it up to 20. It even headed toward 22 as I was ready to turn it in.

Where it’s built: Ulsan, South Korea.

How it’s built: Consumer Reports predicts the GV70 reliability to be a 2 out of 5.

Next week: See how the Lexus NX 350 compares.