The 2025 Genesis GV80 Coupe is all about looking the part, like wearing your matching Lululemon set to grab a milkshake or buying a vintage motorsports jacket with no intention of attending a race. Genesis created an SUV that has the promise of a "sporty" car without the sacrifices it takes to get there: the low ground clearance, uncomfortable seats, cramped cabin, or heaven forbid, the sweat. But there’s an appeal to looking sporty without fully playing the part.
The Genesis GV80 Coupe is new for the 2025 model year, a derivative of the existing GV80 SUV. It follows the trend of taking a normal SUV, chopping its roofline diagonally to create a "fastback" profile, and calling it a coupe, despite having four doors. But for as much as car enthusiasts like myself love to criticize SUV-coupes as "not coupes" (true), I actually like the GV80 Coupe.
This is partially because I love Genesis's current design language. Genesis is different from other luxury brands, but not so different that it screams when you see it. The GV80 Coupe’s sloped roofline looks more agile than stately—the exact kind of SUV I’d expect a successful young adult to go for.
Genesis wants people to see its sloped-roofline SUV as sporty, and non-car people certainly do. It has big, 20- to 22-inch wheels, bright-orange stitching options, and piped-in engine sound for added ambiance. The Coupe has 375 horsepower in the base model and 409 horsepower in the top trim I tested.
Instead of the GV80 SUV’s 300-h.