Long-Term Test Verdict: 2019 Genesis G70 RWD 3.3T Is a Winner

 After some teething problems, the Korean 3-Series proves its mettle.

Chapter 3 of the automotive journalists' handbook specifies that any time a luxury car brand launches a new compact sports sedan, we must engage in endless handwringing as to whether said car is better than the BMW 3 Series.

It doesn't matter if the current 3 Series is any good. It is. It's just not great. Times have changed; in the good ol' days, 3ers were indomitable, with zingy engines, sharp handling, and a firm but compliant ride. Now, they've become a bit heavy, the handling a tad loafy, and the ride a bit severe.

As we found with our previous Car of the Year-winning Alfa Romeo Giulia, BMW's titan is vulnerable to new challengers. So when Hyundai's Genesis luxury arm rolled out its G70 compact sedan to compete against the Bimmer, executives channeled the words of Lloyd Christmas: "So you're telling me … there's a chance?"

Yes, indeed. And as our comparison tests have shown, the G70 is a better 3 Series than the 3 Series. At least in terms of how purists remember the era of the great E30, E36, and E46: The G70 is nimble, sharp, and thrilling, with rorty acceleration in its turbocharged V-6 trim.

But what is it like to live with a Genesis? In our 15 months and nearly 17,000 miles (thanks to the pandemic for chopping back our road trips), we found the G70 to boast a clear vision of what it means to be a compact luxury sport sedan. Our staff came to know the Genesis as a favorite long-hauler for its composed suspension and graceful manners that made long distances evaporate. And its sleek styling drew plenty of second glances and inquisitive questions from people who encountered it.

The G70 3.3T's 0-60 acceleration clocked in at a brisk 4.5 seconds. The quarter-mile run came through in 13-flat at 108.5 mph. While markedly quicker than the comparably priced Lexus IS350 F Sport RWD, the G70 is a shade slower than the BMW M340i and Mercedes-AMG C43 that cost $10,000 to $15,000 more.

However, a lack of grip from the Michelin Pilot Sport 4 255/35/ZR19 tires often meant the 365-hp, 376-lb-ft powertrain overwhelmed the rubber, resulting in wheelspin and traction control intervention. That may be fun when exiting a closed-course corner, but entering a heavily trafficked boulevard required a less firm right foot until things settled down.

Although it might be a while before we commute consistently again, the Genesis' smart cruise control system is among the industry's best at gauging following distance and the initiation of slowing down, stopping, and re-engaging with city traffic. However, features editor Scott Evans noted its smart cruise is less capable on open freeways prone to surging speeds—often nervously late to engage the brakes for stopped traffic.

We are big fans of the G70's user interface and user experience of the Hyundai-derived infotainment system. Intuitive, logical, and clear, the G70's willingness to bounce between CarPlay, satellite radio, and the Genesis' excellent native maps/traffic app won our hearts. The integrated screen is a bit small, but we've heard rumors that it will get larger for the 2022 model year.

The G70's interior refinement shows a confident brand; the toggles, switches, stalks, dials, and knobs all feel premium and high-quality. The cross-stitched leather seats were lovely for long drives, though I personally could never get a "just right" setting for lumbar support. #FirstWorldProblems.

Unfortunately, the feeling of quality did not extend to our vehicle's build. Almost immediately, the G70 had some transmission and turbocharger woes, requiring replacements of entire units. Then we discovered the windshield wipers were reverse-installed on the assembly line. Derp. From a brand listed atop J.D. Power's quality index, our particular unit looked markedly out of place.

Thanks to Genesis' complimentary three years of maintenance, we had two minor services performed gratis. Our only out-of-pocket cost was $989.96 for a set of tires after the right-rear rubber developed a chunking problem. For some context, we spent $469.55 on two services for our long-term 2018 Alfa Romeo Giulia and $561.36 on two oil changes and inspections for our long-term 2017 Audi A4 2.0 Quattro.

Is the G70 a good value? Given that you cannot get into a German compact sedan with a six-cylinder engine without spending well north of $50,000, the G70 is a tremendous bargain in the dealership. The G70 3.3T base price at time of loan was $44,745—to which we added the Elite package (rain-sensing wipers, parking sensors, wireless charging pad) that brought the final tally to $46,495.

And this was not some stripped-down model, decontented to get an enthusiast into the six-cylinder engine upgrade. Among the standard features of the 2019 G70 3.3T, start with heated and ventilated front leather seats with 16-way adjustment and four-way lumbar support. (The passenger seat gets a 12-and-four adjustment pattern.)

It gets better: aluminum interior trim, dual-zone climate control, and power tilt and telescoping steering wheel wrapped in perforated leather. SiriusXM satellite radio blasts through a brilliant 15-speaker, 660-watt Lexicon stereo. It has three USB ports and Bluetooth connectivity. And don't forget free maintenance.

"A bang-for-your-buck transaction does not take long-term costs into account," IntelliChoice's Debbie Eldridge said. If you are willing to step back to the base 2.0-liter turbo-four, however, IntelliChoice's long-term value rating improves to Good.

One reason why: Our G70's playful 3.3-liter twin-turbo was thirsty. Despite the many, many freeway miles we put on it, the G70 averaged a disappointing 20.1 mpg during its year in service. We spent $3,258 for 831 gallons of gasoline.

As you may have read in the G70's final long-term update, the Genesis marque's plan to use virtual dealerships (as in, everything involving the customer happens out of sight while a secret nearby Hyundai dealership makes the sausage) fell apart with COVID ruining the idea of concierge service.

That's right, Genesis has no stand-alone dealerships. Yet. Some people care about hanging out in plush waiting rooms; apparently Genesis thinks its buyers will, too, as it has plans for a network of Taj Majals. Dealers are going to start turning shovels on those projects by the end of this year, with the first showrooms opening in 2022. But in the interim, it means fighting for service space alongside Elantras and Sonatas going in for their 120,000-mile appointment.

Sounds like a screaming deal, right? Well, it is, on the front end. Unfortunately, the G70's value story ends there.

MotorTrend's vehicle valuation subsidiary, IntelliChoice, predicts three-year retained value at a middling 62 percent for a G70 with 42,000 miles on it. What's more, depreciation is only one element of cost of ownership, and when factoring in items like fuel costs and insurance over a five-year ownership period, the G70 3.3T ranks Poor for the 2019 model and Mediocre for the 2020 model, according to IntelliChoice. By contrast, a 2020 3 Series ranks Excellent.

Is that a luxury experience? A cadre of marketing consultants will no doubt gladly bend your ear discussing the definition. Regardless, the G70 makes a strong case that Korea's first premium automotive brand has truly arrived on the scene.

The Lordstown Endurance EV Pickup Is Going Baja Racing ... Sort Of

 It's not the Baja 1,000, but a variant of the electric truck will compete in the 2021 SCORE International San Felipe 250.

Remember the first time you heard an angry V-8 Trophy Truck romping through the desert? Like a freight train late for a delivery or an irritated elephant trampling the savanna, the rage of a race truck literally shakes the ground—and converts many into off-road believers. Well, as they say, the only constant is change. Soon the ground will shake silently as a pickup truck based on the Lordstown Endurance electric pickup truck will race in the 2021 SCORE International San Felipe 250.

Lordstown Motors Corporation plans to build the Endurance at its 785-acre, 6.2 million-square-foot Lordstown Assembly Plant in Lordstown, Ohio. The plant was formerly a General Motors site from 1966-2019. Touting its ability to efficiently and effectively meet the needs of hard workers, the Endurance will target the commercial fleet market and is ambitiously set to start production in September.

Lordstown is entering its Endurance Beta skateboard in the grueling desert race, meaning its race vehicle will run the company's electric chassis platform (hence "skateboard") but not necessarily the pickup truck body. While we don't know much about the aesthetics, it'll have to be equipped with all sorts of race vehicle tidbits to pass tech inspection while also being robust enough for gnarly race conditions. Lordstown started testing its Beta skateboard in January; the progression goes prototype, Alpha, Beta, pre-production, and then production.

Steve Burns, chief executive officer of Lordstown Motors, believes that finishing the 290-mile single loop race will be a testament to the "superior traction, weight balance and advanced software control of our hub motor-based Endurance." Indeed, just completing a SCORE race is a big deal for any entrant, as desert racing has a tendency to absolutely annihilate vehicles. It would be a huge accomplishment for Lordstown.

It's doubtful the Lordstown's San Felipe adventure will be issue-free. It's the first time racing for Lordstown, and growing pains tend to accompany firsts. Will the electric platform withstand dust, silt, rocks, water, debris, and heavy abuse? Remember, the chassis is by no means at production specs yet. Will the four in-wheel hub motors hold up? Will the vehicle as a whole escape mechanical failure and its drivers avoid error? If the Endurance has a range of 250 miles, how will the Beta skateboard manage 290 miles of racing? Will the team do some fast charging or quick battery swaps during pit stops, or will the setup have some sort of enhanced range? Although no electric vehicle has attempted the San Felipe 250, others have attacked the desert. Rivian, for instance, entered its R1T in the 2020 Rebelle Rally.

We don't know who Lordstown is partnering with for this San Felipe 250 endeavor. The off-road race scene is replete with qualified partners, as are the peripheral spheres of drifting, road racing, motorcycle racing, and so on. Love it or hate it, electric racing is all the hotness right now. One specific candidate is possibly Greg Foutz of Foutz Motorsports, who previously teamed up with Ford to campaign the F-150 Raptor in the Mint 400. After all, Foutz Motorsports is clearing out spare Raptor parts from previous race programs to make room … for what, exactly?

The 2021 SCORE International San Felipe 250 takes place on April 17, 2021, and starts and finishes in San Felipe, Baja California. Lordstown's grit will be revealed during this race of endurance.

2022 Kia Carnival First Look: It's a "Multi-Purpose Vehicle," Not a Minivan

 New name, engine, platform for Kia’s miniva—er, sorry, MPV.

A couple of weeks ago we speculated that the new version of Kia's Sedona minivan would get a new name, and now it's official—Kia's new-for-2022 minivan will wear the Carnival badge used in other markets, including South Korea. Oh, and it's not a minivan, it's a multi-purpose vehicle. And to judge from its slick new appearance, primary among those multiple purposes is not to get mistaken for a minivan.

Picking up where the Sedona left off, the 2022 Kia Carnival further blurs the line between minivan and SUV. The Carnival's elongated nose and bumper-to-dash-to-wheel ratio are distinctly SUV-like, as is the heavy chrome C-pillar treatment. The sliding-door tracks have been neatly integrated into the bodywork, and the whole concoction carries a cool Dodge Durango/Ford Explorer-ish vibe. Kia is to be congratulated: Few minivans—sorry, MPVs—carry off the pseudo-SUV look this well.

Is The Carnival An MPV, Or A Minivan? Yes.

That said, it's still essentially a minivan—a good thing when it comes to interior packaging. Up front, and like the Sedona that preceded it, the 2022 Kia Carnival has a broad center console housing the transmission shifter and cupholders, just as you'd find in an SUV, but behind the front seats, it has minivan-style seven- and eight-seat layouts and a low step-in height. The seven-seater features removable buckets, or optional VIP seats that recline  private-jet style. Eight-seat Carnivals offer a three-place second row with seats that can be individually removed. The center seat can be folded down to form a table or slid far forward enough that front-seat passengers can attend to babies strapped into car seats. In the way-back, the three-place split rear bench can be made to disappear into a deep well in the floor, just as in any self-respecting minivan. With all second- and third-row seats removed (which can't be done with VIP seating), the Carnival will hold a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood.

Let's go back up front to check out the new dash, which features two 12.3-inch LCD panels, one for instruments and one for infotainment, integrated into a single handsome stand-up unit. The center stack is angled towards the driver (and surely whoever is relegated to the passenger seat isn't going to like that much), and the controls are arranged in the same sensible layout we've come to know and love in other Kia models.

It Sure Has Minivan-Like Features ...

The list of family-friendly features in the 2022 Carnival is long, so take a deep breath: There are USB ports in every row, up to nine total, and twin 110-volt power outlets. There's an optional low-light camera with zoom capability for monitoring the second and third rows and an intercom system facilitating conversation between front and rear rows. Second-row occupants get their own microphones and activation button for the UVO infotainment system's voice-recognition system, and the available twin rear-screen entertainment system has wireless Android and Apple screen-mirroring capability.

Kia will sell the Carnival in LX, EX, SX, and SX Prestige trim levels, and all will feature dual hands-free power-sliding rear doors. An innovative Safe Exit Assist system warns rear-seat passengers against opening their doors when the car detects oncoming traffic, and when integrated with power child locks, the system will prevent the doors from opening. Also available is a rear occupant alert system. We've seen several of these gadgets that simply flash an easy-to-ignore reminder to check the rear seats every time you shut the vehicle off. But it'll be harder to ignore the Carnival's new system, which uses ultrasonic sensors to detect moving children or pets in the back seat. If you lock a living thing in the Sedona, it will flash the hazards, honk the horn, and send an alert to your mobile phone's UVO app.

All of this family-totin' goodness rides on the new N3 platform, which also underpins Kia's Sorento SUV and K5 sedan. The 2022 Carnival offers a single powertrain consisting of a 290-hp, 262 lb-ft 3.5 liter V-6 driving the front wheels through an eight-speed automatic transmission. (That's right, unlike the 2021 Chrysler Pacifica and the new Toyota Sienna, and in spite of its SUV-ish looks, the Kia doesn't offer all-wheel-drive.) Towing capacity, if you're into that sort of thing, is 3,500 lbs.

As we expect nowadays, the 2022 Kia Carnival has a host of ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance System) features as standard, including forward, rearward, and blind-spot collision avoidance, rear parking sensors, lane-keeping assistance, automatic high beams, and drowsy-driver detection. Optional upgrades include a blind-spot camera for lane changes (displayed in the instrument cluster), cyclist detection for the forward-collision system, adaptive cruise control that adjusts to speed limits and upcoming curves, and a 360-degree parking camera.

Ready to get MPV-ing? The 2022 Kia Carnival will arrive in dealerships in the second quarter of 2021 looking good but less weird than the extroverted Toyota Sienna, and blockier than the elegant (for a minivan) Chrysler Pacifica.

Dodge Aspen and Plymouth Volare: Great Idea, Lousy Execution

 MotorTrend’s 1976 Car of the Year turned out to be one of the sourest lemons in history.

The Dodge Aspen and Plymouth Volare were MotorTrend's 1976 Car of the Year—and no, we hadn't lost our marbles. Looking into history's rearview mirror, we know these cars turned out to be troubled turd tubs. But back in late 1975, before the Aspen and Volare collided with their self-made roadblocks, they seemed like rather innovative vehicles. How could these cars be so right—and yet so wrong?

Chrysler In Catastrophe

While most people correctly associate the great 1970s downsizing of American cars with the 1973-74 energy crisis, the origin of the F-bodies—initially code-named Aspen and Vail—dates back to 1971. American buyers were already gravitating toward smaller cars, and Chrysler saw a market for a compact model with the interior space and ride qualities of a larger car. (History would prove the company's notion correct, but only in the long term.) Having been stung once by downsizing—Chrysler shrank its big cars in '62 with disastrous sales results—Chrysler scheduled an update of its aging full-size C-body to launch ahead of the new compacts.

The timing was catastrophic, as the introduction of Chrysler's big new 1974 gas guzzlers coincided almost perfectly with the OPEC oil embargo. The company should have been well positioned with its highly-regarded Dodge Dart and Plymouth Valiant compacts, as well as the Mitsubishi-sourced Dodge Colt, but dealer lots were overflowing with full-size cars no one wanted. Then the 1974-75 recession hit, and Chrysler took a pummeling.

Aspen And Volare To The Rescue!

With so much going wrong, the new compacts couldn't arrive soon enough. At the end of 1975—a disastrous year in which Chrysler lost $260 million ($1.25 billion in 2021 dollars) and failed to pay a dividend on common stock for the first time since 1933—the 1976 Dodge Aspen and Plymouth Volare finally made their debut. It seemed Chrysler finally had the right car for the times, one that offered mid-size space in a compact package. Reviewers, including us, piled praise upon these smart new compacts.

While modern eyes tend to regard any car with a leaf-sprung rear axle as primitive, the Fs showed signs of sophistication. Chrysler's front suspensions were already differentiated by the use of longitudinal torsion bars, which gave them notably better handling (and a firmer ride) than coil-sprung competitors. For the F-body, Chrysler developed a novel new suspension that used transverse torsion bars located ahead of the front axle, mounted to a K-member isolated from the unibody by rubber mounts. It was a compact setup that delivered nimble (for the time) handling and a plush ride.

The Aspen and Volare's appeal went beyond its underpinnings. Standard operating procedure in Detroit was to develop car interiors and exteriors separately; in another accurate prediction of the culture, the F-body's exterior shape was determined by interior size demands and aerodynamics. Chrysler developed coupe, sedan, and wagon variants with the two-door cars riding on a 4.0-inch-shorter wheelbase than the four-doors. The wagon was particularly noteworthy, as Ford and GM had no station wagon in that size class, and AMC's Hornet was much tighter on space. (GM and Ford would follow Chrysler into this segment with their downsized intermediate wagons of 1978.) The cars were styled to avoid alienating loyal Dart and Valiant owners, retaining a last vestige of 1970s roundness rather than giving over to the straight-line designs that would become a hallmark of the early '80s.

And what of the obvious badge engineering that led the Dodge and Plymouth versions to be nearly identical? While General Motors tried (with declining levels of success) to differentiate similar cars from different marques, Chrysler simply didn't bother. Chrysler's dealership body was more-or-less evenly divided into Dodge and Chrysler-Plymouth stores, and to Chrysler's way of thinking, an Aspen was merely a Volare that you bought from a Dodge dealer.

Decent Performance From Old Hardware

Powertrains included the venerable 225-cid (3.7-liter) Slant Six and 318 (5.2-liter) V-8. Chrysler offered hot-rod versions, the Aspen R/T and Plymouth Road Runner, which could be had with a 360 (5.6-liter) V-8. Emissions and a two-barrel carburetor (versus the traditional performance-oriented four-barell) had choked the 360 to a mere 170 horsepower at 4,000 rpm, but there was still 280 lb-ft  of torque to be had. We tested an Aspen R/T coupe with a three-speed TorqueFlite automatic and a 3.21:1 rear end, and it got to 60 mph in 8.6 seconds and through the quarter mile in 17.4, which were pretty decent numbers for the Malaise Era. Through the slalom the Aspen R/T was quick and predictable, with ride quality that was comfortable enough to avoid turning off Mr. and Mrs. America.

How did the Aspen and Volare end up as MotorTrend's Car of the Year? As the five-minute promotional film below (please try not to laugh too hard) shows, the competition wasn't exactly the strongest. Finalists included the Chevrolet Chevette, AMC Pacer, and Cadillac Seville (a rebodied Chevy Nova that would become a '70s sensation). We thought Chrysler had the right idea: The Aspen and Volare were spacious despite tidy dimensions, and a damn sight better to drive than the oversized land yachts Detroit had foisted on the public since the last time Chrysler had tried (unsuccessfully) to downsize its cars in the early 1960s.

The timing of the Aspen and Volare still wasn't perfect; by 1976, American customers, with their short memories, started to drift back to large cars. Still, sales numbers were huge by Chrysler's standards. Buyers took home more than 500,000 Aspens and Volares in 1976, bumping up Dodge and Plymouth sales by 14 percent and 22 percent, respectively—and this while being sold alongside the Dart and Valiant. In 1977, Chrysler sold nearly 700,000. For both years, the F-bodies made up more than half of each division's sales.

And then it all started to unravel.

Aspen And Volare: Build-Quality Bombs

Lee Iacocca, in his autobiography Iacocca, speculated that the F-bodies needed another six months of development before they were ready for the public. Problems began to spring up right away, some related to faulty design and others to bad build quality. Safety recalls included hoods that didn't latch properly, engines stalling on acceleration, seat belt tensioners failing to lock, fenders rusting with alacrity, suspension and brake components suffering from early fatigue, omitted muffler heat shields, and leaky fuel hoses. One particularly harrowing defect resulted in the steering-wheel shaft becoming disconnected from the rest of the steering system. The Aspen and Volare quickly became the most-recalled cars in history (a record that would soon be stolen away by GM's awful X-cars).

And these, mind you, were just the recalls. F-body owners dealt with countless other ignominies, including (but by no means limited to) leaky trunks, broken motor mounts, rapidly-wearing suspension parts, seizing brake calipers, and electrical problems in quantities that would make an MG owner blanch. Even the reputedly indestructible Slant Six proved fallible when installed between the F-body's rust-prone fenders.

The Competition Catches Up

Meanwhile, Aspen and Volare faced increasingly tough competition.

GM introduced its downsized large cars in 1977. Chrysler's big cars were dinosaurs, and there was no money to replace them, Chrysler having sunk its savings into the new front-drive Omni and Horizon. For '78, GM downsized its intermediates to the Aspen's and Volare's size, while Ford introduced the new Fox-based Fairmont. While older Greatest Generation buyers still bought American, young buyers unwilling to put up with rampant quality problems bought more and more Japanese cars. 1978 was a great year for new car sales, but Chrysler sales were down.

A second oil crisis hit in 1979, and while Chrysler's new front-drive Omnirizons sold strongly, the company was sinking around them. Newly-installed CEO Iacocca went to Congress seeking loan guarantees while the company rushed to develop a new generation of front-wheel-drive cars. The Aspen and Volare were axed after just five model years, cleared out to make way for the K-cars which master pitchman Iacocca would turn into an American sensation.

The F-cars became a symbol for 1970s failures, not just at Chrysler but those of the industry as a whole. And perhaps that's just a little unfair. The F-body platform—which, for reasons never made clear, was renamed M—spawned the Dodge Diplomat, Plymouth Gran Fury, and Chrysler Fifth Avenue, well-regarded cars that lasted until 1989 and were the darlings of police fleets well into the 1990s.

Should The Aspen And Volare Have Been Our Car(S) Of The Year?

Did the 1976 Dodge Aspen and Plymouth Valiant deserve the MotorTrend Car of the Year title, or were they just too terrible? Well, they certainly were terrible in execution, that's for sure. But the reasons for the F-body's victory were sound. When you look at the automotive industry's evolution, you can see Chrysler's notion about what buyers would want—smaller cars with larger interiors, nimble handling, and a comfortable ride—was correct. Chrysler had the right idea, but it lost it on implementation.