The features that matter to you

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Back in 2017, I leased a 2018 Genesis G80, part of the “luxury” brand from Hyundai. When the lease was up, I turned it back in and ended 2017 Ford Fusion — and I consider the Fusion to be a better car in every way.

That seems odd, as the newer “luxury” car should seem like the better car. Perhaps it is for some folks, but not for me. The G80 had a sticker price a few thousand dollars higher than the Fusion, so it should have the advantage. Here is where it fell short:

Entertainment system

The entertainment system in the G80 was weird. Super slow to respond to touch, and it seemed buggy. However, I had them look at it a few times and they assured me it was normal. I guess it just wasn’t any good.

On both cars I use Android Auto 99% of the time, but on the Genesis even that was slow to respond. Their entertainment system was simply awful, and I don’t know why.

Horsepower

The Fusion is simply a quicker car. The difference in horsepower isn’t huge (325 on the Fusion versus 311 on the G80), but the Fusion is also more than 500 lbs lighter, which makes a noticeable difference.

App, key fob, and door code

This is where the Genesis was really weird. Let’s start with the Fusion:

Their mobile app is fairly simple and can remotely start the car from most anywhere.
The key fob can remotely start the car (within a tighter range), like most cars can.
They have the keyless entry panel on the driver’s door so you can enter a code to get in. This is GREAT when you go running or hiking and you can just leave the keys in the car.

The Genesis didn’t have the keypad panel, but no one but Ford does that so I don’t really hold it against them. It was their app and key fob that were bizarre, though.

The app was just a hot mess. It tried to do SO much (pulling in your calendar and things like that) which made it a clunky mess. It could remotely start your car, but I generally kept it uninstalled because it was such a battery hog.

The key fob was even more weird because it didn’t include a remote start option. I don’t know why, and they couldn’t tell me. It was app or nothing, so generally it was nothing. So strange.

Heated wheel, cooled seats, and a sunroof

The Fusion has all three of these while my G80 didn’t. Of course, these were options on some G80 packages that I didn’t choose, but the sticker price on the G80 was already higher than the Fusion, so where that extra money go?

Silly little things

Being a Ford guy for much of my life, there are also some little things (such as the keypad entry) that I really like with Ford cars. Here are two small things that Ford does better.

Car stays locked
When I’m getting out of the car, my keys are typically in my pocket. So, out of convenience, I generally just press the lock button the door as I’m climbing out. With the Genesis, that didn’t work because it would detect the keys still “in the car” (in my pocket) and immediately unlock the doors again. I guess it was trying to help, but it wasn’t.

Courtesy swipe
My wife makes fun of me for this, but I love it. When your windshield is dirty and you wash it with the wipers, the car automatically swipes three times. All cars do this. In a Ford though, after the third swipe it pauses for a second or two, and then does a “courtesy swipe” to clean up the dribbles. We all do that manually anyhow, so it’s neat that Ford does it for us.

That leads to really what the problem was — the Genesis wasn’t finished. They already had a few years to get things rolling, but it just felt like they had to cut some corners to get it out there. Maybe that’s not the case, but the G80 simply had too many rough edges to excuse. It’s been a few years now and perhaps the later models are better, but I’ll likely never find out.