Updated 2024 Genesis G70 Pumps Up the Base

While the auto market embraces SUVs with both hands, we still carry a torch for sports sedans, and that genre remains well represented among premium nameplates. The group’s sales leaders—the BMW 3-series, followed closely by the Mercedes-Benz C-class—could be seen as the sport and luxury bookends of the segment, with the Genesis G70 falling somewhere in between. The G70, though, impressed us out of the box, winning a 10Best award in 2019. Since its inception, Genesis’s smallest sedan has always offered a choice of four cylinders or six, and for its 2024 update, the four-cylinder version garners the lion’s share of the attention. The engine is bigger and brawnier, and the model gets additional standard equipment this year; together, that’s likely to give more six-cylinder intenders pause and value shoppers more satisfaction.

Stepping in for the previous turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four is a turbo 2.5-liter four, seen elsewhere in the GV70 and the G80. Its power output is a nice, round 300 horses, a substantial hike from the old engine’s 252; the 2.5T’s 311 pound-feet of torque represents an increase of 51 pound-feet. Once again, an eight-speed automatic handles shifting duties. (The six-speed manual that was once offered is but a fading memory.) With either engine, rear-wheel drive is standard, but buyers can spring for all-wheel drive.

Driving the G70 2.5T

The old 2.0-liter engine was a source of grumbling dissatisfaction when we put a 2019 G70 through our 40,000-mile wringer, but the new 2.5T avoids the base-engine blues. Its more robust peak torque is available across a broader swath of the rev range, from 1650 to 4000 rpm, which means it will be harder to catch it napping. On our street drive in and around Phoenix, the 2.5T feels well matched to this car. Whether you’re stomping on the right pedal or giving it the gentlest nudge, there’s no discernable lag, and accelerator response is nicely linear. The engine even manages to avoid the gritty exhaust note that bedevils so many direct-injected turbo fours, although it’s mostly just quiet.

Our long-term rear-wheel-drive G70 2.0T needed 5.8 seconds to reach 60 mph. That put it far behind the 3.3T, which, with the benefit of all-wheel drive, hit 60 mph in 4.5 seconds in our test of a 2022 model. The new 2.5T should substantially narrow that gap.

The new larger four exacts a minor toll at the pump compared to its predecessor, which is too bad, since the G70 already trailed the C300 and 330i in this respect. There’s a 2-mpg reduction in EPA highway fuel economy, now 29 mpg, while the city number stays at 21 mpg with rear-wheel drive; the all-wheel-drive version is unchanged at 20 mpg city and 28 highway.

Driving the 3.3T

The V-6 continues as before, extracting the same 365 horsepower and 376 pound-feet from 3.3 liters, with the aid of twin turbocharging. The active exhaust remains exclusive to this engine and gives it a bit more voice than the 2.5T, as well as an extra 3 horsepower over the 3.3T’s regular output.

The 3.3T is the version that we had for our track drive at Arizona’s Apex Motor Club. These rear-wheel-drive 3.3T G70s wore Michelin Pilot Sport 4 summer rubber (all-season tires are fitted to all-wheel-drive models) and were optioned with adaptive dampers, which remain a 3.3T exclusive. Running in Sport+ mode, the G70 still exhibits a bit of body roll on the track, but the car feels nicely balanced, and when the rear end starts to step out, it does so in a gentle, controllable manner. Sport+ mode brings rev-matching manual shifts via the steering-wheel paddles, but it’s also well programmed enough that we were able to let the gearbox do its thing while we concentrated on our line around the 2.3-mile course. Brembo stoppers are newly standard on all G70s, and they showed no fade during our five-lap track sessions. With any luck, they’ll also shorten stopping distances—in our last test of a G70 3.3T, it required 178 feet to stop from 70 mph (versus 154 feet for the C300 and 158 feet for the Cadillac CT4).

On the track and on the street, we were pleased with the G70’s steering, which has a solid sense of straight-ahead and efforts that build naturally as you dial in more lock. In our road drive, we didn’t feel much difference between the 3.3T equipped with adaptive dampers and the 2.5T without. The G70’s ride is composed, not floaty, and bumps are dispatched with a thwack but with minimal disturbance to the cabin. The chassis overall feels well tuned.

Cabin Fever

The driver’s environment remains largely as before. The front bucket seats are comfortable, and we appreciate the large dead pedal. Headroom under the available sunroof isn’t quite sufficient for a six-foot driver wearing a helmet—but how often do you do that? More significant is that a complete lack of foot room under the front seats makes the rear seat inhospitable.

This year’s update left the 10.3-inch center touchscreen alone. It’s mildly annoying that the car defaults to a home screen that just shows a clock and a city skyline image—you have to swipe right to pick an app or choose a function from the row of physical buttons below. Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are on hand but require a wired connection; wireless charging is optional on the base trim, standard elsewhere, and a USB-C port has been added. The climate control system trades some of its buttons for a touchscreen, situated between the knobs for temperature and few remaining buttons for the defrosters, and auto, off, and recirc. Fan speed, modes, seat heating and cooling, and the available heated steering wheel are all operated via the screen.

Don’t Ignore the Four

While both G70s are fine examples of the genre, the new standard engine changes the equation for G70 shoppers. Both models are more expensive this year: The 2.5T’s $42,750 starting price is $2225 above the old 2.0T, but the 3.3T climbs by $5175 to $51,200 (mostly due to the items in last year’s Sport Advanced package joining the standard-equipment list).

The muscular 3.3T had been our default recommendation. But with the new four boasting muscles of its own, and against a backdrop of revised pricing for both cars, the G70 2.5T is now the more compelling member of this sports-sedan duo.

Joe Lorio has been obsessed with cars since his Matchbox days, and he got his first subscription to Car and Driver at age 11. Joe started his career at Automobile Magazine under David E. Davis Jr., and his work has also appeared on websites including Amazon Autos, Autoblog, AutoTrader, Hagerty, Hemmings, KBB, and TrueCar.