Genesis GV60 vs Lexus NX

What's the difference?

It’s still a tall order. There’s no getting around the fact this is a lot of money to part with for a weird looking electric car from a brand so new to the luxury space.

While I wasn’t convinced going in, the way this car unites some of the best attributes of its Ioniq 5 and EV6 relations, while bringing with it such a unique look and feel, has swayed me.

I understand this car a lot better now, and this is maybe the biggest catch; you need to spend some time with this car to decide if it’s for you, because I don’t think it will be for everyone. That said, if you like what you’ve seen or read here, give it a try, you might be surprised by what you find.

The NX 450h+ Luxury combines high build quality and upmarket looks with plug-in hybrid convenience/performance/economy and numerous luxury appointments. It’s a competent all-rounder that's difficult to fault and clearly meets the needs of many prestige mid-size SUV buyers.

All of these features are impressive, but you have to be on board with the way this car has been styled. It’s a tad confronting, with its curvy, bulbous look, and an unfamiliar version of the Genesis face.

It’s not as traditionally appealing as the rest of the brand’s range, and I think it’s a bit risky. Then again, this car has to do something dramatic to slot in alongside the outrageously styled Hyundai Ioniq 5, and sporty Kia EV6 with which it shares its underpinnings.

My take: I’m not sure I love it, but there are bits I like. The ‘deconstruction’ 21-inch alloys look incredible and fill this car’s wheel arches, the Genesis signature light fittings pair nicely with the chrome highlight stripe running down the roofline, and the integrated spoiler accentuates the rear hatch.

What gets the concept car cred is those digital wing mirrors. In my time with the car they attracted the most attention from onlookers, and cement the futuristic Genesis brand theme.

An interesting factor of this car’s design is how small it looks. From the outside it looks a fraction of the size of the Ioniq 5 or EV6, and inside it feels the most like a hatch, despite the dimensions being close between the three siblings.

It may have a tight, low-slung feel, but thanks to its platform, the interior remains expansive. The light theme in our test car helps it feel airy and spacious, although my advice is to go with the darker of the three interior colour themes as it will probably age better.

Either way, the flat floor, low dash, and plentiful window space makes for an open-feeling area.

The floating centre console piece is closest in design and execution to the one in the EV6, but with its own kind of showmanship. It’s finished in a metal casing, with the highlight being the crystal gear selector.

With the car on, it exudes an ambient light and is surrounded by silver, but with it off, it flips over to become a luminescent crystal ball. 

One part of me says this is completely ridiculous and over-the-top, but then so are many of the interior elements going into rival vehicles (like the Mercedes ‘hyperscreen’, for example, or BMW’s similar use of crystals for key control items, or the Lexus RZ’s holographic diamond pattern projected into its door frame) which are just as attention-grabbing for the sake of it.

There’s a lot to like, and I think importantly for buyers it’s a unique take.

Genesis has imprinted a lot of its identity in this car’s cabin, which only serves to set it apart from its rival luxury players. It won’t be for everyone, and maybe that’s okay.

The exterior is a sculptured blend of sharp creases and flowing curves which create a sporty and sophisticated appearance that clearly appeals to many buyers.

The interior looks and feels about as spacious and airy as you could realistically expect in a mid-sized SUV, which is enhanced with the roof open and sunshine pouring in.

The boldly contrasting two-tone grey and camel interior trim in our test vehicle adds to its visual appeal although we suspect such a bold colour choice could also be a stain magnet in everyday use, particularly for young families with lots of sticky kids’ stuff onboard.

As already mentioned, the front seat is a spacious, open environment, with plenty of practicality offered for occupants.

The floating centre console offers two centre cupholders and a shallow armrest box, and while it doesn’t shift back and forth like the unit in the Ioniq 5, it does have a netted storage compartment underneath.

There are plenty of additional storage areas, including a small bay under the USB-C outlets on the floor, a set of two sunglass holders (one under the climate unit and a second in the roof), large pockets with integrated bottle holders in the doors and an interesting slide-out drawer in place of a glove box.

The back seat feels just as spacious, with plenty of width and a flat floor making it a reasonable proposition for seating three adults across. Headroom is its least appealing dimension, with the roof dipping slightly to allow for the sliding sunroof cover.

Amenities are also plentiful, with adjustable vents in the pillars, a bottle holder in the door card, or a cupholder in the armrest, a further two cupholders in the padded drop-down centre piece, hard shell map pockets on the backs of the front seats, USB-C outlets on the back of the centre console, and a huge netted storage area underneath.

Perhaps the most welcome addition, though, is the full-size household-style power outlet under the rear bench, which lets you use the rear space as a mobile office or a comfortable, air-conditioned place to read while charging.

The boot measures in at 432 litres. It’s on-par for the mid-size SUV segment, but like its Ioniq 5 and EV6 relations, the floor is quite high leading to a wide but height-limited area. To fit the three-piece CarsGuide luggage set, for example, I had to remove the roller cover.

Underneath, there’s a small area for the storage of charging paraphernalia and the tyre repair kit. A tiny frunk also exists, best for the storage of similar items.

Its compact dimensions of 4660mm length, 1865mm width and 1660mm height make the usual driving chores in congested urban settings, particularly tight inner-city streets and parking spaces, much easier than a full-size SUV.

With its 2050kg kerb weight and 2540kg GVM, it has a load capacity of 490kg of which up to 75kg can be carried on the roof rails using approved racks.

While almost half a tonne of load capacity may seem ample, keep in mind that the combined weight of five large adults could reach that limit before you could start loading their luggage.

It’s also rated to tow up to 1000kg of braked trailer, which would be ideal for hauling small trailers with a recreational focus like fold-out campers, jet-skis, trail bikes etc. However, Lexus does not publish a GCM figure, so for weekend escapees we don’t know how much it can legally carry and tow at the same time.

There’s more than adequate space for the driver and front passenger, along with storage that includes a bottle-holder and bin in each door, overhead glasses holder and a single glove box.

The centre console has two cupholders and a deep box with padded lid that doubles as a comfy elbow rest. You’ll also find a quartet of USB ports, a 12V socket and wireless phone charging pad.

The rear bench seat is surprisingly accommodating for tall people, given I’m 186cm and when seated behind the driver’s seat set in my position I still have sufficient knee clearance and headroom.

However, with three up, those in the centre must compete for shoulder space plus have their feet either side of the transmission tunnel and knees together between the front seat backrests. So, three adults is okay for short trips but should be capped at two for longer drives.

Rear passenger storage includes a bottle-holder and bin in each door, pockets on both front seat backrests and two cupholders with the centre seat backrest folded forward. The rear of the centre console has adjustable air vents, rear seat heating controls, another 12V socket and a pair of USB ports.

The power tailgate can open by waving your foot under the rear bumper (useful when hands are full) to gain access to the rear luggage area, which provides numerous internal hooks for securing cargo straps or nets plus underfloor storage for the charging cables and more.

This luggage area offers up to 520 litres (more than half a cubic metre) of load volume with the rear seat upright. It expands into what is effectively a small van when the rear seat is folded flat, which can carry everything from a mountain bike to flatpack furniture.

Our test vehicle is the NX 450h+ Luxury (launched late 2025) which sits one rung below the premium 450h+ F Sport on the model ladder. Even though they share the same PHEV all-wheel drive (AWD) underpinnings, the Luxury’s emphasis on providing more affordable luxury at the highest level is reflected in its list price of $84,500, before on-road costs, which is $11,500 less than its F-Sport sibling. Our example is finished in optional 'Graphite Black' prestige paint available at extra cost.

As you’d expect there are plenty of items on the standard equipment list including 18-inch alloy wheels with 235/60 R18 tyres and an inflator/repair kit (no spare), heated door mirrors, tilt-and-slide moonroof, a rear spoiler, roof rails and LED headlights/DRLs to name a few.

Step inside using the smart entry and start function and drivers are treated to luxuries like front seat heating/ventilation with 12-way power adjustment (eight-way passenger), a heated steering wheel with paddle shifters and power height/reach adjustment, digital multi-information display, an electric parking brake, traffic sign recognition, tyre pressure monitoring and active parking aids.

There’s also outer rear seat heating, dual-zone climate control, wireless phone charging, multiple USB ports, 10-speaker premium sound, a 14-inch multimedia touchscreen with multiple connectivity including wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto and lots more.

The two GV60 grades share the same 77.4kWh battery pack. The standard all-wheel drive version offers a combined 234kW/605Nm, while the Performance AWD as tested puts out a massive 360kW/700Nm at its peak, using a temporary ‘Boost’ mode.

Suffice it to say this is more than enough power. It’s more powerful than (at a similar price) the BMW iX3, Lexus RZ and Merc EQC and you’ll need to spend significantly more to get into something which can best it from the traditional luxury space.

Perhaps also consider the Tesla Model Y Performance ($91,400) if going absurdly fast in a straight line is what you’re all about.

The sophisticated PHEV drivetrain with electronic AWD comprises a 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine that delivers 136kW of power and 227Nm of torque to the front wheels through a Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT).

There’s also electric motors front and rear, fed by an 18.1kWh lithium-ion traction battery that can provide limited electric-only driving range.

The front electric motor, which assists with driving the front wheels through the CVT, produces 134kW/270Nm while a smaller one exclusively drives the rear wheels with 40kW/121Nm. Although the combined output from these three power sources is 310kW, Lexus claims a total system output of only 227kW to optimise efficiency and reliability.

The petrol engine and electric motor outputs are electronically synchronised and traction is continuously monitored to automatically vary the amount of power being sent to the front or rear wheels to optimise stability and traction in all conditions.

There’s also a choice of drive modes comprising 'Normal', 'Sport' and 'Eco' and paddles on the steering wheel allow manual shifting of the CVT 'ratios' for a more engaging drive, or to increase the regenerative braking effect (like using lower ratios on descents etc).

Several operational modes can also be selected including electric-only driving (we covered 60km on one full charge and 56km on another) and two modes of hybrid driving, plus battery charging while driving courtesy of the petrol engine which during our test charged the battery from near zero to 100 per cent in 56km.

There’s also external plug-in charging of course. At home we used the three-pin domestic wall socket compatible 10A charger/AC Type 2 cable supplied with the vehicle, which took about six hours (at a tiny 2.3kW) to charge from 35-100 per cent.

Driving range for the Performance all-wheel drive is 466km, slightly less than the standard AWD version which can travel 470km between charges.

Again, it’s slightly better than you might expect from its most direct rivals, so an easy win there for Genesis. A 450km+ range is generally enough to be free from ‘range anxiety’ on almost all trips.

One of the reasons the GV60 is able to achieve a better range than its rivals with a similar battery capacity is efficiency. Like other Hyundai Group products, the GV60 is impressive.

Despite its huge power outputs, the official combined cycle energy consumption, according to the more accurate WLTP standard, is 19.1kWh/100km.

And in my time with the SUV, I managed an even better overall number of 18.9kWh/100km over several hundred kilometres of what I would consider ‘mixed’ driving conditions.

Charging is an even better story, with the 800-volt architecture underpinning this car allowing one of the fastest charging times on the market of just 18 minutes (10 - 80 per cent) on a compatible 350kW charger, provided you can find one.

On the far more common 50kW DC units you can expect a 73 minute 10 - 80 percent charge, while on the slower AC standard, the max rate is 11kW, indicating a charge time of around seven hours.

Lexus claims average combined consumption of only 1.3L/100km, achieved in ideal lab conditions which is largely irrelevant. When we stopped to refuel after 424km of real-world testing, which included our usual mix of suburban, city and highway driving and switching between the different modes (including 116km of electric-only driving), the dash display was showing 5.7L/100km.

That was close to our own figure of 5.4 calculated from fuel bowser and tripmeter readings, so based on our test consumption and depending on the mix of drive modes used, you could expect a realistic driving range of up to 1000km from its 55-litre tank which prefers 95RON premium petrol.

As someone who has spent significant time with both the Ioniq 5 and EV6, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the Genesis take on this formula. I’m happy to say, though, I was pleasantly surprised.

Yes, the GV60 is stupendously fast in a straight line, faster than any car needs to be, but it’s the subtleties which have been built into its ride and handling that make it shine.

While the Ioniq 5 is playful and comfortable, but soft enough it’s sometimes boaty, and the EV6 is hard and determined, but at times a tad harsh and heavy, the GV60 does a remarkable job of uniting the best attributes from its siblings.

The ride is hard enough to grant excellent control and a nice feel for the road, whilst still being forgiving over harder bumps and frequent corrugations. I was particularly surprised to feel its soft edge given its giant 21-inch wheels and slinky performance tyres.

An amount of give in the corners and a traction control system which allows a little slip lets you throw the weight of this car around a bit, mimicking the playful feel of the Ioniq 5. Something which you can enhance if you want by toying with the many soundscapes the GV60 offers.

One of the more surprising things which struck me about driving this EV is how relatively compact it feels. It doesn’t feel as though it has the heft of the EV6 nor the expansive feel of the Ioniq 5. Credit to the brand for making a car with the same chassis and hardware having such a distinct feel.

There’s also the bizarre 'virtual gear shift' feature which has been added for this year’s GV60 update. It makes the electric motors behave as though they’re being channelled through a torque converter transmission.

In the ‘automatic’ mode, the car provides revvy feedback and the feel of shifts between gears, while in the manual mode, the speed will be limited and the gear feedback provided by regen when you lift off, until you shift up.

Bizarre. Can I imagine using this in the day-to-day? Not really, it’s a bit annoying after a while. A gimmick, perhaps, to show your friends.

The same goes for the weird digital wing mirrors, although credit to Genesis, I became used to them quickly. I can’t say the same for the comparatively frustrating digital rear-vision mirrors fitted to Audi’s e-tron.

Unfortunately, they're standard in the GV60. I'd prefer they were optional and live without them.

Yes, it’s tech for tech’s sake. In fact, a lot of things in this car seem to lean this way, but underneath it all there’s a solid electric car, one which manages to unite some of the best features of the Ioniq 5 and EV6 while adding the unique look and feel of the Genesis marque.

The cabin is what you might call ‘cosy’ for tall people like me (186cm) but there’s still adequate room to find a comfortable driving position.

The ride quality is noticeably firm, which contributes to its sporty feel. The steering is nicely weighted with good response and braking is reassuringly strong.

Acceleration in full-electric and hybrid modes is brisk but not exceptional and about what you’d expect from this powertrain, which engages the rear electric motor for standing starts and other situations to ensure all-wheel drive traction is being deployed when you need it most.

We sampled the different drive modes, with 'Sport' providing a more engaging feel (particularly when manual shifting using the paddle shifters), 'Eco' producing a more subdued response to optimise range and the default 'Normal' providing a pleasant compromise.

Even so, despite its technical wizardry and generous choice of driver preferences, we reckon most daily driving owners would simply plug-in and charge each night, start off in electric-only mode and if needed continue in ‘Normal’ hybrid mode.

The NX has a maximum five-star ANCAP rating (awarded 2022), eight airbags and a suite of active safety features including AEB with pedestrian and daytime cyclist/motorcycle detection, steering assist, lane-keeping, safe exit assist, rear cross traffic alert, blind-spot monitoring, traffic sign recognition, LED DRLs, tyre pressure warning and lots more. The rear seat is equipped with two ISOFIX child seat anchorages and three top tethers.

Are you ready for a jumble of numbers? Genesis offers a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty, eight years/160,000km for the battery, and 10 years of roadside assistance.

The eyebrow-raising stuff here though is the five years of free servicing, combined with the choice of either a five-year Chargefox subscription or complimentary installation of a home charger.

Yep, theoretically, the GV60 can be free to run for the first five years. Like Lexus, Genesis also offers a complementary loan car at service time.

I don’t think any brand can beat it right now from an ownership perspective.

Comes standard with a five years/unlimited km warranty. Same applies to the lithium-ion traction battery, which is eligible for additional warranty coverage of up to five years (so 10 years in total) based on annual inspections.

Scheduled servicing is every 12 months/15,000km, whichever occurs first. Capped pricing, which applies to the first five scheduled services up to five years/75,000km, totals $3225 or an average of $645 per service.