Is Hyundai Real Luxury?

Hyundai has created some incredible products as of recently. Not even including Hyundai’s luxury arm, Genesis, the vehicles coming out of Hyundai has us questioning if you are wasting your hard-earned dollars on luxury branded cars.

As an automotive journalist, I’ve been in them all. I’ve driven all the cars the public seems to worship or aspire to own. If I’m honest, many of the overpriced luxury cars are just that, overly inflated badges on four wheels. Not all of them are like that, but when you look at something like the 2020 Hyundai Sonata, you get a lot for your money and options that luxury marques would nickel and dime you.

The purpose of most luxury cars is to provide a quiet and comfortable ride with some convenient little creature comforts. Sprinkle some heated seats, perhaps a cooled seat, and a screen with Apple Carplay/Android Auto might do it. All of these items are included with almost every Hyundai while undercutting its competition, and no, Hyundai’s competitors are not luxury cars.

No, Hyundai typically is not rear-wheel-drive based chassis with double-wishbone suspension setups so it won’t have the same handling characteristics but, most every Genesis product has those attributes. I’m not going to mention cars like the Genesis G80 or Genesis G90 because it is just too next level.

The primary attribute that a Hyundai is missing is the prestige of a luxury-branded car. A Hyundai won’t please most people’s ego, nor will it give people a sense of dominance over others. These are the things that the masses want when they lust after those luxury branded goods. The architecture and suspension mean nothing as most can’t even utilize such mechanical goodness on public roads. A Hyundai is more than satisfactory for tooling around town, especially with all of its creature comforts.

So this begs the question, what is true luxury? Is it prestige from a badge or a quality ride? Could it perhaps be the use of exquisite materials, or is cramming a lot of features into a car? Post your answers in the comment section below, but one thing is clear, Hyundai has done a heck of a job packaging together affordable cars with some great features.

Kevin Meyn is an automotive journalist for Torque News concentrating on Hyundai content. Kevin is the founder of Exhaust Sports Auto Youtube channel, where he does professional car reviews on new and used vehicles. Through the use of various resources and extended Automotive expertise, Kevin documents the latest in automotive news revolving around Hyundai. Kevin graduated from NC State University studying Supply Chain Management but has had a passion for cars since he was a child. Follow Kevin on Twitter and Instagram @exhaustsports.