2009 Car of the Year: Hyundai Genesis

cnn.com ^ | 1/11/2009 | Peter Valdes-Dapena

[shove_it]

DETROIT (CNNMoney.com) -- The Hyundai Genesis won the prestigious Car of the Year Award Sunday at the start of media preview days for the 2009 Detroit Auto Show. The redesigned Ford F-150 won the Truck of the Year award.

To be eligible for the top prize, a vehicle had to be all-new, completely redesigned or "substantially changed," and available to customers during calendar year 2008.

From among those vehicles, a jury of 50 automotive journalists from the United States and Canada narrowed the list down to three cars and three trucks that were eligible for the final award.

The three finalists for Car of the Year this year were the Genesis, Ford Flex, and Volkswagen Jetta TDI. The Jetta is powered by a diesel engine.

The nominees for truck of the year were the F-150, Dodge Ram and Mercedes-Benz ML320 BlueTEC. Like the Jetta TDI, the ML320 BlueTEC is a diesel-powered version of the Mercedes SUV.

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[MAD-AS-HELL]

for the money, it’s the best bang for the buck. Especially the 6 banger. Hyundai really hit a home run with this car.

[shove_it]

[RichardW]

It is very nice but the Azera is nothing to sneeze at either. I drove one of those recently and was extremely impressed. A person couldn’t do badly with either one.

[umgud]

I wonder when or if they will enter the truck market. Maybe give Toyota and the Big Three a run for their money.

[DCPatriot]

It’s too bad that it looks just like every other car on the road.
Looks-wise, it’s a brown-wrapper, IMO.

[LiberConservative]

And Hyundai’s quality is as good if not better than anyone’s.

[muawiyah]

All Hyundai's have faces, either front, rear, or both. This one looks like a forward looking predatory beetle of some kind.

[MAD-AS-HELL]

While Hyundai takes styling clues from other manufactures, all I can say is that it’s not ugly nor is it unique. But then again, when you are driving the car, you never see the outside of it.

[CaptainK]

And no one beats their maintenance programs.

[org.whodat]

ROFLOL, talk about over priced!!! Those POS run 35,000 to 42,000 dollars.

[McGruff]

I drive a 2 1/2 year old Sonata that I've been happy with. Before that I had an Oldsmobile Intrigue for 6 years that I was happy with. I think all cars are pretty good now a days compared to say the ~1990 and earlier American cars.

[MAD-AS-HELL]

I would think that it will NEVER touch the truck market. It’s a brutal business. Look at Honda and Toyota’s attempt. More so with Toyota which puts out a nice truck but it got HAMMERED. Honda just sorta dabbled with the Pilot but that’s a niche type of truck for city folks.

[muawiyah]

Check the front ~ it's got the face of a tiger beetle. From the rear it looks like there are komodo dragon eyes down there.

You can say Hyundai's look like other cars, but you won't once you become aware of the faces~!

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

“I wonder when or if they will enter the truck market. Maybe give Toyota and the Big Three a run for their money.”

Hmm, giving the big three “a run for their money” is an odd turn of the phrase, I must say, LOL.

[muawiyah]

It's competing against cars that cost $10,000 to $25,000 more. BTW, I've owned 4 Hyundais, and helped others purchase a dozen more. My corner of my neighborhood looks like a Hyundai lot ~ all the neighbors gotta' have 'em.

This model is the one I sat in at Malloy a few months back ~ you feel like you're in a Hyundai. It's all familiar stuff. Even the dimensions in the driver's control zone ~ but it has the power seats (up/down/left/right/tilt), leather goods, full array of airbags, and so on.

These are all reserved for Hyundai fans though. Folks who don't have a trackrecord in this make probably shouldn't try the big one!

[shove_it]

Who would buy a Truck that had a TRD on it? I didn't know what TRD stood for until I just now Googled it.

[org.whodat]

Does not change the fact that they are over priced.

[#1CTYankee]

"And no one beats their maintenance programs."

From what I hear from fellow employees who purchased one you'll need it.

I actually considered buying one but hearing the about the the (un) reliability I'll pass.

[MAD-AS-HELL]

haha..yeah..T(u)RD. Maybe they'd sell more if they threw in a free pair of truck nuts