Driving is tiring, right? All that stop-start traffic. All that lane-changing. All that try-not-to-miss-your exit stuff.
How cool then would it be to find some in-car way to lower your heart rate, prevent your teeth from gnashing, and avoid those clenched knuckles and muted screams at your fellow drivers.
A shot of Jose Cuervo is one solution, but remember you’re behind the wheel. Or maybe a little front seat transcendental meditation, chanting a few mantras. Repeat after me: Ommmmm.
But an even better alternative would be to take a drive in the newest 2025 GV80 mid-size, super-luxe SUV from Genesis, and experience its wonderfully-named “Mood Curator”.
One tap of an onscreen button gives you the choice of Vitality, Care, Delight and Comfort settings. Each one will play a calming video on the GV80’s brand new 27-inch mega-screen display – think billowing silk in a breeze – while turning on the deep-tissue massaging front seats.
It’ll also spritz the cabin with some zen-enhancing fragrance, and play some super-chill tunes on the new, 18-speaker, 1400-watt surround sound Bang & Olufsen stereo. Oh no, not the Kenny G.
All sounds pretty cheesy, I know. But during one particularly nerve-wracking, pulse-pounding, rush-hour, I-75 commute, I remembered the ‘Mood Curator’ button, gave it a tap and, guess what, it worked.
Adrenaline eased, frustration went away, and I swear my heart rate dropped. Ahhh.
And what really should be part of the ‘Mood Curator’ suite of features is the GV80’s brilliant Highway Driving Assist II set-up. This will keep the car perfectly centered in your lane, change lanes with a tap of the turn signal, slow and even stop when traffic ahead does, and even let you take your hands off the wheel. For a while.
Seems the whole mantra of this newly-refreshed 2025 GV80 is to calm and relax those inside. Everything from its active noise cancellation, to added sound-deadening material stuffed into every crevice, to thicker laminated glass. It’s like driving in a padded cell at Leavenworth. Not that I’d know, of course.
While the GV80 has been around for five years, the goodness of its original design made any major makeover not necessary. But we all benefit from a little freshening, a little nip and tuck right?
So for the 2025 model year, the Genesis gets a new grille with even more bling, new teeny-cube LED headlights, more aggressive-looking lower front bumper and skid plate, plus new 20 and 22-inch wheel designs.
Step up into the cabin and the big change is that new 27-inch infotainment screen sprawling across the dash. And unlike so many others, this is easy to work with courtesy of crystal-clear graphics, oversize tiles to press, and intuitive menus.
What hasn’t changed is the GV’s single-minded focus on luxury, quality and sheer elegance. Few other auto makers do diamond-quilted-and-perforated Nappa leather like Genesis.
And the devil is in the detail, like the switch to all-metal Genesis badges on the inside and out, replacing plastic. You’d be hard-pressed to notice, but it’s one more measure of the company’s strife for excellence.
What hasn’t changed is what’s under the hood. And that’s just fine. There’s still a choice of a 300-hp turbocharged 2.5-liter four-cylinder, or a 375-hp twin-turbo 3.5-liter V6. Both are mated to a smooth-shifting 8-speed automatic and standard all-wheel drive.
If there’s a criticism, it’s that there’s no hybrid, or plug-in hybrid option – hello, it’s 2024. A zero emission, all-electric version? Rumour has it that we might see one in mid-2026.
But a week spent with a top-of-the-line GV80 3.5T Prestige AWD, $82,150 fabulously loaded, reinforced Car and Driver’s rating of this being the #1 Best Mid-Size Luxury SUV, ahead of such powerhouses as Porsche’s Cayenne, the BMW X5, Volvo XC90 and Audi Q8.
That 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6 is still one of the most refined and responsive engines out there, with it creamy-smooth power delivery, muscley mid-range thrust, and whisper-quiet cruising.
For sportier, more dynamic handling you’d need to go German, but the precise, nicely-weighted steering, capable handling and magic-carpet ride fit the GV80’s character perfectly.
GV80 pricing kicks off with the 2.5T at $60,050 and climbs to $75,150 for a 3.5T. Even the base model will satisfy anyone’s lust for luxury and definitely put you in the right ‘mood’.
