Merits of Tuning the Genesis Coupe?

"Zachary Oberle" (zacharyoberle)
03/29/2016 at 17:04 • Filed to: Project Hoondy, Hyundai, Car Buying, Tuning

Hyundai’s first attempt at a rear wheel drive sports car is undoubtedly a flawed piece of machinery. Can enough merit be found in tuning the Genesis Coupe to make it a Jalop’s ride of choice?

On paper the 2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe is not that exciting. You get either a watered down version of the 4B11T four cylinder turbo or a V6 with power per displacement that falls short of Ford’s 3.7 liter Mustang engine. Your choice of power-plant is bolted to either a lame 6-speed automatic or an occasionally ill-assembled 6-speed manual transmission. The car isn’t quite as light as you’d want and, as a result, its acceleration stats don’t stand out either.

The “Track” version of the GenCoupe brings along biggish Brembo brakes and a Torsen rear diff, but these parts do little more than match similar goodies available on other cars in the segment. Hyundai has no established history in making great performance cars, and while they have an excellent warranty these days their brand cache is not as strong as what Honda or Toyota still enjoy.

Given such a lack of outstanding characteristics, the prospective Genesis Coupe owner must then face the car’s significant flaws.

The headlight lenses are huge and near horizontal in slope. This makes them prone to soaking up sun, going soft, turning foggy...

...and cracking. Light pods in general can be a problem on the car. They’ll develop leaks and fill with condensation far more often than buyers would hope. Granted, this is a bugbear of many modern cars.

Genesis Coupes without the Brembo brake option have a spongy pedal feel. They take a good few stomps to go soft, but once they do they don’t recover quickly.

Finally, and worst of all, is a crippling lack of front bump-travel that can become catastrophic when a Genesis Coupe is improperly lowered.

In the real world the car struggles to soak up mid-corner bumps and when driven hard will experience a sudden loss of front axle grip when it bounces off its bump-stops.

Which it does. Frequently.

This can lead to seriously pant-soiling moments if you happen to go over some bumps while you’re on the brakes and steering input is applied. The damping also isn’t great, and the car can be unsettled by surprisingly small bumps at speed.

The so-called “performance aftermarket” becomes slightly exposed here in that much of their tuning of the Genesis Coupe is cosmetic. If maximum real-world on-street performance was the true goal then all tuned Genesis Coupes would be tastefully lowered at the very most.

Instead, the google image search result for “tuned Genesis Coupe” looks like this:

Given these circumstances, potential owners might be led to think that the Genesis Coupe is irretrievably flawed, and that turning to the after-market for help will only serve to make the car worse.

But no! The Genesis Coupe is, in fact, a rather intriguing opportunity for improvement after purchase. Hyundai had grand ambitions with this car. What they really wanted was a modern-day E46 M3. That mark was certainly missed, but in doing so Hyundai left behind a collection of parts that we think can be built into a highly entertaining motor vehicle.

A Genesis Coupe owner is limited on selection of quality after-market components compared to, say, someone who bought a Mustang instead. That said, some very impressive brands have turned out killer parts for the GenCoupe including ACT clutch components, OS Giken driveline parts, and suspension wizardry from KW.

Here, now, in 2016 the after-market has finally started to mature for first-gen Hyundai Genesis Coupes. As for the cars themselves, cheap gas has made the trade of sportscars and trucks/SUVs back into a seller’s game. However, ‘brand value’ is still nice and potent; so the Genesis Coupe sits in the market with a big old turd of a Hyundai badge plastered to its grille. This makes a comparable Nissan 370Z far more expensive to buy. That said, an equivalent 2012 V6 Mustang costs a couple grand less on the second-hand market, so it’s not all good news on pricing.

Even so, tidy 2010-2012 V6 stick-shift Genesis Coupes can be had for thirteen to fifteen grand; twelve if you look hard and haggle. This means, even if you go nuts on after-market parts and labor, you’d be hard-pressed to break $30K all-in on a very nicely built GenCoupe. Such a vehicle might really start to feel like a reincarnated M3, and certainly represents a unique take on the time-tested pony car concept.

So, in the end, is it worth investing in such an odd-ball platform as the Genesis Coupe?

Well that’s what we intend to find out with Project Hoondy:

Are we idiots? We just spent seven hundred and eighty two words generally taking a crap on the Genesis Coupe. So why the hell would we buy one!?

For the answers to these questions and more, tune in to the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

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DISCUSSION (19)

BeaterGT > Zachary Oberle
03/29/2016 at 17:06

It’s a shame these had the transmission problems and whatnot. I really thought it could be the next Japanese “muscle” car with it being RWD and not exactly compact. Would love to see some fat tires in the back.

ttyymmnn > Zachary Oberle
03/29/2016 at 17:12

Back in my youth (35 years ago), I knew an organist named Oberle. Any relation?

Zachary Oberle > BeaterGT
03/29/2016 at 17:14

The autoboxes were fine for reliability, just lame to use. The 6-speed manual is actually a great transmission with a three-bearing input shaft, multi-cone synchros, and all kinds of German style wonderfulness. They just aren’t assembled with %100 consistency. The good news is that the bad ones are obvious. If you test drive one and the trans doesn’t shift smoothly and feel nice in and out of every gear then walk away from the car.

Also, some bad shifting symptoms on the manual trans Genesis Coupes isn’t the fault of the transmission at all. The engine mounts on this car are suuuuper soft and the engine thrashes around so much during hard driving that it can make it very hard to grab the gear you want. This is especially true of the first-to-second shift during full-throttle launches. We’ll be covering this issue in a future article.

And we agree with you completely on the whole Muscle Car thing. We really do think the V6 Genesis Coupe is more of an East Asian Muscle Car than an all-out Sports Car. Again, we’ll be touching on that idea in a future article.

Thanks for reading!

Zachary Oberle > ttyymmnn
03/29/2016 at 17:20

Hah! Couldn’t tell you, but the “Oberle” side of my family has only been in the USA for a couple of generations so it would be one hell of a coincidence.

Thanks for reading!

Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow > Zachary Oberle
03/29/2016 at 17:22

Very curious to see what you guys can do with this.

When I look at the modified GenCoupes out there, they very much tend to resemble those in your Google image results above. I’ve seen a few at track events, which is awesome, but even some of those have a few “ricey” mods.

What sort of motorsports do you intend to do with the car? I’m guessing some drag racing based on the above picture. Any plans for autox or HPDE?

Personally, if I was looking to spend $13-15k in the sports car market I’d be leaning toward an S2000, 350Z, or an E46 M3. As you’ve pointed out, just so much negative feedback on the first gen Genesis Coupes out there. I’m curious to drive one though, and gauge my own reactions to it.

Bytemite > Zachary Oberle
03/29/2016 at 17:25

Hah! that is exactly what I said in my Veloster Rally Edition review. The car transmission shifts beautifully but the soft engine mounts move the engine so much that 1st-to-2nd redline shifts have to be forced in.

I’m liking the Hoondy, I wonder if you’re making a mountain carver or a high-horsepower drag car?

ttyymmnn > Zachary Oberle
03/29/2016 at 17:27

My pleasure. It was a good read. I don't think I've seen your name here before. Welcome!

Zachary Oberle > Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow
03/29/2016 at 17:31

The GenCoupe is definitely not first-round draft-pick material for most performance car buyers. You must have rather specific desires for the car to be right for you.

We actually drove a lot of different performance cars while in the process of buying our Genesis Coupe. The GenCoupe ticked all our practicality boxes while displaying a distinctive character that we fell in love with. We’ll be doing a future article on the buying process as well as talking about the good sides of the car which we really didn’t do in this first post.

Our intentions with our GenCoupe are casual drag racing, auto-cross, and amateur drift while still keeping it a nice, daily-drivable street car.

The Genesis Coupe definitely attracts more ricers than genuine, performance-oriented tuners. That said, there have been more and more great parts coming out for this car and we think it is finally possible to build our GenCoupe into the car we really want to drive.

Stay tuned!

Zachary Oberle > Bytemite
03/29/2016 at 17:36

Overly-soft drivetrain mounts are the bane of many modern performance cars. I’m not at all surprised you had that same problem in your Veloster.

As for what we’re doing with the Hoondy, it is going to be a bit of an all-rounder. We can’t get too extreme because it is a daily-driven car, but we intend to build something that is giggle-inducingly fun to drive on the street, drag strip, autocross, and even small-time drift events.

Zachary Oberle > ttyymmnn
03/29/2016 at 17:37

I’ve lurked/posted on Jalopnik under a different handle for 8 years now. Decided to go with my real name now that I am trying to publish some serious material.

ttyymmnn > Zachary Oberle
03/29/2016 at 17:40

Ah! Now the mystery, what was the old handle? I’ve been here about six years (I think).

RallyWrench > Zachary Oberle
03/29/2016 at 18:13

Looking forward to your results, I remember Hyundai hoped tuners would pick up the turbo versions and develop an aftermarket for them. Tim/Fractal Footwork here on Oppo has one of these as well, I forget if it’s a 4 or 6 though.

AkursedX > Zachary Oberle
03/29/2016 at 18:31

I’ll be looking forward to seeing what you do with this. The Genesis is one of those cars that I have always considered buying if I didn’t love my rx8 so much.

Zachary Oberle > ttyymmnn
03/29/2016 at 18:50

I was “DrunkenMessiah”. This is still that same account, I just changed the name. So all my posts from my old handle are still in my history.

Crest > Zachary Oberle
03/29/2016 at 19:33

As a previous owner of a 2010 Genesis Coupe track and now a 2013 Grand Touring, i’m most interested in seeing where this will lead. I’ve loved both my genesis....genesi? They came from the factory with options that could blow minds but i guess that’s not enough. Either way i’m looking forward to this

InfinityAero > Zachary Oberle
03/29/2016 at 20:27

My genesis coupe got totaled within the last half year, brutal feeling. I had a FMIC, stage 3 clutch, 94 tune, was about to do exhaust and coilovers, and only a year left in payments. 17 yo hit and run, decided it’s not worth it to get back into a payment. This series will hurt to watch, haha!

Zachary Oberle > Crest
03/29/2016 at 22:16

Cool! What’s the story on you having owned two of them? What was the motivation for switching from your 2010 to a 2013?

And while the GenCoupe did come from the factory with some great options, Hyundai made a few major omissions when they put the car on sale. There are several simple, relatively cheap modifications that make a HUGE difference in the way the car drives. A large part of Project Hoondy will be evaluations of these modifications and our judgement on if those modifications are “worth it” or not.

Thanks for reading, stay tuned!

Crest > Zachary Oberle
03/29/2016 at 23:21

Well a killer deal on the 2013, nicer tail lights, navigation and bluetooth streaming audio which wasn’t available on the 2010.

Among other things i had an aftermarket franken exhaust that droned so badly and had me deaf before i got to school, my 2010 was lime rock green in color so that didn’t help much and the ride on the track was a little too firm for my liking coming from a lexus. The 2013 fixed all those problems and it’s gray with black wheels so ultimate stealth.

I do miss the brembo’s though. My 2013 doesn’t have those but the ride in the grand touring is tolerable. I will gladly share my extremely limited knowledge with you so feel free to ask away

theuserformerlyknownasaluminumfoil > Zachary Oberle
03/30/2016 at 09:41

As an owner of a ‘14 3.8 - I’m very excited to see the articles corresponding to this.. My quibbles with it are the shoddy quality of the spot welds leading to rattling, which the rigid collars helped with, and the bump-steer (resolved with a set of ATQ end links).