Review: America Should Want the Genesis G70 Shooting Brake
Since Americans hate station wagons, we aren’t getting the Genesis G70 Shooting Brake. That’s our loss.
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"Shooting brake" is an old coachbuilding term, from the days when the English upper classes would don their tweeds, pick up their 12-gauge Purdey shotguns, climb aboard a horse-drawn wagon, and head out onto the moors to spend the day blazing away at grouse, partridge, or pheasant. In the early 20th century, the internal combustion engine took over the horse's work, but the cars with boxy, roomy, long-roofed bodies that transported hunters and their equipment out to the moors were still called shooting brakes.
The Genesis G70 Shooting Brake has a long roof. But it's not boxy, and you'll never see one anywhere near the gun room of a stately English home during game season. That doesn't mean it's a bad car. On the contrary. The G70 Shooting Brake is perhaps the most desirable version of our 2019 Car of the Year. But one, sadly, we won't see in the States.
America's anathema toward any station wagon that doesn't look like an SUV means the G70 Shooting Brake was designed from the outset for Europe, where low-slung, sporty, and versatile long-roof cars are still in vogue. The Shooting Brake's footprint is identical to that of the G70 sedan in terms of its length, width, and wheelbase, and it's the same height overall. All the sheetmetal from the B-pillar forward is identical to that revealed with the superbly executed refresh of the G70 sedan for the 2022 model year.
Part Wagon, Coupe, and Hatch, With a Side of Muscle
Different rear doors and rear quarter panels and a sloping roofline with a spoiler extending over a steeply raked backlight lend the G70 Shooting Brake a more dramatic appearance on the road than the sedan. Part wagon, part coupe, part hatchback in its execution, it's a muscular-looking thing, especially when viewed from the rear three-quarter angle.
Inside, the G70 Shooting Brake shares the sedan's well-finished cabin and plethora of luxury appointments. The differences are all behind the 40/20/40 split-fold rear seat. Genesis says the Shooting Brake offers 16.4 cubic feet of load space with the rear seats upright and 54.2 cubic feet with them folded flat, a big uplift over the trunk space offered by the G70 sedan, but those dimensions are measured differently and hence aren't comparable. But that's not the key comparison anyway.
The W206 Mercedes C-Class wagon (also unavailable to U.S. buyers), which is 2.6 inches longer overall and has a 1.2-inch-longer wheelbase, 17.3 cubic feet of luggage space with its rear seats upright, and 53.3 cubic feet with the seats folded flat. The Genesis Shooting Brake's numbers flatter to deceive, however: Rear passenger legroom is noticeably less than in the Mercedes.
Our Shooting Brake test vehicle was a rear-drive Luxury Line model equipped with the optional 2.0-liter turbocharged four packing 241 horsepower and 260 lb-ft of torque. Neither the 3.3-liter V-6 nor the AWD driveline available in American G70s are available for the Shooting Brake. Its base engine is a 194-hp version of the turbo-four, with a 2.2-liter four-cylinder turbodiesel that pumps out 197 hp and 325 lb-ft also available as an option.
Not the Quickest Thing, But Tuned at the 'Ring
In the U.K., the Shooting Brake commands a 4.8 percent premium over the G70 sedan, which translates to a theoretical U.S. base price of roughly $42,300 for a car with the same powertrain as our test wagon. By way of comparison, of the handful of premium wagons currently available in its class in America, Audi's A4 Allroad starts at $45,900, while Volvo's V60 Cross Country retails for $50,095.
Neither wagon is aimed at quite the same customer as the G70 Shooting Brake, however. Genesis points out the Shooting Brake's chassis was fine-tuned during almost 6,500 miles of testing on the daunting Nürburgring Nordschleife, where it says every lap of the legendary 12.9-mile circuit is equivalent to almost 200 hard road miles. And although the Shooting Brake has nowhere near the raw performance and ultimate grip levels of an Audi RS4 Wagon, like the sedan, it's a pleasantly sporty car to drive.
The 241-hp turbocharged four-banger is all about the midrange, happiest on a fun road when the eight-speed automatic transmission is used in manual mode and the tach needle is kept swinging between 3,000 and 5,000 rpm. The dual exhaust delivers a muted rumble under hard acceleration that sounds curiously like that of an old Subaru WRX flat-four. That, and a strange softness to the throttle response, even in Sport mode, makes the Shooting Brake seem slower than it really is. It's only when you glance down at the speedo that you realize how quickly this Genesis is covering ground.
You can feel the results of all that Nürburgring testing in the consistency of the steering and braking, and in the alertness and agility of the chassis through the twisties. Among the hardware changes specific to the Shooting Brake are new rear shocks that have been calibrated to account for the higher loads on the rear axle, while the eight-speed automatic transmission, which offers rev-matching technology and a gear-holding facility for tight corners, has unique software. Ordering the Sport Line version of the Shooting Brake, which costs 2.8 percent more than our Luxury Line test model, delivers Nürburgring-inspired goodies such as a sport exhaust, Brembo brakes with enhanced performance pads, a mechanical limited-slip diff, and Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S tires on 19-inch alloy wheels.
The Shooting Brake isn't the quickest thing in its class in a straight line. Genesis claims a 0-60-mph time of about 6.7 seconds, which makes it about half a second slower than the 280-pound-lighter 2.0-liter G70 sedan and about a second slower than Audi's 261-hp, 271-lb-ft A4 Allroad, though it's right on Volvo's 250-hp, 258-lb-ft V60 Cross Country. But such is the fundamental quality of the chassis, the G70 Shooting Brake can easily maintain high average speeds without raising a sweat, even on the smaller 18-inch wheels and 225/45 tires standard on Luxury Line models.
Two Steps Forward, One Back
The Genesis G70 Shooting Brake marks yet another impressive step forward for Korea's fast-moving luxury brand. Good-looking, well-equipped, and well-made, it's a sporty premium wagon that justifies its place among rivals from Europe's luxury car elite—not just because it's very competitively priced but also because of the way it drives.
The Shooting Brake's one weakness in this exalted company is under the hood. Even in its most powerful tune, its 2.0-liter turbo-four doesn't have quite the same crispness or punch you get from similar powerplants in mainstream Audi, BMW, or Mercedes-Benz compact wagons. It's not a deal-breaker. It's just that the rest of the car deserves better.
2023 Genesis G70 Shooting Brake Specifications | |
PRICE | $42,300 (MT est) |
LAYOUT | Front engine, RWD, 4-door, 5-pass wagon |
ENGINE | 2.0L/241-hp/260-lb-ft DOHC 16-valve turbocharged I-4 |
TRANSMISSION | 8-sp auto |
CURB WEIGHT | 3344 lb (mfr) |
WHEELBASE | 111.6 in |
L x W x H | 184.4 x 72.8 x 55.1 in |
0-60 MPH | 6.7 sec (MT est) |
EPA FUEL ECON, CITY/HWY/COMB | N/A |
EPA RANGE (COMB) | N/A |
ON SALE | No |