2014 Hyundai Elantra Se on 2040-cars

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Did Lexus make a BMW? Or did BMW make a Lexus? This and other 2017 surprises

It's that time of year again. The calendar is about to reach its end, Star Trek Cats 2018 is about to take its place, and I'm reflecting about all the cars that graced my driveway this year or summoned me to exotic places. You know, like Stuttgart or Phoenix. In 2017, I drove at least 57, and as I perused the list of them, I started to notice a common refrain: "This car surprised me." Most were pleasant surprises, but there were a few head scratchers and facepalms for good measure. In both cases, it was generally the result of car companies seemingly trying to break out of an existing mold. Nowhere was that more apparent than the pair of Lexuses slathered in Infrared paint: The LS 500 that left me this week and the LC 500 that was my favorite car of 2017. Though Lexus has been trying to shake its crusty, gold-packaged reputation for some time now, its efforts always seemed like an old man choosing Hollister to redo his wardrobe after realizing it hasn't been updated since 1987. I fell in love with the LC, genuinely floored by its near-perfect take on the GT. It's characterful in sound, appearance and tactility. It was at home in the city, in the mountain and on the open road. It was both comfortable and thrilling, and after driving the mechanically related LS 500, I can report that the LC's talents aren't an outlier. The LS 500's turbo V6 may make different noises than the LC's naturally aspirated V8, but it nevertheless invigorates the cabin when the car is placed in Sport+ mode. The steering is truly communicative, body motions are kept in miraculous check, and I absolutely forgot I was in an enormous luxury limo ... and a Lexus one at that. It was everything that the BMW 530e was not. I drove that on the exact same roads and was utterly bored the entire time. Generally doughy, lifeless steering, more distant than Planet 9. And no, the plug-in hybrid powertrain had nothing to do with that. At least it shouldn't. The Porsche Panamera S e-Hybrid I also drove this year proves that, as do the Hyundai Ioniqs, which are surprisingly adept and fun little cars regardless of what powers their wheels (Hyundai + hybrid = fun really blew me away). I would drive that Lexus LS F Sport over the BMW 5 Series any day of the week, which seems like a shocking thing to say in relation to either car. While Lexus is seemingly breaking out of its old crusty mold, BMW seems to be climbing into one.

Where is Hyundai's upscale Genesis brand going, and what is it, anyway?

"Genesis is the beginning, where everything sprung from. That's where the light is, and that's where we see ourselves." Manfred Fitzgerald. A genesis is an origin story, a new start. So when Hyundai had accomplished its original mission of achieving near parity with the top Japanese marques in the middle-class car market and decided to attempt to move upscale into the profitable luxury automotive sector a few years ago, it made some sense that this was the moniker it bestowed to its spinoff brand. "Genesis is the beginning, where everything sprung from," says Manfred Fitzgerald, the global brand chief. "That's where the light is, and that's where we see ourselves." But now that genesis has turned to germination. A pair of production sedans have been launched, the G80 and G90 luxo-barges. A smaller, 3 Series-fighting sedan, the G70, was previewed as a concept in last year's New York Auto Show. And now, last week in New York, the brand showed something in the all-important crossover category, the GV80. Powered by a hydrogen fuel cell, it's a look ahead at what Genesis' SUV line could be like, though the fuel-cell element faces hurdles. View 2 Photos "We have great resources with our brand partners in fuel-cell technology, so when it came to alternative propulsion, this was a natural," says Fitzgerald. "Not just for the US market, but looking at this globally, this is the best technology, but there are a lot of pain points to overcome, especially in terms of infrastructure." Genesis has promised us a handful more cars by 2020, including a coupe and another crossover. Expansion into additional vehicle realms ought to help flesh things out a bit. Though the brand can't really flesh things out any less. Only Maserati, Alfa Romeo, Smart, and Bentley sold fewer cars so far this year, and two of those brands are a century old and Italian, one is a century old and extremely exclusive, and the other is irrelevant in the United States. Given that company, where does that place Genesis? After a recent test drive in a G90, we have to say that we're not sure. The styling is acceptable, if a bit derivative and anodyne. The level of delight is quite lackluster. And the ride is cushy, quiet, and competent, but no better than a contemporary Buick. In a category in which excellence and exquisiteness are the point of entry, what does Genesis represent, what is its category-killing feature or component or capability? "We are known for being audacious.

Hyundai readying 708-hp Sonata for SEMA

For the past two years at the SEMA show, the folks at Bisimoto Engineering have taken one of Hyundai's models and tuned it up to levels of power previously unimaginable. It started in 2012 with a 600-horsepower Elantra GT, and they outdid themselves last year with a 1,000-hp Genesis Coupe. This year Bisimoto's tuners are teasing their latest wild creation by starting with a normal 2015 Sonata and turning the wick up to 708 hp thanks to a long list of engine mods. The key in this massive injection of power is taking the regular 2.4-liter Theta-II four-cylinder engine and doing everything necessary so that it can actually withstand so much additional strain. That means introducing forged pistons and connecting rods and an improved valvetrain with new cams, plus a high-boost turbocharger to really up the ante. It's all then mated to a six-speed manual to get things rolling. "After hundreds of hours of testing, failure analysis and prototyping, 18 new products will be engineered and produced in house to produce 708 horsepower from the Sonata," said Bisi Ezerioha, owner of Bisimoto Engineering in Hyundai's release. While it might be pretty cool to find a 708-hp Sonata that looked completely stock at first glance, this is for the SEMA show after all, and it's all about showing off there. So in addition to the huge increase in horsepower, the Hyundai gets a complete aero upgrade, a coil-over suspension and a roll cage inside, in addition to other improvements. At the moment, only the rear of the car is being teased ahead of the November 4 reveal. Until we get to see more, scroll down to read Bisimoto's entire parts list to turn Sonata from a commuter into a racer. HYUNDAI PARTNERS WITH BISIMOTO FOR A THIRD YEAR TO CREATE 708 HORSEPOWER FLEX-FUEL 2015 SONATA 22/09/14 Bisimoto Engineering Focuses on Strengthening and Reliability to Create Most-Powerful Sonata Ever FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., Sept. 22, 2014 – For the third year in a row, Hyundai is partnering with the powertrain gurus at Bisimoto Engineering, this time to create a 708 horsepower Sonata for the 2014 SEMA show in Las Vegas. Bisimoto's team specializes in extracting huge output from Hyundai's engines, like the 1000 horsepower Bisimoto Genesis Coupe that was built for last year's SEMA show. For this year's show, the team is using Hyundai's 2.4-liter "Theta-II" 4-cylinder engine as the starting point for their build.