There is no
stronger evidence as to how far Hyundai has come over the last
decade-plus than this:
The South Korean
automaker now puts out a $60,000 luxury sedan.
And it's worth
it.
The 2011 Hyundai
Equus, produced by the same company that was on the verge of going
out of business in the U.S. in the late 1990s because of the poor
quality of its cheap entry-level compacts, is a card-carrying member
of the country club set, at home with the best German and Japanese
luxury vehicles offered -- and at a price that will leave you enough
for a couple of golf and tennis lessons as well.
But no shortcuts
have been taken here.
The Equus offers
as standard many features available only as options among its
competitors. They include air suspension, 19-inch wheels, a
collision warning system, rear seat-mounted side airbags, a
lane-departure warning system, adaptable cruise control,
front-and-rear parking sensors, heated and ventilated front seats,
premium audio system (with 17 speakers), driver-seat massage, heated
rear seat, and more.
“When you’re
spending this much for a new car, you don’t want to feel like you’ve
been shortchanged on engineering, technology or features,” John
Krafcik, Hyundai Motor America president and CEO, is quoted in a
news release.
Hyundai offers
the Equus in two trim levels, Signature and Ultimate. Pricing for
the Signature starts at $58,000. The top-of-the-line Ultimate checks
in at $64,500.
Both are based on
Hyundai’s Genesis platform, though enlarged a bit, and come with a
4.6-liter V8 engine that drinks either premium or regular fuel. With
premium you get 385 horsepower and 333 pound-feet of torque. The
figures with regular fuel are slightly lower at 378 and 324,
respectively.
That power is
sent to the rear wheels via a six-speed automatic transmission with
manual-shift capability, though you must use the shift lever on the
center console. No steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters are
offered.
Fuel economy is
not what vehicles in this class are all about, but for the record,
the company puts the figures at 16 mpg city, 24 highway.
What the Equus is
about is getting you to your destination with a smooth, quiet,
comfortable ride in luxurious accommodations. The interior features
an Alcantara suede headliner, genuine wood accents on the center
console, dash, and doors, and genuine quality leather throughout.
Materials are of the highest quality.
Controls for
audio, climate, and navigation functions are easy to figure out and
operate. Many work by turning a knob on the console that coordinates
the function with what mode the navigation screen is set on, that is
to say, if the display shows audio, turning the knob scans the
station lineup, but if in navigation mode, turning the knob resets
the map scale. Buttons on the console set the mode.
One key
difference between the Signature Equus and one with the Ultimate
package installed is the seating configuration. The Signature seats
three in the back, the Ultimate only two because of the console
snuggled in between the two passengers.
In that console
is a small, but real, refrigerator.
Hyundai never has
been shy about incorporating a feature it likes in a competitor’s
model and putting its own version in its lineup. It has done that
with the massage system for the right-side rear-seat passenger. I
first saw this a few years ago at the introduction of a
top-of-the-line Lexus LS sedan, and it struck me then that this is
what real what luxury is all about.
With the use of a
remote not unlike the one you use to channel surf on TV, you can set
yourself up for a relaxing massage on your journey home at the end
of the a long day -- provided, of course, you have somebody else to
drive you there.
You can also move
the front-passenger seat forward to give you more legroom, not to
mention more support through a power-operated footrest that lifts
your legs.
The Ultimate
package also includes separate controls for climate adjustment and
an entertainment system with an eight-inch monitor. (Which reminds
me; the screen for the navigation system is nice and big, too, and
quite clear and easily seen at a glance, which isn’t always the case
with some screens.)
If all that is a
bit much for your tastes, no worry. Other than those extra features,
you get every bit of the luxury and comfort in the Signature series
that you do in the Ultimate. Hyundai has not skimped on features as
there is no real “base” model that you tend to find in some other
brands.
About the only
thing you are going to have to give up in an Equus is the cachet
that the European and Japanese luxury brands carry.
But that, too,
will be changing as the world and market becomes more aware of just
how much the Equus offers in luxury, quality, technology, and
bang-for-the-buck.
