Even though I only drove it briefly, I adored the last Genesis GV80 we crossed paths with. From its powertrain and performance to its sense of style inside and out, it became immediately clear that this luxury SUV punched in well above its weight. So, imagine my surprise when I was reassigned the 2025 Genesis GV80 after my original ride for that particular week went down early with a mechanical defect.

I’ve always really liked these, ever since Genesis very shrewdly poached Bentley’s design chief to launch this brand and its very distinct and successful aesthetic. It’s hard to launch a new brand, and it’s even harder to carve out a meaningful niche for yourself to succeed, but they’ve seemingly pulled it off. There’s a good amount of these on the road, and by all accounts, owners seem to love them.

For 2025, the very good-looking GV80 gets a modest refresh, with some subtle but meaningful tweaks to keep an already winning style contemporary. The subtly updated split headlights continue to match the G90 flagship sedan, the grille gets a slightly busier and more ornate mesh pattern, and the lower fascia is reworked with larger intakes underneath, therefore looking sportier. The rear is largely unchanged, save for a slightly more bejeweled lower fascia.

The changes are a little more significant inside, but I have to concede that they’re executed so subtly that I didn’t notice until I reviewed my old photos from last year. I don’t mean subtle in that there’s only been minor tweaks, like the fact that the cupholder no longer has a door—it’s just out in the open now, therefore looking cleaner by virtue of no longer having a seam in the beautiful wood trim. Quite the opposite; the whole centre console and gauge cluster have been overhauled, replaced with a single 27-inch OLED display spanning most of the dashboard.

I mean subtle, in that Genesis carried it out in such a way that it looks cohesive and like it’s been here the whole time. It’s a concession to an industry trend that I’m very much over and done with, but I love what they’ve done here. It looks well-integrated and like it actually belongs here, unlike nearly everyone else. The single screen is relatively short—it’s only about five or six inches tall—so it looks small and doesn’t dominate the dashboard at all. In a way, it makes the dashboard look slimmer, and therefore makes the cabin feel even more airy than it already is.

This is a masterstroke in clean design. The refreshed GV80 integrates technology in such a way that it’s all very readily accessible, easy to use, and even visually impressive with its tasteful interface and super-crisp resolution—but it doesn’t look like the damn screen is supposed to be the star of the show. They’ve gone to some serious length to make sure the entire cabin is swathed in beautiful materials, such as the microsuede headliner, two-tone chestnut and charcoal leathers, metallic accents, and striped grey wood. Why on earth would you want to cover it all up with a big, tacky screen?

The center console is tidied up, too. Along with the aforementioned cupholder design, the piano black climate control buttons are replaced with piano black capacitive touch controls. The layout and functionality is effectively the same as before, just visually tidier. Knobs for temperature control, as well as volume and tuning, are still present—and beautifully knurled as before. Genesis hasn’t lost sight of what put them on the map; it’s all beautifully detailed and just as usable, while being noticeably cleaner and more modern.

Another huge update due for the 2025 GV80 is the inclusion of wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity. This was the only real sore point on this otherwise lovely vehicle, and Genesis is finally addressing it via an over-the-air update—although in the interest of full disclosure, it wasn’t ready yet for our early tester. Once you’ve plugged in, the software worked well and even had a lovely gradient transitioning to the gauge cluster. This is yet another lovely detail in a vehicle that’s full of them.

Otherwise, the 2025 Genesis GV80 is largely unchanged. By no means is this a bad thing—our loaded Prestige tester is powered by a 3.5-liter twin turbocharged V6, putting out a healthy 375 horsepower and 391pound-feet of torque. Said torque is available from 1,300 rpm—barely above idle—contributing to a very effortless and relaxed feel. There’s plenty of power everywhere and it’s a smooth operator, going about its business confidently and quietly with little more than a murmur.

Ditto for the eight-speed automatic. It’s responsive and smooth enough, but definitely calibrated to favour leisure, leveraging the seamless torque of the engine over eager kick-downs. It’s much like an older Mercedes, again by no means a bad thing. Come to think of it, the GV80 feels very much like an alternate-universe Mercedes, blending stately style with sensuality, all done up very subtly and with a deliberately relaxed demeanour that’s capable of hustling.

But the GV80 doesn’t really encourage it. The ride is plush, the steering is light with just enough heft to feel substantial, it’s very quiet overall, and the tech is implemented tastefully. It’s all there and extremely effective, with signature tricks like cameras aimed at your blind spots that pop up in the gauge cluster according to the turn signal. But it’s not the star of the show; the GV80 is practical, easy to live with, and opulent without being ostentatious. The attention to detail throughout is top-notch and just lovely all around.

Or it was, until I found the cupholder full of water after a particularly rainy night. Apparently, it also rained in the cabin, with water sneaking past the sunroof seal and accumulating in the headliner and dripping over the centre console. The GV80 made such a strong first impression over our first couple of days with it. I was genuinely looking forward to the rest of the week with this lovely luxury liner, but it too had to go back early. What a bummer, made even more so by the fact that this apparently isn’t an outlier.

There’s some very stiff competition in this class, like the BMW X5 and the Volvo XC90, both of which are stellar competitors to the GV80 that offer a lot for similar money. The 2025 Genesis GV80 is right there with them in terms of style, comfort, and capability. It only really falling behind in terms of powertrain options, as both the X5 and XC90 can be had with excellent plug-in hybrid powertrains that improve both performance and fuel efficiency a great deal over the GV80. Nevertheless, the attention-to-detail and execution behind every facet of the refreshed GV80 is top-tier; I hope they can nail down this last foible so I can selfishly enjoy it again.