2022 Genesis G70 Shooting Brake 2.0T Review

We’ve been looking forward to this review. Ever since its global reveal last year, the idea of a wagon version of one of our favourite luxury mid-size sedans has been too much to handle and now, we’ve finally got it in Australia. It comes fully loaded and it’s priced at $79,000 plus on-road costs, which means that it’s not exactly cheap, but thanks to that slinky styling, it’s definitely desirable. New wagon offerings are rare these days, so is the 2022 Genesis G70 Shooting Brake an also ran or should it be bought in place of rivals? Let’s find out.

It’s an unfortunately dire time for wagons in Australia. Luckily, we still have the BMW 3 Series, Audi A4 Avant, Skoda Octavia and Superb, Volkswagen Golf, Passat and Arteon and there’s a new Subaru WRX Sportswagon on its way, but recent wagon deaths locally include the Mercedes-Benz C- and E-Class, Volvo V60 and V90, BMW 5 Series and Jaguar XF Sportbrake. Can Genesis make wagons cool again? We hope so!

Price & Equipment: 8/10

Priced at $79,000 plus on-road costs, the 2022 Genesis G70 Shooting Brake is only available with the lesser 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine in Australia. The Luxury Line package of the sedan is standard on the wagon, so standard equipment is lengthy – the Sport Line package is available for no extra cost. Its $79,000 pricetag is $2,000 more than the G70 2.0T sedan with both the Luxury and Sport Line packages ticked – which the Shooting Brake is equipped with as standard.

Standard equipment includes 19-inch alloy wheels, all-LED lighting, auto lights and wipers, dual-zone climate control, Nappa leather upholstery with heated and cooled front seats, a heated steering wheel, a 10.25-inch touchscreen with wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, satellite navigation, digital radio, a 15-speaker Lexicon sound system, a 12.3-inch digital driver’s display, wireless phone charging, 16-way driver/12-way passenger electrically adjustable front seats with driver’s memory functionality, heated rear seats, keyless entry and start with remote start, auto-folding and heated mirrors, an electric tailgate and a sunroof. 

Safety equipment includes 10 airbags, auto emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian and cyclist detection, blind-spot monitoring with rear cross traffic-alert, a blind-spot camera, lane keep assist with lane trace assist, a 360-degree parking camera, front and rear parking sensors, adaptive cruise control with stop and go functionality, a heads-up display, Matrix high beam functionality for the headlights, speed sign recognition, driver attention monitoring and rear occupant alert. 

There’s a big degree of personalisation for the G70 Shooting Brake, through the long list of available colours and interior trims. All metallic paint options are no-cost, and include ‘Vic Black’, ‘Capri Blue’, ‘Tasman Blue’, ‘Valencia Gold’, ‘Hallasan Green’, ‘Makalu Grey’, ‘Siberian Ice’, ‘Cavendish Red’, ‘Havana Red’, Savile Silver’ and ‘Uyuni White’. Matte paint options (which cost an extra $2,000) include ‘Verbier White’, ‘Makulu Grey’ and our test car’s ‘Bond Silver’. 

Interior colour options include black, burgundy, tan, beige, grey and our test car’s red, all for no extra cost, which gives it an advantage over rivals for those who like interior colours. We’d skip the matte paint of our test car for ‘Tasman Blue’ over the tan interior for a particularly rich look. Also available is the no-cost Sport Line package that was fitted to our test car, which adds unique 19-inch wheels, a sportier grille, dark chrome exterior highlights, metal pedals and ‘sport’ quilted upholstery. 

Competitors to the G70 Shooting Brake include the $76,000 plus on-road costs Audi A4 45 Avant and $79,130 plus on-road costs BMW 330i Touring. Both German options are priced similarly to the G70 Shooting Brake, but you need to option around $8,000 of extra equipment on both cars to match the G70’s standard equipment. Other wagons worth consideration include the Peugeot 508 GT and Skoda Octavia RS – though they’re priced minimum $10,000-$15,000 less. 

Performance & Economy: 7/10

Unlike the G70 sedan, the G70 Shooting Brake is only available with the 180kW/353Nm 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine in Australia – a diesel is also available in Europe, but the 275kW/530Nm twin-turbo V6 petrol engine in the sedan is sadly not available in the wagon. Why is that a shame? Well, the 2.0-litre is a fine engine but it’s just a touch underwhelming, especially against the urgency that we know the V6 has. Fingers crossed Genesis can offer a V6 Shooting Brake at some point to give the Audi S4 Avant a run for its money. 

As we said, the G70 Shooting Brake’s 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine is totally fine. It’s got good mid-range punch, it sounds reasonably good and with a claimed 0-100km/h sprint time of just 6.4 seconds, it can be quick. But in something that looks as sporty as the Shooting Brake, we wish a higher performance engine were offered. 

Like the sedan, the sole transmission option in the Shooting Brake is an eight-speed automatic and it’s a totally fine unit. It’s intuitive, quick thinking and does its job without fuss. Put the car in sport mode and it holds gears longer, while the paddle shifters are also there for manual control. 

Genesis claims that the G70 Shooting Brake will use 9.1L/100km on a combined cycle, and in our testing, we achieved 11.2L/100km, which is not amazing. The G70 Shooting Brake must use minimum 95RON fuel and it has a 60-litre fuel tank.

Ride & Handling: 9/10

Like the G70 sedan, the 2022 Genesis G70 Shooting Brake impresses with its excellent ride and handling balance. Using the same platform as the wonderful Kia Stinger, the G70’s rear-wheel drive dynamics and well-sorted ride quality offer fun for those who still value driving – but if they don’t, it’s more than comfortable no matter what the surface. 

Like a lot of other Hyundai/Genesis/Kia products in Australia, the G70 features an Australia-specific suspension tune and it’s all the better for it. While some competitors can feel overly sharp on our awful quality roads, the G70’s tuning allows it to be comfortable even in its firmer sport modes – that’s despite its large 19-inch wheels. 

Even in lesser 2.0T spec, the G70 is capable of easily stepping the rear end out – especially in sport+ mode, which turns the stability control off completely – but thanks to its well-tuned ride and handling, it never feels intimidating. Thanks to its sticky Michelin tyre package too, the G70 handles very well – the nose is pointy, the grip is excellent and it feels quite nimble despite its porky 1,693kg tare mass. 

It’s a seriously fun car to drive – but in regular driving, it’s quiet and comfortable, if with a slightly firmer edge to the ride. If there’s a downside to the dynamic package, it’s the slightly numb steering, though it does weight up slightly in sport mode. Otherwise, the visibility is reasonable and road noise levels are low. 

Interior & Practicality: 8/10

The interior of the 2022 Genesis G70 Shooting Brake is not the most practical, nor spacious, cabin in the segment but its use of tech, colour and quality materials make it one of our favourites. The quality inside is generally quite good with lovely Nappa leather upholstery, and generally nice plastics – though, harder and coarser materials are perhaps more obvious than they should be at this price point. We also wish the G70’s cabin was a touch more like other Genesis products because at the moment, it could be in a top-spec Hyundai. 

In terms of practicality, the G70 Shooting Brake’s cabin is reasonably capacious with reasonable door pockets, a long but shallow under-armrest storage bin, big cupholders and a tray ahead of the gearbox with a wireless charging pad. The G70’s front seats are lovely though, with excellent bolstering and a huge range of adjustment so that anybody can get comfortable. The heating and ventilation functions of them are also quite quick.

Centre of the G70 Shooting Brake’s cabin is a 10.25-inch touchscreen that features wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, satellite navigation with live traffic info and digital radio. It’s used in other Hyundai Kia products and it’s quick, nicely coloured and the screen itself is of an excellent quality. The 15-speaker Lexicon sound system is wonderful as well, with punchy bass and reasonably clarity.

Like the G70 sedan, rear seat space is not the Shooting Brake’s forte thanks to tight leg room, and while the headroom is superior thanks to the wagon bodystyle, it’s certainly not the roomiest car in the class. The back seat is well featured however, which a centre armrest with cup holders, door pockets, air vents, a USB charging port and heated seats. 

The boot of the G70 Shooting Brake is not its biggest attribute either at just 465-litres with the seats erect and 1,535L with them folded. The boot’s opening isn’t huge, and it is a bit shallow with a high floor, but it has a nice finish, remote-folding rear seats, storage on either side and a 40:20:40 split for the rear seat. Underneath the boot floor is a space saver spare wheel and some extra storage.

Service & Warranty: 9/10

Like all other Genesis products in Australia, the G70 Shooting Brake is equipped with a five-year/unlimited km warranty with five years of roadside assistance and five years of servicing. Service intervals are a slightly short once yearly/every 10,000km but if you like within 70km of a Genesis service centre, your car will be collected when it needs a service and left with a courtesy car. 

Genesis’ five-year/unlimited km warranty matches that of Audi, but it’s two years superior to BMW’s lacklustre three-year warranty. The G70 is also much less expensive to maintain than the 3 Series ($1,800 For a five-year/80,000km service pack) and A4 ($2,920 for a five-year/75,000km service pack), and good luck if you think those brands will pick up and drop your car off to you. 

The 2022 Genesis G70 Shooting Brake 2.0T DiscoverAuto Rating: 8.2/10

It’s not perfect but the 2022 Genesis G70 Shooting Brake has won a place in our hearts. It looks fantastic, it’s reasonably practical, pretty good to drive, high quality, fully loaded, reasonable value for money and costs nothing to maintain for the first five years. It’s also available in a wide range of colours and trims, and it’s just so refreshing to see a manufacturer launch a new wagon in a world dominated by SUVs.

There are still some improvements we’d like to see with the G70 Shooting Brake. Only featuring the 2.0-litre turbo petrol engine is especially annoying because the G70’s chassis is excellent and it could easily handle the 275kW 3.5-litre twin-turbo V6 engine that’s offered in the sedan – and that the 2.0-litre engine is a touch underwhelming when similar outputs in the BMW 330i Touring make it feel quicker. It’s also not amazingly practical – it is marketed as a Shooting Brake, not wagon after all – and most disappointingly of all is that so many buyers will overlook it for the larger GV70 SUV. But those who do choose it will love it because it’s a great car that deserves many friends. Long live the wagon!