2009 Hyundai Genesis V6: Another pleasant surprise

If the battery is hidden below somewhere, that'd be a real pain to change. I hope its in the trunk as pat1usmc stated.

OBTW, as long as we're under the hood .... has the Genesis used any oil during your long term test? C&D did a summation re their long term Jag XJ and it consumed 2.5 qts during their test. I know that the dealers say "some oil consumption is normal" but none of my premium engines (BMW, MB, Lexus and M35) have ever needed oil between changes. This will be a tell regarding Hyundai's first V-8 and whether they got it right.

They don't have the V-8, its the V-6.

Yes the battery is in the trunk for better weight distribution.

"exceptionally neat & tidy"

Well done, indeed.

Since the battery is in the trunk how easy is it to get to it?

The abundance of useless plastic in that engine compartment is staggering. Could probably save a hundred pounds and a couple hundred bucks by not having an engine cover, fake battery cover and so on.

wbob-- my BMW needs a quart of oil in the middle of every oil change. Needing a bit of oil every once in awhile is irrelevant to whether they "got it right"

My dad's old Cadillac STS had the battery under the backseat and if I remember correctly, one had to pull out the whole backseat in order to get an access to the battery. But it had the terminals under the hood like a normal car. I remember that because the battery would randomly discharge every 2-3 months.

One reason why I don't purchase an American car, no matter how fantastic the test drive was, is that all the American cars my family had, they all had electrical problems (Pontiac, Chevy, GMC, Ford, Chrysler, Buick). These problems don't show up within first couple months of ownership.

You don't need a negative post, you can use an exposed bolt or body part but in the newer cars everything is so covered that a negative post is almost required. A quick check of the manual would tell you where the battery is. Likely in the trunk or rear seat as others have stated. Besides weight distribution the other advantage is longer life not being exposed to high underhood temps. Stays much cleaner too. Sometimes even easier to change with less stuff less heat and less mess than an underhood application .

I think the negative post is hidden so that people don't mistakenly cross the jumper cables and fry the electrical system around the battery. Having worked at dealerships for close to five years I've seen salesmen do it three times. Not a cheap fix.

Super_ongoy-- My father's Deville (DTS) has had several battery issues. The battery was dead two days after pruchasing the car (!) and the replacement battery leaked over its life to create a half-dollar sized hole in the floorboard under the rear seat.

He also has to pour a bottle of oil in it every 1000 miles on highway journeys.

He's real interested in a Genesis and if this car turns out satisfactory for Edmunds, then I think it'll be his nect car.

I love this! Excellent report AND great engineering.

I understand that sports cars should reduce weight at all costs (however, folks complain when a sports car is too noisy b/c of the lack of heavy sound deadening materials: http://blogs.edmunds.com/roadtests/2009/05/2009-nissan-370z-touring-not-for-touring.html ). The Genesis, my fellow IL readers, is not a sports car. I doubt anyone would argue this point. So for a family sedan, I don't have any qualms with a bit of added weight for comfort & convenience. Context is very important when judging the accouterments & accessories of a vehicle. Perhaps sports cars should reduce weight at the expense of NVH and comfort cars should reverse this forumla. Why, then, do folks complain when this recipe is followed (i.e. 370Z and Genesis, respectively)?

For a sedan, I applaud this application of battery-in-back & terminals up front for ease of use. Excellent job Hyundai & great reporting IL!

My Mercedes has no negative battery terminal but it worked just fine to jump my VW this weekend. Just clip the negative to any metal in the engine compartment.

That is a tremendously well thought out small detail. 95% of drivers will never need it, which is what makes it such a nice touch. My opinion of Hyundai (which was actually pretty high despite the issues they experienced with the Excel) continues to rise. Well done.

Battery discharges small amount of hydrogen, so manufacturers often place the negative post far away from the actual battery to avoid igniting the mixture of oxygen and hydrogen that collects around it. You are supposed to connect the positive post first, which will not cause a spark. Then you connect to the remote negative post, which often causes a spark. This way the spark is removed from the vicinity of the battery and the is no risk of blowing yourself up.

So now you know...

What I want to know is, how exactly did Hyundai take such giant leaps with their engineering and design? Did they do a massive house-cleaning, or did they come into a ton of cash to throw at some talented people?

This is a whole lot of praise for nothing special. It is nice that the setup was done well, but it is certainly nothing unique. This is one of those things that any engineer worth anything should have impulsively designed and something that pretty much every new car on the market gets right. The fact that Mercedes used this particular setup on everyone of their vehicles from about 1970-2000 makes Hyundai's that much less interesting. Hyundai does deserve a ton of praise, but not for this.

"This is one of those things that any engineer worth anything should have impulsively designed..."

And yet, they continue not to.

"...and something that pretty much every new car on the market gets right."

And yet, no car I've ever owned, foreign or domestic, has had a battery setup like this.

It doesn't mean they don't exist; but just because you've been enjoying MB's your whole life, doesn't mean the rest of us have. It's nice to see such a feature adapted by Hyundai.

OK, so I stand corrected/critiqued on 6 versus 8 and normalcy of oil consumption, etc. Simpler question - has test Genesis been consuming any oil?

@altimadude: Don't even get me started on this one! My dad had a DeVille and then he traded it in for an STS because he could not deal with the electrical/battery problems. That was not a smart move. At one point things were so bad that he was considering purchasing a Corolla just so that there would be a working vehicle in the family. After owning Cadillacs for a few years, my dad moved on to Mercedes and BMWs and never looked back. When I got my first BMW back in 2006, I constantly got a warning that my battery was discharging whenever I started the car but a simple software upgrade fixed that and never had any electrical problem until I traded it.

I rememer just drooling over huge Northstar engines and the growl they made. But whatever great engineering that was in the car was all ruined by poor electrical system.