And during aggressive cornering over uneven pavement, the Genesis tended to exhibit an unwanted kickback through the helm. Otherwise, we were all grins. The backseat, while not as cavernous as the Avalon's, was still spacious and comfy. Gas mileage, at 18/27 EPA and 21.0 observed, was downright respectable, especially in light of the sports-car acceleration and grip. Overall, the Genesis substantiated itself as more engaging than the Taurus, more fun than the Avalon, and more rewarding than both. As Mike Connor concluded: "The Hyundai is far and away the superior car here. When it comes to luxury, refinement, and dynamics, the Avalon and Taurus come across as wannabes; the Genesis, the real deal."

far better tire than the stock dunlop

Sure a 335i may be more fun in the twisties, but unless OP decides to go onto canyon roads or tracks often, he wont need a great handling car that has trade offs of luxurious features which he would want more often

Until Motor Trend can put a Genesis R-Spec through a comprehensive road test and our famous figure eight, the following impressions will have to serve. The R-Spec is certainly much stiffer in the corners and on road imperfections compared with the non-R, though it's not harsh. Its suspension tuning provides good body control for this big sedan, and could prove to be its ultimate fix.
Hyundai's North American chassis engineers tried, and they made good progress on the 2009 Genesis, though it still had little to offer even the most passive of enthusiasts. There's enough feel and feedback added to the '12 R-Spec to indicate this is a big luxury sedan that won't embarrass or frustrate drivers who occasionally encounter twisty mountain roads.
The best sign that Hyundai's North American engineers have made progress in breaking through home-market dynamic numbness comes from the electro-hydraulic power steering. In the R-Spec, the steering is moderately weighted and precise, with a nice, even feel and good feedback lock-to-lock, whereas the 4.6's is light and numb. Both the 4.6 and the V-6, the latter of which has hydraulically assisted power steering, have a dead spot at center that causes some sloppiness, especially when the nose gets light under acceleration.

Despite being saddled with over 4,000 lbs of weight, the R-Spec hauls itself down the road with little abandon. Coming out of a traffic circle, we gently applied the throttle to see what would happen, and were granted with a microsecond powerslide before the traction control put a stop to our fun. Beyond the traffic circle, there was little in the way of curves (save for the occasional high speed sweeper) for us to test the improved steering, springs and damping, but we noticed that all three felt fairly firm, especially more so than the last Genesis we drove a couple years ago. Hyundai has added more assist to the R-Spec’s steering, something that we definitely welcome, but that may not be looked upon favorably by other Genesis drivers, who tend to trade in cars like the Lexus ES350 and Honda Accord.

As it stands now, the new Genesis represents a fantastic bargain over the high-level V-8 competition. We happen to think that the exterior revisions, especially the new front fascia and the aggressively cool nineteen-inch wheels, turn the car into something much better to look at. (We doubt the 2012 Genesis will see quite so much “anonymous styling” verbiage written as the last model did.) With a top-flight new powertrain, strong fuel economy numbers, and what might best be described as a “sensible” approach to luxury and technology features, this Genesis is worth checking out. Do not buy a Lexus GS before driving the Genesis R-Spec. Is that clear enough?

Of course the R-Spec will not hold the attention of those with enthusiast driver aspirations for very long, either. We think that’s okay, though we would like to encourage the company’s product planners and engineers—who’ve been consistently knocking the ball out of the park these days—to look hard at a full-on performance version of this car. Still, if you’re an open-minded kind of luxury shopper, the $46K it’ll take to get you into a car as complete as the Genesis R-Spec should make for a compelling argument. And don’t worry about those hot desert days of driving, either; we know the car is cool.

All in all, though, the new R-Spec Genesis is a pretty serious high-performance tool from a company not much associated with heavy-metal sedans, and it's a convincing entry into that realm at a pretty reasonable price.