What is Hyundai luxury car?

Shopping for a rear-wheel-drive luxury car? For a long time, your options went along the lines of BMW and Mercedes-Benz, maybe Infiniti or Lexus. Yet over the past several years, there are several other models that have become great luxury sedans in and of themselves. If you can do without one of the vaunted German nameplates, two of those intriguing possibilities are the Hyundai Genesis Sedan and the Cadillac CTS.

Both of these models earn some of our highest ratings here at The Car Connection, but for quite different reasons. The Hyundai Genesis is a great luxury-car value, and a spacious, refined sedan for those looking to use the back seat; meanwhile, the Cadillac CTS does exactly what those with more performance-oriented luxury-car tastes will expect: offer stunning looks, strong performance, and a truly luxurious interior, with top-notch materials and trims and a great feature set.

With a redesign that arrived for 2015, the Genesis made some major moves to become more stylish and nuanced in its design. You won’t find a Hyundai badge anywhere on the exterior of the Genesis—instead there’s one that’s more than a little Bentley-like. The look is derivative, for sure—borrowing blunt-nosed Audi influence from the front, as well as some inspiration from Mercedes-Benz and Infiniti, but mixing it up with some of the Korean automaker’s own Fluidic Sculpture design moves. Inside, the look emphasizes horizontal lines and succeeds in looking classy and substantial, with materials that are impressive but perhaps not quite ‘bespoke’ enough for the pricier end of this model’s reach.

On the other hand, the Cadillac CTS carries forth with a design that’s all its own and uniquely Cadillac; compared to the Genesis, it’s absolutely stunning, with its signature LED vertical headlamps and a combination of blunt corners, sharp edges, and organic, somewhat curvaceous sheetmetal in between. The cabin is just as beautiful as the interior hints, with cut-and-sew upholstery, beautiful soft-touch materials all around, and some warm, exciting color palletes. It’s strikingly futuristic, a universe away from the Germans, and far more enticing than Japanese luxury sedans, or the Genesis. Advantage, Cadillac.

Cadillac has also already managed to give BMW nervous sweats with the last-generation CTS-V—a BMW M5 beater in some respects. There’s an even more insane 640-horsepower CTS-V on the way for 2016 (capable of sub-four-second 0-60 mph acceleration and a top speed around 200 mph. But for now, the CTS performs well with the base 272-hp, 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine. That’s a bit coarse at times, so the smooth 321-hp, 3.6-liter V-6 is an upgrade some will appreciate; there’s also the Vsport model’s 420-hp twin-turbo V-6. Meanwhile, the Genesis has more of a traditional luxury-sedan engine lineup; there’s either a 3.8-liter V-6, making 311 hp, or a 420-hp, 5.0-liter V-8. Transmissions are automatic in both cases, with smooth shifts, responsive downshifts, and gears selectable via steering-wheel paddles.