Such an odd word, “coupe.”
Back in the day it covered everything from a four-wheeled horse-drawn carriage to a fancy glass for serving Champagne. In car-speak, it tended to describe a two-door with a slanted rear window.
Who can forget Cadillac’s mile-long, two-door Coupe DeVille, derived from the French word couper (to cut) and ville (for town)?
Of course, me being from Merrie Olde England, I pronounce it coupe-hay and might even write it with an accent on the ‘e’ as in coupé.
That said, English friends can’t quite understand why we Americans would name a car after a place chickens call home.
More recently, the word has been used to describe four-door SUVs with their boxy rear-ends given a more sloping rear window. BMW’s X6 is widely considered the first coupe SUV when it launched back in 2008.
Today, there’s a multitude of ski-slope-roofed SUVs, including everything from a Buick Envista to Porsche’s Cayenne and Mecan Coupes, Audi’s Q8, Mercedes’ GLE and GLC Coupes to Lamborghini’s blunt-instrument Urus.
The newest coupe SUV joining the ever-growing list is the 2025 Genesis GV80 Coupe I’ve just spent a blissful week piloting, base price $81,300 or $87,100 as tested.
As you might expect, it’s closely based on the regular, square-back Genesis GV80 sport-ute. This new Coupe though, with its slanted rear end, more chiseled nose, and new 22-inch rims, really does look gorgeous.
That fastback rear window does, however, mean the regular GV80 SUV’s third-row seat is jettisoned, so there’s now only room for five instead of seven.
And with the rear seat folded, luggage space is shaved by 9.6 cubic feet, mainly in reduced height at the rear. Those big boxes from the big box stores might have to get delivered.
So, what’s the appeal? It’s all about style. Coupes look sexier than squared-off sport-utes, hinting at sportier performance and a sportier lifestyle. Think of it as panache over practicality.
In the case of the GV80 Coupe, there’s no shortage of performance. Powering this feisty fastback is Genesis’ glorious twin-turbo 3.5-liter V6 which makes 375 horsepower in base form. But you can opt, for an additional $6,000, for the e-Supercharged version that ups the horseys to a stampeding 409.
It uses an electric supercharger to fill in the gaps in the engine’s torque curve, especially at low rpms. It makes for zippier sprints away from stop lights, more solid response merging from freeway on-ramps, and smoother engine stop-starts.
Alas, even with 409 horsepower the GV80 doesn’t morph into a Porsche Cayenne or BMW X6. The focus here is still on Genesis-famous silky-smoothness and rolling refinement.
But to add to the giddy-up, the Coupe does come with a new Sport+ driving mode. This supposedly sharpens the steering, quickens the transmission shifts, and tightens the suspension. Not that you’d really notice. As for that all-important 0-to-60 miles per hour time, think 5.2 seconds.
No, what this new GV80 Coupe 4×4 does exceedingly well is transport you down the road in sublime comfort, with astonishing mechanical refinement and Teflon-like smoothness.
And the Coupe’s cabin would provide plentiful pampering for going the distance. Everywhere you see there’s gorgeous, diamond-quilted, glove-soft leather, with contrasting red stitching and piping. Sumptuous doesn’t even come close.
Those front pews are supremely comfy, with lots of power adjustment, along with cooling and heat. Rear seat space is up there with a prom stretch limo, with the huge panoramic glass roof flooding the cabin with light.
The only miscue is the surprisingly cheap and almost tacky-looking plastic trim across the dash and on the center console. Genesis calls it carbon fiber, but it’s nothing of the sort.
But the chunky, flat-bottomed steering is a joy to hold, while the 27-inch digital display sprawling across the dash has pin-sharp graphics and easy commands.
Nice-to-have standard features include heated armrests, a fragrance diffuser that doesn’t smell like a New York taxicab, and a UV light above the wireless charger to sanitize your smartphone.
Genesis really does luxury brilliantly well, and this new GV80 Coupe couples luxury with head-turning fastback style. It really is one heckuva super coupe.
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