The two-tone paint scheme caught my eye. Something special about this car. A quick Google search and I’m fascinated that for the last few Academy Awards Genesis has been partnering with Vanity Fair and rolling out five special edition models for “nominees and influencers” to arrive at the gala in style. Who knew?! The photo above is the 2018 Genesis G90 Ultimate unicorn currently for sale by CarMax. The photo below is from the 2018 Genesis press release announcing the five special edition cars.
What’s more challenging (aka impossible for me) is to learn whether Genesis sold replicas of the five Academy Award cars, or if this is actually one of the five. I’ve spent an hour or two so far and the only thing I know for sure if that Genesis presented a model just like this one at the 2018 Academy Awards, and the cars were on display at one point in Seoul. I’ve not found any two-tone cars for sale on Autotrader or Cars.com. There is a Car and Driver piece covering two-tone flagship G90’s as concept cars only. Thought I would post here and perhaps blog readers who are smarter than me (this means you!) may have some insight. This one first sold in October 2018.
Regardless, the 2018 Genesis Ultimate is plush and very well equipped. Heated and air conditioned seats and heated steering wheel. Heads up display. Auto cruise control. DVD system. Adjustable suspension. Car and Driver notes the interior includes “22-way power adjustability for the driver’s seat, 16-way for the front passenger, 14-way for the right rear passenger, and 12-way for the left rear. ” Nice. That said, the reviewer was disappointed with no hands free (or whatever it’s called) autonomous driving for this luxury sedan.
Car and Driver also moans a bit on the 420 hp V-8 – a good enough engine that will get you to 60 mph in 5.1 seconds. Certainly adequate and yet not world class. Of course, make any comparison to the Lexus LS or Mercedes S class and online forum discussions go berserk. Trying to learn more about this special edition car I waded into a few of those. I found G90 owners to be quite proud, and quite defensive about their sedans, and the German equivalents (Dammit! They aren’t equivalent!) sniff that a South Korean car could never compete. What gets your attention, though, is that the G90 Ultimate sold new for $75,000 – a good $25,000 below it’s competitors. This G90 is selling for $49,000. Here’s the tricky part. If it’s really a one of five Academy Award/Vanity Fair car maybe it’s special and worth it. BUT it’s a two accident car (one in the front and one in the rear) and that never bodes well for resell if nobody cares about the Academy Award part. Then again, Genesis only sold maybe 2,500 G90’s in 2018 so there is a bit of exclusivity anyway. Oh, and skip MaxCare. This beauty is still under Genesis’ generous manufacturer warranty. This one-owner car is the first Genesis to make it to my blog and is coming to Jensen Beach, Florida soon! Here’s the link.
