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SUPERIOR TOWNSHIP, MI – Nissan set the bar high for premium V-6s when its VQ engine family arrived in 1995 and proceeded to win 14 straight Ward’s 10 Best Engines awards.
Along the way, rival brands such as Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Cadillac and Lexus achieved varying degrees of success with their own premium V-6s tuned for both power and refinement.
Hyundai wanted to play in this arena but wasn’t ready. Now it is.
The refreshed ’12 Genesis sedan, on sale since April, gets a significant performance boost with an improved 3.8L naturally aspirated gasoline V-6 that adds direct injection and makes an extra 43 hp while getting better fuel efficiency than the port-injection engine it replaces.
Rated at 333 hp and 291 lb.-ft. (395 Nm) of torque, this latest offering from Hyundai’s Lambda engine family still employs all-aluminum construction and twin overhead cams and carries over the dual continuously variable valve timing and a variable intake system.
The Environmental Protection Agency rates the enhanced engine at 19/29 mpg (12.3-8.1 L/100 km) in city/highway driving, a notable gain over the previous 18/27 mpg (13-8.7 L/100 km).
A higher compression ratio (from 10.4:1 to 11.5:1) also boosts efficiency, while the bore and stroke are unchanged at 96 mm x 87 mm.
The new fuel-economy numbers are competitive for the segment. During a test drive here along rural roads, the engine manages better than 20 mpg (11.7 L/100 km) despite heavy flogging at high rpm.
