2026 Genesis GV60 Magma Brief Drive: Is this potent performance EV more Porsche-like than Porsche?

The curse of the performance vehicle is ever-present and unavoidable. Yes, spine-tingling fun is at your fingertips (or driving-slippered toes, perhaps), but so is a bone-shuddering ride and droning exhaust thrum, both of which make themselves painfully well-known whenever you’re puttering around city streets.

That’s the other thing they don’t put in the brochure. Puttering is the vast majority of your driving, no matter how much performance you have. Ferrari owners, Porsche enthusiasts, whomever – 90 per cent of their driving is nowhere near the redline.

All of which makes something like this Genesis GV60 Magma (the latter being the name for the Korean premium brand’s performance arm, and which will feed a whole host of go-fast products) so interesting.

See, this thing is fast. Like really fast. But it is also genuinely comfortable, and silent, when you get to all that puttering we mentioned. The EV revolution has transformed the soundtrack, of course, but there’s been some sort of Genesis dark magic performed on the ride and handling, too.

But first, the fast. Let me start by saying this is among my favourite EVs I’ve driven this year, and will almost certainly land on my best-of list in 2026. And that’s even with its retina-scarring paint job apparently modelled on a solar flare on the sun, and a wing so embarrassingly big you feel you should be preparing for take-off, not the school run.

I am an adult, and so lairy paint choices like this Magma Orange don’t appeal much, but you can have your GV60 in much more subtle and subdued hues. Do that, please.

I also am not that taken aback by the price. Yes, $130k is big money, but Genesis is Hyundai’s premium offering, so its positioning above the mechanically similar Ioniq 5 N ($115,000) isn’t overly surprising. It feels plush and premium inside, even without full-leather seats, thankls largely to the massive 27-inch screen and Bang and Olufsen sound. 

There are cheaper almost-rivals (a Zeekr 7X Performance is bigger, almost as fast and a damn sight cheaper), but I would argue there are few vehicles that offer this kind of across-the-board cohesion.

So if you can stomach the colour, and the price, what do you get? A lot of performance. The Genesis GV60 Magma is a dual-motor setup, with a total 448kW and 740Nm at your disposal, which already sounds like plenty. But hitting Boost mode, which lasts 15 seconds, unlocks more grunt, with the outputs swelling to 478kW and 790Nm – that’s enough, says Genesis, to deliver a launch-control sprint to 100km/h in just 3.4 seconds. We didn’t officially test the claim, but can report the acceleration is neck-snappingly instant and urgent.

Like its Ioniq 5 N sibling, you can also activate the Virtual Gear Shit, which does a startlingly good job of replicating traditional ICE-powered cog changes. Leave it off, and the flappy paddles behind your steering wheel handle the level of regen braking you get.

The driving range is… less impressive. Performance tends to suck juice in the way that towing does, but the claimed 425kms Genesis draws from the GV60 Magma’s 84kWh battery feels low. Just this week I tested the BMW iX3, and while you have to wait a little longer for the actual review, I can tell you it can eek more than 800kms in driving range from its bigger battery (admittedly in its softest and most efficient setting), and I suspect that range matters a lot to most EV owners,

Happily, it does recharge quickly – just 18 minutes from 10 to 80 per cent when plugged into a 350kW DC charger.

The GV60 Magma fits into the small SUV category, stretching 4515mm in length, 1890mm in width and 1595mm in height. Room up front is ample, and I could fit my 175cm frame into the backseat with comfort, too.

On the road, this feels like a performance car for grown-ups. In town and in its comfy settings, the GV60 Magma is properly quiet and comfortable. You can easily forget you’re driving a nuclear reactor and just cruise around easily. The steering is direct but light in feel, and while the ride does sometimes bite back on bigger bumps, the ride feels nicely sorted, even on Sydney’s questionable road surfaces.

It has normal drive modes, but hitting the Magma button on the steering wheel unlocks some bonus levels, like GT Mode, which Genesis says is designed to balance comfort and performance without ever feeling like you’re piloting a wet sock, and Sprint Mode, which gives you all the go-fast goodies at your disposal.

The latter was my go-to. Because there’s no booming exhaust soundtrack (unless you want one), and owing to the nature of EVs like this one, even its most uncomfortable settings are comfy enough (even with the standard 21-inch alloys fitted), and so having all the fireworks available with only minimal discomfort as a price seems like a pretty good deal to me. 

It is fast, grippy, composed and surprisingly compelling, biting into corners and powering out in a way that is utterly addictive. I have driven fast EVs, and ICE cars for that matter, which feel like a simulation, but this is not one of them.

And so welcome, Magma. May there be many more of you to come. Genesis needs more customers in Australia, and this is the sort of thing that might just put them on the map.

Price: $130,000 plus on-road costs
Basics: EV, 5 seats, 5 doors, SUV, AWD
Range: 425km (WLTP)
Battery capacity: 84kWh
Battery warranty: 8 years/160,000km (70 per cent capacity)
Energy consumption: 21.5kWh/100km
Motors: 2; 448-478kW/740-790Nm combined
AC charging: 10.5kW, Type 2 plug
DC charging: 10–80 per cent in approximately 18 minutes on a 350kW charger; CCS Combo 2 plug
0-100km/h: 3.4 seconds with Boost Mode and Launch Control