As the long title says, that is the topic. Now the reason for this is because my wife is looking for a new vehicle in the near future. She initially wanted nothing but an smaller SUV (Honda CR-V, Hyundai Tuscon, etc.) that got decent gas mileage. And since she's shorter in stature.. 5'3" it gives her the feeling of being able to see everything and be "safe" as most women who drive SUVs say the same thing. Well recently she finally came to her senses and realized she wanted a sporty car, that had nice lines, would turn heads, and looked more like a "guys" car. That's why the new lancer isn't involved.. Also I forgot to mention that she does not want to spend over 25k total. The V6 Genesis Coupe starts at nearly that alone, so thats out. In addition for the Camaro we can use my Grandfathers retiree GM discount to knock the price down a little lower.

Now we haven't went to look at either car yet in person, but I know she's leaning more towards the Genesis Coupe because that's the first one I showed her that she may like about a month ago, and just two days ago I mentioned the new Camaro and she seems interested. The only thing is that, she can't drive stick, and doesn't really want to learn or if she does she's afraid she may damage the dealers car, so the Coupe Track Ed. is out already seeing that one doesn't come with an automatic option. And she won't learn on my car because I have a Quartermaster Twin disk, and she even knows that if she screws it up.. 1. I'd be pissed.. and 2. We don't have the $ at hand for a rebuild and install. Now with that said we can debate a little and see the up's and down's of both cars in the Automatic trims.

With her gas mileage is a big issue, but with both cars getting 29mpg highway and I believe close to the same in the city so there isn't much to discuss. (unless someone knows if either car HAS to be ran on premium only) But, we come to the power aspect, the 2.0T is a bit underpowered compared to the 306HP of the V6 in the Camaro. As far as track times I haven't heard of any #'s for the Camaro, but from what I understand the Coupe Track Ed. (yes I know manual trans.) runs between a 14.8 - low 15's and I'm sure with the extra grunt the automatic Maro should be able to pull low 14's - high 13's. Now, performance isn't a big issue to her.. more so me.. but for the same gas mileage and around 80+ more HP.. I'd say the Camaro wins in the performance category.
Okay.. next! Hyundai has just about always made super reliable cars but never put anything out on the market to spice things up, now with the Coupe, they have. From what I understand Hyundai has one of the best if not the best Warranties available, which is a really good thing, and I believe Chevrolet is doing their version of the Hyundai warranty. What's your guys options of this aspect?
And lastly, I'm thinking of the big picture. Resale value! With both cars being new models in 2010 I know it's hard to forsee the future, but I think the Camaro will have the better value down the road. Simply because of the retro throw back, and the car has been looked forward to for the past few years now, and now it will be available as a timeless throwback "classic". Where as the Hyundai may just fall into the same category as all the previous Hyundai's.. once they're bought and used the price drops insanely. But the Coupe could be different, what do you guys think?

In closing I just like to say thanks for taking the time and reading this, but also remember this car isn't for me, but for my wife who wants the sporty, sleek, "man's" car.

 

first thought - why not throw the 2010 mustang, and dodge challenger into the mix ?? all within a couple grand of each other

second - why not compare the 304hp V6 Camaro, to a 306hp V6 Genesis ?? makes more sense... i know its a bit more $, but u get better performance than the Camaro, and better factory warranty


random thoughts - too soon to bother thinking "resale value". no way to tell at this point, cause both the Genesis coupe, and the Camaro, are so new... and who the heck knows what market conditions will be like years from now.
.

 

Thanks for the input, but I forgot to mention the max she wants to spend is 25k, and the V6 Genesis base starts at just over that. I'll be sure to up-date the OP, plus the fact my grandfather has a GM retired discount.

 

get the camaro it looks great, and has that guy car look that she is after. but i think the hyundai would be better if u plan to mess with it and mod.

 

get a Volkswagen GTI, it starts at $23k. much smaller than your other choices, but prolly the best looking, performing and driving compact coupe out there.

plus with todays' state of the car-market, keep in mind how deep some of the discount are. do lots of research before buying

 

I appreciate the other car choices.. but I think she pretty much has it narrowed down to just the Camaro or the Genesis Coupe. Plus if she wanted a sports "compact" I'd tell her to get the new turbocharged Cobalt SS and nothing else..
We're going to just look this weekend, and I used to be a salesperson at a "stealership" so I know what to say if the salesman gets to "what can I do to get you to drive it home today"..

 

awdwannabe.

I paid attention to all of what you wrote and I am pleased you to communicate that you indeed did your home work. There is absolutely nothing that you mentioned that you were wrong on and I indeed pay attention all details.

Like I said, you sum it up so well that it is hard to argue with you, it comes down to personal choices, it looks like you ended with a criteria checklist and both cars very much fills all the checkmarks blocks.

You might consider at this point add some other cars into the equation because in reality there are other cars that will also fill your criteria. Strictly speaking performance numbers the Camaro V6 is simply faster than the Hyundai Sport coupe , we are talking about out of the box, yes off course I know Buschur and AMS already started the dik race to see who has the biggest one but if you leave the car stock the Camaro is quicker on that department.

You are correct about the warranty, the Hyndai perhaps has the best warranty around. Someone suggested the new VW gtis which actually fits the bill also and now they are offered with free maintenance, they can be purchased with DSG transmission and your wife will love that and it is even better on gas than the two that you mentioned, further more is is not as quick as the camaro but quicker than the Hyundai.

Good luck either way. Take your wife to the dealer and have her sit on both cars.

Carlos

 

Well if you want to stay under 25k, the genesis 2.0 would be the best bet as you can get one fairly loaded. If you go with the camaro you will have to get the base LS version as the LT's with all the cool options will be at least 26-27k.

 

i think car and driver recently did a test between the camaro v6 and the 3.8L genesis and the camaro won that one

 

I read the car and driver comparo. The Genesis v6 is not the best choice, hey we are in an evo forum, right?

If it was me I would choose the Genesis 2.0t because it would be a tuner car soon and with an engine similar to the evo, will make tons of power.

 

That is why the car is for my wife, and just by your responses I can see you paid no attention to what was said in the opening post.

 

I would definitely read the C&D article. FWIW, the Camaro only won by 1 point so at that point there are a lot of subjective items to consider. Interestingly enough, the Camaro didn't handle nearly as well but it was a better ride - I can't remember if they mentioned the 2.0 differences in handling packages. As Carlos mentioned, the Camaro is quicker than the 2.0.

As for the Camaro I personally think it looks nice but I fear at the low pricing, and the fact that GM needs to sell, sell, sell in order to get out of where they are, these things are going to be everywhere. This will make that retro look not so special in a few years, IMO. That is unfortunate but it is obvious business practice. Of course, the G Coupe will likely sell a lot too being that Hyundai has a following and this is a sporty Hyundai with potential.

I personally would try to wait if I were the 2 of you. The fact of the matter is that you are going to get about the worst deal on these cars right now since they are so new. If you are considering resale then I would wait until there are more incentives for the buyer. If you are able to get some kickass sale on either that you are happy with, take the one that feels better in that test drive.

As others have said, don't rule out other cars as well! Good luck!

 

The C&D article was a great one. Check it out.

 

as far as performance goes, the genesis v6 will whoop its ****, I'd imagine the camaros curb weight to be in the high 3000 region, it lacks most of the sporty option the gensis comes with as well.

 

Well the V6 bested the Camaro in performance but not by much. Also, the OP is looking for a car for under $25k, so the V6 is out. I remembered another issue with the V6 was the shifting. I would guess the MT is the same in the V6 and the 2.0 (though it might not be), but you also said that your wife was looking for a non-MT, so that shouldn't be an issue.