What you will find are some heavily bolstered sport cloth seats, Brembo four-piston calipers up front with 340 mm rotors and two-piston calipers clamping onto 330 mm rotors out back, thicker front and rear anti-roll bars, stiffer springs, and most of all a highly capable Torsen limited slip differential to put down maximum power to the ground while enabling you to control your vehicle at its limits. The R-Spec fits into an interesting category as it’s technically the base model Genesis Coupe with better performance hardware than the slightly more expensive Premium model but none of the bells and whistles for comfort and features. If you want a combination of performance and features, the GT is available as the flagship model for significantly more money. For the purposes of this review, I’m focusing on the R-Spec – the stripped-down performance model that’s affordable to most people with a full-time job.

Firing up the 3.8L V6 is a rather rewarding experience. With so many cars these days, when you turn the key or push the button, it’s similar to switching any other appliance on. With the Genesis Coupe 3.8L, a quick flick of the key to start the car, rewards you with a gnarly roar that settles into a smooth purr at idle.

One of my biggest complaints about the previous Genesis Coupes lies with the clutch pedal feel, engagement and action. For myself, there isn’t just one thing that makes a good sports car. Several factors key into it and one of the big ones is the transmission and clutch. After all, think about just how many times in a trip you’ll push that pedal down and slide the shifter into gear. Makes you think, huh? Hyundai finally addresses this glaring issue and clutch pedal feel is remarkably improved over all previous years and both engine trims.

In previous years, clutch engagement was vague and severely unsatisfying. The friction point was more of a suggestion as opposed to an actual point of engagement. Sliding the Genesis Coupe into gear required far too much effort and it was, by far, the clunkiest gearbox I have ever driven, let alone in a RWD sports car. Hyundai have managed to sort this out for 2015 and while the gearbox and clutch still aren’t the slickest around (I’ll leave that to the Toyobarus), it’s a night and day improvement over previous years.

Taking advantage of the 348 hp and 295 lb-ft of torque from the 3.8L V6 and giving the Genesis Coupe a healthy dollop of throttle while engaging the newly improved clutch propelled me forward with some very satisfying thrust and controlled wheelspin that I could feel in my chest. The exhaust note climbs in ferocity with the rpms and speed, and unlike many other cars, the higher up I take the Coupe, the better it sounded. Sliding the shifter into second gear and flooring the pedal again doubles down on the initial fun and I quickly realized that I could be exceeding the speed limit by a serious amount. Backing off the throttle, I’m rewarded with a slight burble from the growly exhaust as I shift into third to settle down to cruising mode.

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