The first press reviews are coming in, and they’re all quite favorable to the Genesis Coupe.

You can read Motortrend’s take, here.

The good:

We all agreed the Genesis Coupe feels sapphire solid. Build quality seems first rate. The doors shut with a reassuring thump. Whether navigating a straight highway or a winding byway, the Hyundai comes across tight and well put together. This overall feel of solidity, of course, is a welcome plus, as it not only gave Hyundai engineers a strong starting point, but it also provides the driver with quicker and more communicative responses.

The bad:

The so-called “RS 3800″ V-6 (for Rear-drive Sport), which does emit a pleasing growl as it revs effortlessly to the 6500-rpm redline, is no-doubt a refined engine — arguably more refined than Nissan’s VQ — but it doesn’t seem 306 horsepower strong. “I realize that on paper this is a 300-plus-horsepower car,” says associate editor Allyson Harwood, “but it doesn’t feel like it. It was pretty quick off the line, but I guess I expected a little more thrust.”

The six-speed manual also was a bit of a letdown. Its rubbery feel generally led to imprecise experiences, especially when attempting to shift quickly, and its placement on the center console seemed an inch or so too rearward. An RX-8’s gearbox will make you jealous. And as editor-at-large Arthur St. Antoine notes, our manual test car suffered from “Lots of driveline lash, making it very difficult to execute smooth shifts and throttle inputs.”

The WTF?

In our instrumented handling tests, the 3.8 Track cars recorded lateral acceleration of 0.90 g (manual) and 0.91 g (auto), and figure-eight runs of 26.2 seconds at 0.67 g and 26.3 at 0.68. Again, these figures outgun those of the upper-echelon Jag XK (0.89, 26.8 at 0.66), but not of its two main rivals, the Mustang GT and 370Z. Ditto for 60-to-0 braking, which, at 111 feet, is just shy of the spans from the Ford (108) and the Nissan (109).

Hyundai has publicly stated that the car was produced to compete against the G37.  How come Motortrend didn’t find an Infiniti to compare it to?

Automobile didn’t make the same mistake.

The good:

Infiniti’s 3.7-liter could take a singing lesson from it, in fact. The meaty clutch in the Genesis has a positive engagement point near the top of its travel, and the high-mounted shifter, although notchy when cold, is a pleasure to row through the gears.

The bad:

The 2.0T is tuned for lots of muscle in the low-rpm, daily-driving range, but it runs out of thrust quickly as the tach climbs past 4000 rpm. Worse, without balance shafts, the engine practically begs you to short-shift it, due to deafening boominess and vibrations severe enough to rattle the dashboard.