When the question begins with, “Interested in driving…”  I usually cut the person asking the question off and blurt out yes before they can finish. That’s what I did when the question was, “Interested in driving a Hyundai Equus?” Immediately upon the asker finishing the sentence I was a little freaked because I had no idea what a Hyundai Equus was. I mean, I had heard that such a thing as a $70,000 Hyundai existed but I honestly couldn’t remember ever seeing one, had no idea what the powertrain was, and pretty much had no idea what to expect. By the time I handed it back, I was wondering how to get my hands on the 430hp 5.0L V8 that provides the tire shredding power in the front of the car and how successful Hyundai was being in getting luxury car buyers to consider this model. Not being the most experienced with cars in the full size luxury market (think Caddy XTS-V, BMW 7-series, Mercedes S-Class), etc) I cannot directly compare the quality “feel” of the Equus against all of them but the car certain did what Hyundai would want it to do for the driver, which is to make him or her feel like a captain of industry. If you could drive a luxury vault with a JATO bolted to the roof, the Equus is it.

Make no mistake, this is not necessarily a “driver’s car”. The car itself if literally huge and even in sport mode, handling isn’t what you would call sporty. The steering ratio is pretty slow and the steering weight is very light. The wood rimmed wheel is definitely more there for comfort than to help someone throw the 4,616lb car around a road course or autocross. That’s obviously not an indehmnation of the car as it is certainly not intended to be driven like that by the people that buy it. As you’ll see below, some of the options that this thing was equipped with lent be to believe some of the people who are buying this car are paying someone else to drive it for them.

With regard to power, the Equus blew me away. The engine, as mentioned is a 5.0L 430hp direct injected V8 which is backed with an eight speed automatic. As I have been harping on for months, these new transmissions with lots of gears really transform the driving experience and performance of many cars. If the Equus were equipped with a four speed automatic it would still be fast but with the eight speed and the ability for the engine to land in the sweet spot of horsepower and torque every time you flattened the pedal, the thing is FAST. Noting the snow on the ground, you’ll surmise that we didn’t get a chance to hit the strip but the published numbers on the car suggest that it will run mid-13s and it felt AT LEAST that quick/fast. At full throttle the V8 has an awesome (but muted) wail as it runs up to redline. Being an overhead cam mill, it likes to rev. On a damp road with the traction control off, you can stand on the pedal and this car will bust the tires loose at 40mph. It is a huge sedan that you can take to the drag strip and mix it up with the Mustang and Camaro set. No one will ever do this but you could. It is a sleeper for sure and it’ll do burnouts for days with the nanny devices turned off.

Styling wise? I can’t say I was much of a fan. Look, I understand the point of the exercise with a huge sedan like this is to be unobtrusive, graceful, and exude a feeling of luxury, authority, and power. As you’ll see when I talk about the Caddy XTS-V next week, you can do all of those things and have compelling styling to boot. People have roundly criticized Hyundai for what seems to be slightly massaged Mercedes and BMW cues on this car and I can’t blame them. More than one person asked us if the car was a Mercedes and by looking at the nose, you can see why.

Interior-wise the car is incredible in an almost James Bond fashion. There are buttons and knobs everywhere, a huge touchscreen is centered in the dash and the materials from the headliner to the carpet surpass anything I have ever personally experienced in a car before. There’s nice and then there’s, “HOLY S#it” this is NICE”. The Equus fell into the second category and you’ll see why from the photos below. How over the top are we talking? The REAR seats are power adjustable, heated and air conditioned as are the fronts. There are screens in the seats, and the fold down armrest in the rear has a console with more independent rear controls than most economy cars have in the driver’s compartment. How about this for wild. In the rear console there is a button labeled “Rest”. So long as no one is sitting in the passenger seat, when the rear passenger hits the “rest” button, the front passenger seat folds down, slides up to the dash and the rear seat lays out almost all the way out like a bed. My sons and I watched this mechanical display happen several times for our own entertainment. It was one of many features that brought out serious “gee whiz” reactions from me. Interior space? Shaq could sit in the back seat and have leg room. It is truly huge inside and the trunk is massive as well. We didn’t road trip this car anywhere but there’s PLENTY of room to load in all of your luggage, political enemies, industrial spies, or a couple yards of stone for a landscaping project.

What a lot of people don’t know is that Hyundai has been selling the Equus in the Middle East since 1999. It has been a smashing success for the company there and that is why they decided to bring it to the USA and compete against the other big luxury names here. In 2012 the company sold about 2,500 of these cars here in the USA. It is definitely used as a “halo” car here in the States for the company as the majority of the sales come from their business in the Middle East and Asia. With it being such a low volume mover here in the USA, it isn’t much of a shock that I hadn’t heard of, let alone actually seen one on the road before I parked my backside in the driver’s seat.

I’m going to tell the rest of the story through photos and captions, so scroll down to see the details of the 2014 Hyundai Equus –

Here’s the big black sedan known as the 2014 Hyundai Equus. Again, styling isn’t exactly what one would call groundbreaking or innovative but it does fit the bill for authoritative and refined, which is surely the image a buyer of a $70,000 sedan would want to project.

This is a large car. With a wheelbase of just about 120-inches it is not lacking for space. I did like the big 19″ bladed wheels.

The test car we had was completely and utterly loaded with the optional “Ultimate” package. That $7,000 option includes the 12″ LCD display in the dash, the multiple camera system that assists in parking situations, heads up display, rear seat entertainment system with twin 9″ screens in the backs of the seats, power rear seats, air conditioned rear seats, power door closure, power sun screens for windows, power trunk, etc. Like I said above, this thing is way over the top.

Here’s one more look at the car from the side to give an idea of the overall length. Note the size of the doors. Entry and exit are great no matter how huge or small you are.

Even in the snowy conditions the car was fine to drive with the traction control enabled. With the traction control off, the real fun began and the car was easily controlled when we applied throttle and steering input on the slippery stuff to get some fun oversteer going.

Note the small forward facing camera in the center of the grill. This is part of the parking system that shows the car as an “overhead” view when you are parking it.

Interior materials and controls are the richest feeling that I have ever personally experienced in a car. It really is that nice.

You know who uses their own strength to close a trunk? Regular people. Equus owners press this button and it shuts itself.

Trunk is appropriately cavernous, carrying on the “bigger is better” theme of the car. You could haul some stuff back here.

The heart of the machine is hiding under the plastic engine cover. We’re talking about 430hp of smooth running V8 that makes some great noise when the tach sweeps toward redline.

The motor is a dual overhead cam piece with variable valve timing, and it makes 429hp on premium fuel or 421 on regular if you go with the cheap gas. If you buy a $70,000 car and cannot afford premium gas, you’re doing it wrong.

The big horsepower and rocket like straight line performance come at a bit of a trade off. The 4,600lb machine is EPA rated at 15mpg city and 23mpg highway. We didn’t do that well because of how obsessed we were with hearing the motor and getting shoved violently into the leather seats. This car is a big sleeper that would be riotous at a test and tune evening on your local drag strip.

Again, major styling risks were not taken here. The Equus is shooting for the refined and conservative crowd.

The brakes (four wheel discs all around) are large and haul the big car down nicely. The suspension is an electronically controlled and constantly variable system. There is actually button you can hit to raise the ridge height about an inch if you are trying to get through deeper snow or “rough” terrain.

The interior is a shining point of this car. Everything you see or touch is of very high quality. I remember being in high school during the late 1990s and seeing Hyundai Excels in the parking lot. Those were horrid little cars and it is mind blowing that the same company produces this machine.

Here’s the driver’s area and as we told you, there are buttons and controls galore. Back in the day, Cadillac got slaughtered for having something like 150 buttons in the Allante. We didn’t count in the Equus but it has to beat that number by a wide margin. That said, nothing is confusing and the car was super easy to use, including all the neat luxo widgets.

This may be the last car you can buy with actual ashtrays. Smoke ’em if you’ve got ’em!

Here you can see the front seat heading for the dash and the rear seat laying out after we hit the “rest” button in the center console.

This is the REAR armrest/console. Seriously. There are new cars without this much stuff to control in the entire car, let alone the rear of the passenger compartment. Consider the amount of wiring in this car. It has to be MILES.

Another view of the console. We think one of these buttons controls the weather.

The 9″ LCD screens provide data like a live GPS map and other stuff for the rear passengers or it can play media if you want it to.

Again this is the power control for the REAR sears.

Legroom is insane and frankly no matter what size you come in, you’ll fit comfortably back here. This is the ultimate road trip car to chew up thousands of miles in complete and total comfort. We want to race one at Silver State. You listening Hyundai?

Drivers area is nicely laid out and is not intended to feel like a race car cockpit. Buckets are super comfy but completely unbolstered.

There are a few “modes” you can toggle through. Not surprisingly we spent the week in “sport” mode which changes transmission shift points, changes throttle actuation and also firms up the suspension from pillow soft to slightly less pillow soft.

An appropriate song considering the gadgets, widgets, and engineering in this 2014 Hyundai Equus.

Here the main driver control panel on the center console up front. The “wheel” in the center is great to use, especially when driving to toggle through radio stations and different settings.

Here are the power controls for the driver seat and a detail look at the wood grain accents in the cabin of the car. Again, we can’t state enough how shocking the interior quality of this car was. High marks to Hyundai for that.

So that’s it. Our look at the $68,920 2014 Hyundai Equus, one of the most genuinely surprising cars that we have ever driven. It is way over the top in many areas for our budget and taste but we have to give high praise to Hyundai for building a car very few people in this country ever thought they could build.