It’s hard to believe that a company better known for the Accent can come up with a performance car

The roots of this comparison test can be traced back to an infamous American Football game that took place this time last year. Two, 30-second clips were played during the commercial breaks at each half of the 43rd Super Bowl game. They showed an attractive, two-door, bright yellow sportscar drifting through corners and over rumble strips with pinpoint accuracy around the Road Atlanta racetrack. You’ll find the clip on YouTube: it’s called The Epic Lap. Watching it then, you had to say the car looked like a fair hoot to drive, in as much as you could gather from 2D pixels. It was a short and well-executed advert. But what surprised the most was the company behind the car. The estimated 150 million people watching the game probably spilt their chili-covered tortilla chips all over their shirt when they were told it was a new Hyundai.

That blinding commercial marked the release of the new Genesis Coupe, and it was probably worth every cent of the reported $ 6m Hyundai had to pay the NBC network, because you can still hear the echos of those dropped tortillas, accompanied by the standing ovations the Korean Coupe has so far received in America. Even now, no one can quite believe that a company known for its back-to-basics Accent, Getz and i10 could suddenly come up with a performance car.

Clearly, the overused cliche ‘bang for your buck’ is the nub of the automotive titillation. Here is a 299bhp, 3.8-litre V6 sportscar that’s diff-driven by the rear wheels, yet costs a fraction over $ 30,000 – a figure likely to make Nissan’s ebullient CEO Carlos Ghosn froth at the mouth. A Zed car is meant to be the cheap and fun Japanese alternative to the dynamically-great-but-costly European mainstream. Being undercut by almost $ 25k is no laughing matter.

A glance at the spec sheet shows the extent of the oncoming headache for Nissan. The Hyundai is only 27bhp down, produces almost identical twisting power and is 100cc up in the geeky engine bragging rights.

The same thing goes for the standard equipment. Only the top-of-the-line 3.8 V6 is available in the GCC and it’ll be sold ‘as is’, and for the modest $ 31,300 Hyundai is asking, leather seats, electric sunroof, AUX/USB input and cruise control are all included. In practical terms, it has two extra seats, a bigger boot and a roomier interior. Although admittedly, these aren’t factors likely to have much sway over which one you’d go for…

In terms of looks, both cars’ strong points are at the rear. The Genesis Coupe using the angular crease, which starts at the doors and widens aft-wards to accentuate the rear-wheel drive power. That back end has a meaty, butch-type of stance, and thankfully, the wing isn’t OTT. The drop in the rear window is also something we haven’t seen before and gives the Hyundai the hunched pose of an aggressive armadillo. The Zed on the other hand, has more classy, rounded lines, the rear dropping away and making the aforementioned window narrower, à la GT-R.

As with its older brother, there’s an unruffled sureness about the Zed’s character that you become aware of when you set yourself into the intimate cabin. It reacts with aplomb to direction changes, it grips and the steering retains its feel as speeds pick up. As you enter a corner, the helm weights up, letting you know just how hard the tyres are knobling at the black tar. It’s a reassuring, connected feeling that never disappoints, and it undoubtedly comes from a mixture of taught chassis and the 100mm wheelbase chop over the 350Z.

‘Introduce the power mid-bend and the Coupe slides almost gracefully across the tarmac, giving you time to choose your angle’

I’m not mentioning any particular roads or corresponding conditions here, as I tried a variety of surfaces and couldn’t find a road where it felt out of place. Plus, you’ve probably read about how it almost gave the Cayman something to chew on. It’s the question of how close the Genesis Coupe matches the Zed’s abilities that’s more interesting.

Once you’ve appreciated the swoopy, angular lines of the soft-touch dashboard and the Infiniti-like blue glow of the dials, set deep within the silver rings (as in Alfa Romeos), the Hyundai feels similarly poised and trustworthy in the first 50km or so. The front end keeps up with your steering movements (aided by a front strut tower brace) and it doesn’t lack stiffness. Despite the Z’s front Bridgestones being identical to the Coupe’s rears, the Hyundai doesn’t suffer from a lack of raw grip. A 370Z engineer would probably tell you a track is all that’s needed to sort the real performance car from the upstart (and he’d be right), but there isn’t much in it at second and third gear speeds.

Having said that, deciding to turn a mundane drive into a rousing one might produce the kind of results you would’ve seen in Hyundai’s advert. Traction and stability control jump in at the wrong moment when they’re switched on. But turn it off, introduce the power mid-bend, and it slides almost gracefully across the tarmac, giving you time to decide exactly what angle you’d like to travel at as the Torsen diff locks up the rear axle. There’s a certain playful character about it. Considering Hyundais passed, it’s a huge surprise.

Interestingly, when it comes to keeping rubber firmly on the ground, it’s the other way around. Feedback is so positive in the Zed you can choose your style of attack with the gizmos left on. Opt for early braking and use the power to catapult out, or dive late into a bend, and it’s the Nissan that feels more composed.

Ironically, the Genesis Coupe is similar to an Infiniti G37 in many ways. As well as the dials, there’s the same rich-sounding V6 (an instant plus over the tuneless Zed) and it rides in the same composed way as the G37, too. Though there are times the ride begins to come unstuck. Almost literally.

Over speedbumps, it never feels fully settled. And taking the Coupe on a smooth, snaking stretch of road one day, I get a split-second surprise. Going through a fast bend, the suspension loaded up and the chassis starting to bite, I spot a protruding line in the road where old tarmac meets new. As the front goes over it, a small shock is sent through the chassis. But it’s the rear that doesn’t settle fast enough, the wheels hopping and the car ‘sidestepping’ off-line as I travel through the corner. It’s not much, yet it’s enough to reduce my confidence in the Coupe’s ability to absorb uneven surfaces. If you’re seriously committed, the jolt is enough to make the car jack in the boot crash onto the floor. A bit more work on bump and rebound stiffness would cure the problem.

Though the 370Z’s damping isn’t perfect, there are other fine points where it justifies its premium. The Nissan’s rubber-lined metal pedals cling wonderfully to your right foot, for example. The brake pedal is firmer and more positive in its resistance than the Coupe’s four-piston Brembos too, and there’s a solidity to the shift paddles, switchgear and trim in the Zed that impresses the more you use it.

Then there’s the lightness and lack of feel in the Genesis Coupe’s steering. It has the same direct feel of the aforementioned G37, but when the speed builds, the best way I can describe the sensation you get is that it’s like that Sega Rally arcade game: it translates your inputs directly to the car, it’s easy to drive fast, it’s fun. And yet, somehow you never feel like you’re part of the real process of turning the wheels.

‘It’s ultimately about the lengths you’re prepared to go to trade cash for a more refined chassis’

Going from the 370Z to the Genesis Coupe and back in the space of a day, the overriding difference between the two is that the Hyundai is more point-and-squirt. It doesn’t take much skill or forearm effort to make it behave as you want it to. The Zed is snappier. You need to be more forceful with your inputs to overcome its tautness and be more dedicated when it’s time to gather things up. It’s the more physical car, for sure. And as a result, more rewarding when you’ve learnt to grab it by the scruff of the neck.

But make no mistake, this Hyundai is a world away from the old front-drive, sheep-in-wolf’s-clothing Coupe. It’s a sincere and affordable sportscar that’s sure to lift Hyundai out of the image of ‘the cheap and cheerful brand that offered a comprehensive warranty to make up for mechanical short-comings’,

as one American money magazine recently put it.

Today, the short-comings are minimal, and Hyundai is making a credible attempt at producing a performance car. Though the V6 never feels lusty enough and needs to be worked harder than the Zed’s, the simple fact is that it’s impossible to find a near-300bhp, two-door sportscar for under $ 35k. Ford asks $ 40k for the 315bhp Mustang GT, the Infiniti G37 (330bhp) commands $ 48k, BMW’s entry-level 320i (170bhp) is a ridiculous $ 45k and an Audi TT (250bhp) is over $ 50k when you include a couple of options. Those figures are hard to ignore.

When it comes to the decision-making stage, it’s ultimately the lengths you’re prepared to go to trade cash for a more refined chassis. For anyone who puts a premium on dynamics, Nissan’s experience with rear-wheel-drive does have its advantages – particularly when you really want to make the journey interesting. So it’s no surprise that I’m more inclined to grant the competent 370Z the winner.

Yet the conclusion to this comparison isn’t that the 370Z is a good car; we knew that already. It’s that those who cleared up the chili sauce and promptly took out their chequebook have bought themselves a lot of car for not much money.

	370Z	GEN' Coupe
Engine	V6	V6
Location	Front, longitudinal	Front, longitudinal
Displacement	3696cc	3778cc
Max power	326bhp @ 7000rpm	299bhp @ 6300rpm
Max torque	269lb ft @ 5200rpm	266lb ft @ 4700rpm
Transmission	Seven-speed automatic, rear wheel, drive, limited-slip differential, ESP	Six-speed ZF automatic, rear-wheel drive, TCS, BAS
Weight (kerb)	1520kg	1576kg
Power-to-weight	218bhp/ton	190bhp/ton
0-100kph	5.4sec (claimed)	5.9sec (claimed)
Top speed	250kph (limited)	240kph (claimed)
Basic price	$ 55,500	$ 30,800
On Sale	Now	Now
Evo Rating	4.5 Stars	3.5 Stars