 A car company is at it's best when it has something to prove. Mercedes with the w126, VW with the Phaeton and Hyundai with it's Genesis. Hyundai wanted to show the world that it could make a car every bit as good as the Germans and mostly they succeeded. I looked at comparable 5 series and E class automobiles, their quality, options and reliability records and could not see the value in the Germans higher prices, besides the badge. A friend, who is a BMW diehard, had to admit that my Genny was every bit as fast as his 5 series, had a nicer interior and a stereo that blew his out of the water. It's not perfect by any means though. Not as polished as the Germans. The ride wasn't quite sorted, and the traction control was absolutely terrible. Even when the traction control was "turned off" it was still far to intrusive, cutting in at very inopportune times.  In the year I owned it I had no troubles with it. I would have kept it for much longer had I not been T-boned by a full size van running a red light at 50mph! What I can say about that is I was able to walk away from the accident with only bumps and bruises.