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car review

A 1990s-era German-made car sat immobile at the bottom of a hill, incapable of making the uphill climb over packed snow on a frigid morning recently. By comparison, during a test arranged by the auto maker, it was a simple task to drive a new Hyundai Santa Fe SUV around the helpless car and then to scale the hill – so easy, the temptation was to stop and start again in mid-ascent to emphasize the point of the exercise. That is, with modern all-wheel drive technology, it makes no sense whatsoever to venture out in premium automobiles that can't make the grade in snow and ice due to rear-wheel drive layout.

Which takes us to our afternoon ride that day, Hyundai's Genesis, a sedan that came out as a rear-wheel drive when introduced as the South Korean auto maker's first luxury model. After Hyundai made all-wheel drive standard last May, sales doubled and it's on track so far in 2015 to challenge Audi's Quattro, BMW's xDrive, and Mercedes-Benz 4Matic sedans as a value proposition.

With all-wheel drive, maintaining summer speeds through winter's worst is the new reality. Nary a glazed hill between Malbaie and Baie-Saint-Paul would slow the Genesis's pace, nor would the turns. Yet the Genesis still felt remarkably like a rear-drive car. Such was Hyundai's intention while developing its system's transfer case with Magna powertrains. In normal driving, 100 per cent of the power delivery goes to the rear wheels, easing in cornering to 70 per cent rear/30 front, or even 50-50 when sensors detect slippage or rough surfaces. By selecting Sport mode, the basic distribution becomes 20 per cent front/80 rear.

Turn the steering wheel – toasty warm, a nice touch in the $48,000 luxury trim step up from the base model – and the Genesis crisply responds without the understeer (resistance to changing direction) of more front-drive oriented AWD systems such as the Quattro. Oversteer can be an incidental downside. On two occasions in our afternoon drive, the Genesis's tail slid wide mid-turn, a wake-up call for an instant before the transfer case apportioned power to the front wheels and stability returned.

On this day, in these particular conditions, the Santa Fe impressed as the calmer drive. Its taller, narrower Bridgestone Blizzak winter tires achieved better bite than the sedan's Continental ContiWinterContact with toboggan-like 245/35 proportions. A more mainstream winter driving situation – 401, minimal snow accumulation, -20 C – would better showcase the AWD Genesis.

"Every system has strengths and weaknesses, but BMW's xDrive is newer than Audi's and the Mercedes-Benz 4Matic, and it became our benchmark," said Mike Ricciuto, Hyundai Canada's director, product and corporate strategy.

Only recently have AWD cars gained critical mass. In 2009, more than half of BMW 3-Series, Canada's best-selling luxury model, were rear drivers – versus 94 per cent AWD today. Jaguar introduced its Intuitive AWD to 80 per cent of its premium XF/XJ models in 2013 to achieve a 52-per-cent increase in sales.

Hyundai's upcoming remodelled Equus will be HTRAC-enabled, as will another luxury entry, smaller than the Genesis, perhaps arriving in 2017. "All-wheel drive will proliferate even lower into our range," Ricciuto confirmed.

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