You can’t judge a book by its cover, just like you can’t evaluate a new car by its paint job. So when the Genesis GV70 appeared in my driveway at the Gilbert Compound just up the hill from Lake Superior on Minnesota’s North Shore, I was startled by the color, and then impressed.

I’m a blue guy, and I’ve seen many stunning blue paint jobs on various cars from various manufacturers, and I would gladly settle for any of a dozen of those if it were my choice.

Then there’s the riveting Crystal Red that Mazda introduced on its last CX-5, before letting it filter on through its full line. That, I guess, stands as my favorite color I’ve ever seen on a car.

But this Genesis showed up and I had to do a double take. A very trendy color on recent  models is a flat grey, or gray, that causes you to sit up and take notice, but it has now spread to nearly every manufacturer and it has lost the luster of its individuality, to me. This Genesis, however, was a dark grey but in a brushed sort of a way. It almost looked like when car-painters in the old days used to cover your car with a flat primer color before applying whatever candy-apple paint you wanted to cover it.

This new Genesis paint stands alone, being something I had only previously seen on a high-end BMW sports sedan. For some reason, my sensibilities went on high alert when I first saw this Genesis, and I was drawn to it every time I looked at the car, for the way all the subtle trim lines, the overall shape of the beast, and even the highly detailed and yet still tasteful alloy wheels provided the perfect accent.

This is a four-door compact SUV, but with luxury overtones. You climb aboard and you are totally grasped by the perfectly padded and bolstered bucket seats. You are secured in this car’s grip, and you don’t mind it at all.

You are further impressed when you grip the steering wheel in its perfectly padded leather covering. And you can access the shift paddles without being at all distracted.

Pushing the button, and then twisting the rotating gear dial to “D” lets you stand perfectly ready for takeoff. Point it in the right direction and hit the gas, and you get a pleasing engine tone from the dual exhausts, and the Genesis GV70 fairly leaps ahead to its task.

You also can’t help but notice the fabrics and their perfectly fitted complementary positioning throughout the interior, and you also note how generous the room is in the rear seat, and how spacious the under-hatch stowage is.

Turn corners, sharply or softly, and the Genesis responds with perfect precision, staying firmly flat without ever being harsh to your touch or rear end.

When Genesis came out as a separate brand from South Korea, benefitting from the technology that has boosted Hyundai and partner Kia to the top echelon of auto-making in the world, its luxury sedans were very impressive. I’m not sure sales matched their potential, but they were smoothly powerful and handled like German sports sedans – maybe a little firmer than Mercedes, and a bit less-firm than BMWs. A very fine neighborhood to live in.

Genesis added its SUVs, and after driving almost all the others and being strongly impressed with most of them, and with certain elements of all of them, my older son and road-test assistant Jack and I discussed the variety of available compact crossover SUVs from basic to luxurious, and as we discussed it, we came to the same conclusion: There was nothing on the market that was any better for driving, riding, luxuriating or enjoying, than the Genesis.

And that was before we got our paws on our own week-long road-test Genesis. You can get on in two different flavors, with a top-end model that has a 3.5-liter twin-turbocharged V6 with 375 horsepower and 391 foot-pounds of torque, and loaded to the brim with luxury, or an only-slightly restrained model with a 2.5-liter four-cylinder turbo with 300 horsepower and 311 foot-pounds.

We had gotten a brief chance to drive the V6 Genesis GV70 at the Midwest Auto Media Association fall rally at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis,, and this time we spent a week with the 2.5-Turbo.
Of course, I stood on it for a few bursts of acceleration – in the name of science, you understand – and its response was quick and sudden and fit perfectly with its image.

Its image, by the way, has been enhanced by Motor Trend naming the Genesis GV70 as its SUV of the year, in a 2022 model year where the segments is overflowing with strong candidates.

In either form, you get standard all-wheel drive in the Genesis GV70, and an 8-speed dual-clutch automatic that shifts smoothly and with precision. The steering is also about as nearly perfect as you could want, with just enough steering wheel feel and gearing to make you pay attention, in which case your reward is perfectly balanced cornering.

The test Genesis GV70 came in loaded with all the safety devices and lane-changing alerts you could ask for, plus the great structural rigidity and built-in safety of so much high-grade steel in the building, at $64,945, which is about $8,000 less than the slightly more luxurious car with the V6.

I would say you should not put out the extra money without driving both, because you may not notice the difference, unless you hammer the gas pedal and run the revs up to red line every shift. Which you can execute with the steering wheel paddles if you choose.

The G70 sedan is still the primary Genesis vehicle of note, and the SUVs are based on all the good technology out into that refined sedan. But I don’t know how long the sedan will outsell the GV70 SUV.

Particularly if you choose it in that amazingly stunning flat, dark grey.