2012 Hyundai Equus Overview Change Vehicle

This 2012 Hyundai Equus review explains changes for the model year, provides a summary of the 2012 Equus, and includes Hyundai Equus safety, reliability, and fuel economy ratings.

The 2012 Hyundai Equus is a full-size luxury sedan with room for four or five passengers, depending on how you configure the rear seats. With the Equus, Hyundai boldly attempts to tread the same hallowed waters as the Lexus LS 460 and even the Mercedes-Benz S550 (their comparison, not ours) on size and features, only with a much lower sticker price.

There’s only one major change for the 2012 Hyundai Equus, but it’s a biggie. A huge, honkin’, 5.0-liter V8 replaces the “paltry” 4.6-liter mill found under the hood of last year’s car. Power output increases from 385 to 429, and the new V8 is matched to a new eight-speed automatic transmission. Hyundai also elects to include standard power rear side sunshades for the Ultimate trim level this year.

Make no mistake: the 2012 Hyundai Equus is a genuine luxury sedan. If you ever had a doubt about this, its standard equipment list will assuage your fears. Two trim levels are available for the Equus: the standard Signature and passenger-focused Ultimate.

Though the Signature may be the “base” model, there’s nothing basic about it. Check out the supple leather covering the massaging driver’s seat. Stroke the Alcantara suede-swathed headliner. Sit in the back to enjoy power reclining and heated seats with individual controls for the climate and entertainment systems. No matter which seating position you choose, your ears are treated to a 17-speaker Lexicon 7.1 Discrete Logic 7 surround sound audio system with HD and satellite radio as well as an iPod connection and an auxiliary audio input jack, while all environmental discomforts are banished by the triple-zone automatic climate control, automatically defogging windshield with a humidity sensor, and power sunshades for the backlight and the rear side windows. The Signature also comes with a navigation system, a smart cruise control system with lane departure warning technology, a pre-collision warning system, swiveling headlamps that help to see around dark corners, and front and rear parking sensors.

If your primary duty involves ferrying VIPs in the rear seat, check out the Equus Ultimate. For the additional $6,500 this model commands, you will get executive-class rear accommodations. The ignominious middle rear seat is replaced by a fixed center console with a refrigerator, while each outboard position features seats that cool or heat your backside, a leg rest, and a massage feature for the right seat. Illuminated vanity mirrors help to ensure rear seat passengers are camera-ready when they step out of the Equus, and an entertainment system keeps them happy between destinations. With the Equus Ultimate, you’ll also get a power trunk lid and cameras that give you a picture of what’s around the car for easier operation around parking lots.

At the heart of every Hyundai Equus is a new 5.0-liter V8 that foments 429 ponies, spanking the output of its key competitor, the Lexus LS 460, and matching the twin-turbo Mercedes-Benz S550, which costs $35,000 more. The power flows to the rear wheels through a new eight-speed automatic transmission. The bigger engine and the increased power output does put a dent in fuel economy, but not ruinously. Previously, the Equus returned 16 mpg in the city and 24 on the highway, but now it’ll give you 15-city/23-highway, operating on required premium fuel. That’s less than the Lexus or Benz.

Standard safety features for the Hyundai Equus include nine airbags, stability control, traction control, and antilock brakes with electronic brake-force distribution and brake assist.

Additionally, the Equus is equipped with a cruise control system that keeps a preset distance from the car in front of you and which is enhanced by a pre-collision warning system that alerts the driver to rapid closing rates on traffic or obstacles ahead, while a lane departure warning system warns you if you’re drifting off of your intended path. The car, through its many onboard cameras, does what it can to keep you from sticky situations, and the Equus comes with a reversing camera, adaptive front headlights, rain-sensing wipers, and front and rear parking sensors. The Equus Ultimate also has cornering cameras for safer manuevering in tight quarters. The only thing that seems to be missing here is a blind spot warning system.

Avoiding an accident is one thing. Performance in a collision is entirely another. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has yet to test the 2012 Equus, so we have to take our crashworthiness cues from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). The results are auspicious; the car receives a Top Safety Pick rating for its perfect scores in the offset frontal-impact, side-impact, rear injury prevention, and roof crush strength tests.

For some luxury buyers, dependability is also important. Last year, J.D. Power and Associates predicted that the Hyundai Equus would prove average in this regard, and Consumer Reports has yet to give the Equus a rating as this review is written. Since this data isn’t particularly helpful, Hyundai’s standard warranty program, which is among the most comprehensive in the business, covers the powertrain for 10 years or 100,000 miles and the rest of the car for five years or 60,000 miles. Hyundai also includes free roadside assistance during basic warranty period.

Open up the glove box of your new Equus and you won’t find the phone book known as the owner’s manual. Instead, you’ll see a gleaming Apple iPad. It’s not just for your browsing pleasure; it serves as a high-tech manual for learning how all of the Equus’s features work.

The standard iPad also provides maintenance reminders and allows you to make appointments for your car to be serviced. And just so that you don’t have to mingle with the Accent- and Elantra-driving riffraff, your Equus will be picked up and a loaner car dropped off should it need a mechanic’s touch.

So, does this level of luxury and service make you interested in test-driving an Equus? Call up a dealership and one will show up at your door, along with a sophisticated salesperson to supervise the proceedings.

Hyundai left no stones unturned as it launched its first true ultra luxury sedan. The 2012 Equus is comprehensively equipped, technologically sophisticated and equipped with sumptuous materials and plush comfort. Plus it has the surprise factor of being a virtual unknown in valet lines. But while it makes perfect logical and financial sense to choose this over its formidable competitors, making the Equus the intelligent luxury sedan, we can’t help but feel that it lacks the ability to stroke its owner’s ego in the same way that more expensive machines might. Be not disheartened; this is Hyundai’s first pass at pleasing a critical and superficial crowd, and the result is far more than simply tolerable. Time will tell if aspirational consumers will accept a Hyundai in this rarefied class.

By Liz Kim