Genesis GV80 Cures Family Swamp Ass For Less Coin

• The new Genesis GV80 is the least expensive luxury vehicle with ventilated rear seats
• The new GV80 is also one of the only SUVs in its class with cooled rear seats

Are cooled seats the best automotive invention since we switched from tillers to steering wheels? Yes. But especially if rear passengers get them, too.

Now that we've established this basic fact, we have to acknowledge its importance to us specifically. Edmunds is based in Southern California, where perpetual sunshine means the threat of swamp ass is all too real. Ventilated seats are the solution, wafting cool air to your nether regions to keep them from fermenting into kimchi.

So why condemn your rear passengers to unwanted fermentation if you don't have to? Who treats their family and friends like that? Clearly, the folks at Genesis asked themselves the same hard questions, because the all-new Genesis GV80 SUV provides cooled front and rear seats at a lower entry price than any other luxury vehicle. A small step for autodom, perhaps — but a giant leap toward keeping the rain out of your family's forest.

GV80's Rare Ventilated Back Seats are the Cheapest in Town

Ventilated seats have been around for decades, first appearing on luxury cars before finally making their way to more budget-friendly fare. These days, you can even get cooled seats on a mid-trim Kia Forte (list price: $24,055). But cooled rear seats are still fairly rare. You'll mostly find them in high-end sedans such as the BMW 7 Series and Audi A8, though you can find them on non-luxury vehicles like the Kia Telluride and Hyundai Palisade.

Among luxury SUVs, ventilated rear seats seem to elude the Germans — you can't even get them on the über expensive BMW X7 or Mercedes-Benz GLS-Class — but a handful of others are ensuring that rear seat passengers' pants stay dry. They aren't cheap, though. Getting cooled rears on a 2021 Lincoln Aviator costs about $59,000, while a similarly configured 2021 Land Rover Discovery runs a touch over $65k.

By contrast, a GV80 with a pair of backseat butt fans costs less than $55k. As far as we can tell, the GV80 is the least expensive luxury vehicle available today with rear coolers. Most others in this class — including the Audi Q7, Acura MDX, Cadillac XT6 and Volvo XC90 — don't offer this option at all.

Edmunds Says

Ventilated seats are clearly a sign of divine providence, yet few automakers offer them to rear-seat passengers. The Genesis GV80 gets a gold star for being the least expensive luxury vehicle on the market with cooled rear seats. For all the latest info on this intriguing new SUV, stay tuned to our comprehensive Genesis GV80 page.