Hyundai Tucson
Hyundai Tucson
Hyundai Tucson
Hyundai Tucson
Hyundai Tucson
Hyundai Tucson
Hyundai Tucson"The Hyundai Tucson is a solid B in a field of Bs, although the design is excellent and the quality and safety story at the top of the class. You'll like this vehicle if: you want a tall station wagon with Euro looks, great crash test scores and solid quality."
The safety story matters here for a very good reason: Tucsons and Tiguans and Foresters and their ilk are 21st-century station wagons and safety matters to the family buyers coughing up $20,000-$30,000 for a household ride. Folks, the Tucson is as safe as they come.
Reliable, too. Name your research – J.D. Power and Associates, Consumer Reports – and the story is the same: Hyundai is producing high-quality vehicles.
Consumer Reports’ most recent reliability study ranks Hyundai No. 11 overall and says the Tucson is a “recommended” vehicle. J.D. Power’s three-year dependability study also ranks Hyundai No. 11 overall, and among mainstream brands only Toyota, Honda and Ford are rated higher. Hyundai is No. 7 in J.D. Power’s three-month quality study, as well. No wonder Hyundai has scored huge gains in perceived quality among consumers in a study released last November by ALG (Automotive Lease Guide).
All this might lead you to believe the Tucson is perfect. No. In a world stuffed with compact SUVs, this one is pretty good overall and it may be the best-looking rig in its class. Yet in many ways the Tucson is hardly a stand-out.
Take power. The current Forester, Chevrolet Equinox (and its corporate cousin, the GMC Terrain), the Escape, CR-V, CX-7, Outlander, Rogue and RAV4 all offer four-cylinder engines making from 161 to 182 horsepower – although some of these have V-6 options and an updated Forester is available with a turbocharged four making 224 hp.
The Tucson in all-wheel-drive form has a 2.4-litre, 176-hp four-banger (the front-driver’s engine is rated at 165 hp). Nothing special there, although the Hyundai’s fuel economy is pretty good: 10.1 litres/100 km city, 7.1 highway for AWD.
The Tucson fits right in with its competitors in terms of size, too. Sure, the Tucson’s turning circle is a few millimetres tighter than the Ford Escape’s and some others, but the differences are minimal. Mechanically, the Tucson is totally mainstream.
The Tucson is pretty noisy at speed and the four-cylinder engine can get coarse or emit a tiring drone. The all-wheel-drive system sends power to the front wheels until it detects slip (a switch can lock the system into a 50-50 torque split), which means most of the time the Tucson behaves like a front-driver. A compact six-speed automatic is solid but unspectacular.
