Tucson, second largest city in Arizona, USA, four hours’ drive south of Route 66 and about 310km southwest of Fort Apache.
Slap-bang in the middle of what Hollywood in the golden age of the western movie, called Indian country, a place steeped in frontier legend.
But Tucson, named for the historic American southwest town, is also a crucial car for Hyundai New Zealand.
The mid-sized SUV arrived here in the early 2000s, before Hyundai had broken through into the mainstream. Initially it was a somewhat dumpy-looking wagon that shared its platform/bodywork with Kia’s Sportage.
It morphed into the much sleeker and sportier-looking Hyundai i35 and has reverted to the Tucson name for the current model.
Stylish, well-built, with good road manners and accommodation, the new Tucson ticks the boxes for many buyers, making it a market success.
As momentum gathers around electrification, more environmentally conscious buyers – or those who want to
reduce some of the wallet pain at the petrol pump – can find a solution in the Tucson Hybrid.
It cuts petrol use from the 2.0-litre Tucson’s 9.6 litres/100km or the 1.6 turbo’s 7.7l/100km to a quoted 4.9 litres in the Hybrid 2WD (though we didn’t manage that) and 5.6 litres in the all-wheel drive.
Better still, emissions drop from 217 grams/km (2.0 litre) or 175g/km (1.6 turbo) to an outstanding 111g/km in the FWD Hybrid.
So, it’s a car that’s predominantly ICE but can be driven with a clearer conscience if you’re inclined to feel guilty about such things.
The reductions in gas mileage and in emissions are useful, but to get them you pay more upfront.
Tucson Hybrids aren’t at the budget end of the market, starting at $61,990 for range-opening 2WD Entry.
Step up to the Elite 2WD as tested and you fork out an extra $5000. The all-wheel drive Elite is $72,990. All quoted prices exclude on-road costs.
All are eligible for a Clean Car rebate of up to $2900. Those prices are listed RRPs; special offer lower prices have appeared on the Hyundai NZ website.
The hybrids are powered by a 1.6-litre (1598cc) four-cylinder gasoline direct injection motor developing 132kW at 5500rpm and peak torque of 265Nm between 1500 and 4000rpm.
Combined outputs of the petrol and electric motors are 169kW and 350Nm.
That’s enough to give the Tucson a good turn of foot, and though the 2WD’s 0-100km/h time of 8.0 seconds isn’t remarkable, the car feels much livelier on the road.
The gearbox is a particularly smooth-shifting six-speed automatic which kicks-down instantly.
The Hybrid starts in electric mode and the electricity stored in the 1.49kWh battery pack runs the car at low speeds.
The petrol and electric motors work together when climbing hills or accelerating, and the car chooses the more energy-efficient means of propulsion at constant speeds.
Standard cars run on 17-inch and Elites on 19-inch alloy wheels.
Inside
An eight-inch touchscreen controls the multi-media infotainment and six-speaker sound systems, there is wireless smartphone pairing, and the car is Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatible.
The Elite has a 10.25-inch driver display which provides real-time driving information, and the operations of the hybrid powertrain.
A nice touch is an auto-defog system which clears the windscreen automatically when it detects moisture.
The test car’s leather-upholstered seats were comfortable and provided good lateral support during hard driving. There’s good legroom, headroom, and luggage space.
Safety.
The Tucson Hybrid has a five-star ANCAP rating and the
safety suite includes the usual list of acronyms.
Among the roster are lane keeping and following assist, forward and blindspot collision avoidance, and driver attention warning.
There are also rear cross-traffic collision avoidance and tyre pressure monitoring, along with an excellent rear-view camera that makes reversing and parallel parking easy. The Elite’s camera is augmented by parking sensors.
The smart cruise-control system incorporates engine stop/go to improve fuel economy.
On the road
The Tucson Hybrid drives very well in the city and on the open road.
The quietness that hits you when you push the start button, activating electric mode, returns at highway speeds where the car cruises smoothly and near silently.
The quietness is paralleled and enhanced by an extremely smooth ride which soaks up bumps and combines with the refined mechanicals to give the medium-sized SUV the feel of a large luxury car.
And that feel sets this car apart – it has a truly luxury car character that gives drivers and passengers the sensation of being in a car that’s a cut above the norm.
It handles well without being sports car-sharp, Hyundai’s engineers achieving a good compromise between handling and ride comfort. The 235/55 tyres provide excellent grip.
It has nicely weighted and accurate steering and can be placed precisely on the road.
Turn-in to corners is good and the supple suspension copes well with mid-corner bumps, making the Tucson a composed, quick and comfortable open-road tourer. The dominant handling trait is mild understeer. Pressing on, the understeer feels muted but, curiously, at lower speeds it’s more obvious.
Choosing among multiple driving modes allows the driver to customise the car’s behaviour to different driving situations.
The silky six-speed auto is controlled by centre console-mounted pushbuttons which select Drive, Reverse and Neutral.
If you plan to push-on over favourite winding roads, you can change gears using steering column-mounted paddles, but we were happy enough to leave the car in Drive.
The gearbox is responsive enough and so well-matched to the engine that we found little advantage in using the paddles.
The brakes are strong and progressive and provided reassuring deceleration at highway speeds.
Our verdict.
The Tucson Hybrid is a well-specced car that offers more than a touch of prestige in the way it’s equipped, and in ride quality, handling and above all, smoothness and quietness.
It has attractive lines and a striking version of the familiar Hyundai grille flanked by large daylight running lights which make the car very visible to opposing traffic.
The Hybrid carries a price premium over the standard ICE Tucson but that’s offset by much lower fuel consumption,
and it offers fleet buyers an aspirational model to complement the already desirable Tucson.
Hyundai Tucson Hybrid Elite
Price: $66,990 Engine: 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol four-cylinder Power: 132kW at 5500rpm
Peak torque: 265Nm between 1500 and 4000rpm.
Combined outputs of the petrol and electric motors are 169kW and 350Nm.
Transmission: six-speed automatic Economy: 4.9 litres/100km
Emissions: 111 grams/km Tyres: 235/55 R19
