The 2020 Hyundai Tucson is safe, dependable and has a unique ride and handling tune for Australian roads. But, is it getting a bit long in the tooth? Paul Maric reviews the 2020 Hyundai Tucson to find out whether you should add it to your short list!
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Exterior: 00:53
Interior: 02:11
Infotainment: 03:26
Features: 04:49
Practicality: 06:15
On the Road: 11:44
Verdict: 15:51
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@HyundaiWorldwide @hyundaiaustralia
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Exterior: 00:53
Interior: 02:11
Infotainment: 03:26
Features: 04:49
Practicality: 06:15
On the Road: 11:44
Verdict: 15:51
We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.
Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.
Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1
You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.
Finally, we want this channel to grow with your support and feedback. If there's anything you don't like or would like to see us change, we'd love to hear from you! #hyundai #review #tucson
Follow us on social media to see what we're up to and to ask any questions!
CarExpert:
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Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CarExpertAus
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carexpert.com.au
Paul Maric:
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Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PaulMaric
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PaulMaric
@HyundaiWorldwide @hyundaiaustralia
Category
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MotorTranscript
00:00 G'day, I'm Paul. The car behind me, the Hyundai Tucson, it's starting to look a little bit old despite the fact
00:05 it's only been out for about four years.
00:07 It's looking old compared to stuff like the CX-5, the RAV4, the Sportage and even, dare I say it, the Nissan X-Trail.
00:14 And it probably doesn't help that it's finished here in
00:16 REPMobile White. The Tucson in this spec, the Active X, which is one up from the base model, kicks off from around
00:23 $35,000, but there's deals happening all the time. So despite its age, is it still worth buying?
00:29 That's what we're going to find out today.
00:31 Now you can skip ahead using the time codes up there or if you're on YouTube, just scroll down for the links.
00:37 And also I'd love it if you guys could please subscribe if you haven't done so already and don't forget to hit the bell icon
00:42 because that's going to tell you each time we jump behind the wheel of something new.
00:46 Let's talk styling.
00:48 So the reason this looks so old is because normally what car companies do is midway through the life cycle,
00:54 which is around the four-year mark,
00:56 they do a facelift and a facelift is normally significant enough to allow you to see the differences.
01:01 But Hyundai's facelift for the Tucson was pretty basic. So it picked up a different section down here.
01:05 It also picked up a different set of headlights.
01:07 So now it has these LED daytime running lights, but you're still lumped with these yuck-looking halogen headlamps.
01:13 You've also got this cascading grille, which is kind of a thing that they're now rolling out across the range. Looks good,
01:20 I reckon. It kind of gives the car a bit of an aggressive look and it feels nice to roll your hands over as well.
01:25 Around the side here, we have 18-inch alloy wheels and fairly chubby 55 profile tires.
01:32 So that gives this car a pretty decent ride. And as with all SUVs, it's trendy these days to have these
01:37 mudguard-y side things on the side of the car. Now, what about colors?
01:42 You can get six colors for the Tucson and everything but red, maybe all white here is about $600 extra.
01:48 You get power folding side mirrors and given that this is pretty much a base model,
01:54 if you come around to the back here, you're getting just the standard light setup here.
01:58 No power tailgate and the back kind of looks the exact same that it did when this was initially revealed at the Geneva Motor Show.
02:05 Okay, interior styling. Let's talk about it.
02:07 So as you can clearly tell, I'm not the last word on style,
02:10 but I do know that this looks a little bit bland. It is starting to feel old and it kind of shows.
02:17 They updated the Tucson with this new section down the middle here and a new infotainment system.
02:22 So that was part of that facelift, but it has helped a little bit, but it still looks pretty bland.
02:26 It is all just black with a little bit of piano black there,
02:29 which I'm not a huge fan of and then this silver stuff here, but for the most part, it doesn't look all that interesting.
02:34 Let's attack the dashboard with our hardness meter.
02:37 This is going to tell us how soft touch the soft touch dashboard actually is and this has two tiers to it.
02:44 So I want to try both of them. It goes from 0 to 100 where 0 is soft, soft, soft and 100 is super hard.
02:50 So let's have a look at that up the top there. So that's not too bad.
02:54 That's at about 60, but this is the new soft touch stuff they've installed.
02:57 And it is there about 53 and what about this center armrest? That feels pretty firm actually.
03:04 Oh no, that's not too bad. It's at about 55 as well.
03:07 So yes, they have improved the interior with soft touch materials, but it still looks a little bit bland.
03:13 You can get a beige interior for an extra $295
03:17 and I think that's probably worth doing if you don't like the overall look of this. Let's talk infotainment.
03:22 This is one of the better parts of the Tucson. Part of the upgrade included this all-new infotainment system.
03:28 It's a big step up because it is a bigger screen, 8-inch and you can see our full detailed infotainment review of Hyundai's unit
03:34 just up there, but I'm going to give you a quick overview here of how this particular one works.
03:39 So we have the home screen split into three sections.
03:43 You have nav on that side, radio here and then some common controls down the bottom plus shortcuts on either side
03:49 including a configurable favorite button. So if we jump into the navigation here, this is super high resolution, includes traffic,
03:57 it's easy to use and very quick as well.
04:00 So that means there's enough processing speed in there. Putting in destinations is straightforward,
04:05 but I harp on all the time about this in Hyundai's, but this button does nothing. Watch this,
04:10 I'll press that and you can only use voice recognition when you have Apple CarPlay or Android Auto connected.
04:16 Both of those are standard on this as well, which is handy,
04:19 but it is a little frustrating that you can't do voice recognition without your phone actually paired to the car via a cable.
04:25 If we then go back to radio, we have AM/FM/DAB+ digital radio as well, which is handy.
04:31 But my favorite feature here, if you go to the all menus item, is the voice memo function.
04:37 So if you come up with any really clever ideas while you're out on the road,
04:40 you can record some voice memos and recall everything later on. So infotainment to one side,
04:45 what about the rest of the features you get in the car? Given that it is one step up from the base model,
04:50 you're not exactly showered with lots of options here, but you do get the basics.
04:54 So you have an air conditioning system, single zone, not automatic either,
04:58 so it's like one of these old-school ones where you set the sort of hot or cold and then the fan speed.
05:03 You have USB connectivity, mainly for the Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, plus an auxiliary port and two 12-volt outlets as well.
05:10 You've got a reverse view camera. Does the job. It's not super clear, but it's easy to see out the back.
05:15 You also have rear parking sensors as well. No front parking sensors though.
05:18 Head of the driver, a small LCD display for the trip computer. You have cruise control, just standard cruise control,
05:24 no radar cruise there. You do get leather seats. These look fancy. Well, I think they're leather.
05:29 Who knows what material that is. You get an 8-speaker, Infiniti branded sound system,
05:34 electric lumbar support for your back, plus autonomous emergency braking, but it's the cheap kind. It is only low speed,
05:41 so it's only gonna work in and around the city as opposed to out on the highway.
05:45 One thing I have noticed here is a stack of blank buttons to remind you of all the things you're missing out on,
05:50 such as an auto hold button.
05:52 There's also a parking sensor button and a drive mode button as well that you don't get in this spec. And also this,
05:57 it's a manual handbrake, but it's made almost entirely out of like one bit of plastic and then it's carved out for the button.
06:05 It'd be nice to see like an electric handbrake here or something just to get rid of this ghastly old thing.
06:09 Let's chat storage, practicality and comfort. I always like to see where I can put my phone in these cars.
06:14 Actually, let's start with the bottle. The bottle fits easily in this cup holder, but not this one. This one,
06:20 it's a bit of a tight squeeze, but in terms of phone storage, you can whack your phone down there.
06:25 There's no wireless phone charging, but it fits a bigger phone easily and then it also fits in here as well.
06:30 So the console is pretty decent, not the biggest in the world, but you can fit all your odds and ends in there.
06:36 Glovebox, also pretty decent,
06:38 but the second you put the manual in it kind of takes up most of the room that you've got there and then inside the
06:44 doors, reef that out, you've got storage for a bottle plus another nook holder alongside it. What about the seats?
06:52 The seats are comfy, but they're a little bit firm.
06:55 So I don't know how this would feel after a long drive,
06:59 but the steering wheel is nicely sized and good to hold in the hands as well.
07:03 And above here, you've also got a holder for your sunglasses and I love this feature.
07:07 Whack that open. If you still get a bit of sun creeping through here, just extend that and then you're covered.
07:14 So we're in the back seat of the Tucson, but before I show you what this is all about, have a listen to this.
07:20 I call this the plastic symphony. Starting from here,
07:23 everything in here is plastic and it's all this
07:31 nasty, harsh plastic as well. So that is a little bit disappointing.
07:35 There hasn't been a whole lot of effort here
07:37 put into making this feel like a quality second row and even if you are a sales rep in your white
07:42 Tucson, you might still have kids or adults in the back here.
07:45 So you've got to make it look a little nicer than this. But anyway, what about legroom?
07:49 Kneeroom is pretty good. Toe room is good as well. I've got this seat in my normal driving position,
07:54 which is generally quite far back. So it is surprising how much room there is here.
07:58 It is a little disappointing to see no rear air vents here,
08:01 but you do get matte pockets in the back of the seats and you also get USB
08:05 charge points as well, which is pretty handy. The seats themselves are fairly comfortable and built into the seat are two cup holders.
08:12 You've also got ISOFIX on the two outboard seats and watch this.
08:17 Your passengers can kick back and relax if they want to or sit incredibly upright, whatever they choose to.
08:22 So that's a handy feature to have and it's a 60/40 split folding seat. So that has its benefits there as well.
08:28 What else can I tell you about it?
08:29 Well, aside from that it is just a comfortable place to be seated. You do have pockets inside the doors.
08:34 It fits a bottle plus a couple of other bits and pieces.
08:37 It also has a feature we first discovered in the Subaru Forester Hybrid.
08:41 You can watch our review of that up here, but have a look at this. It is a DIY seat belt.
08:46 So instead of having a seat belt here, you've got to kind of yank that out,
08:50 plug it into here and
08:53 then plug your other bit of seat belt into here and then your passenger kind of fits in there.
08:59 Weird thing to have and it goes all dangly and then you've got to take it apart when you're done, which is
09:04 pretty much impossible to do.
09:07 There it is.
09:14 Still going.
09:16 And there it is.
09:22 Easy as that. So let's chat cargo and I've got a secret here to show you as well.
09:27 There is
09:29 488 litres of cargo space available here and then it expands to just under 1500 litres when you drop the rear seats.
09:35 So have a look at this.
09:36 There's top tether for the second row plus also this handy storage hook here if you do have any
09:42 bags or other things you don't want rolling around and then off to the sides as well
09:45 you've also got clips plus a 12-volt outlet too. Now this normally would be a dual-tier floor
09:52 which you could pull backwards and then have slide into a second level.
09:56 But what Hyundai has done and what they have been doing for a little while now is offered a full-size spare tire.
10:03 So that sits under here.
10:04 It is far more convenient than something like a Space Saver because you just swap it out and you can drive at normal speed.
10:09 You are speed limited to 80 k's an hour with a Space Saver, but it does present an issue because if you remove
10:15 these things
10:17 they facilitate a storage area for the cargo blind. So if I pull that down now
10:22 what you'll notice here is that the cargo blind can no longer be stored because it hits against that tire.
10:30 So you're going to have to leave that at home or somewhere that's not the boot.
10:33 Otherwise, it's going to roll around or you'll just have to leave it in position
10:37 which is probably the easiest thing to do. That way you don't ever have to worry about it.
10:41 Let's try and get the luggage in now. I'm fairly confident that's going to fit fine.
10:45 There's a laptop bag.
10:48 Run this one into here. Yeah, that fits good.
10:50 Now the only thing I've noticed here, the issue with Sales Rep White is
10:54 when you get clumsy people like the ones who have had this car before us and they start chipping the bumper bar,
10:59 it's going to show up fairly easily there.
11:02 And this is often the point where you drop your luggage as you're getting it out of the car.
11:06 So yeah, you might want to look at a protector or something for this lip if you do end up going with the white option.
11:12 Okay, so you would think to yourself dropping these rear seats would be as straightforward as pulling a lever here in the back or
11:17 pushing a switch and then rolling the seat down. Unfortunately not. Come around here. Let me show you how this system works.
11:23 You've got to basically go around to the side of the car and then there's a lever there that you pull and then the seat
11:28 drops down. So it isn't the smartest system in the world. I would have preferred to be able to do that from the boot.
11:34 The very first thing you're going to notice when you jump behind the wheel of the Tucson is how well it rides.
11:39 Now I'm sick of bragging about Hyundai, Kia and a couple of other manufacturers doing local ride and handling tunes for some of their cars,
11:48 but this is the payoff. This car rides really nicely and it shows when you're behind the wheel all the bumps that you're hitting are
11:55 great, even when you're out on a country road. It's just soaking up everything in and around the city.
11:59 It just feels like it's built for Australian conditions.
12:03 The Tucson's offered with a variety of engines, but this one's arguably my favourite.
12:08 You can get a 1.6 litre turbocharged petrol, but it's mated to what I find a pretty clunky dual clutch transmission.
12:15 This one under the bonnet here is a 2 litre naturally aspirated four-cylinder petrol engine and it's mated to a torque converter
12:21 automatic. So a six-speed automatic makes 122 kilowatts of power and
12:26 205 Newton meters of torque. What does that mean in the real world?
12:30 Well, it means that you've got enough pep for this to get up and move.
12:33 It's not the 2 litre engine you find in the Veloster,
12:37 which has the Atkinson cycle and you can see our review of that by clicking up there.
12:41 So that means this has a little bit more urgency to it and the gearbox actually does a good job of
12:46 handling that urgency as you need it. Visibility out of the cabin is great, forward vision is good, rear vision is good.
12:52 I've got decent size wing mirrors as well and visibility out the sides is fine.
12:56 There is no blind spot monitoring, so you have to be super careful when you do your head checks.
13:00 So how does the engine perform? Let's give it a punch here. Holy moly, it is noisy.
13:05 It goes from being fairly quiet in the cabin to a crap load of noise in here and it's not all that quick either.
13:12 So look, it isn't going to blow your face off with acceleration, but it is enough to get it moving.
13:20 I don't know that you'd want to be relying on this for a long overtake or
13:23 even if you're towing because it will tow 1600 kilos with a break to trailer.
13:28 There are no drive modes per se,
13:30 but you've got this gear shifter here that you can manually row through the gears with. There's no paddle shifters either.
13:35 But the good thing with this ride and handling tune is when you find yourself a couple of corners,
13:40 dial up a little bit of speed here,
13:43 it actually feels pretty confident as it goes through the bends and that all comes down to the ride and handling tune really being focused
13:50 on keeping the car stable, but also comfortable at the same time.
13:54 Turning circle comes in at 11 meters, which is pretty big, especially for a car that is just front-wheel drive.
14:01 So that is a little problematic if you find yourself in a tight street,
14:04 but it goes between drive and reverse fairly easily,
14:07 so you can do a three-point turn if you need to.
14:09 Now one of the features that I'm really not a huge fan of here in Hyundais, and we've mentioned it in a couple of our
14:14 other videos, is the lane keeping assistant.
14:17 It just kind of randomly pulls you out of the direction that you're heading in and
14:23 it's inconsistent, which is what I don't like about it the most.
14:26 It's not like it always works and it sweeps you around corners nicely.
14:29 It just sometimes works and then sometimes doesn't want to and that's a big issue when you're out on something like this,
14:35 which is a country road, and then it just starts working mid-corner.
14:38 It really is unsettling and the inconsistency is getting to me. Thankfully though, you can switch it off.
14:43 There's a button down here that kills that entirely. When it comes to fuel consumption, being a naturally aspirated engine,
14:48 it doesn't use a great deal. The official is 7.9 litres per 100 kilometres.
14:53 We've been averaging around the 9-10 litres per 100km mark,
14:57 but that's been with a lot of idling and a lot of faster driving as well.
15:01 One of the other benefits to an electrically assisted steering rack like the one here in the Tucson is the amount of
15:07 adjustability and tuning available and the tune that they've got dialed into this is great.
15:12 It's not sporty, but equally it's not comfort oriented.
15:15 Some cars have such light steering that you just don't get any feel through the wheel. With this,
15:20 you're getting reasonable enough feel and you know exactly what the front wheels are doing all the time.
15:24 Road noise is pretty good, even on course chipped roads like this.
15:28 There's not a great deal coming into the cabin,
15:30 but what you do notice the intrusion of is the engine, which I mentioned earlier,
15:34 can get a little bit thrashy and screaming when you get stuck into it. So Hyundai Tucson, what's the verdict?
15:40 Well, it is getting old, the styling's a bit dated, but it is still dependable.
15:45 Bit like me, I guess. But should you buy it? Well for this kind of money, it's actually really good value.
15:50 It comes with a lot of standard features. The ride and handling combination is excellent.
15:54 And yes, while it is starting to look a little bit old, it is still a really good value car.
15:58 So what about the negatives? Well, first thing there is the paint. It's really not that good.
16:02 I don't know what it is with Hyundai's recently, but each one we've tested has had some kind of a paint issue.
16:07 So that's pretty disappointing. Also probably wouldn't get it in salesman white either. Just pick something more interesting.
16:13 It's going to be better when it comes time to resell. But outside of that and a slightly asthmatic engine,
16:18 the Tucson is still actually really good value for money, especially if you can get a deal on it.
16:22 And keep in mind as well that there is a new Tucson coming. So that will get a radical design change.
16:27 So if you can hold out a little bit longer, I'd wait until the new one's announced, because you'll be able to get this for a steal.
16:32 If you found this video useful, I would love it if you could hit the like button.
16:35 And also don't forget to subscribe if you haven't done so already. Hit the bell icon as well.
16:39 That's going to tell you each time we drive something different. And if you have any questions, let us know in the comments below.
16:45 We always strive to respond to everything that we can. And while you're at it, let me know what you think about this car.
16:50 Have you bought one? What's it been like to live with? And would you buy one again? But until next time, take it easy.