Taksan
Tooksan
Tussion
And one Toofan too!
Welcome to most mangled name in the Indian car industry's history. It was discontinued after a short-ish stint, and people say it was the price.
I, for one, believe it was because Hyundai thought it to be too much trouble dealing with the parts requests for vehicles they didn't even know existed in their portfolio.
The Hyundai Tucson, grossly overpriced for a brand which is still struggling for a premium perception, but acknowledged to be a very capable vehicle.
So here's how it went this time around.
Armed with decent exposure to the used car market, and knowledge gleaned right here, I booked...................a holiday to Jaisalmer.
Yep. That's what I did.
Now, I love my fiesta to death, and somehow I didn't feel that the roads to Jaisalmer would leave her in one piece.And on top of that, the missus decided that she will want to start working full-time again, and got an opportunity in GGN. Well, the cup of tick-boxes was full right there and then for looking at the next addition.Armed with necessary approvals to make the best choice, I was pumped. And the car on the horizon was the much awaited, MUCH awaited............MUCH MUCH MUCH....(you get the drift) Ecosport.
So one, fine noon, on the first available option after the launch, I went to Ford to check out the car in person.
Strange disconnect here. I love this car, I loved it on the stage at the Auto expo, I loved it when I went past it on the road parallel to the showroom.However, this turned into a case of never-meet-your-idols-of-sorts.
I knew it was sub 4.0, but the size was ridiculous. The option I wanted was about 11L on road, and it became even more so.
EcoSport owners, don't take offense here, please, but this car is seriously small.I sat inside, and didn't feel much of a departure inside from my fiesta, as far as space is concerned.The boot either.
I was so disappointed, and my heart was torn, because, cor blimey is she a looker. Hand on my heart; I love to see this car on the road. We've always cribbed about how India is the wasteland for auto firms, bringing their outdated designs etc here, or how design philosophies demonstrated in concepts leak out while on the way to production.
Here is the most current car from one of the biggies, more or less looking the same as it was shown to be.
So the price and the size blew this away as an option.To be fairly frank, the price was the biggest point. I plopped a minor amount on the fiesta, by BIL picked up a top end innova for peanuts, and an accord for other nuts. So the VFM factor more or less eliminated the ES.
So I started to look at the used car market.
Candidates:
1.Prev Gen CRV
2.Safari
The choice was to convert a CRV to CNG, or get the diesel beast.
Unlikely contenders, and they demonstrated the same by pitching their strengths so well, that they kept cancelling each other out.
I am not a fan of CNG, but since this car would have a driver, it wasn't that big an issue. But I still wanted to go to Jaisalmer and other longer trips, so that meant at some point the dreaded 5-8 KMPL would make confetti out of currency.
The safari has been a dream car. I still find it looking contemporary, meaty, full bodied, civilized.Hell, it's like a cross between a central Delhi house and bacon!
It's always been desirable. In fact, in college, we had this thing going where 4-5 of wanted to pool in and buy a safari.Of course, the will did not have the chunkies to actually go through with it.
I put a cap of 5L, and went through about 10 CRVs, and 25 Safaris.Most of the safaris were really badly maintained, and I didn't even bother to drive them.
CRV - This is a classy motor, the interiors are amazing, and hold age extremely well.
Safari - Amazing presence, brutal when you come from ANY petrol. Good examples are available, but interiors deteriorate quite fast, I was surprised to see.
Oh, there was also a Civic auto thrown in the mix somewhere, I don't know how.
Tip: If buying a used car in Delhi, stick to central or south Delhi. Somehow, cars from other areas were in EXTREMELY bad shape.
So anyway, I was dealing with a cartrade guy in Lajpat, and after I exhausted his inventory of CRVs and Safaris, he told me, "Sir, if you want interiors, as well as diesel, why not go for a Tucson?"
Why not, indeed?
So I did.I was shown two cars. One in silver, and one in black. I drove the black one through the side streets of Lajpat nagar, and I saw belches of smoke in the rear view. Unfortunately these were white, so this one was eliminated. It refused to go above 80kmph. However, the impact was made. The interiors were way more civilized, comparable to the CRV, and it came with all working bells, whistles and sitars.ABS, Airbags, 4WD, TCS, and luscious amounts of space.
The best "trip" feature is the tailgate. Theres oodles of space to put in all the luggage for a full 10 day trip, even if all passengers are of the fairer variety.Seriously.
Now, what happens when you have to open the boot in an SUV which has 13 million bags stuffed there? Everything falls out.
Not so here, since the rear glass also open up seperately.
Also, thankfully, there are charging points in the front, the rear, and even in the boot. So no trailing wires passing around the gearknob to the rear. Fantastic.
The checkboxes were filling up fast, as far an option was concerned. I knew I was getting a Tucson, right then. Only question was from where?
I went back and checked the other one in silver.This time I took it on the ring road, and almost ran into a few cars when the turbo kicked in. This was a shocker. It was scary too, since this car is not built for quick manoeuvres, or sharp braking. Learning curve indicated ahead.
This vehicle was IMMACULATE, with slight age at some places on the plastics. It was a 2005 car, with 64k on the odo. This would have caused water to reroute itself from my mouth to my nose, if I had been drinking water. It still brought on a chuckle fest, and even more so when the dealer kept insisting that it is true.
I THINK I offended him a bit as well.
However, I shortlisted this car. I checked with Hyundai, and found that it had done 1.02L in 2012. I asked my trusted mechanic, and he said this engine has a lot of life even after 2L. This was more than enough for me.
And so the dance started.
I spoke to the owner, on the phone......I know.However, I once spoke to him on my phone as well (more on that later).
and then the dealer guy did not come down from 4.75.Well, I didn't want to pay that much, but while negotiating, I took the car over to my mechanic, and he gave an estimate for an engine mount that was to be changed, and the gearbox needed to be opened up to change a sync ring.Now I trust this guy implicitly, so I took his estimate of about 35k, and asked for it to be deducted from the cost.
No go.
However, this was from the dealer only.
In the meantime, searches on OLX found a couple more Tucsons, of which one seemed very viable.Going for 4L, owned and maintained by a "professional golfer".
Hmm, ok. Took a whole Saturday out of leisure time, and went to see the car. Unwashed car.Had a container of PS fluid in the boot (THAT I knew why immediately), and one check light on.I asked him why, and he said it's because he has removed the 4WD for "performance gains". O ha ha!
He was the 3rd owner, and wanted 4L for it. O ha double ha!
Wait, why would a professional golfer be so iffy?
Well, it turned out that Mr. Professional golfer, was actually a golf pro. Golfers here can point out the difference, no?
Anyway, I got another call from carnation this time, and I went by to jangpura to see a silver Tucson.
Déjà vu?
It was the SAME "vu"!!
The same car. It turns out white elephants travel on Tucsons. That is why they are so rare.So I told carnation, I will negotiate from 4.65.
No go.
Then I recalled that I gave the owner a call as well. So I traced out that number, called him up, and found out that he is willing to go for 4.75, minus the amount required for repair. Turned out that car had been bouncing from dealer to dealer for the past 6 months, with hardly any interest.Shook words at 4.5L. Sold.
Picked up the car and drove it home, and then onwards the mechanics shop.I told him, keep it as long as you want, but when you give it back, it should be ready to go on a thousand km journey.Days turned into weeks, as the reality of parts availability was brought to bear.Its not as if parts are not available, it's just that they are a bit hard to come by.
Anyway, there was no rush, and the mechanic exploited it fully, taking 17 days to turn the car around.I had actually envisioned spending a month with the car as a daily driver to iron out stuff, but only ended up getting about 2-3 weeks. Surprisingly, nothing came up.
The car came with 64k on the odo, 3 brand new BS insignias, 2 middle aged Duelers, no insurance, no PUC, one bad engine mount, and gearbox issue.
Cost: 4.5L
Ins: 17700
Engine and GB: 20k
Auto cop: 3500
Touch screen stereo: 12k
Camera: 1.3k
So, into the fire, from the, er, packaging.
The Tooky was called into service for a trip, doing Delhi-jaipur-jodhpur-jaisalmer-bikaner-jhunjhunu-delhi.
All in all about 1800kms.
This car has brilliant highway manners. It handles almost like a sedan. Not quite, but almost. This was punctuated when I tried to evade a bag kept in the middle of the highway, and rolled tremendously. I almost ended up in the passenger seat.Triple digits come up without you even noticing, and there is absolutely no noise inside the cabin. Zilch.
This was very surprising, because as soon as you roll the window down, the diesel clatter is quite loud, considering that the engine is more or less middle aged.
It can easily blow away anything approaching fast, or dastardly, in the rear-view.The boost is available from 1.8k, and is quite a kick in the nethers. Slightly addictive, but only for the first couple of hundred kilometres. This is the same engine that does duty in the erstwhile Verna, albeit with a different GB. I can only imagine the smiles those guys must have, and its also one of hyundai's rare handlers.Geez, double whammy!
And then, on the trip, the Tooky completely redeemed itself, not just for reliability, but also for comfort.
Because of rain, the roads till pokharan were badly pitted for about a 100kms. So on the return, we decided to take a rather scenic route, which passed through jhunjhunu, and its neighbouring villages.
There were potholes that sedans, some XUVs, and even an EcoSport at one point, were struggling to pass through, but the minimal overhang meant I was just dropping down into the troughs with nary a sound, and just cruising through.All throughout, it was more of a wave, than a knock.
Now, I am satisfied with the car, and it's received the used car certification.
This is going to be the wife's car, and will have a driver. And I am more than happy, since it is extremely comfortable, returned a healthy 10 in the city, and 13 on the highway.Which, I feel, is ok for the size and the age.
And of course, the cost of the fuel.
I'm still happy with the fiesta, and now that we have the Tucson as the family car, so to speak, I can go nuts with it.
Here are a few pics for your appetites.There's also the route I took to and from Jaisalmer, so you can figure out the atrocity committed.
Will keep you updated.
I think this is still one of the rarer cars on the forum, and on the roads, and I hope the problems are as rare too.
Keep riding.
Next stop: hopefully Leh!!
A point by point quick reference:
Alternatives considered
Safari
CRV
On-road price
18L, purchased for 4.5L
Engine type
2.0L Crdi
Equipment levels
For its time, I am sure it must have been pathbreaking, although I still dont find anything amiss. The stereo was a little old.
Who am I kidding, it was a tape unit.But that was an easy enough upgrade.
ABS,Airbags(two front), TCS, 4WD, theres more than enough acronyms to keep one satiated.
Kms covered and usage style
So far the car has done 4000 kms, and is a dialy drive for about 100kms odd.
Exterior styling & design
Except for the front, which is a little quirky, but entirely lovable ina while, it is a looker from everywhere else, still looking a bit modern.
Overall build quality and fit & finish
This was one of the deal sealers. Its perfect.
But then, it oughta be, considering it was an 18L vehicle.
Interior design & quality
One word - Fantastic.
Interior space and comfort
Seating: Oodles for 4, even 5 people. I fot 4 in the backseat once, and was able to take them for a short hop of about 5 kms without a squeak from any of them.
Engine performance & driveability in the city and on the highway
Loads of torque, and a superbly insulated cabin ensure triple digit cruising speeds are easily attained.
Fuel efficiency
City - 10
Highway - 13
Suspension & ride quality
Smileys here. Lots of them.
It tackles everything and you don't feel anything in the cabin.
This is a major departure from the fiesta, which basically interprets the road for you, telling you all the time what you're riding on.