[lordrayden]

The Hyundai Tucson, manufactured in South Korea, with 2 frontal airbags as standard and no standard ESC achieved zero stars under Latin NCAP latest protocols. The earlier version of the SUV achieved 51.21% in Adult Occupant box, 4.37% in Child Occupant box, 49.85% in Pedestrian Protection and Vulnerable Road Users box and 6.98% in Safety Assist box.

https://www.latinncap.com/en/media-a...-tucson-zeroes


From the detailed report:

Frontal impact: The protection offered to the driver and passenger head and neck was good. Driver’s chest showed adequate protection and passenger’s chest showed good protection. Driver’s knees showed marginal protection as they can impact with dangerous structures behind the fascia while passenger’s knees showed good protection. Driver’s and passenger’s tibias showed good protection. Footwell area was rated as stable. The bodyshell was rated as stable and it is capable of withstanding further loadings. Side impact: Head, abdomen and pelvis protection was good while chest protection was adequate. Side Pole Impact: was not performed as the car does not offer side head protection as standard. Whiplash: the protection to the neck was good. UN R32: The car meets the rear impact structure requirements. AEB City: the car does not offer optional AEB city following Latin NCAP fitment rate. Rescue sheet content is ok but availability is not meeting Latin NCAP requirements.

[manpreetsj]

Originally Posted by lordrayden

The Hyundai Tucson, manufactured in South Korea, with 2 frontal airbags as standard and no standard ESC achieved zero stars under Latin NCAP latest protocols.

Difficult to understand which car is reliable anymore. Hyundai/Kia have gone completely on Maruti's path to compromise on quality and structures of cars for developing markets!

[ron178]

Originally Posted by manpreetsj

Difficult to understand which car is reliable anymore. Hyundai/Kia have gone completely on Maruti's path to compromise on quality and structures of cars for developing markets!

Important to note that the car is differently specified and left-hand drive, and the protocol used for assessment is a lot more advanced than India. The LHD model's main reasons for scoring that rating were Hyundai's refusal to recommend child restraints (something I do not appreciate at all) and lack of standard-fit ESC for the Latin market, both of which prevented a rating higher than zero stars. Besides, lack of head protection airbags meant that adult occupant protection score would be limited (but possibly not zero stars) even if the model had standard ESC and official recommended child restraints.

No part crossed capping limits for injury in any of the physical tests. This result was more to do with lack of equipment than with quality control or design.

The result is also not valid for India. Global NCAP is not expected to introduce similar protocol for its India and Africa projects until at least 2026. Also note that the Indian-market RHD model is differently specified and has not been tested for impact. Please see dedicated thread (Latin NCAP 2021: Peugeot 208, Hyundai Tucson) for reason for the rating.

[car_guy1998]

Originally Posted by ron178

Important to note that the car is differently specified and left-hand drive, and the protocol used for assessment is a lot more advanced than India. The LHD model's main reasons for scoring that rating were Hyundai's refusal to recommend child restraints (something I do not appreciate at all) and lack of standard-fit ESC for the Latin market, both of which prevented a rating higher than zero stars. Besides, lack of head protection airbags meant that adult occupant protection score would be limited (but possibly not zero stars) even if the model had standard ESC and official recommended child restraints.

No part crossed capping limits for injury in any of the physical tests. This result was more to do with lack of equipment than with quality control or design.

The result is also not valid for India. Global NCAP is not expected to introduce similar protocol for its India and Africa projects until at least 2026. Also note that the Indian-market RHD model is differently specified and has not been tested for impact. Please see dedicated thread (Latin NCAP 2021: Peugeot 208, Hyundai Tucson) for reason for the rating.

I was quite apprehensive that this crash result is applicable for Indian version as well.

And, if I'm not wrong, Hyundai is offering 6 airbags along with ESP, TC, VSA, ISOFIX and other safety features from the base version, i.e, GL(O), right?

[QuadraticAmoeba]

Originally Posted by car_guy1998

And, if I'm not wrong, Hyundai is offering 6 airbags along with ESP, TC, VSA, ISOFIX and other safety features from the base version, i.e, GL(O), right?

Yes. All the features you mention are present along with full seat belts for all three rear passengers.

[lordrayden]

Originally Posted by manpreetsj

Difficult to understand which car is reliable anymore. Hyundai/Kia have gone completely on Maruti's path to compromise on quality and structures of cars for developing markets!

The devil is in the details as they say.

As ron178 mentioned, the zero score is primarily due to the lack of many safety related features in the base model Latin American Tucson. But these features like ESC and 6 airbags ARE present in the Indian base model. Also, the Latin American base model has a lap belt (like you see in most cars in India) for the rear center passenger which negatively impacted the child occupant score. The Indian Tucson has a proper 3 point seat-belt for the rear center passenger that is anchored to the ceiling of the car.

Then if you look at it structurally, the crash report says that the body-shell is stable and capable of withstanding further loading. The footwell area is also rated as stable. A stable structure is VITAL for safety. Going through the GNCAP results of other cars, you will see most 3 star and below cars have an unstable body shell while for 4 and 5 star cars its always stable.

Next, as per Latin-NCAP’s FAQ their 2020 protocol is equivalent to Euro-NCAP at least till it’s 2017 protocols. From a safety features point of view, the base Tucson sold here is very close to the one that was sold in Europe, except for active safety features like Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) and Blind Spot Detection Radar. The Euro spec LHD Tucson is a 5 star car, first certified in 2015 for petrol, diesel, 4x2 and 4x4. It was reviewed in 2018 for the facelift.

Also, the Tucson sold here is a CKD assembled in Chennai from kits that are imported from South Korea. So we can assume that the parts the Indian Tucson is made from are (mostly) the same as the parts used in Tucsons sold in some other APAC countries (that are much more safety conscious/aware than India).

Putting it all together, one can reasonably infer (since there's no GNCAP test for the India model) that the Tucson sold in here is a safe car.

[rave20]

I am going to be the new addition to this group

Car has finished registration and is getting delivered tomorrow (Thursday). I have gone for Diesel GLS 4WD Starry Night color.

@QuadraticAmoeba - ownership review had an influence in selecting this car. Thanks for that.

I am coming from an XUV500 W8 AWD and with the budget i had in mind, was contemplating between Jeep Compass & Tucson. Multiple test drive of both the cars sealed the deal for me.

It is going straight to Ceramic, tints & PPF treatment

Can't wait for Thursday.. One more day to go.

[BenglurianBHP]

Can anyone confirm if the Bluelink app has temperature control option? The service centre guys aren't able to find either.

[vijayk]

Originally Posted by rave20

I am coming from an XUV500 W8 AWD and with the budget i had in mind, was contemplating between Jeep Compass & Tucson. Multiple test drive of both the cars sealed the deal for me.

Congrats. Hope you have taken the delivery now.

Could you please share the reasons for choosing Tucson over Compass?

[rave20]

Originally Posted by vijayk

Congrats. Hope you have taken the delivery now.

Could you please share the reasons for choosing Tucson over Compass?

Got my ride on Thursday. Currently i am out of station & the ride is undergoing some beauty treatment.

There were few reasons which made me go for Tucson over compass

• Seating: back seat of jeep was very cramped. It could accomate only 2 adults comfortable. 3rd one was very difficult. Coming from an XUV, this was not acceptable for me. I usually will have 3 adults in the back seat. Tucson was lot more comfortable for 3 adults in the back seat
• Price:Tucson top end (Diesel GLS Automatic 4WD) was almost 3 lakh cheaper than Jeep compass diesel top end with 4WD.
• Ride Comfort: Both were pretty much the same in this area
• Maintenance: Hyundai Tucson offers 3year / 30,000Km free service and Hyundai spares are lot cheaper than Jeep
• Service: No Jeep service center in Mangalore.
• Engine: Interms of specs Tucson's engine (185BHP & 400NM Torque) is more powerful than Jeep's diesel engine

Originally Posted by BenglurianBHP

can anyone confirm if the Bluelink app has temperature control option? The service centre guys aren't able to find either.

Have not checked this. Will check tomorrow and confirm

[vijaykr]

Originally Posted by rave20

Got my ride on Thursday. Currently i am out of station & the ride is undergoing some beauty treatment.

Congratulations on your new ride! Wishing you many miles of safe motoring in years to come.

Do post some pictures after the beauty treatments are complete

[rave20]

When all things were going smooth, suddenly the urge to get something new creeped in. My XUV500 W8 AWD was in its 8th year and i thought the time was right for a change of ride.

Problem was after driving XUV500 for so many years, our expectations were set high and this made it a concern to look at lot of the options going around.

• Features: XUV when it was launched in 2013-14, it was already loaded with lot of features which were segment firsts at that point. Ex: in 2014, i already had voice control & cruise control in the car.
• Price: XUV always offered good value for money.
• Power: Power was never a problem. There was enough and more of it
• Comfort: At that point it was the most comfortable one (atleast for the front passengers). Rear passengers always complained about motion sickness and sideways roll
• Space: There was never a shortage of it. If the last row was folded, there was space for people to sleep

As you will see, after all of this when I was looking for a change, not many choices in that segment. One of the options was to move to the next segment (Fortuner, Gloster & Endeavour) which meant we were looking at ~45Lakh budget.

My usage is about ~2000Km / month with a mix of City & Highway driving. I had a limitation on the budget and this number somewhere around 30LPA. currently due to some other commitment, I was not looking at extending this limit much.

This reduced vehicles in my list to

• Jeep Compass
• XUV700
• Hyundai Tucson
• Tata Harrier
• Tata Safari

I used the below criteria to decide.

• Price: All of them fitted into my cost bracket. Top end of Compass & Tucson was on the higher side (~33 to 36 lakh).. I was hoping to get some discounts and get this figure down.
  
• Space: Except Jeep, all other had the required space what was needed. Coming from XUV500 this was important for me since I usually have 5 folks travelling in the car for long distance
  
• Availability: This is where XUV lost. It was straightaway rejected since it had infinite waiting time. I was not ready to wait for 1 year+ to get my ride. All other vehicles were available between 2 to 3 weeks of time.
  
• Safety: All of them had the safety box clicked. No concerns here.
  
• Features: This is where Harrier & Safari lagged. Its 8-inch info entertainment screen felt tiny. Especially so when connected over Apple Car play, the big border made the display even smaller. Other features like Sunroof, was very small in Harrier.
  
• Engine / Power : Compass, Harrier & Safari were using the same engine. XUV700 & Tucson had the most powerful engine in this segment.
  Tucson engine is buttery smooth and NVH levels are excellent. You can barely hear the engine noise in the cabin.
  
• Driver Driving dynamics: Jeep trumped in this area. It was a pleasure to drive. Tucson was also good; it was different than regular Hyundai and low speed drive over bad roads was good.
  
• Passenger comfort: Tucson trumped this are. Rear bench in Jeep was best for only 2. 3rd person was not welcome. Harrier & Safari, better half felt too much bouncy ride with side way movement.
  
• Extras (4WD/AWD, Discount. Etc): No AWD/4WD in Harrier & Safari, Jeep compass & Tucson were selected here. Even though I was buying the car in Dec, except Hyundai, none of the other manufacturers were giving much discount.

After multiple test drives, I was frankly left with only 2 credible options to choose from Jeep Compass & Hyundai Tucson. Now the question was how soon the vehicle will be available and what better deal I can get.

I was looking for Diesel Automatic Top end (preferably with 4X4) since I already had XUV W8 AWD.

• Jeep Compass: Top end Diesel (model S 4X4) was almost coming up to 36Lakh. Without 4X4 it was about 32-33 lakh. This ~4 lakh difference felt too much for me for 4X4.
  
• Hyundai Tucson: Top end Diesel (GLS 4X4) was about 35 lakh and dealer was offering me ~2 lakh discount. Difference between AWD & no AWD top end model was about 1.5lakh. This was an acceptable price difference, and I was okay to stretch to accommodate this.

After all of this, finally it was Hyundai Tucson which emerged as the winner.

Booking & Delivery Process:
Nothing great to write about here. Booking was done online by paying 10,000Rs. Delivery was promised in 2 weeks’ time and after 1 week, I got the tracking details of the car.

Variants Available:
Petrol:

• 2WD GLO AT
• 2WD GLS AT

Diesel:

• 2WD GLO AT
• 2WD GLS AT
• 4WD GLS AT

Petrol comes with 150PS & 200NM torque & Diesel comes with 190PS & 400NM torque.

I was clear on the Diesel part. Question was on the 2WD GLS or 4WD GLS. Difference was approximately 1.5 lakh. Coming from a AWD XUV500, I felt it is worth the spend to go for 4WD version. Hence the model choosen 4WD GLS AT.

Kitna diya??
Top end Diesel Automatic 4WD costs about 35lakh in Bangalore (On road price).. I got a discount of about 1.5 lakh.

Accessories
Haven't opted for any accessories apart from the one offered by Hyundai for 6,500Rs

Warranty:
Below are the options available on the warranty

• Option 1: 3 years or unlimited Km's.
• Option 2: 4 years / 50,000Km's
• Option 3: 5 years / 60,000Km's

I chose the Option 1 one since my driving is high and i will mostly reach 50,000Km's in 2 years itself. Option 2 & 3 makes sense for folks who do not drive the car much. I will take the extended warranty of 4th & 5th year closer to the completion of 3rd year.


Car came in well ahead of the committed time, my company lease process took more time than expected and I ended up taking the delivery on 16th Dec.

Taking Delivery (from Tucson Service Executive at Advaith Bellandur)


Beast with the new Owner


Both the owners




When the beauty reached home








I have driven the car for about 100Km's as of now and below is my initial impressions of the car

• Driving Experience: I would rate the driving experience of this car above that of XUV500. Car is so smooth you can hardly hear any engine noise inside the cabin. Gear change is butter smooth and i didn't have any issues of getting stuck in a wrong gear. Car has good acceleration and very easily you will reach triple digit speeds. In sections from my office to home, speed warning came up couple of times which was not the case with XUV
  
• Comfort: This car is very comfortable for the driver and folks inside it. Suspension is very accommodative of the bumps in the road. Yet to take the car on a long drive hence can't comment on the highway comfort.
  
• Audio System: Comes with Infinity Premium sound system with 8 speakers. I felt the Audio quality is good and it gets even better when you connect your phone through cable and use Android Auto / Apple Car Play to play the music.
  
• Air Conditioning: Works very well, Top end comes with Dual Zone A/c with Auto Defogger. Cools cabin very fast. No issues here.
  
• Exterior Design & Styling: Though it looks similar to old generation Creta, there are some difference. I like this design more than the new design language from Hyundai on the new Creata & new Tucson.
  
• Interior Quality: Fit and finish is top notch. There are no hard surfaces. I would assume this is because this is a CKD product and not manufactured here.
  
• Visibility for the Driver: Visibility is good but not in the class of XUV or Gurkha. I would say it is still better than Sedan.
  
• Fuel Efficiency: Since the vehicle has run only 100+ km's i am not in a position to comment on the Fuel Efficiency. Will wait for long drive before commenting on this.
  
• Keyless Entry: Nice touch, i am now keeping my keys in the bag. Lock & unlock can be done without keys
  
• Hyundai Bluelink: Seems to have some nice features. Service advisor said some 40+ functionalities are available, I have not tried all of them as of now.
  
• Electric Tail gate: This has height adjustable feature and also auto opening of the same when you come near the boot ans stand there for 5 seconds with the key. No buttons to be pressed.

Some interior images of the car

• Wireless Charging pad with 1 USB & 2 12V socket... Hyundai could have given 2 USB and 1 12V socket.. I am saying this since there is no Wireless Android Auto / Apple Carplay and hence you will be using this USB slot to connect your phone and you will not have an option to put media through USB.
  
  
• DualZone Climate control
  
  
• Floating Info entertainment system
  
  
• Auto dimming Rear view mirror with SOS, Road side assistance and bluelink buttons
  
  
• View from the driver seat
  
  
• Driver side buttons
  
  
• Foot well with large dead pedal
  
  
• Tucson branding on the mat & side step
  
  
• Neatly designed floor mats with Tucson banding. They fit well
  
  
• Rear door packet. Can't fit 1ltr bottle
  
  
• Adjustable headset
  Moved forward
  
  standard
  
  
• Rear bench with recline function
  Default
  
  
  With Recline
  

What i like about the Car

• Engine: So smooth.. its like Makkan... Powerful and picks up speed so easily, you will easily mis how fast you are going
  
• Driving dynamics: With 10 way adjustable seats and thigh supports. Its easy to find your sweet spot.
  
• Fit and finish is top notch
  
• Color scheme (Dark Blue) has confused lot of people for Black.. During the daytime you can see the blue but in the evening its black.. Its like split personality
  
• Maintenance: Free service upto 30,000Km (~3 years)... Haven't seen this kind of offer on any other cars... Last i remember seeing something like this few years back
  
• Massive Panoramic Sunroom, You should sit inside it to know how massive it is.. extends all the way back to the back of rear seat. Will give planetarium feel for the rear passengers during night drive.
  
• Penta Projector headlights look super cool.. I hope they are as effective in the night..
  
• Car comes fully loaded with all the bells and whistles interms of safety and features. Nothing else to add to this as accessories
  
• Premium offering from Hyundai.
  
• Service & Support available at all the Hyundai service centers.
  
• 10,000Km service interval
  
• Sorted electronics & features. No bugs / missing features

What i wish could have been better

• Wireless Android Auto & Apple CarPlay: I would have appreciated Hyundai to provide Wireless Android Auto & Apple Carplay at this price point. They have given Wireless Charging pad but to get Apple Carplay, we need to connect the cable! this defeats the purpose of Wireless Charging pad
  
• Ventilated Seats: I see this available in the car's 1 segment down!
  
• Premium Sales & Service Experience: Can't talk about the service experience yet but definitely on the sales side, Hyundai has some grounds to cover to make the whole experience lot more special especially when this is their top of the line offering.
  
• More space: Coming from XUV500, space in other cars is always a challenge... Haven't gone on a long trip yet but i fear, this can become an issue.
  
• Better tyres: Heard some negative reviews about the wheels offered by Hyundai and also i understand that this size is not standard hence the choice outside are limited! Why Hyundai... Why!
  
• Brown Key!! Why Hyundai?
  
• Spares: Since this is a CKD model, I am little worried about the stock & supply of spares... I am told this is not a concern and should be available in 1 to 2 weeks.

I have plans to go on long drive during this weekend (24th Dec).. Will post more updates then.

[achyutaghosh]

Congrats on buying one of the most under-rated cars in India! Black seems to be the most popular color in the Tucson

While i agree with your point that the Compass scores higher than the Tucson in ride and handling, the Tucson isn't your typical Hyundai, so not very far behind. The added space more than makes up for it. I had test driven the 2019 Tucson and i had found it better to drive than the Tiguan 2.0 diesel back then.

30 lakhs is such a lot of money, but sad to see so few desirable vehicles in that price range. The recent price hikes have taken out the wind from India's car industry. What we are seeing is pent up demand due to lockdowns, and lack of supply. Value, as we know it, has a new meaning today.

Think the auto market will behave very differently 6 months down the line.

[sachin_cs]

Congratulations for the black beauty, Tucson looks so elegant in black. Tucson is a no-nonsense vehicle and does everything right, I got a chance to travel in the rear seat of Tucson in greater Noida and I only have good things to say about it. Wishing you Lacs of kilometres with your machine and keep updating your experiences.

Also, do you plan to ditch those nexen tyres? Some members here didn't had good experience with them, since your car is new, maybe it is a better time to exchange them for a decent price.

[rave20]

Originally Posted by achyutaghosh

Congrats on buying one of the most under-rated cars in India! Black seems to be the most popular color in the Tucson

Actually this is Dark Blue color, Its called "Starry Night". They also have a full black also..

Originally Posted by sachin_cs

Congratulations for the black beauty, Tucson looks so elegant in black. Tucson is a no-nonsense vehicle and does everything right, I got a chance to travel in the rear seat of Tucson in greater Noida and I only have good things to say about it. Wishing you Lacs of kilometres with your machine and keep updating your experiences.

Also, do you plan to ditch those nexen tyres? Some members here didn't had good experience with them, since your car is new, maybe it is a better time to exchange them for a decent price.

Actually this is Dark Blue color, Its called "Starry Night". They also have a full black also..

I didn't change the tyres. I have a mixed review on it. Service executive mentions tyres are good its just that its a soft compound tyre and hence the life is little less.

I will wait and see.. If i have lot of issues then i will switch.