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She wears a handsome, knowing smile. She knows she's hot.

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I like:

• The swoopy, curvy, smokin’ body
• Surprisingly great, sprightly 185 ps, 400 Nm engine
• 3 years, unlimited kms warranty with 3 years maintenance included
• Safety: ECS, VSM, HAC, Brake Assist, 6 airbags, 4 wheel disc brakes
• Compliant ride quality, yet stiff enough to minimise body roll
• NVH is mostly absent
• Refined diesel engine. No vibrations, not much sound unless pushed.
• Hyundai's fuss free ownership experience
• Excellent fit and finish all round
• Dual barrel LED headlamps. They look wicked and illuminate very well
• A proper proper crossover. Very car like to drive with a very SUV-ish driving position. Excellent road manners
• Reclining rear seats with excellent rear legroom
• Virtually zero concerns over long term reliability
• Front parking sensors
• Powered liftgate is quite useful
• Did I mention the great looks?

I don't:

• Pricey
• Missing goodies in a Hyundai, available in the intl version: ventilated seats, pano sunroof, AWD, TPMS
• Not plush enough for a 30L car: naked plastic in a lot of places
• An almost mundane interior compared to a flamboyant exterior
• Limited colour options
• Very low profile tyres for Indian roads
• MapMyIndia navigation is dicey in a lot of situations. Have to doublecheck the route with google maps on my phone
• Response lag from the engine and centre console
• Extremely annoying single horn beep while locking and unlocking
• Rear seat under thigh support could be better

[ach1lles]

My first car had to feel special.

The first car my father bought was the Contessa. It was the first big car in the entire family, and I do remember flashes of a couple of road trips we took in that. It did not end well though, there was a massive road accident, and my father passed away. I was 4. Ever since then, we have had sort of this fear of flamboyance when it comes to cars, this aversion in our family about vehicles in general. We got them because we absolutely needed them. They served a purpose, and nothing more.

Since then we’ve owned precisely 4 cars. The Maruti 800 ,2x, white, The Maruti Esteem 1.3 MPFi, white, The Maruti Swift, silver (only because white wasn’t available on launch, I actually wanted the mint green), and the Hyundai i20, white. Out of the 4, only the Swift was my choice which was ofcourse accepted because it was a Maruti and a small hatch. I was too young when the 800(s) were bought and while buying the Esteem my choices were the Opel Astra and the first launch Honda City; I was ofcourse laughed at and my "suggestions" termed juvenile, dismissed. While buying our last car in 2010 I’d narrowed it down to two cars, the post-dolphin Honda City in dark grey and the Fiat Linea in maroon. So what did we get? The Hyundai i20 in white. Haha. Funny story about that: The intended car was i10 but someone at the dealership convinced the ex-chequer (Grandad) to go for the i20. As much as I didn’t want the i20, i10 would’ve probably driven me to suicide :P. In a way similar to how the Top Gear trio end up loving their cars at the end of their specials, I grew to love the i20 and as much as I put the car through, I’m sure she would’ve given up long enough if she didn’t love me back. We did not spend much time together early on, with me studying elsewhere and travelling. Till now though I've driven her for a good 50000 kms.

Anyway, I vowed then that my first car would not be white, would not be a small hatch, and would give me the fuzz.

My first car had to feel special.


Tape under that ribbon left nasty glue residue

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So, when the time came to start thinking of buying my first car, I fixed on a budget of about 15L (haha) and started looking about a year and a half ago. Keeping the above "basis" in mind, I had a very wandering eye. I had no fixed requirements except for a few convenience features that must be present. Also, I was partial to sedans. To me, a car looks most car like in a 3 course form. The bonnet, the seating, and a boot. So we came up with a shortlist of neo fluidic Elantra, and the new Octavia. I really liked to how the Elantra looked, I still do, and I was kind of put off by the frustrating ownership stories about Skoda cars. If it had to be my first car, a daily, and I really don’t know much about keeping cars, it had to be a reliable car backed by trusted ASS. With the service and repair experiences of our i20 in mind, the Elantra seemed like it was the one. The new update was out and the all black interiors looked sweet.

In the time it took to make up my mind, the Creta started coming in hot and the Elantra had become expensive. I used to dismiss SUVs and especially crossovers, calling them eunuchs, but somewhere with all the heat the Creta was getting here (thanks RavenAvi), I started looking at it seriously, and while doing so, somewhere I became a crossover convert. They just started making sense. It's like the iPhone. It may not be the best iPod for every situation, but it's good enough for most situations. Similarly, crossovers won't be great low slung cars, but for most uses a well built crossover will give me a good enough drive. Flawed logic, but it makes sense in my mind. So, sedans were now out of contention. I went back to the drawing board with my shortlist. The only name on it was Creta. However, it soon launched but the special-ness I wanted out of the car didn’t make it through. I took a test drive and quite liked it, but it just didn’t feel special enough. I didn’t think it looked very good in its stock form, even though it carried good potential to modify, like BNM’s red Creta. But the biggest factor was that the automatic wasn’t available in the top trim which lacked airbags and driver aids. After having driven a friend's Creta for a couple hundred kms I made up my mind that if I do go the crossover way, I won’t buy a car without all the driver aids available. I’m not a sedate driver and I wasn't used to driving big or high COG cars. Dangerous combination.

In all this time, most of our discussions at home started moving on to cars. There was an insatiable hunger in those discussions, specially between me and my kid brother, and bearing in mind our family’s near oppressive car history, the discussions almost always came to a fever pitch. The atmosphere was palpable. During these, I came up with a shortlist on what my next car must have:

1. Automatic transmission
2. Adequate power. It should never feel like it needs more power
3. Six airbags minimum
4. Smart key entry with push button start
5. Separate AC vents for rear passengers
6. Auto folding ORVMs

Short, crisp list. This ofcourse came out of the assumption that things like climate control, reversing camera, parking sensors, cruise control, auto dimming IRVM etc. would be included as these now are quite regular in most cars. Basically I wanted that I walk upto the car, get in without having to look for my key, start the car up without having to take the key out, put the seatbelt on and drive. It may not seem or read like much, but when you have to do this 10 times a day, it is amazing just how easy it feels to be able to get in and go without fiddling with anything. Electronic abstraction of fixed, repeatable steps has been a human goal for decades, and I quite appreciate it.

Meanwhile, the car my younger brother was using had almost become punishing to own and we needed a new car ASAP.

It looked like Creta would have to be it. Another somewhat uninspired, utilitarian purchase. We finalised the Creta in red. Or black. Or red. Or, maybe blue. Nope, red (thanks BNM ). Soon after though I took a trip to Beirut and saw the Tucson in the flesh. I was absolutely blown away. It was like love at first sight. Then when I saw the Tucson next to the Creta, there was no doubt left in my mind that I will not buy the Creta. Also, there was news that the Tucson will be launched here in 2016, and honestly, even my brother felt that we could wait this long. There were a couple of problems though. I had no idea on the spec Hyundai would launch in India, especially the diesel engine, and Tucson would absolutely laugh in the face of my budget.

I'd like to mention here that I'm a big "surprise" guy. I like surprising my family with the good stuff, visits, trips, etc. I'd intended this car to be a surprise at home but had to reveal my plans when the bro needed to have a replacement car.


"I know"

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The Elantra launched and at 19.19L ex-delhi it carried the same diesel engine as the Creta. This worried me a little. I knew, looking at worldwide Hyundai pricing, the Tucson would launch at a price around this. I hoped it would not cross 22L or thereabouts ex-Delhi. I could only dream for the bigger, 2.0 diesel engine. Also, around this time I was accepted into Team-BHP (thanks, GTO) which meant I’d be able to share all of this, and more. So if this and other posts become too cumbersome, you know who to blame. :P

A close friend had come up with a Hyundai dealership in the last year and I knew he’d be able to help me with the information, and the car. By mid October I knew that the car would be 185 ps and I got an idea of the price. The top model would go up to about 25L ex-Delhi, or thereabouts. I freaked a bit. From my orignal budget of 15L to taking it close to 20L for the Tucson, this was going to be close to 30L, a figure I was not at all comfortable with. Ofcourse, as I started absorbing the figure, I started looking at other, real-er alternatives. The discussions at home resurfaced, now with a higher pitch!

The car had to fit my usage as a comfortable daily, so it couldn’t be too big. It had to be fun to drive, and needed to have adequate power. It should be a comfortable highway cruiser with enough space, along with those must have convenience features and three history inspired requirements I’ve mentioned earlier. Also, I couldn’t wait much longer. In that, one by one, all these were ruled out:

• Endeavour, New Fortuner for being too big.
• Superb for being a Skoda and a sedan and too big.
• XUV for being XUV. Too trinkly.
• HEXA was atleast 4 months away. I am interested for getting a chauffeur driven car for my mom and in all probability Hexa looks to be it, though that purchase is atleast a year away.
• Crysta was a van and just didn’t look good.
• Q3, GLA, X1 weren’t too far away, yet they were. They really didn’t entice me though and as I’ve mentioned earlier, the badge by itself holds no value for me. It has to be the product first and foremost with related services soon after. If I go the german, or more precisely, the "premium" route, the only reason for me would be the superior engines, which really wasn't the case with the three cars mentioned here. I won't consider them for my primary use car. Also, my budget was already slapped around by the Tucson, these would've knocked it out. Pre owned cars were not considered.

Slowly though I came to the realisation that I was forcing myself to look at other cars because of the price. I was trying to find reasons to convince myself, form a logic that I could get a better car for the price. No go. I wanted the Tucson. This wasn’t even that typical “heart over mind” matter. It wasn’t the heart. Almost as if the Tucson was daring me to go for her, this was something else. It was a tingle. It was lust. And I was hooked.


The colour, Caribbean blue, trim and wheels I wanted. Source: hyundaiusa.com

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The Tucson got delayed from being launched on Oct 24 to Nov 14. I was already living sleepless nights, watching reviews on YouTube, reading about the car all over. This delay of 20 days was really hard to digest. A couple of days before Diwali, my friend called me to take a look at the India spec Tucson. It was there at the dealership. That day the specs were confirmed. The car won't have ventilated seats, AWD, or that sweet, sweet panoramic sunroof. I liked the car, but we both came out with the contention that if that was the top variant, GLS, there was a slim chance that the car would go upto 25L. Either that, or the variant which we had just sat in wasn't GLS. Neither, snickered the oblique H.

Then, on Nov 8, history was made.

India's cash was gone and no one seemed to have any money. Car deliveries and bookings were being cancelled. As the launch was another week away, I hoped H would take pity on us and use their "launch price" marketing gimmick to launch the Tucson at a lower price. Watching that launch event live on the 14th was like a punch to the gut. So it was going to be 25 big ones for the car I wanted. The GLS did not come with the panoramic sunroof, ventilated seats, or the colour I was looking forward to. Oh, man.

So, I did what any man would do. I sucked it up, took a deep breath, cursed a few times, and called my friend to punch the order. The real wait began.

I also took a longish test drive and you can read my experience here. This TD car was from a different dealership.

Note: I understand that my booking, ordering and delivery experience will not be typical for most as this was purchased through a friend's dealership, so I'll make this section quick.

Since the dealership wasn't able to give me a competitive rate on the insurance, I told them that I'd be getting the insurance done myself. I posted this in the Tucson thread and mjumrani mentioned a quote that was even better than the one I had received here, outside the dealership. He helped me with the contact details of the agent. I received the same, mind blasting quote: 57k for zero dep comprehensive. It blasted my mind.

• Dealership quote: 110,000 for Zero dep with engine cover, consumables, unlimited claims in a year. HDFC Ergo. Obviously cashless.
  
• My independent quote: 75000. Zero dep, consumables, 2 claims a year. Bharti Axa. Cashless.
  
• mjumrani's friend's quote: 75000. Zero dep, engine conver, consumables, tyre cover, key loss, unlimited claims, hotel stay, the works. Tata AIG. Probably not cashless. I had 50% NCB from our Swift which was purchased in my name, so this one came to about 57k in total.

I couldn't find quotes on the internet as almost all databases weren't yet updated with the Tucson.

I was pumped!

One mood spoiler here was that a couple of days before delivery, someone from the dealership called and said that if I take insurance from outside the dealership, I won't get warranty support from the company. I laughed on his face. Called Hyundai CC and the receiver first assured me that that absolutely wasn't the case, and called the dealership right then while keeping me on conference. Needless to say, the manager who'd called me from the dealership suddenly couldn't be found. I wasn't sure if my friend knew about this but I let it slide. Didn't want to spoil my mood anymore for something inconsequential.

T-Day:


Ready, and waiting. I was relived to find how great Black actually looked in the flesh. Hyundai calls this shade Phantom Black in the brochure and on the website but the invoice said Thunder Black.

Dec 2, 5 PM: "Your car's ready. You can come till 9PM to pick it up." I really wanted to go, but the PDI checklist told me very clearly to only take the car in full light of day.

"Nope, tomorrow". Somehow that day, I slept very well.

Dec 3, 11 AM: Grandad: "Saturday ko gaadi lene koi nahi jaayega. NO.". He would not listen to reason. "Waiting one more day won't cause you any problems", he bellowed. Haha. We almost gave up. Finally, a call to a priest was made. Wink wink, nudge nudge

After having "convinced" my Grandad to let go of superstitions, which took a good 2 hours, we changed at light speed and went to the dealership. I'm an agnostic and I don't care for any deity, customs, rituals, unless they're fun :P There were strict instructions to the dealership and my mum who was with me, and who is a staunch believer, that there'd be no red marks or "blessings" for the car.

Even though I was buying the most expensive thing I'd ever bought, I wasn't stressed. Armed with the PDI checklist and my own microfibre cloth, we finished up the paperwork and I took the car out of the dealership to the delivery area. It felt surreal. Every checkpoint from the PDI checklist was given a once over, twice. Everything was quick, smooth, no hiccups, no mistakes. The company had forgotten to include the floor mats and rubber mats had been put in place. They mentioned this themselves and said that they've placed an order for the mats and that I'll get them soon.

After having satisfied myself and rechecked everything, It was time to leave. We left our old car with the dealership driver who'd deliver it to our place in a bit.

Ex-showroom: 25.12L
Courtesy discount: 20K
Insurance: 57K
RTO: 2.51K

Total: 28L


Mum, kid brother, and I. Happy moment.


I honestly thought they'd give me the key big to take with the car. Also, Hyundai should change this large old school key to a sleeker fob now.

[ach1lles]

Mileage as of writing this
1800 kms, out of which about 800 were on the "highway". It is kind of ridiculous though that I'm unable to maintain a constant speed of 90-100 km/h even for short bursts during the day, and that on a 6 lane NH1. Driving has become increasingly frustrating, but I digress. Mileage per L is around 11.5. Which is okay because my local usage is mostly bumper to bumper all the way. On highway runs the MID shows a mileage of 14+ km/L, and I think it is quite accurate.

Edit on Feb 14: I'm upto about 3400 kms now.

Usage pattern
Everything. It is the only car I use. Work, gym, highway, outstation, road trips, everything. She's started everytime I need to be somewhere. Around 20000 kms yearly sounds about right. No one else gets to drive the Tucson except my kid brother, who stays away

Exterior styling and design
Hoo boy. The Tucson is unmistakably a Hyundai in exterior design. I believe it to be the most accomplished, most modern, most coherent Hyundai badged car in existence today. It looks mouth watering-ly good from every single angle. I really can't find fault anywhere though if I had to nitpick, I'd say that the rear exterior lights and the rear windscreen could've been better.
As far as looks go, it is a proper evolution of the Santa Fe design. The Santa Fe being an earlier model imbibed some elements from the Tucson in a facelift after the Tucson launched. Every single panel flows onto the next, and yet the Tucson gives off this sort of muscular presence. This one is not slender. The chrome is very tastefully applied and looks slick on black. It has no loud tricks, it does not shout, and yet it commands your attention. I have noticed many, many people eyeing the car while I'm driving. Infact, people in crossovers and SUVs "stare" the most (they don't catch me catching them because I'm usually wearing sunglasses :P). I take it all as a complement for the Hyundai design team. You can see the "inspiration" it has caught. The rhomboid exhaust tips are GLE AMG like, the side stance with that elongated spoiler is kind of similar to the Cayenne, though there's nothing directly lifted, as far as I can tell. Everyone who's seen it, strangers, family, friends, they all say a very common thing. The car appears to be a far more premium car at first glance, till they haven't had a chance to see the Hyundai badge. The dual shaded wheels look lovely too.

The car carries only two words on the exterior, 'TUCSON' & 'CRDI', no trim labels, no capacity labels.

Peter Schreyer, formerly of Audi and now with Kia since the last 10 years has designed only the Tucson for Hyundai, and I'd say this is a job well done.

Overall build quality, fit & finish, paint quality and panel gaps
Tight. There are no loose bits, no untoward panel gaps, no buttons overextending themselves, she feels really well put together. I have seen and read reviews from various places, worldwide, and none of them have ever mentioned anything lacking about build quality and interior fit and finish. I could notice some aberrations in the paint, specially when she was showroom new. 3M paint protection reduced these to a large extent, though they're still there and are visible but you have to look very closely.

The doors open in 3 stages. They feel nice and heavy, though aren't "tank" heavy. They shut with a satisfying clunk. Infact, there's no 'tinny' feeling anywhere. The hood is actually quite heavy to hold up. The electronic tailgate has a proper motor "wheeze" sound when it opens and shuts. Word of warning: though it is "anti-pinch", if it hits your head directly while closing, it is going to hurt. No, this did not happen to me. Not even once.

The panel gaps are different for different panels, and yet they're consistent across their mirror image counterparts. For example, the gap between the spoiler and the tailgate is not the same as the gap between the spoiler and the roof, but on both sides, left and right, the gaps are equal.



I tried the "thumb press" test on every section of the car. Except for the small centre of the bonnet, no panel gave in. I'm quite strong, and believe me, I pressed.

Wheels and Tyres
The Tucson comes with 225/55/R18 Nexon N Priz RH7 Korean made tyres with a max load of 750 kilos and max pressure of 44 psi. Tread depth is around a quarter of an inch.

While they're adequate and the car does not feel, nor looks under tyred, I'd have preferred a 235 section with a higher sidewall. It is not difficult to reach the limits of these 225s with sports mode and 400Nm on tap. Low profile tyres look great, but I've had a couple of occasions where I wished I'd have thicker tyres. These tyres just can't take bumps as well as higher profile tyres, and my daily drive has craters seeing which even the moon might point and laugh. I'm going to try 235s or even 245s with my first tyre change. I'm actually surprised that Hyundai didn't go with 235s as that's the size Santa Fe comes with.

The only "over busy" part of the exterior are the 14 (!) spoke wheels. The 18" rims look great by themselves, and the Tucson looks great wearing them. I've posted a picture above of the blue Tucson with 19" wheels, I think those look better , though only slightly. Those are the wheels I thought I'd change to, if I'd gotten the Creta. The 30th anniversary Tucson in Australia came with 18 inchers in black. They look super. I wonder how these 18s, the ones that the car came with, will look in black. Another mod to think about, along with that gorgeous blue wrap.


Just look at that colour. Source: dailymercury.com.au

The spare is a proper spare, a full size alloy. I'm glad Hyundai didn't skimp on this.

This size isn't common in India as yet, and I hope when the time comes for my first tyre change, proper options are available.

I also don't notice much tyre noise. Honestly, not much of any type of noise filters through to the cabin.

Safety and related equipment
"With great power comes great responsibility". Hyundai seems to believe that this applies to the very top variant of each car only. Every single Hyundai, no matter the price, the segment, the shape, size, engine power, form, all the electronic driver aids and usually the side and curtain airbags are reserved for the top variant.

• ESC or Electronic Stability Control
• VSM or Vehicle Stability Management
• HAC or Hill start Assist Control
• DBC or Downhill Brake Control
• Brake Assist

ESC, VSM and ABS are active traction control systems, and I believe them to be quite important for crossovers and SUVs, specially for first time buyers. The cars behave differently under sudden direction change, a manoeuvre which isn't uncommon in India. I have no idea on how complicated or expensive they are to implement, but if they are available in any variant in the Creta, they had better be available in all variants of the Tucson. They're not. So was the case with the Santa Fe too. These aids were probably the biggest reason in my mind to go for the top variant, GLS.

Rant aside, the GLS carries absolute top notch safety. Euro NCAP gave it 5 stars, deservedly so. Everything from park assist with camera and (f&b) parking sensors, steering mounted controls, carplay, auto door lock, 4 wheel disc brakes, strong lights, along with good high speed stability work together to create a secure and comfortable environment.

"Comfortable"? Yup. Suite comfort is one thing that is ignored by many while viewing overall safety. When the car removes distractions and eases user interactions, your mind is much more tuned to the road, much more of the time, which is why I take "convenience" features like CarPlay (Siri) and steering controls as proper safety features. Even something as simple as the humble car AC can have a profound effect on your drive. So instead of being bothered by the heat, getting stuffed, irritated, distracted by the sweat and cursing your shitty day/life, you're nice and easy in the car and paying full attention to that idiot motorcyclist who is going to cut your way seventeen times within the same traffic signal before the next one comes in and repeats and then the next one and they keep on coming like a swarm of machines gunning for Zion. Sorry, I went a little "Newman" there. I kid, I kid.

However, as loaded as the Tucson is, there are a few proper safety & convenience features missing which I would've liked it to have.

• HUD
• TPMS
• Driver knee airbag
• Top speed limiter in cruise control

I want the top speed limiter because cruise control in its current form is kind of useless. There is never low enough traffic anymore even on 6 lane highways for me to relax and enjoy a constant speed. There is however a notorious history of me unconsciously speeding on NH1. Top speed limiter would take care of that problem easily, and would take care of one more thing I have to think about. I've actually wanted this for quite long and I'm surprised Tucson doesn't have this.

Edit: As of this edit, Jan 31, 2017, Herr Clarkson mentions this very thing on the latest episode of TGT, that instead of paying attention to the road, you're paying attention to and distracted by speed traps. I have held this view for several years. Having a speed limit of 70 on a 6 lane highway is simply idiotic, specially for modern, safer cars.

The silliest important missing "feature" however is the passenger seatbelt warning sound. I don't want to have to explain to my co passenger on how they should wear the seatbelt or their neck may snap off, and for them to just laugh it off, and tell me to lighten up. I feel uneasy, and I'd rather my mum would wear that damn seatbelt instead of, or atleast before praying every time she sits in the car.

There were also a few features which were removed from the Indian version, mostly radar based stuff like lane departure warning and blind spot assist; I would've liked blind spot assist to be present. As it is implemented in the Tucson, a small red label lights up when it detects another vehicle in either ORVM's blind spot. I've never used it but believe to be quite useful, specially in 'merge' situations. I know the rear cross traffic alert will be useful, I miss this feature while backing out of my driveway almost every day. The picture will explain it better.



Source: hyundaiusa.com

Overall Features
The Tucson comes loaded, though there isn't much there that you wouldn't expect from the car, it being a Hyundai and costing that much. The ones I particularly like are the smart powered tailgate, auto & LED headlamps, front parking sensors with on demand activation, powered driver's seat adjust, auto hold, electronic parking brake, cornering lamps, 'sport mode', auto door lock and auto defogger.

Auto Defogger is brilliant. As long as you have the climate control on, the sensor monitors the appearance of condensation on the front windscreen and activates automatically to get rid of it, and it works pretty doggone well.

The powered tailgate has turned out to be extremely useful, and I didn't expect it to. I now put most 'everyday' things in the boot. It keeps the interior clean, and the rear seat fresh. So stuff like my gym bag, my squash racket etc. which used to go onto the rear seat now go into the boot. While getting out of the house, before reaching the car I can open the tailgate using the smart key, have the boot open when I reach, keep my stuff in, press the button on the tailgate and simply move to the driver's door without having to or waiting for it to close. When I reach my destination, I put the car in P, press the button to open the tailgate, get out of the car and lock it using the request sensor, take my stuff from the already opened boot, press the button to close it and simply walk away. There is a setting to disable the powered tailgate and you can use it manually all the way through, which brings me to the button on the boot. It is horrendous to use. The only button on the car which betrays the car. It is squidgy, and it is difficult to hit it properly in one go. It is under this wide rubbery area somewhere and feels very squirmy. Eh.

There's also one irritating thing about the powered liftgate, at mall and 5 star entrances. They need to view your boot from inside, which really irritates me as a practice and is a violation of my privacy, and is a pointless practice anyway because they do not ever check inside the luggage. Anyway, everytime I tell the person that this will open and close automatically, and for them not to fiddle with it, and yet, sure as night follows day, they will try to slam it down. Grrr. Also, the liftgate will only open and close when the car is in P, so when I tried to open it the first time we were at the mall and the car was in N, it looked kind of suspicious that I couldn't open the tailgate of a new car for a minute.

Auto Hold: GTO has already explained this very well in his 530d M-Sport review, but this is what it does in a nutshell: it disables the 'creep' in auto transmission cars by engaging parking brake when the car comes to a complete halt. This is very useful in stop and go traffic, particularly when it is downhill, or on flyover descent. The car can be in D all throughout without you having to change to N or P, or having to re-engage the parking brake very time the car moves a few feet. To move, simply press the accelerator pedal. Note that moving again from hold is slightly jerky, and not smooth as moving from standstill by letting go of brake. This is logical however, as in essence the electronic parking brake disengagement and accelerator input are overlapping. The brake light remains on whenever Auto Hold is, er, holding. If you open the door or turn the car off when auto hold is activated, the parking brake indicator turns on and auto hold is deactivated. From here on, the parking brake will have to be manually disengaged and auto hold will have to be manually reactivated.

On demand activation of front parking sensors is very useful in getting the car around tight spaces. They disable again, automatically, when you reach a certain speed.

Electronic parking brake was another revelation. I took it for a gimmick, a sort of party trick, but it is very convenient to use. One, it's just a small pull of the finger instead a pull of the arm, and two, it disengages automatically when you put the car in D or R. Three, it looks much better than a lever, and sits very symmetrically in the space. Four, auto hold would not be possible with a manual parking brake.


Sports mode is more like "caffeine" mode. It's like the car's been give a shot or two of espresso. I like

What I would've liked:

It pretty much ticked everything that I wanted in a car before I actually got the car. Once I got the car, and have now had it for about a couple of months, I want more.

The obvious ones, specially ones which are present in the international version and aren't in India, are ventilated seats, panoramic sunroof and AWD. I feel the price would've been totally justified if they'd included just these three. Ventilated seats is an absolute shocker, the Elantra has had them for 5 years now. Someone at Hyundai is getting the skunk stuff from Manali because if it were the good stuff, we'd have gotten all three. Aside from these, the following are my top picks:

Ambient lighting: This is one thing that totally transforms the interior feel of the car. It makes it appear plush, and adds a huge amount of niceness to the cabin. It just feels good to have, and probably adds a few lakhs in perceived value to the car.

HUD: I'm a gamer, so HUD is like the ultimate feature for me in a car. Not only is it a very cool piece of tech, it is incredibly useful.

Better positioned levers for fuel tank lid and the boot: Why are the fuel tank lid and boot opening levers in the same dingy places as they have been for the last 20 years? It is filthy to fiddle with the fuel tank lever. Why couldn't these be electronic buttons too? They've been in the same place for the last twenty years. I don't see why they have to stay there, even if they are to be manual. Also, while we're at it, why do the direction indicator stalks have to move physically after 'indicating' when the steering returns back to centre? The "tunng" they give off is kind of unbecoming. They need to be electronic. The car electronics know precisely where the steering is, where and how much it is turned.

Wireless CarPlay: Oh please, let this be software updatable. In its current form, it is only useful on long, outstation drives. Using cables is so 90's.

Memory seats: You can't have electronic seats and not have memory for the setting. That's just cheap. Give me just one, I don't care. I want the seat just the way I like it after my friend, bro or the valet take the car for a spin. I don't want to have to fiddle with it.

Left OVRM moving to 'kerb' position on engaging R: This is a bit of a personal quirk. My driveway is a bit tight, specially since my mum demands that it be lined up with plants all through. I know this feature exists, and so I want it. Right now I do it manually everytime.


It really does get tight

Felt lining all over the boot: naked plastics are just nasty when you ask for 30L, H.

I also wish if somehow we could activate the rear camera while driving normally. It'd be cool as an IVRM substitute. I think it can also remove some blind spots while changing lanes, it has a wide field of view.

[ach1lles]

Move on to the car with the key fob on you and the OVRMs unfold with lit puddle lamps in white. It feels nice. Unlock by pressing the request black nubbin on the door handle and all 4 doors unlock, and the interior lights come on. The door handles feel chunky and vey sturdy. I can't even remember how many times I've broken my i20's plastic handles. They come right off the body! Stepping inside is moderately easy. The width due to the cladding can be an issue for some. My grandad finds it messy to get in. The doors open in a 3 stage action. They carry some inertia and closing the doors isn't always 100% successful. Most people underestimate the force required to shut the doors completely.

Interior Design & Quality
It's a very understated, almost mundane interior cabin. Hyundai has moved on from the funky interior fluidic shapes and screaming consoles.


The Santa Fe cabin, from Team-BHP's official review. You can immediately see how much calmer the Tucson's cabin is.

Move on into the car and you feel the designers had opposing philosophies for exterior and interior. Also, I expected a better, special-er cabin with less exposed plastic, specially on the top end variant. In that sense, you can see a lot of places where the plastic ought to be covered in leather, felt, or something else. In the international variants, the part of the dash where driver's leg rests in cushioned. I guess someone at Hyundai believes that Indian legs aren't used to that much comfort.

However, that said, the cabin is a very nice place to be in, comfortable, quiet, and reserved. The buttons, stalks etc. all feel nice and premium to use. It is a properly put together, high quality Hyundai cabin, with sorted ergonomics and everything is "in its place".

The India spec Tucson carries a dual tone black-beige interior. I prefer a proper black cabin.

Space & Comfort, front
My mom never sleeps in the car. She's extremely tensed on highway drives, and generally feels unsafe on the highway, which is understandable given the accident with my dad. I've actually never seen her doze off unless it's very late or she's very tired. On our first trip in the Tucson, she dozed off as soon as we touched the highway, and kept sleeping till we reached Delhi, about 100 kms away. She was in the front seat. I was quite happy to see that.




Tch tch, already getting dirty.

Space is where the car surprised me. It is quite a bit more spacious than I expected. The seats are nice and supportive. The driver's seat comes with 10 way electronic adjust, including under-thigh and lumbar support. The height adjust has a very healthy range. Even though they're quite nice, I wanted them to "hug" me more. I find my i20's seats more warm, though that could be because I'm just used to them from multiple years. The passenger seat is a regular, manual adjust seat. No lumbar, height adjust, or under thigh adjust. The front armrest doesn't slide or adjust for height, which is just weird. It is an arm rest. It needs to be where the arm would be, or it is useless. Thankfully, it finds its use for my seat settings. Also, it is about the only part which feels cheap. It is very light and feels like it could break, though it has no give as such. The pocket within is big enough and felt lined. I keep a full chewing gum bottle in the centre console and I never hear the tics, er.. tac. Shows how less of vibrations filter through to the cabin.

A useless bit: the sunglasses holder. Sunglasses tend to rattle inside. At first when I heard this rattle I went into a panic mode. "This loud a rattle in my brand new goddamn car??!!", I screamed within. Mercifully, it turned out to be the sunglasses. Now I'm using this pocket as a coin holder, and they rest inside nicely. No noise, and it keeps the cabin clean, so it has found some use after all.

The precise control of an electronically adjustable seat is hard to give up, once you get used to the fine, fine tuning. The only knack here is the lack of a memory function.

I like the steering low, but I've had to keep it a bit higher than lowest for two reasons. One, it blocks my view of the top part of the speedo cluster, and two, my legs hit the steering everytime I want to get in our out. But I have massive ( ) thighs so make of that what you will.

Headrests: Why are there headrests in the front seats, especially the driver's? I don't need to rest my head while driving, ever. I need neck support, and I have to get an ugly accessory for that, which I don't like, and it is fiddly. Anyway, this one feels very 'slotty' to move, in a very nice way. There's a three step adjust, a push for every step. They move to the next slot in a very high end, gear like manner. The movement feels proper, correct, precise. A weird thing to like, but every experience like this makes the car feel better overall.

Space & Comfort, rear
The back seat is very spacious. Again, surprisingly so. It reclines, and getting comfortable is very easy. The under thigh support is less than adequate. The leg room is great. The front seat backs are in plastic but that's almost never an issue. Both front seat backs get a storage net. The rear seat is a bit sunken, so you sit lower than in the front. The rear seat makes the Tucson an excellent highway cruiser. It's silent, spacious, and the seats are very accommodating.


I'm 5'9, but use more space than most 5'9-ers. When I sit behind my own position of the drivers seat in the 'test', or upright position, there's about 6 inches of legroom available. When I sit in the back seat like I usually sit, 'manspreading', there's enough space to fit a bag within.

The mid passenger seat belt needs a finicky mechanism for release, not unlike other three point seat belts for mid passengers in other cars. It might be a risky release in the event of an accident.

There's air con vents on the centre console which can be turned off, but there's no temperature control. There's a 12V socket in the boot, but none for the rear passengers.

Driving position, ergonomics, controls & MID
Like I've said, you'll find everything where it needs to be. Aided by the button controls on the seat, finding that driving position won't take time at all. The only thing that has bothered me is the position of the centre console. It is just that little bit too far away. While it is easy to operate functionally and you don't feel the distance because it is responsive and intuitive, trying to type an address or POI on it is a chore. The keyboard doesn't need to take 4 inches of screen estate. If it were smaller like on the phone, you won't have to move your arm and the typing would be faster. The screen is matt, and legibility isn't a concern at any time during the day. The brightness is adjusted automatically depending on the ambient light. A night mode comes on when it's dark out, like Google maps on the phone.

The MID shows information like DTE, trip info, settings, service interval and a digital speedo. Pretty standard stuff. The things I like are that everytime I switch off the car, a trip summary is shown with average FE. If you miss it, turn on the battery power without starting the car and while switching it off, it'll display the stats of the last trip again.

There are settings for number of lane change blinks, powered and smart tailgate, service interval, resetting the FE for every time you fill fuel, welcome sound etc. Switching off the smart tailgate is useful for when you hand over the car to the valet, public parkings or such situations.

The display is uncluttered, and very easy to read. The entire console goes all black, and kind of looks like a kid Darth Vader face (Like in the VW ad) when switched off.


"Pum pum padam pum pa dam.."


A proper side differentiation. The left side controls are used on the centre console, and centre console only. The right side controls are used on the MID, and other functions on the speedo console only.


The area looks like it was designed for the electronic parking brake only. A manual lever sticks out like a sore thumb. Heehee. Get it, sticks out? :P The second cup holder can accommodate regular 1L bottles, and so can the door pockets.


Auto up-down only for the driver. Jeez. Way to nickel & dime, H.


Pedals, scuff plates are ordinary. I expected metal, and backlit scuff plates. The '10 Hyundai Verna gets them.

Organ type 'go' pedal feels excellent to use. Nice w-i-d-e brake pedal and a perfect dead pedal. You'll be sorted to 'go' in no time.

Mirrors
No complaints on visibility or size for OVRMs. However, as is almost standard now, the IVRM isn't that useful because of the small-ish view. It is auto dimming and shows compass direction. I would like the option of having the rear view camera on all the time on the AVN. With the wide angle lens it can give a much better perspective of the road behind. I wonder why this option isn't available in any car.

Vanity mirrors are illuminated on both sides. You'll have to switch them on manually but they will shut when you shut the visors, you won't have to switch them off. The visors come with extenders. They feel pretty tight. No flimsiness at all. Driver's side gets a ticket holder.

AC
Since it's been cool temperatures throughout my ownership till now, I can't comment on this much, although I'd like to add that whatever little I used, it felt like it won't give me any cause for concern. All vents can be shut off completely. They give a nice tactile feedback at the end positions. Speed 3 is audible, in a total of 8(!) steps.


That u-g-l-y scratch was my mistake. Grrr..

Now, here's what I don't like about this already. The blower speed is controlled by buttons. Let me explain. Usually when I want to defog the windscreen and press the 'front defogger' button, no matter the previous setting on the climate control, the settings change to:

Fresh air
AC switches on
Air blows out of the 'windscreen' blower
The blower speed goes to 3

This bit irritates me. At three, it is audible. For me to change it to one everytime I have to do this is irritating enough, but having to look for and press a button is just frustrating. A knob I can find and turn it anti clockwise without looking. I have to look away from the road to look for the button.

Also, after I switch off the defogger button, the air setting remains on 'fresh' and the blower open remains the one next to the windshield, which causes, invariably, for the windscreen to fog again in some time. Uff.

The solution is to keep the ACC on to whatever setting I like, even unnecessarily, so that the auto defogger can come in momentarily, do its job, and get out without fiddling with the settings. It isn't the best, but the most convenient I've found so far. FWIW, the auto defogger works very well.


Everyone at the dealership shows this, the thing above the RVM, as the rain sensing wiper module. It isn't. This is the fog sensor for the windscreen. Works very well.

Audio system


4 speakers and 2 tweeters. No high end audio installation here, ala the Tucsons of US of A. The speakers are regular cone, but the audio quality is pretty good. Electronic music sounds like you won't need to upgrade the system. Some types of music leave you wanting for more depth, and I'm the sort of person who likes a big booming, crisp sound. My family hated me because I've fitted 'boom' boxes in the trunks of our already small cars, and yet I feel that the audio system in the Tucson will do nicely, atleast for now.


Front speaker.





There's a basic equalizer with bass, mid and treble settings only, and an advanced one, what Hyundai calls the "Arkamys sound mood". There's also a position setting where you can choose the place within the cabin where the sound will be optimised. I don't think this works very well and I've left it in the centre (default) even though most of the times I'm driving alone.


How the cabin looks at night with the cabin lights on;


and without

Storage
Boot space is less than expected, specially with the rear seats reclined. There's also an extendable luggage cover provided, but it remains mostly useless. It is too low for most things.


Officially the boot space is over 500 ltrs, but the usable space feels less. The international versions that come with a space saver spare tyre have a deeper boot.

Where the car lacks in a big way is cubby holes. There is no covered drawer anywhere in the cabin. I used to keep coins and whatevers in this small drawer in my i20; kept the cabin neat and tidy. Also, the glove box is too small for a car of this size. The i20 had a much larger and deeper glove box. Eh.

[ach1lles]

"What is most important in a dress is the woman who’s wearing it." - Yves Saint-Laurent.

185 BHP, 400Nm. 400 is my new favourite number

This one was an extremely pleasant surprise. In India, Hyundai recycles engines in siblings, and as a result usually it's the bigger car that ends up being overly underpowered. I half (or, let's be honest, more than half) expected Hyundai to provide Creta's engine in the Tucson, as they have done with the Verna and Elantra. They didn't, and I'm so glad.

Also, it's been a while where Hyundai's engines sound really good on paper but underperform on the road. Case in point, Verna's 120 odd BHP engine which should've made the Verna feel like a quick car. It doesn't. No such problems with this 2 litre boy. If Tucson came with the 1.6 diesel engine, I would've gone for the petrol. It would've been a good 4L less expensive on the road.

I absolutely love, love how quick this car is, especially since I'm coming from a petrol i20. 0-100 is done in less than 9 seconds in sport mode, and I believe this to be quicker that the Punto Abarth. Considering the car weighs over 1600 kilos, that's excellent performance.

Brutal acceleration aside, this car is also an excellent cruiser. 120 comes in at 2000 RPM. The speed is masked very well and most times I don't realise how fast I'm going unless I manage a glance of the speedo.

This is my first diesel car and I do have a few problems with it. Cold start up gives proper vibrations, albeit for a second, and the engine is quite loud on the outside. When pushed mildly, the groan is quite unlikeable. However, once it is on the road, the noise reduces and when pushed properly, the sound isn't offensive. Infact, it is even likeable. At idle slight vibrations do make it to the foot area for the rear passengers, though absolutely none anywhere else that I've tried to feel.

I don't like the turbo lag either. I can live with it, and mostly since peak torque comes in at 1700 RPM, it isn't that pronounced, it is still something that irks me every now and then. It's only about a second, but it is there and if you're inexperienced with this virtue of the engine, it can be tricky in India.

Transmission
Standard Hyundai fare, though it feels better tuned to the engine than Creta's transmission is to Creta's engine. I may be off here, I haven't driven the Creta too much and this may be just me getting used to this combination better. It can be a smooth cruiser, city run about all day, every day of the week. The only issue comes when you floor the pedal and the downshift, wether electronic, or manually commanded, takes a second. That's about the only gap I know of.

The lever feels nice to use, and manual mode is handy when you feel like it. I would've liked paddle shifters though I believe paddles deserve a quicker transmission. I've mentioned that I'm a bit of a gamer, and paddle shifters make me feel like a bad ass when trying to warp through traffic.

Sport mode really changes the response of the car. It just feels so much more eager. It's like a dog who asks you to take him for a walk by handing you his leash and gently tugging at your pants. Again, and again, and again.

NVH
In one word, excellent. Not much of any type of noise enters the cabin. It is quiet, comfortable, smooth and tight. Play some music even at low volume and you can forget that anything outside the car makes sound. Certain bumps are felt, and there's that odd thunk if the speed isn't low enough for a deep enough bump, which is most certainly due to the low profile tyres.

Mileage
I expected better. City, with an average speed of around 15 Kmph gives about 9 Km/L. Smooth highway drives go upto about 14. Combined I'm getting between 10-11 Km/L, depending on usage. MID's and manual tankful calculations are identical. That makes the average running cost about Rs 5.2 per km. Considering that the car carries 3 years of warranty and service compensated fully, barring any accidents and sharp rises in diesel prices, the total cost of running for the first three years should remain around Rs. 5 per km.


Range goes "----" after zero. I think about 50kms worth of fuel remains even after crossing this mark.


This will not go away unless you dismiss it yourself, on every start up, if the fuel is low.

Ride
A good mix of firm and plush. At certain angles, and at certain speeds the bumps 'jarr' into the cabin, but that's mostly it. Higher profile tyres would certainly help, though mostly all situations, unless the roads are very bad, are acceptable. I take the car through some atrocious roads, and complete non roads every day. I only fear that rattles might develop early though it's been quiet so far. I hope it stays that way.

Handling
This one is a proper crossover, and is very chuck-able once you get used to the size. It took me a while longer as I'd moved up from a small hatch, and I'm quite confident now on moving through traffic safely at decent speeds. The driver's seat gives a great view of the extremes of the car, and the car masks speeds very well. Mostly, even when friends have taken a drive, they're surprised to see the speedo even while driving themselves. Almost all reviews I've seen about the car praise it's handling.

I don't have much experience in driving a lot of cars but I can safely call this an enthusiast's car with the handling and power on tap. It is fun, quick, and it handles itself very well in most situations, fast and slow.

Steering
I mentioned in my test drive impressions that I felt the steering was small for the car, a thought which was echoed by my brother. It doesn't feel that small now, though I'd have preferred it to be a size bigger. Also, it is a great, chunky, very stiff piece to hold. Feels secure, the controls are logically laid out, and the horn is a deep note.

Brakes
About the only complaint I have with brakes is the brake pedal needs to be pressed deeper for the bite. This may be due to it being an automatic, and that since the brake pedal works as a 'clutch' as well as the brake, it needs to travel further. I don't know if that's true at all, or for this, or all automatics. There's a spongy feel to the pedal. Other than that, the brakes are great. If you slam 'em, the car loses speed quickly sans any drama.

Ground Clearance
Official GC is 172mm. I did an unscientific bottle test with this and the Creta, and it is certainly lesser by about an inch. However, there isn't one bump or hump I've come across that could make me feel that the Tucson won't clear it, and I do commute some atrocious roads.

[ach1lles]

Headlamps
I absolutely love, love the headlamps of the Tucson GLS. They look wicked cool, and they illuminate the road very well. I really like the fact that there's like a laser cut balance to the light, in that it flows forward at a single height, almost cutting the air in front. I'm unable to articulate this effect well enough, but this picture will show what I'm talking about.



The headlamps are also the most eye catching feature, and I see many people giving it a second glance, even in the day time.


My fav position, having the eyebrows and DRLs on during the day. Delicious.


Boomerangs

The auto function works very well. They come on a little too soon for my liking in that they come on when it isn't dark enough, though they are extremely quick to react. Enter a tunnel or covered parking space and they are quick to come on. The cornering feature is also something which makes quite a difference in my drives, when I didn't expect it to.


The oblique three piece lamp just ahead of the second barrel is the cornering lamp. It comes on when the steering is turned. Cornering lamps have a very healthy throw too.


In contrast, I don't like the tail lamps very much. They could've made them cleaner, sleeker, kind of like Fortuner's or Q3's or CLA's tail lamps. Those lines look amazing.

Push you in the back seat acceleration
I haven't yet gotten tired of this. I hope I never do. I will probably go for a remap in sometime, but for now, this much shove is enough. I love this feeling. I stopped myself from doing too much of this during the run in, till 2500 kms, which was quite difficult. This is quite addictive.

I've made a stupid video about this. I did not rev match before starting, and even though deserted, the road wasn't great. I'll try to find a better spot for this soon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vdpw...ature=youtu.be

Special Treatment
The service head of the dealership, as well as the sales head need to visit the owner's home with prior appointment on 15 days, 6 months and 18 months after purchase of the car. I infact told the guys to not bother, specially for the first visit after just 15 days, but they were adamant. Apparently they need to send pictorial proof to Hyundai of the visit. Honestly, I've found Hyundai's service excellent even with my 6 year old i20. This though takes it to another level altogether.

When they were home, and they came in full suit formal attire, they took their time and explained other service related things about the car, and good maintenance practices on the engine, tyres etc.

Turning Radius
Haha, yup. I don't think it needs more than my i20's space for a three point or a U turn. This was a pleasant surprise. I manoeuvre quite a bit in tight roads and this comes in really handy. Another one of those small things which make the daily drive that much better.

Sport mode
I usually don't bother with Eco as normal is smooth enough for local runabouts. Sport turns the car into something special. I usually use this mode on the highways and overtaking is a piece of cake. Not only does it hold the revs, the response lag is minimised by a large extent. It is just so much fun to be in this mode and feel the car move about, responding to my commands, and making light weight of them.

[ach1lles]

• Parked: You need to be in the P position to operate many things, including the MID settings, open the tailgate, change somethings in the AVN console etc. So it doesn't matter if I'm at the traffic signal in auto hold mode, or the parking brake is on and the car is in N, it needs to be "Parked". Annoying. On the flip side, the car will move even if the tailgate is open without any additional warning.
  
• Can't switch the display of the AVN off completely: At best you can go to this clock. Though it appears blackish here, it's a well lit dark blue. Sometimes I wish to switch it off completely. Can't.
  
  
• Rear bumper gets dirty: the rear bumper, which is right next to the loading bay, gets dusty. It interferes with the accessibility, and I wish for it to be wither lower, or, rather, for the height gap between the loading bay and the bumper to be larger. Alternatively, it could finish at an angle.
  
• Unfleshed boot: Annoyingly, there's no set space for the tool pouch and the hazard triangle pouch. I either fit them within the alloy cavity, or they stick using velcro on the boot floor cover itself.
  
• Park brake release: The brake pedal needs to be pressed, even if the car is stationary. The park brake won't release and you'll be fiddling with it like a buffoon till you realise that the brake pedal needs to be depressed for the parking brake to release. This happened to me more times that I'm happy to admit.
  
• The front centre arm rest and the door arm rest are at slightly different levels, height wise. Oh, why? Why?
  
• For all its usefulness, the powered tailgate moves slowly. If you have to stand there and wait for it to open many times, it will get annoying.

AVN
Though quite competent on its own, there are a bunch of software quirks that annoy me almost every single day.

• Interface lag: The Tucson is a one second car. Allow me to explain. Every single responsive bit in the car has about a one second lag. The acceleration, especially in normal mode, and about every single thing on the AVN when done for the first time, every time. Bring up the call list? Wait one second. Bluetooth connection on start up? Gap. Change a few songs sequentially? Lag. Honestly though, this isn't that bad. I can live with this, though it is incredible to me in 2017.
  
• Bluetooth connection: Bluetooth connection with my iPhone works very well. However, the problem is it doesn't give me two things for it to be a complete, full solution. One, it doesn't give me a list of songs in the playlist. Two, it doesn't allow me to scrub forward or back. Three, Siri is completely shut off. Not only from the steering mounted dedicated button, I can't even access Siri from the phone itself. When I try to activate Siri from the phone using the home button, the phone just gets stuck in this "listening" mode, without listening, or acting up on any command. This is most certainly due to how the Tucson AVN shows itself to the phone because I've had other bluetooth headsets where Siri works very well. Why is Siri important? Calling. I can just say the name of the person I wish to call and more often than not, Siri gets it. This is very convenient while driving. On the other hand, calls etc. using bluetooth work very well. So I guess the AVN activates the 'mic' function only during call transactions.
  
• CarPlay: Hoo boy. They (Apple, Hyundai, or both) blew it big time here. The only good part about using CarPlay is Siri. Here are the annoying bits. The first and the biggest, is it is wired. I understand this. It has to be wired because the actual computations and software are running on the phone itself, and the AVN is merely a display. However, this is no excuse. Apple needed to have this be wireless from the start. If my battery drops too low, I can use the wire. I shouldn't have to. Two, on bluetooth, when I press the dial button on the steering, it brings up the call list. On CarPlay, it does nothing but tell me to use either Siri or on screen controls. I have to jump through four button presses to reach the call list which is absurd:
  

  • Tap the iOS home button on the AVN
  • Tap the Phone app which again activates Siri
  • Dismiss Siri by tapping "show contacts", which then opens the favourites
  • Tap recents

  
  The Siri button
  
  Even here, I can't use the steering controls to scroll through the list. Interface stupidity to its max. Then there's no music list here too. If I tell Siri to show me the recents, she'll tell me she can't do that while I'm in the car. "Why you little.."
  
  If I had to make a choice, I'd choose the bluetooth connection with Siri capability. That would be most convenient. CarPlay in its current for just has too many UX gaps.

[ach1lles]

The car has changed me.

I generally take care of most things I choose. My choice stamps that thing with my approval. In that, everything I own is a reflection of who I am, or was in that time. My self appreciates when things are taken care of, just ask my sneakers . However, given my history with cars, I never learned to take care of them. There was really no thought given to maintenance, upkeep, cleanliness, carefulness. It was total “chalta hai” attitude. Not this time.

Even before we received her, I remembered to carry two microfibre cloths and a Jopasu duster to the dealership. For sometime, everything that went into the boot was wiped by the hand duster. There was nothing kept on those pristine seats. The exterior was wiped twice a day with the duster. I did the first few washes myself. This was, after all, my precious My mum found it amusing.

A week after getting her, I took her to 3M. Got the full body paint protection thingy and PPF (scratch-guard like film) applied on the bumpers, the ORVMs, and behind the handles and door edges. Mostly, you won't notice the film unless you know what to look for, except on the door edges. I was quite happy with the job.


They really bought out the best in the car.

I got matt black film put on the outside of front door pockets, as I felt that those would get badly scratched in regular use. Also that plastic feel was annoying. I got this idea from mjumrani's friend's write up on another forum. I also got 3M Nomad mats for the front foot areas.

I have my eyes set on a half body exterior wrap blue (like the blue in the picture in an earlier post above) wrap but that's probably not going on for another year.

For now, I have a bucket with a car wash, a waterless car wash, three microfibre cloths, including one from Meguiar, a wax, a tyre treatment spray that works well on the cladding, and a glass cleaner. Side note, the one from Meguiar is so much superior to the ones from 3M, I'm not even considering buying another 3M MF cloth for this car.

[ach1lles]

This thread is intended as an intro thread as well. You can know more about me through this thread than any intro thread I could or would have typed. All pictures have been taken from my iPhone 7. None have been processed, though a couple of them have been enhanced.

I probably would have put this off for completion for another week or so, as this doesn't even come close to GTO's 530d review in detail, but I realised that it is beyond my bandwidth for now to reach that level, and I just read that this is Team-BHP's 13th birthday so I wanted to get this out today. I humbly present my first thread to this forum as a very small token of my appreciation. I hope it is useful for the members here, as it is for me.

Happy Birthday, Team-BHP.

[Aditya]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Initial Ownership Section. Thanks for sharing!

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by ach1lles

I just read that this is Team-BHP's 13th birthday so I wanted to get this out today. I humbly present my first thread to this forum as a very small token of my appreciation. I hope it is useful for the members here, as it is for me.

Happy Birthday, Team-BHP.

Happy Birthday, indeed. Team-BHP official reviews remain the benchmark for professional, transparent, detailed and objective reviews which are part of mainstream media and yes, I believe we as a forum have become mainstream media a long while back. Written words have an impact unlike any other and TBHP was largely responsible for such style of reviews for the Indian automobile scene.

However, I do not expect member/BHPian reviews to be the same as official reviews, here there is scope for expressing one's preferences, emotions and perhaps the flurry of activities that lead to the search, decision and final purchase of a vehicle. It's a highly entertaining read on its own just as this review is and a little bit of favoritism and excitement makes it all the more better since it's basically, honesty.

A much required owner-review of the Tucson, its natural to be babying this car and taking as much care of it as possible, it sure didn't come cheap. Still I'd say this presents terrific value for money and as you already know, most Hyundais give effortless reliability and (if careful) decent service experience and before you know it years would've flown by and the car still remains the same to drive and experience each day, that's the true magic of the brand. I feel simplicity is the essence of life, so I quite like the interiors, I prefer the new age interiors over what they used to do before simply because its more logical and more car-like.

Great car without doubt, and a great review to boot (pun fully intended).