[pms]

Congratulations, vehicle looks absolutely elegant. Its one SUV that feels car like to drive, good rear seat space, big boot and has all the necessary features. It looks gorgeous and proportionate from all angles. A 360 cam would have been great, but again it manages that with front parking sensors.

Would love to hear your views on ground clearance when fully loaded especially on the humps of BLR that comes in all sizes & shapes.

Also would love to know the NVH and stability of Tucson at speeds of 120-140 Kmph. Does it feel planted?

[Deepu Sharma]

Originally Posted by QuadraticAmoeba

Looks gorgeous! I too will do some kind of coating in the next week or two. Did you change your tyres immediately after buying the car?

yes i got them changed before i took delivery to get the full value of the oe nexen. Did not have a good experience of Nexen on my previous car which was an elantra.

[narula123]

Congratulations on picking up a very sensible but under-rated car. In the sea of expensive Ladder-on-frame SUVs and the cheaper crossovers, the Tucson ends up getting lost as a lone ranger.
The Tucson is on my mind as a possible successor to my XUV but having seen the latest generation of Tucson showcased abroad I am willing to wait a bit for it thought it may sadly lose out on Diesel options.

[QuadraticAmoeba]

Originally Posted by pms

Would love to hear your views on ground clearance when fully loaded especially on the humps of BLR that comes in all sizes & shapes.

Also would love to know the NVH and stability of Tucson at speeds of 120-140 Kmph. Does it feel planted?

Ground clearance is fine so far. I tend to slow down almost to a stop and go over humps at a crawl. With this approach, I have conquered all the crazy humps of Bangalore! (I am sure the BBMP will punish my arrogance by making crazier humps).

The NVH is very good at 100-120, you can switch off any music and just enjoy the muted road noise. Haven’t had a chance to go higher yet. Drove to Chennai through pouring rain and wet roads (thanks to cyclone Nivar) and the car was very stable. Note that I didn’t exceed 60-70 in the heavy rain because visibility was poor. The car skids a little bit when going through puddles but it never feels like you are going to lose control. Possibly some electronics at work. After Walajah, the road is apparently made out of salt, because lots of patches dissolved in the rain. The car took us through all the potholes without any complaints.

[Liverpool]

Welcome to the Tucson club!! It is a fantastic car. I did a Guwahati Bangalore Ganesgudi Bangalore Guwahati (7300kms ) trip last September. Fuel consumption is pretty decent. 35k in all fuel expenses. I used cruise control. I have observed that fuel consumption reduces using the feature. Apart from that, the car is supremely comfortable. 800+ kms in one single day isn't much tiresome.

This is a smart choice. Is the sunroof standard across all the range now?
Wishing you miles of safe and fun-filled driving.

[knrn]

Very few tucsons out here. I am glad you bought one. This is the car to buy in india. Hyundai service outreach and if I may say so BMW like manners and quality. I had a really good time reading it. Wishing you a blissful ownership with this beauty.

[QuadraticAmoeba]

Originally Posted by Liverpool

I did a Guwahati Bangalore Ganesgudi Bangalore Guwahati (7300kms ) trip last September.

Oh wow, that sounds amazing! You should write a travelogue about it, I would love to read something like that.

Originally Posted by Liverpool

Is the sunroof standard across all the range now?

Yes, it comes as standard now.

[QuadraticAmoeba]

Hello all, we just did our first long distance trip driving a car. I have to say, we really enjoyed it. Previously, I was such a city dweller that I used my car strictly within the city and commuted even to nearby cities via train mostly. With our new car, however, we wanted to check out driving. Here is a short write-up of our experiences.

First, preparation: I planned to drive to Chennai and back (from Bangalore). The idea was to visit relatives and so stay and food were both taken care of. Team-BHP has an excellent route queries section and some kind folks (thanks varunasok) helped me with places to stop in and so on. I plotted the route on Google maps. My wife and I had applied leave and my mother was also to join in - so it would be the three of us. My mother planned to make breakfast and coffee for the journey to avoid eating outside. I made sure that the FASTag was charged and that we had sufficient fuel for the car.

The only wrinkle in the journey was cyclone Nivar. I read through all the newspaper articles, contacted my relatives and so on. Our best assessment was that it would be ok to drive on Thursday morning since the cyclone would have made landfall on Wednesday night.

We started at 6 am on Thursday morning and set off. The first segment was from Bangalore to Hotel Murugan Idly Shop near Krishnagiri. The drive was pleasant. There was some traffic but not too much. It was raining a little and also a bit gloomy. The rain got progressively heavier as we neared Krishnagiri. We reached the parking of Murugan Idly shop by 7:50 or so. Had our upma and coffee in the parking lot itself.

We started off at about 8:15 with good spirits. Listening to some good music and singing along, we noticed that the weather was very nice - no rain at all! The roads were almost empty and the scenery on both sides was amazing. Suddenly I realized that the "trusty" Google maps directions were not coming on the screen. After a few minutes, we "debugged" the reason for the nice weather - we were driving in the wrong direction - towards Salem! Somehow the map was turned off and we didn't realize it. After a good laugh, we put in the next stop (Adyar Anand Bhavan at Vellore) and turned around.

This segment was interesting. Shortly after passing Krishnagiri, the rain started to come down in torrents. Visibility was terrible and there were puddles on the roads everywhere. The spray from other vehicles (even from the opposite side) would cover the windshield for a second or two until the wipers coped. The sky was overcast and it was like twilight. We even saw some vehicles driving with no lights at all - it was both mystifying and scary. I was quite happy being in a modern, working car. The lights came on automatically, allowing others to see me. The auto-sensing wipers did their job, they would furiously speed up whenever we got hit by water from a puddle or another vehicle and slow down in between. The rear wipers also have two speeds, but that's manually controlled. The car never felt like it was going to skid out of control, even when going through some big puddles of water. I did drive at a slower speed of 60-70 kmph, in deference to the poor visibility and heavy rain. My dear wife also helped by being an additional pair of eyes on the road and would warn me of vehicles ahead, obstacles / u-turns coming up and so on.

Driving in the rain

We made it to Vellore but then realized that we must have picked the wrong Adyar Anand Bhavan - Google maps was asking us to take a U-turn and go into the town. I decided to just press on. Luckily, there was a BP petrol bunk on the left a short distance later. I parked in there, ran to the toilet and took care of my business. This was at about 11 am. Drank a little more coffee and then set off for Chennai.

A short while later, the rain tapered off. Soon it was just drizzling. We got to experience the sad roads from Walajah to Chennai, filled with potholes and road diversions. We joked that the roads must have been paved with salt and the unexpected rain had dissolved many parts. The drive to Chennai was uneventful - there was very little traffic throughout, thanks to the cyclone. I did stop at a Shell petrol bunk in Chennai to refuel, to avoid searching for fuel on the return journey. We made it home by 1:30pm - a little tired but very happy.

I noticed (a little late, I know) that I have grown older. My shoulders were stiff and my right wrist hurt. The wrist pain was unexpected. I think it was a consequence of trying out Sport mode with the stiffened steering from Walajah to Chennai. My back, surprisingly, did not hurt. I guess the seating position was fine.

We took 7.5 hours with three stops and one unexpected detour. I tried not to exceed 80 kmph. This was helped by the speed warning chime as well as the potholes after Wallajah.

The 373km drive gave me a surprising fuel economy of 20.4 kmpl.


After resting and visiting relatives on Friday, we started off early on Saturday morning. I wanted to leave as early as possible to avoid traffic in Chennai and nearby areas, so we managed to shave off an entire 10 minutes on our starting time and left at 5:50 am.

The first segment was to the Murugan Idly shop in Kanchipuram. There was traffic all along but it wasn't too bad. Interestingly, the road had much less potholes and was easier to drive on than the opposite side. We reached by 7:45 am. Had our packed idly and coffee in the parking lot and set off for Krishnagiri by 8:15.

This part of the drive was quite nice. The weather was getting hotter, so we closed the sunroof. There was traffic but not too much. The only fun part was the many idiots on the the road. Or maybe they are all smart and I'm the idiot here. Let me explain.

I would try and be slower and ready with my foot on the brake for every intersection / U-turn / barricade. I would try not to overtake at a crazy speed nor would I cut in front of a vehicle that was about to overtake another one. I would prefer not to overtake with no visibility, be it if the road were going up (hence can't see over the rise) or turning to the left. A few folks were driving very fast and it seems that all the above rules are only for idiots like me. Or maybe they were all testing their brakes and doing a scientific study on the reflexes of other drivers. I gave them plenty of space and let them zoom away.

One T-BHPian had asked me about the stability of the car at 120-140kmph. I finally found a long and empty straight stretch where I could speed up. I started to accelerate and go faster and faster... and my wife asked me to slow down since she wanted to take a video of the scenery and the 120kmph continuous warning chime was irritating her. Car testing vs. wife - wife wins. The only data I could gather is probably true for most modern cars - the engine is very smooth and it's easy to speed up.

Chennai to Bangalore Greenery

We reached closer to Krishnagiri and I was feeling quite good - no wrist or any pain, so decided to press on. Somewhere in between, we stopped for a few minutes at a petrol bunk for a download and some coffee. The segment from Krishnagiri to Attibele had much heavier traffic. More scary drivers on this stretch but I just ignored them and let them all get ahead of me or cut in front. We were still making good time, or so we thought.

Eventually, the good drive came to an end and we entered Karnataka. The Attibele checkpost was jammed, the Electronics city elevated expressway was jammed, Hosur road was jammed... Bangalore is hereby renamed the Jam City instead of the Garden City.

Stopped at a relative's house off Hosur Road to hand off some parcels and had a long and painful drive through the entire city to my parents' home in North Bangalore. Lucky for me, my wife took over and tackled this part. Lunch at my parents' home, a siesta and then back home by 5:45 in the evening. God bless wives who can drive in the city without getting irritated. Looking forward to the day when we can both alternate on the highways.

All in all, a 12 hour journey out of which about 9 hours were spent driving. I estimate about 6.5 hours on so on the highway and 2.5 hours in the city. I mostly drove at 80-100 kmph and only exceeded this speed once. This time, I did not turn on sport mode. Not sure if this was the reason or not, but I had no wrist pain whatsoever on the return journey.

A 385km drive gave us a fuel economy of 17.8kmpl.


This was our small trip with a good car, nice roads and delightful company. I hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as we enjoyed the drive.

PS: my wife makes for an interesting DJ. We listened to songs in Chinese, Russian, Korean, Turkish, English, Hindi and Tamil. I agreed not to inflict my favourite old Kannada songs on her in exchange for not being subject to Marathi songs.

[Artyom]

Tuscon being the bigger brother to Creta I am not surprised that comfort and no fatigue were evident.
I did a 1300 Km trip from Bangalore to Punjab in 2 stretches of 16 hours and 19 hours drive straight and didn't feel any fatigue. Tuscon being heavier with a bigger engine sill surely bring a smile to your face.

[QuadraticAmoeba]

Updates: did the first free service on the car @ 1400km. Did a lot of driving in some excellent weather.

I called up the SA to book an early slot, he asked me to come by 9:30 am and gave me the contact of a service advisor. The next day, I look my car to the Trident Hyundai showroom / service station at 9:30 am. The service advisor was there and he said that the service would take 3 hours. Nothing would would be changed, just some general checks. Total charges would be about Rs. 270 for sanitization. I asked if I could watch the servicing and they said it was not permitted.

I settled in for a long wait, but luckily, my SA showed up! I took advantage of that and sneaked into their basement servicing area. There, I got to see, for the first time ever (yes, I'm bad - in almost 20 years of owning a car, I have never actually seen anyone work on it. Thanks to Team BHP for making me more interested in the details), what happens during a service.

It was.. underwhelming. Bangalore apparently does not allow service centres to clean cars with water, so a variety of liquids were sprayed on all surfaces and the car wiped clean. Something was even sprayed on the outside of the wheels to make them more black. Hopefully all of this stuff doesn't damage the car.

Later, an actual technician showed up to inspect the car. I requested him to teach me what he did so I can also learn the basics. He was very nice (thank you, Master Technician Ramesh) and actually hoisted up the car just to show me the underbody and point out various parts.



He then proceeded to check (with explanations) the washer fluid, coolant, brake fluid, engine oil level and air filter. I requested him to check the A/C filter also. Both filters were removed and cleaned using pressurized air. The fuel filter is located at the bottom of the engine bay and is not so easy to reach. It will be checked at the next service.



All the levels were ok and the washer fluid was topped up. The technician taught me how to read the levels and told me that I could just check these things by myself every once in a while.

Next, a tablet running some special software was brought in and connected to the car. There was one fault (airbag something) that they cleared. I asked them about it and they said that it was an old fault. Any current faults will show up in the MID as a warning light, and so this is not a problem.

The car then came back to the ground floor for some exterior cleaning. Finally, all was done and the car was ready in three hours as they promised. To my delight, the service advisor waived off the sanitization charges and I could simply drive the car away. He did warn me about some brake noise and told me to ignore it.

I did not really understand what he meant when he said it (possibly not paying attention due to being distracted by the shiny car).



On the way home, I stopped at a signal using Auto Hold and the car started to give this loud grinding noise! I got a shock and then calmed down when I realized that this is what the advisor was referring to. I am still not sure why this happened but it went away after a day or so.

That's the story of the first free service. No problems so far.

Armed with a lot of enthusiasm, I later checked out the TUSA tyre inflator I bought. After some fiddling around, I managed to get it to work and top up the one tyre that was slightly under-inflated. I was more excited that I could do some basic maintenance on the car by myself.

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by QuadraticAmoeba

On the way home, I stopped at a signal using Auto Hold and the car started to give this loud grinding noise! I got a shock and then calmed down when I realized that this is what the advisor was referring to. I am still not sure why this happened but it went away after a day or so.

The sound from brakes will be there for a day since they have been cleaned and its more like squeaky clean surfaces making sound. After that they are no longer squeaky clean so the sound goes away.

[QuadraticAmoeba]

Did a few long trips, really enjoying the car. Below are some notes and pictures.

Dear Mods: I am not sure if I should create new threads for these - for now, I am posting it here. Please move to a new thread / section as appropriate.

Last week, I wanted to meet an old friend and catch up over tea. He had an unexpected holiday and I had some free time, so we decided to take a drive.

We took a drive to Lepakshi and spent a wonderful morning going around. The weather was very nice (thanks to another depression in the Bay of Bengal), there was not much traffic and the roads were pretty good (except for a couple of small stretches near Lepakshi).



We first visited the Garuda sculpture. There was no crowd (it being a weekday and threatening to rain at any time). We climbed up to the top and enjoyed the nice breeze and view. My friend remarked that it was a pleasant surprise to see all this green - normally this area does not get much rain and everything is more brown. It seems that cyclone Nivar and it's successor have helped bring much rain to these parts.



View from the top:


We then visited the monolithic Nandi sculpture. There was also a very nice pond there and we spent some time soaking in the atmosphere and just chatting.





We then visited the Lepakshi temple. It's an old stone temple that is very beautiful and peaceful. You can see the effort that the builders of old put it - every pillar and roof has carvings and paintings. I do wish the temple was better maintained, some of the sculptures are beginning to fade.





On the way back, it started to drizzle. We stopped at Swagath hotel near the Karnataka border for a quick idly-vada. They had tables outside to sit and eat, so we felt safe eating there itself.





Once we entered Bangalore, the traffic started to increase, but it was still manageable. All in all, it was a fun day out.



My friend drove the car on the way back and he loved it too. We enjoyed the quiet cabin and smooth ride.

[mankuthimma]

Originally Posted by QuadraticAmoeba

The only fun part was the many idiots on the the road. Or maybe they are all smart and I'm the idiot here. Let me explain.

I would try and be slower and ready with my foot on the brake for every intersection / U-turn / barricade. I would try not to overtake at a crazy speed nor would I cut in front of a vehicle that was about to overtake another one. I would prefer not to overtake with no visibility, be it if the road were going up (hence can't see over the rise) or turning to the left. A few folks were driving very fast and it seems that all the above rules are only for idiots like me. Or maybe they were all testing their brakes and doing a scientific study on the reflexes of other drivers. I gave them plenty of space and let them zoom away.

Thanks ! I am so glad to know that I am not alone who drives cautiously this way ! And yeah the same feeling whether is there anything wrong driving safely at moderate speeds!! while rest of the world is trying to save every micro second of their life by trying all the antics on the road.
Best thing to do is give way and let these impatient drivers disappear from my vicinity while I enjoy my driving the way I like it. More often than not, I would end up behind these drivers at the next hump/barricade or the next toll gate. So what was this hurry all for ?? I only wish that they have such impatience and speed in achieving success and happiness in other walks of their life and move on!

btw, very well written ownership log in simple words! Wishing you many more years and miles of happy and safe ownership of the car !

[QuadraticAmoeba]

Some updates over the past few weeks:

- got PPF and ceramic coating done on my car (will update with details in a separate post). The car looks amazing and is easier to clean now. Hopefully, it will retain its good looks for a long time. Here is a pic of the car getting a nice wash on Christmas:



- got a 70mai Smart Pro GPS dashcam and installed it. It seems to be working and taking some pictures and videos. I will need to play with it further to check it out. Here is a picture from the dashcam (using the "take picture" voice command):



- found a screw in a tyre and got it fixed. After our Trichy trip, the next day, the TPMS gave a warning on one tyre. I thought it was just low air and filled up the tyre. The next day, it again gave a warning - so it was a slow leak. Took it to Sai Iyengar Tyres in Indiranagar who found a screw in the tyre and fixed it in about 10 minutes. Luckily the screw was easy to find and didn't need the tyre to be removed. Hopefully this won't be a problem long term.





- wanted to get the engine oil changed but apparently Motul and Liqui Moly both don't have ACEA C2/C3 oil available in Bangalore right now. Not sure if it's safe to buy from Amazon. Would appreciate some advice here.

- found out that my family really likes the boot space. It's hard to see in the picture but there are two levels of bags, both vertical and horizontal. This is all just inside the city, transporting items for some function.



- met a fellow Tucson owner and learned some interesting things. This person had bought a manual transmission diesel Tucson in 2018, in Orissa. Since then, he has driven about 48000 km (!!). He said that he liked the ride quality, acceleration and high speed stability of the car, esp. in sport mode. On enquiring further, he said speeds of 160-180 kmph were fine and he was confident even when taking curves. At 210kmph or so, he thought the car would struggle a bit. This was all very thrilling, especially since I am not likely to ever experience such speeds in a car. I am not even sure if such roads exist anywhere near Bangalore, since I have driven through many of the highways nearby and they do have decent amount of traffic, even in these coronavirus times. This is, of course, not mentioning the potholes.

He did talk about something that might be more relevant to fellow Tucson owners. An ABS sensor had gone bad (perhaps due to all the high speed driving) and he was waiting for the replacement from the Hyundai service centre. Apparently, it takes a month or two for the part to arrive from Korea. Perils of buying a CKD, I suppose. Other than that, no issues whatsoever in 2+ years and 48000 km, which was reassuring to hear.

- finally, did a lot of driving:

• Drive to Trichy and back. This trip was notable for a few things. I found Sport Mode to be awesome on the single lane Namakkal-Trichy stretch. The car just leaps when you hit the accelerator and overtaking is a breeze. I also found that doing two 6-7 hour trips on back-to-back days plays havoc with my back and neck. Conclusion: I am not that young anymore. Also, need to get my wife to start driving on the highways.
  
  
  
• Drive to Shravanabelagola and back. This was the first trip where it was hot. Previously, we had only seen rain and cold weather. The sunroof and the A/C fought with each other and the A/C won. The tinted glass surely helped. Also, my wife drove for some part of the way and she really enjoyed it. I was (like all husbands?) equal parts terrified and proud.
  
  
  
• Went to Mulbagal to have a dosa at Lakshmi Tiffin Centre. The weather was cold once again, but the dosa was just awesome.
  
  
  
• Drove to the KIA factory, inspired by fellow T-BHPian ashis89. Found the masala dosa at Nandi Upachar to be pretty good.
  
  Hello KIA, this is your cousin Hyundai visiting you:
  
  
• Went to Lepakshi again with my wife. Stopped for a dosa at Nandi Upachar again (yes, I am a dosa lover). It was cold and foggy early in the morning, but the weather brightened up later. My wife drove on the way back and it was the first time she drove at 100+. My blood pressure showed a close correlation with the speed of the car. One perk of not being the driver - I can be the DJ and choose music that I like. Some old Kannada songs followed.
  
  
  

3900+km up, taking advantage of the holidays.


Safe driving and a happy new year to all.

[ashis89]

Tucson has always stole my attention and a black one is too irresistible! Very happy to note that you are enjoying the drives and so is your family

Originally Posted by QuadraticAmoeba

I also found that doing two 6-7 hour trips on back-to-back days plays havoc with my back and neck. Conclusion: I am not that young anymore. Also, need to get my wife to start driving on the highways.

I had the very same experience the very first time me and my wife went on a 550 km drive with 2 day old car. 200 kms in the trip, both of us started experiencing lower back pains! I started questioning my decision to buy the car. Right then there were a convoy of slow moving trucks. I got an opening and punched the accelerator as I had been doing the past 200 kms to enjoy the acceleration and I experience that pain in same spot in my back. That's when I realised the culprit

Since then I drive rather sedately on my long drives and we both have been at ease. Recently we had do a non-stop 1250 km and we managed rather well

[*]Drove to the KIA factory, inspired by fellow T-BHPian ashis89. Found the masala dosa at Nandi Upachar to be pretty good.

Hello KIA, this is your cousin Hyundai visiting you:
Attachment 2097426

Safe driving and a happy new year to all.

Thanks for your note! The Bangalore Hyderabad road is a joy to drive on, especially if you start early in the day when there's no traffic at all.