1 YEAR 31000 KMS UPDATE
So, after almost 1 year and covering around 31000kms in the Tucson, the ownership experience of the car has been pretty mixed due to some niggles came up which i will discuss in a bit, however the drive experience with this car has been phenomenal. The engine and gearbox combination of this car certainly is the best in the segment.
Drive:
The car has covered around 31000 kms and will be covering another 1000 kms as i write this post. My drive has been on the higher side considering covering 30k + kms within 1 year of ownership.
My friends know that i am a light footed driver most of the time until my ego is provoked by less powerful cars like harrier, jeep compass etc honking and flashing lights on me. A full pedal to metal input on this car makes these cars disappear in my rear view mirror, such is the engine response from the 2L engine, ofcourse i dont try to mess with skoda karoq or VW Troc in pedal to metal inputs as those cars will certainly be faster off the line.
You can cruise around 110 kmph all day long without a hint of fatigueness. But yes, those speed warnings at 80 kmph and 120kmph has become quite annoying day by day. Anyway to disable them ??
I have covered most states of north and east india viz Assam, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Odhisha, Delhi, J & K and Ladakh with the tucson and i dont mind driving these places again and again with this car.
Service
The Tucson requires first service in 1500 kms, next at 10k kms and thereafter every 10k kms. With the 30k kms maintenance package the tucson came with, the car has been easy on the pocket. Most of the consumables were free (except DEF) during the service.
1st service cost at 1.5k kms : 0 /-
2nd service cost at 10k kms : 789 /-
3rd service cost at 20k kms : 2253/-
4th service cost at 30k kms : 1550 /-
Now that the maintenence package of this car has expired, the real ownership cost experience will only be realised after 40k kms service. Please note that 14L DEF last around 7500 kms as per my driving conditions.
Service experience
My overall service experience has been good with Hyundai. You get a service advisor as soon as you drive your car into the service station. My SA told me they have kept special service advisor for premium hyundai cars like elantra and tucson which i believe is true. All your queries and issues are dealt in time or atleast they try to resolve as early as possible. Being driven in multiple states in last one year, my car has been driven into various hyundai service centers and the treatment has been more or less similar.
Niggles
The 1 year ownership hasn't been a fuss free for me and i had quite a bit of niggles with the car including a major one.
1) Issues with the exhaust system : During my trip tp Leh - Ladakh, the car kept on showing DPF clog warning on the instrument cluster. I somehow managed to regenerate the DPF driving above 2k rpm but it used to get clog again while driving through high mountain passes. This cycle continued till we completed the entire mountainous circuit. More can be read about the issue in the link here.
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...ai-tucson.html (Assam To Ladakh in a Hyundai Tucson)
Upon completing the journey, the car was sent for wheel alignment at hyundai service center where this issue popped up again. This time the DPF light was flashing. Clueless about the issue, the SA had to call Hyundai Engineers to diagnose the problem. Initially it was thought that the DPF was fully clogged but that was not the case. The car was kept for 7 days at service center during this period. At this time, the car had covered just about 25k kms.
Upon checking by Hyundai Engineers, it was concluded that the Catalytic convertor was faulty and needs a replacement. However the part needed to be ordered which took full 45days to arrive at the service station. While i understand that any part may fail but waiting for 45 days for a part replacement is not at all acceptable given the car is still on production. I had escalated the issue to senior hyundai officials, they acknowledged the problem but couldnt do much to source the part sooner. For your information, the part was replaced for free since the car is under warranty, however it cost around 2L when i enquired with the SA.
Upon asking why a catalytic convertor failed just under 30k kms of ownership, the SA had admitted to using wrong engine oil during the 3rd service which might have caused the Catalytic convertor to fail. They had used BS4 engine oil instead of using BS6 engine oil which led to failure of the catalytic convertor. Recieved the car after 45 days of waiting. Very disheartening indeed !
Check Exhaust System warning on instrument cluster
2) Rattles from the sunroof : This is something which is there from the very first day of ownership, couldn't find a Permanent solution to it as of now. The rattles occur when i keep the sunshade open and the sunroof closed. The rattle would go away when both the sunroof and sunshade is closed or open simultaneously. The only temporary solution to this rattle is to apply silicon gel spray on the hinges and joints in the sunroof after a regular interval.
Please note that the rattle is not that intense and wont be heard if you play music on the excellent 8 speaker infinity sound system in the Tucson.
3) Alignment issue : The car had a tendency to pull towards the left side. This issue started only after 2nd service at 10k kms. I had to take the car to service center numerous times to get it resolved. Even the SA were also clueless regarding this. A brief discussion with a Hyundai engineer concluded that while doing wheel alignment, three parameters needs to be calibrated which are wheel speed sensor, steering sensor and gravity sensor. It was found that the gravity sensor was not calibrated during the alignment process and hence the car kept pulling to the left.
Now the car drives arrow straight after calibration of all the three parameters. If you own a Tucson, please dont make the mistake of doing wheel alignment from outside alignment shop as they may not have the necessary scanning tools to recalibrated the sensors.
4) Exhaust pipe detached from the mufler at 30k kms : One fine day while reversing i heard a strange sound coming from the rear of the car, upon observing, i noticed that the exhaust pipe had detached from the muffler. Immediately called the SA, car was taken from my home and they welded the pipe with the muffler returned the car the same day. I suspect poor hyundai QC behind this problem.
Poor weld quality by Hyundai
Verdict
Leaving aside the niggles, i had no other problems with the car. Be it fuel efficiency or driving dynamics. The car returns 12kmpl in city and around 22kmpl in highways, did i say i am a light footed driver ?
I usually keep cars for more than 5 years but i dont think i would like to keep the tucson for that long. I will look forward to sell the car off once the warranty expires (5 years/140000kms) . The Tucson may be Hyundai, but parts are expensive and may take a decade to arrive in your nearest service center. Also the technicians are not very well trained to deal with major issues with this car. I think Hyundai India need to raise their shocks to set foot in premium segment in India.
Now some pictures.
30K kms on the ODO
Tucson gets a very advanced TPMS
At Chandubi, Assam
At Jispa, Himachal Pradesh
At Siachen Base Camp, Ladakh
NH327, Bihar
The Halogen fog lamps works very well in foggy situation, LED Headlmaps are utterly useless in fog however they are excellent under normal condition
Somewhere in Jharkhand
Tucson shares garage with his older sister Elantra
That's all for now folks, i know look forward to have a fuss free Hyundai like ownership in future. Keep checking the thread for updates. Thanks for reading and wish all the BHPians a very happy new year 2022.