[LONG_TOURER]

Our hunt for a new car had started when my mom's 2016 Grand i10 Asta(O) AT started showing its niggles one after another. The i10 we had was problematic from the beginning itself. The car had steering alignment issue just after 10 days of its purchase and this issue could not be addressed till the time we had it with us. Anyway, this calls for another day and another thread. Let’s focus on the topic, shall we.

I already own a 2013 Elantra 1.8 SX AT which i primarily use and i had a wild plan. Why not swap my elantra with mom's next car? So our hunt for a new car started.

I was very keen on getting a diesel car this time as i miss the low-end torque of diesel car which our i20 (2011 to 2016 uber cool i20 it was) used to offer. And of course it had to be an SUV/Crossover thanks to our national highways, ofcourse they are improving day by day though far from being satisfactory to drive a sedan with peace of mind of not scrapping their underbelly.

So, the price range was initially kept between 10L to 30L. The requirements are

1) The car needs to be a SUV/Crossover
2) Punchy diesel Engine
3) Automatic gearbox (must have if mom wants to drive it occasionally)
4) Exclusive vehicle (should not be too common on road)
5) Should be compact (BOF SUVs are too bulky to my liking)
6) Should have a strong body with minimum 6 airbags with additional safety features
7) Should have decent number of features.


The car which we shortlisted were

1) Ford Ecosport : I have always like the look of the Ecosport since the time it was launched, one of my friend owns it and despite having high GC, it handles pretty well. Went to the showroom and enquired about diesel AT version to which the SA replied they don’t have any AT diesel variant on offer at all. Felt disappointed and didn’t feel like checking the petrol or manual diesel due to not meeting my requirements.

2) Tata Nexon : The facelifted car is a looker for sure and has 5 star safety rating on offer as well. But no proper Diesel AT. Did not even bother to check the AMT variants. I believe AMT is not at all an automatic and is nowhere near to conventional ATs. (No offence to the AMT owners)

3) Kia Seltos/Hyundai Creta : There are Sea of Creta/ Seltos on our roads, i mean literally every other car we see on road is either a creta or a seltos. These cars may be great value for money but its a big no to me as you don’t get any exclusivity owning to one of these. Also heard about DPF clogging issues in earlier make seltos which definitely raised eyebrows. I feel Diesel vehicles having DPF + LNT configuration have this issue of frequent DPF clogging. IMO diesel vehicles with DPF+SCR are better than DPF+LNT.

4) Tata Harrier: This car is a looker !! I mean you look at the car from any angle and you would fall in love with it. It has great built quality and offers good safety kit and good number of features as well. The FCA sourced Engine is punchy and is well calibrated with the AT box. You can feel the 170HP on tap anytime you want. Excellent mile muncher IMO, also has DPF+SCR configuration to meet BS6 norm hence lesser chance of DPF choking. Almost ended up booking the car but my friends suggested to move away from it due to poor after sales service reported by them (they being owner of TATA vehicles) and long-term reliability is a hit or miss for tata cars. Also while test driving it, felt the steering to be on the heavier side (hydraulic steering?). Hard steering + large dimension would make it a task to manoeuvre through city traffic.

5) Jeep Compass : I was always keen on owning a jeep sometime in life and this buying opportunity allowed me to step into jeep showroom at Guwahati ( the only showroom in Assam or may be entire northeast). This was the time when jeep was offering huge discounts on their inventories due to lower sales in later months of 2020. I was interested in the limited plus 4x4 AT with all the bells and whistles and safety front checked and the car also offers an exclusivity in our roads. The car had plenty of space for 4 person and the ride quality was best in the class. However totally came disappointed after the test drive of car due to its too lethargic gearbox. The 9 speed AT sounds good on paper but its tuning with the 170 hp engine was terrible. Otherwise the car is best due to sorted dynamics on road. You can do triple digit speeds with this car for hundreds of kms without breaking a sweat. Overtaking would require you make some planning due to its poor gearbox performance.

6) Hyundai Tucson : i didn’t even know that this car was on sale in India. I thought it was discontinued long ago with Elantra as their flagship at the moment. Even the SA at hyundai don't bother to sale this particular vehicle. I was told by the SA that this car got a facelift on July 2020 which got it some new features and a new gearbox on the diesel variant. The car looked great from the outside unlike newer hyundais that are coming now a days. The statistics on paper were good and i was mind blown after the test drive. The car's engine and gearbox combination are to die for. I mean i have an Elantra SX AT and a grand i10 AT and never thought hyundai has come this long way. The 8 speed AT and 400 Nm torque makes it the fastest SUV under 30L. Went ahead and booked the car after a thorough discuss with family.
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7) Skoda karoq : No diesel variant on offer and was a CBU. So 'Skoda + CBU' means wait for months to get a spare part in case of eventful breakdowns/accidents.

8) Used 2016 or later make Skoda Superb : Sedan and no right cars were available at the time of making this purchase.

Booking experience:

The booking experience have been smooth with Mukesh Hyundai, Guwahati. The SA was very helpful to fetch all the details about the car and even sent me two three PDFs describing the car and its comparisons with other vehicle in its class including BMW X1. The token amount of 1L was charged at the time of booking and delivery date was 4 weeks from the time of booking. Booking was done on 3rd December and delivery was assured by 1st week of January. We kept the grand i10 with us till the car arrived which was later sold to a relative of ours. The colour and variant we chose was Polar white GLS 2WD as the top portion of the car was black due to all glass roof and I felt black and white would make a killer combination.


Buying Experience:

Fast forward to last week of December probably after Christmas, VIN of the vehicle was allotted and I was told that I can take delivery by 29th December itself. On checking the VIN, found out the car was manufactured on 22nd December 2020. The car being a CKD didn’t take long to get to the Guwahati stockyard from their assembly plant at Chennai. I hope this happens with their spares as well, fingers crossed. However, I had to delay the delivery of the car by 2 weeks as I was diagnosed with COVID 19. At the same time there was a news that Hyundai is going to hike the prices of their fleet from January. Didn’t want to spend any extra amount as I was anyway buying in the higher side of my budget. Hence did all my formalities like loan and upfront payment before 31st December. The car was invoiced to me on 31st December itself making me immune to the price hike of January month. After my recovery we took the delivery on 9th January. Happy moments as it was our first SUV.

Likes
1) Excellent driveability due Engine and Gearbox combination makes it a great mile muncher
2) It is a looker
3) Punchy and refined diesel engine with 400NM of punch. Best in class
4) Fastest accelerating SUV under 30L
5) Spacious interiors
6) Reliability backed by large Hyundai Service network. Free 3 years maintenance
7) 62L of fuel tank gives it a range of 800+ kms of range.

Dislikes
1) It is an Older generation model, New model being launched already world wide
2) Rear windows are small. Thanks to large Panoramic sunroof you won’t feel claustrophobic though.
3) lesser features compared to Creta, Not bare bone by any standards though.
4) No wireless Android auto/ Car play
5) Ground clearance is on the lower side
6) Soft stock Nexen tyres are prone to sidewall cracks/ Ruptures. Odd size of 225/55/18 means limited replacement options. Period.

Exterior.

The car carries the design philosophy of fluidic 2.0 of yesteryear's hyundai design language meaning that this car looks good from outside and not polarising as the present gen Hyundai's design philosophy. The car has subtle bit of chrome on the side with a massive chrome grill at the front. I will give car design a 8 of 10. The wheels though 18inches looks smaller when viewed from the side. The front bumper houses the DRLs while the headlamps comes with five LED projectors ( Two for low beams and Three for high beams) and a LED strip which is the pilot lamp. The headlamp also houses the LED indicator lamps and has cornering function too. The rear is sweet and houses LED tail lamps while reverse parking lamp and indicator lamps are halogen only. The Registration lamps at the back could have been LEDs though. The door handles are finished in chrome and gets a request sensor as well LED pocket lighting at both the front door handles. The LEDs look great at night. The ORVM houses the integrated LED turn signals and also the puddle lumps. Looks classy at night.

Massive front chrome girl at the front bumper makes it a looker. The front bumper also houses the Halogen fog lamps and front parking sensors.

Clean rear profile. Not too much of chrome highlights at the back of the car.

Side profile looks great to me. 18-inch wheels look a bit smaller though. International variant gets massive 19 inch as standard and 20 inch as option

The rear LED combination lamps are in action. The Registration plate lamps could have been LEDs. They are halogen. Notice the shark Fin antenna too !

Penta projector LED headlamps in action. It has got cornering function too. The strip at the upper portion is the pilot lamp. Notice the puddle lamp on the ORVM too.

Notice the front pocket door lamp and puddle lamps on the ORVM. These lights glow automatically when you go near the vehicle with the key in your pocket. Pressing the unlock button on the remote key will glow the headlamps along with these lamps. Looks very classy at night

Ground clearance is not that great by SUV standards but will not scrap its belly on massive humps. Not a off roader by any means though. The Tucson in India also has a AWD variant but its not for off roading at all.

Interior.

In order to get inside the vehicle, you do not need to climb inside as you do in BOF cars. You just have to walk inside the car. However, for short person of height 5.3 feet or less, getting inside would be little tough. You can buy aftermarket footboard for added convenience. The moment you close the door, you notice that the cabin is well insulated with all black interiors. Some people love black interior including me while some may not like it. Although I can guarantee that you won’t feel claustrophobic due to presence of large panoramic sunroof. The doors shut with a soft thump rather than Thud. The doors feel heavy though.

The front seats are both electrically adjustable, driver seat can be adjusted in 12 ways and passenger seat in 8 ways. Yes, even passenger seat can be adjusted for height and you no longer feel like you are seating under the dashboard. The seats very comfortable for those long trips.

The car has got organ type accelerator pedal and the pedals are decently spaced. The dead pedal is large enough to rest XL size foot. Downside? There is no footwell lamp at all.

The instrument cluster is analogue type which I really like. With advancement in technology we see all digital instrument clusters on entry level hatchbacks too. But there shall always be an option of choosing between analogue and digital. I reckon there are many out there who prefers analogue dials over digital. Analogue tachometer is on the left while speedometer on the right. There is LCD screen between the two dials which shows various vehicle statistics like Trips, DTE, Tyre pressure on each wheel. You can set various parameters on this screen using the steering mounted controls.

The infotainment system on the centre is a 8 inch LCD unit which has now become floating type after the facelift in 2020. The system supports hyundai's bluelink telematics by using a e-sim inside it. The bluelink enables to do various task using your phone like starting Engine, setting AC temperature, lock unlock doors etc. It also shows various driving data on your smartphone itself. The car has 8 speaker audio setup which are infinity make. There are 6 speakers on the doors, one on the dashboard and a subwoofer in the boot. The system is pretty average and not up to JBL standards that we find in the harrier.

The dashboard design is what I like on this car. You have got soft touch material on the whole dashboard which talks premium quality. AC vents are very effective and circulates air perfectly to the front passengers, you get rear AC vents as well. The AC is a dual zone unit but I really miss the seat ventilation that my elantra has.

Coming to the back of the car, the floor is almost flat hence you can sit three people comfortably here with enough shoulder room for each one. The downside, the back support for the middle passenger is very hard and is going to be uncomfortable for long journeys. The rear arm rest comes with two cup holders as well.

The boot of the car is decently sized and you can easily fit 1 week worth of luggage for 4 people. Note that the boot is fully electrically operated. You can operate the boot by three ways. Firstly, by pressing the buttons on the boot itself. Secondly by pressing the Boot button on the car key. Thirdly by pressing a boot logo button on the driver side found under the right sight indicator stalk. Note: You need to keep the gear level to park to operate the boot in third way.

Doors open wide. The driver seat gets 12 way electrical adjustment and lumbar support which is 2 way only. 4 way lumbar support could have been provided.

Passenger seat gets 8 way electrical adjustment but no lumbar support. Notice the 8 inch floating touch screen

Infinity branding on all the four doors.

Driver side door pad has various controls for windows, locking-unlocking, ORVM adjustment. You can either shut the ORVM or keep it in auto means when the car detects key near the vicinity, the ORVM automatically unfolds. You can also keep the ORVM full time unfolded. One touch UP DOWN for driver side window only. We can expect all window one touch up down at this price point. The door pad is made with soft touch material.

Organ type accelerator pedal. Large size dead pedal. No footwell lamp here, at all !

The dashboard looks clean. No, the floating touch screen do not hamper visibility.

Two large size cup holders at the front centre console. Behind the gear lever, you have switches to operate the Electronic parking brake, Auto-Hold, various drive modes, parking sensors (front) and down hill brake assist. You get two 12V power outlets, one USB port and a wireless charging pad here as well. Kindly ignore my red colour USB cable.

This is how the switches illuminates at night. The power window switch illuminates in all the four doors as well.

There are two LEDs on the either side of the rear seats to illuminate the rear cabin at night. Looks classy and lit the cabin perfectly.

Switches to increase or decrease the intensity if lights in the cabin, Traction control on off switch, and the switch to operate the boot from driver side.

Indicator and headlamps switches are on the right side. Gets Auto headlamps

Wiper controls on the left side stalk. Gets Rain sensing wipers both front and back.

The steering wheel has controls to operate the Screen at the instrument cluster, cruise control, infotainment system and also phone controls. The horn pad is a bit difficult to reach though. It is little far from the thumbs.

TPMS in action in the instrument cluster.

Ignition switch is on the left side. Press it once without your foot on the brake to operate the infotainment system.

Heated ORVM offer good visibility at the back. Downside? No auto tilting Left side ORVM while reversing

Massive Panoramic glass roof covers the entire cabin of the car. Gives the car a airy feel for those who hates black interior.

Sunroof with sun shade on. Doesn’t let sun rays to get inside the cabin. Notice the rear LED cabin light on the right.

Rear passengers get their own vents and a USB outlet as well. No separate climate controls for them though

Space at the back is adequate for three people. But the middle person won’t be comfortable for long journeys due to hard back support of the seat. Floor is almost flat.

Notice the lever to adjust the recline angle of the seat. Welcome feature but it doesn’t recline too much though.

Boot gets a small lamp. No the spare tyre is not a full sized wheel. It’s a space saver


You can’t see the bonnet of the car. The floating screen doesn’t hamper visibility though.

[LONG_TOURER]

Nice all-round visibility. The IRVM has auto diming function and offer good rearward visibility just like ORVMs. The ORVM doesn’t have auto diming function though.


This car require addition of adblue to comply with BS6 emission norms (DPF + SCR configuration). In my case, I got low urea warning at around 7.5k kms. Refilled the DEF with Tata motors make DEF.

Engine bay.

Open the hood of the car and you will be surprised that there is not hydraulic strut to support the hood. C'mon Hyundai, at least you could have provided that. Powering the car is 2.0L 4 Cylinder CRDi turbo diesel engine which produces class leading 185BHP and 400 NM of torque between 1750 to 2750 RPM mated to 8 speed torque converter automatic gearbox. The car takes around 9.5 seconds to reach 100kmph (in sports mode)

Driving experience

This car has been the first Crossover we have owned so far. So, switching from a low-slung sedan to a Crossover require some getting used to. But the view from the driver seat is great but no, you can’t see the bonnet from the driver seat though unlike in the jeep compass. Start the engine and the car idles at around 850 rpm. The diesel clatter is there but it so not something which will annoy you. Shift the car to D and gently release the brake. The car moves forward gently but the torque is pretty evident from the moment it starts moving. In city driving condition, you will be more than happy with part throttle inputs and manoeuvring in tight spots is easy due its compact size and light steering. The car has three driving modes on offer, The Eco, Comfort and Sport. Quite frankly speaking i don’t find much difference in the performance between Eco and comfort mode. However, it’s a different story in sport mode. The steering becomes heavy and it holds on to gears longer to give you enough punch in highways. The downside is the car doesn’t let you hold on more than 4k rpm no matter what. It will upshift on its own even if you are on manual mode. This is done may be to comply with BS6 emission or to mask the lifeless upper band of the engine? Anyone? I find the handling of the car satisfactory. Its no jeep compass but it does the job. The steering could have been little better here. The suspension setup of the car is fantastic. It doesn’t bottom out and the car remain stable at higher speed. There is little bit of firmness at low speed though, may be due to low profile tyres, I guess. I will give 7.5 out of 10 in terms of ride and handling of the car. The jeep compass scores 9 out of 10 though

Mileage

Having 8 gears means better mileage. Probably yes but only in highway. The car revvs at around 1.5k RPM when driven at 100 kmph. So out on the highways i am getting around 14 to 15kmpl. In city though I get around 10 to 12kmpl. Both calculated using tank to tank method. Expecting the figures to improve after 10k kms service.

Headlamp Performance

The Headlamps of the car are great. It has got penta projecotor headlamp design which has excellent throw on the road. The active cornering function helps to view the road on those ghat roads at night.

The throw of head lamp beam at night. I keep the car on Low beam 90% of the time and its more than adequate.


The Cockpit at night.

Issues faced

The only issue I am facing on this car is the rattles from the panoramic sunroof. Anyone else faced this issue so far? I hate to admit but the rattle keeps on annoying me while going over uneven road surfaces. Looking forward to find solution from fellow BHPians.



Things to do/Already done.

I am planning to get the car PPF as soon as the restriction is lifted. Also i have brought 5D mats which is quite good. I am also looking forward to change the tyres soon. Any recommendation on tyre are very much welcome.

I am also planning to do a Srinagar-leh-manali circuit in the month of august or september. Provided covid cases ease out.

Verdict

So far the vehicle has clocked around 94xx kms and the second service is due on 10k kms where the I expect to change the filters and other fluids. One service at 1.5k kms was done in the month of February where there were just normal checks on the car. I still wonder why this car sells so less in India. Overpriced? I hope you all like reading my post. Thanks.

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[sunikkat]

Congratulations on your purchase and wishing you miles of safe drive.
Tucson is the only car from Hyundai stable that I like and personally I feel it makes much sense to extend your budget to buy this over Creta / Seltos top end.

[CEF_Beasts]

Congratulations on your Tucson, a truly understated car that packs in a lot of punch (diesel).

Tucson is a good rival to the C5 Aircross, Tiguan and Compass. But the price is slightly on the higher side and most Hyundai dealerships have something against the Tucson. They will either push you towards the Creta or they will just not be interested to sell the Tucson. Although if I was planning to buy a car in this segment, then my pick for sure would be the Tucson just because of that brilliant Diesel engine + 8spd AT combination.

[mohitchalla]

Congratulations! Excellent vehicle and review report.

Please keep this thread updates with your long-term ownership experience.

[ramnaresh_2000]

You car looks dashing. Great choice, congratulations on the purchase. Wishing you happy miles.

I really hate Hyundai for using same design language for Creta. For layman's eyes, the Tucson looks just like a Creta. I hope they rectify this in the facelift.

The Tucson AT is smooth and punchy. No doubt you hated Jeep's 9 speed AT. Tata also uses same AT in Harrier, so I am assuming availability of spares are not an issue here. You were absolutely spot on for not going with AMT's. They suck real, and are no match for AT's.

Any idea about the crash ratings of Indian variant? I see it scored well for the international variant.

https://www.iihs.org/ratings/vehicle...-door-suv/2021

Best of luck.

[padmrajravi]

Congratulations on the ride and thank you for the detailed write-up.

Hyundai seems to be having moderate success with Tucson lately. I believe that is a first for them after trying to crack this segment for a long time. Tucson is a good package and I generally recommend it over Compass even to people who prefer AWD.

[absingh911]

Congratulations on your new car. The Tucson looks absolutely fabulous to me. I also got one last December. The ownership report is still in draft unfortunately.

Originally Posted by LONG_TOURER

[center]
Issues faced
The only issue I am facing on this car is the rattles from the panoramic sunroof. Anyone else faced this issue so far? I hate to admit but the rattle keeps on annoying me while going over uneven road surfaces. Looking forward to find solution from fellow BHPians..

That doesn't seem like a common problem. Did you get it checked at the first checkup in the service centre?

[sidg]

Excellent review and congratulations on your purchase. From the requirements you mentioned, Tucson seems to be the best fit. Tucson is a no nonsense SUV/crossover with one of the most refined engines coupled with excellent AT.

You seem to be a Hyundai fan as almost all the cars you've owned in the past decade seem to be from Hyundai staple. Any particular reason on preferring Hyundai cars?

[diablo_rojo]

Congratulations on your new car ! Tucson always was a very interesting car in this gen - and though newer gen crossovers have completely changed the game, I for one prefer performance over features and thus rate Tucson higher than most of the options.

Compass's AT is a bit on the slower side and makes the 170 horses on tap feel light, but somehow the Harrier felt faster to me with the same engine in personal experience ?
Wonder is there a calibration difference between the two or they use a different AT box!

[GTO]

Great car, excellent engine & smooth AT. The only thing I don't like about the Tucson now is how boring / old the cabin is. But in all other aspects, it is a brilliant all-rounder and betters the newer competition in so many areas.

Originally Posted by diablo_rojo

Compass's AT is a bit on the slower side and makes the 170 horses on tap feel light, but somehow the Harrier felt faster to me with the same engine in personal experience? Wonder is there a calibration difference between the two or they use a different AT box!

As always, other manufacturers make better use of FCA's engines than Fiat or Jeep (drive a Swift & Punto 1.3L MJD back-to-back and you'll know what I'm talking about). The Harrier AT is a brilliant drive, thanks to the happy marriage between FCA's 2.0 Diesel & a Hyundai's AT gearbox. On the other hand, the Compass Diesel AT (and Petrol AT too) offers quite a mediocre driving experience due to a poorly tuned dual-clutch AT.

[Akshay6988]

Congratulations on the Tuscon ! One of the very underrated vehicle on sale in India IMO. It's top pick of the lot if you want the exclusivity . The Tuscon looks so much elegant on the roads (specially in black color). Your review is nothing short of an official Team BHP Review ! Regarding the rattles from sunroof, please check the empty space below sunroof ( open the sunroof and stand up through it) there might be some loose items in that area. I've creta with panoramic sunroof, driven on rough roads daily for 5 months now. I do not hear any rattles though. Wishing you many happy miles of driving !

[buntee90]

Congratulations on your beauty! I find this Tuscon facelift the most elegant Hyundai toady on sale. Its so much better than the Creta/Seltos.

Originally Posted by ramnaresh_2000

The Tucson AT is smooth and punchy. No doubt you hated Jeep's 9 speed AT. Tata also uses same AT in Harrier, so I am assuming availability of spares are not an issue here.

Originally Posted by diablo_rojo

Compass's AT is a bit on the slower side and makes the 170 horses on tap feel light, but somehow the Harrier felt faster to me with the same engine in personal experience ?
Wonder is there a calibration difference between the two or they use a different AT box!

Tata uses Hyundai's 6 speed AT in Harrier/Safari, Hyundai Tuscon uses 8 Speed AT and Compass has 9 Speed AT.

Tata has got the combination of 2.0 FCA sourced Diesel and Hyundai's 6 Speed AT right. That's why Harrier felt and probably will be faster in an actual race also.

Hope this answers your question.

[Raghu M]

That's a good crisp review. I have a suggestion. You can try the 3M floor mats for your car. They are just amazing. But since you have already bought those 5D mats, give a thought about 3M when you want to change them. The 3M mats are just too good, they look and feel great. Most of all, the dust and tiny mud particles are properly sucked deep into those pores which can be dusted once a month.