My Hyundai Tucson: Buying experience & initial impressions

It was time to replace my 7-year-old Mahindra XUV500 with a new SUV. After multiple test drives, I was left with only two options - Jeep Compass & Tucson.

BHPian rave20 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

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

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

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

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

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

This reduced vehicles in my list to:

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

I used the below criteria to decide.

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

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

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

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

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

Booking & Delivery Process

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

Variants Available:

Petrol:

• 2WD GLO AT
• 2WD GLS AT

Diesel:

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

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

I was clear on the Diesel part. The question was on the 2WD GLS or 4WD GLS. The difference was approximately 1.5 lakh. Coming from an AWD XUV500, I felt it is worth the spend to go for the 4WD version. Hence the model chosen was the 4WD GLS AT.

Kitna diya?

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

Accessories

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

Warranty

Below are the options available on the warranty

• Option 1: 3 years or unlimited Kms
• Option 2: 4 years / 50,000Kms
• Option 3: 5 years / 60,000Kms

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

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

Taking Delivery (from Tucson Service Executive at Advaith Bellandur)

Beast with the new Owner

Both the owners

When the beauty reached home

I have driven the car for about 100Kms as of now and below are my initial impressions of the car.

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

Some interior images of the car

Wireless Charging pad with 1 USB & 2 12V socket. Hyundai could have given 2 USB and 1 12V socket. I am saying this since there is no Wireless Android Auto / Apple Carplay and hence you will be using this USB slot to connect your phone and you will not have an option to put media through USB.

Dual-zone climate control

Floating infotainment system

Auto-dimming rearview mirror with SOS, Roadside assistance and bluelink buttons.

View from the driver seat

Driver-side buttons

Footwell with a large dead pedal

Tucson branding on the mat & side step

Neatly designed floor mats with Tucson banding. They fit well.

Rear door pocket. Can't fit a 1L bottle

Adjustable headrest (moved forward)

Standard

Rear bench with recline function (default)

With recline

What I like about the car

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

What I wish could have been better

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

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.