Switched from Duster AWD to new Tucson: Buying experience & first drive

I was looking for comfort & power & hence I had also shortlisted the Mercedes-Benz GLC & the Toyota Fortuner.

BHPian sethu.murali recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Happy to share that today we took delivery of our Starry Night Tucson from the Advaith Hyundai Showroom at the Billekahalli branch. First time taking delivery of a car that I didn't test drive but convinced about the capabilities and performance of this international car. The short drive today did not disappoint and everything worked smoothly.

Selecting the car

With my Duster around 8 years old, it was time to identify the next workhorse. Until late last year, Duster was such a beauty to drive around, very planted, has nice power when you are on the highways and is very sure of itself in any situation. But alas, things started to go south with back-to-back injector failures (middle of highway drive with family) in a span of 2K Kms. Mine was an AWD model with 110PS. Many owners are reporting this problem and Renault had a casual response citing that the quality of fuel is circumspect. Very poor way to respond to customers when they are still a growing brand in India and their stand in these situations not helping at all.

Now for my next one, I was clear I do not need complex engineering in the form of AWD and want a simple 2WD as my off-roading is close to nil even with the eight years of my Duster (bought the AWD as the ride quality was significantly better during that time).

I looked for better comfort and more power, more modern looking with all the bells and whistles. Shortlisted Merc GLC, Fortuner and then Hyundai Tucson. GLC was way above the planned budget though the looks and the drive of the car are fantastic. Fortuner started to slip from my interest as Toyota is very clearly looking to overhaul its diesel models with its discontinuation of booking of several diesel models. Fortuner is fun to drive and totally gives the boss mode while driving. With so many videos popping up on the YT about the new Tucson, started to take a serious look at this vehicle. Tucson completely appealed to my senses, features to my liking and my family loved the look of the car and its space.

Booking experience

Initially, went ahead and booked a Creta (as Tucscon was not launched). Creta had a waiting period of 6 months when I booked in Jan 2022. However, I knew that the Tucson launch is in the second half of 2022 (Thanks to NDTV Car&bike) and requested my SA to switch the booking to Tucson once the bookings are announced. Waited patiently for the launch and bookings to announce. My SA mentioned the dealer needs an additional amount to transfer the booking to Tucson which I complied with.

Once the bookings started, the allocation funda is a grey area and no one has any control over the car allocation process. There are so many different powers at play - Dealer, Hyundai Plant, Hyundai Sales. When I received the news from the dealer that the vehicle may take 6 to 8 months more to deliver as a standard response, I lost hope of getting this sooner. Then I had a chance to explain my case to the HMIL team about staying in the queue from pre-booking time for Tucson and asked for their help. The HMIL team deserves thanks and took my case with priority to allocate vehicles - either plant production or through cancellation around allotment time. My second choice was Starry Night color which got allotted.

PDI and delivery

The dealer called up and confirmed that the car is allotted. Shared a proforma for the 2WD Signature Diesel model. Asking for payment to release the vehicle for delivery from Hyundai. Though the dealer mentioned that insurance can be from my side, he cited the benefits coming from the Hyundai Assurance Program with the insurance. With my bad experience with Duster at the back of my mind, I went for the Hyundai Insurance program. Added 5-year warranty.

Once the payment is completed, the PDI was arranged in 2 days - at the stockyard and saw the beautiful Starry Night color and instantly knew that the vehicle is the perfect choice for my needs. Thanks to Team-BHP for the continuing details with the changing times around PDI, the whole event went smoothly.

Once in agreement, the dealer started the RTO process and got this completed in a day. I wanted the delivery on Sunday, 02nd Oct and the dealer obliged. After some nice celebrations at the dealer’s place, we took delivery of our new car. Went with sweet boxes to be distributed to everyone at the dealership. Bought just the floor mat and a couple of pillows as accessories. Completed Fastag installation with Kotak at the dealer’s place.

First drive

The dealer had a person familiar with Tucson to explain the features and familiarize the myriad tech support inside. It is not easy to get schooled at this age on how to use features. Decided to learn on the go, took delivery and started to ride back home. Initial surprises with ADAS active help and beeps, the steering starts to feel heavy the moment the vehicle crosses 40Kms and struggling to find where and how to use the features of the car. It is going to take a while to get used to the change but loved the ride quality. Off to puja at a nearby Anjenaya swami temple and brought the car to my parking space.

What next

Looking to do PPF for this color as it is very easy to get scratches, master the controls and report back on the car and its performance to my extended team here.

I just have to thank everyone here in this thread who helped with their experiences and postings, Team-BHP for the fantastic car collaboration site. Happy to report this is the third car that I bought with their input and no-nonsense reviews.

Thank you folks and keep the thread busy. Enjoy the festivities and my best wishes to all.

Here's what BHPian Stuttgart had to say about the matter:

Heartiest Congratulations on the new car! That is one nice-looking shade.

I visited another dealership here in Mumbai that had a Petrol TD vehicle available. The TD experience was really underwhelming (no offence to all Delhi NCR folks who are forced to pick petrol powertrains). A car of this size definitely deserves a Turbo petrol unit at least. It's a shame that we don't get the engine options (including hybrids) that the rest of the world gets and is so happy about.

One surprising thing I noticed was all the Tucsons that were ready for delivery at that dealership had genuine Hyundai mats in them. I remember reading posts on this forum about how these mats are not available with dealers yet. My SA said these mats are the only accessories being provided by Hyundai for Tucson so far.

Here's what BHPian KrishKallapur had to say about the matter:

Congratulations and wish you many happiest miles.

As you mentioned, it takes a while to make friends with this car. It chats a lot.

Here's what BHPian neel911 had to say about the matter:

Congratulations and wishing you many more miles of fun driving. A beautiful colour and goes well with the car. Hoping to see more Tucson on the road as deliveries ramp up. I saw White Tucson (not TD vehicle) 2 days back on road.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.