Cars

Long term review: Hyundai Tucson AWD

Sirish Chandran

We have it better than the Turks! Not in terms of the dollar rate, both of us are equally hit, but in the spec of the Hyundai Tucson sold in our countries. Turkey gets the 1.6-litre diesel that is obviously more efficient, but an SUV the size of the Tucson definitely needs the 2-litre diesel that we get. Score 1 for Hyundai’s Indian product planners.

Driving the two within the space of a few days does highlight how much of a difference the low down torque of the larger diesel engine, not to mention the outright horsepower makes to the Tucson, or more to the point the difference it makes to the person behind the steering wheel. Our Tucson is much nicer to drive, more fun to drive. The latter phrase, we’ve been using it rather liberally to describe Hyundais, and it applies to their cars and well as SUVs. In fact this Tucson is the real reason why the Santa Fe is not sold in India anymore, it does everything that the bigger SUV does and does it with more enthusiasm and dynamism. In fact I also learnt that the new Santa Fe will not come to India – Hyundai will put in more effort into popularising the Tucson. Early next year the facelift will come, and the next model change of the Tucson in 2020 will see the SUV being manufactured (rather than assembled from CKD kits) in Chennai, will be more aggressively priced, and will get a third row of seats.

“It does everything that the bigger SUV does and does it with more enthusiasm and dynamism”

Should you wait for the facelifted Tucson? The nose is a little sharper, as you’d expect from a facelift, but only an eagle eye will notice the changes while the interior has a floating display infotainment screen that looks slightly better but works just as well as what is on offer right now. The changes are of the blink and you will miss it kind and if you are in the market for an SUV in this price range I’d definitely steer you in the direction of the Tucson. And I will offer another piece of advice, upgrade the tyres to grippier boots like we have, the MRF Markus tyres (weird name, OE offering on the Kodiaq) add so much more bite and vigour to the dynamics, pushing its fun to drive quotient so much closer to European benchmarks.

Date acquired: May 2018

Total mileage: 4983km

Mileage for the month of October:  850km

Costs for the month of October: Rs 0

Overall kmpl: 10