What we liked
>> Smooth engine/transmission combo
>> Roomy, flexible interior
>> Great value for money
Not so much
>> Styling's a personal choice
>> Poor-fitting luggage cover
>> Hyundai badge carries baggage
OVERVIEW
Korea's biggest carmaker, Hyundai, is having a tough time in Australia. It's been a rollercoaster ride for the cut-price king, selling nearly 60,000 new cars in 1997, only to watch that dwindle to barely half that in 2003. You could say Hyundai paid the price for being short-sighted. "Drive away" pricing and "$2000 cash back" do wonders for a brand's immediate sales future, but severely undermine its credibility -- not to mention its products' resale values -- in the longer term.
No longer. This is one company determined to start making the best decision for the long run. And one decision that's been a long time coming is that quality products are the key to any decent future. That's good news for consumers, who for the first time will be able to buy Hyundais because they're a good car, rather than just being the cheapest.
The Hyundai Tucson compact 4WD was first launched on the Australian market in August 2004, smack-bang into a raging battle for compact 4WD supremacy. This is one hotly contested market, and can be very lucrative for the company which gets it right. Hyundai believes the Tucson -- to mangle a hoary old cliché -- is just what the customer ordered, so let's take a closer look.
FEATURES
The Tucson, named after a city in Arizona, USA, is a compact four-wheel drive roughly the same size as a Nissan X-Trail. At 4.3m it's slightly shorter in length, but holds a 6cm advantage in height. It's a five-seat wagon with a V6 engine and four-speed automatic transmission, and is priced to appeal at $29,990 for the base model, stretching to $33,200 for the top spec Tucson Elite S.
All models come with air conditioning, a CD and MP3 player, electric windows and mirrors, remote central locking and an engine immobiliser with alarm. Alloy wheels are standard, as is cruise control and traction control. The Elite ($32,490) adds six-speaker stereo, an electric sunroof, leather steering wheel and gearknob, a trip computer and wider tyres.
Top model Elite S ($33,200) ditches the less than glamourous black bumpers and side mouldings for much better looking body-coloured ones. All models come with Hyundai's five year/130,000km warranty.
COMFORT
There's no shortage of space inside the cabin of the Hyundai Tucson. Headroom's great for both rows of seats and there's plenty of leg and footroom in the back, even for six footers. The front seats are supportive and comfortable, though the seat squab is a little short for our liking.
The lack of telescopic adjustment on the steering column restricts the flexibility of the driving position, and we never quite felt comfortable. Vision, however, is great in all directions except backwards, with a letterbox-like narrowness to the rear window. There's also a major blind spot about the height of a small child immediately behind the vehicle.
There's adequate bootspace for a vehicle of this size, and the back seats split-fold for a flattish floor in the rear -- enough space, as our photos show, for a short surfboard. There's also three child seat anchor points in the rear.
All Tucsons come with front airbags for the driver and passenger. Stump up for the Elite model and you'll also get front side airbags and curtain airbags in both rows -- making the Elite a real class leader in this category. All five seating positions have a three-point lap-sash seatbelt; the fronts get pretensioners and load limiters.
In terms of active safety, the Tucson is equipped with four-wheel disc brakes fitted with ABS anti-lock and electronic brakforce distribution. Traction control is standard on all models, as is the on-demand all-wheel drive system, which can be locked into four-wheel drive via a dash-mounted switch.
MECHANICAL
Tucson's big advantage over the predominantely four cylinder competition is its V6 engine. But don't be fooled, because even though it produces 129kW of power and 241Nm of torque, it's not the most powerful 4WD in the low $30,000s class. That honour goes to the 132kW Nissan X-Trail.
Tucson's four-wheel drive system is best described as torque on-demand. The engine sends drive through a four-speed automatic transmission (there is no manual option at launch) to the front wheels. As slip is sensed at the front, drive is progressively fed to the rear axle. The driver can lock the Tucson into 50/50 front and rear drive via a dash-mounted switch, though that will progressively disengage as the car's speed exceeds 30km/h.
Hyundai Australia specifically asked for the European-tuned suspension system which provides a more controlled, more dynamic chassis than the Korean spec. The downside, however slight, is a firmer ride over rough roads, but we've definitely got the better of two calibrations.
Approach and departure angles, and ground clearance are all important on any 'wanna-be' four-wheel drive. On paper Tucson's credentials are good: At 28degrees, 32degrees and 186mm respectively it's up there with the best in class.
COMPETITORS
Hyundai Tucson faces stiff competition from a number of vehicles, some with four cylinder, some with six. The four-pot models include Nissan X-Trail, Honda CR-V, Subaru Forester, Toyota RAV4 engines, Mitsubishi Outlander, Suzuki Grand Vitara, Ford Escape and Mazda Tribute.
These last three also have V6 variants, of which the Mazda and Ford outpower the Tucson but are also significantly more expensive.
ON THE ROAD
As we said earlier, this is one hot market and there's no easy rides for average performers. To win customers Tucson will have to prove itself more than a cheap buy -- and if our first drive is anything to go by, it is.
Our test drive took in a good mix of highway cruising, tighter backroads and winding, climbing forestry tracks between Canberra and Batemans Bay. The Tucson showed a real flair for smooth riding on the bitumen and, more impressively, revealed a clean set of heels when the road got windy.
It's really quite nimble on the backroads, and doesn't mind a hurry up, though the engine's not exactly overflowing with power. The Tucson is heavy by competitor standards -- even the 150kW V6 Mazda Tribute weighs less that the 1625kg Hyundai -- and this shows when you bury the boot. Acceleration is there and is delivered smoothly, but there's no real urgency in the way it builds speed.
The automatic transmission works well with this engine, swapping gears smoothly and with little fuss. It's a bit reluctant to kick down on hills, but there's always the tiptronic-style manual mode -- called Selectronic by Hyundai -- if you want more control over the gear you're in.
Offroad the four-wheel drive system really impressed us. It operates much more smoothly and quickly than the similar but flawed Honda CR-V system. It delivers drive to the rear wheels when you need it, ensuring the Tucson's got as much traction as possible, and we found little to criticise in the traction control system.
The Tucson's ride offroad is perhaps too firm, but we're willing to sacrifice that for the good dynamics it exhibited onroad.
The steering is the only dynamic area we felt wasn't up to scratch; it's weighting in corners seems to bear no resemblance to the work the front wheels are doing, or the amount of grip underfoot. There is some feedback through the wheel, but it's telling you more about the road's irregularities than grip levels.
Overall we walked away from our first meeting with the Hyundai Tucson very impressed. It's a good, solid performer that seems to have all the right qualities, at a fairly amazing price. We'd like to know how it performs with four adults onboard, how it tackles trickier offroad situations, how thirsty it is over longer distances -- and whether we can grow to like the front-end styling.
Those questions will have to wait until we slip behind the wheel for CarPoint's usual seven day test. until then, if you're looking for a compact four-wheel drive, the Hyundai Tucson is hard to pass up.
7 DAY TEST
Model tested: Tucson Elite V6 AWD
RRP: $32,490
Price as tested: $33,200 (Elite S)
Road tester: Mike Sinclair
Date tested: Oct 2004
Distance covered: 360km
BOTTOMLINE: Great value for money if the looks don't kill
In the early 1970s the humble 1600cc Honda Civic arrived with a bang. Australians considered Japan and its novelties as hard to take seriously prior, but the weildiness, build quality and general 'cleverness' of the little Honda changed the way we thought about their cars. While the Tucson is a totally different class of vehicle to that first pocket-sized Civic, 30 years on it smacks of the same wind of change. Take it from us, if incumbents such as Honda (CRV), Toyota (RAV4) and Nissan (XTrail) aren't worried about Hyundai's Tucson and the progress it represents, then they are either unbelievably arrogant or infeasibly dense.
While a question mark hangs over the Koreans' exterior styling efforts, the Tucson hits the market at under $30,000 loaded to the gunwales with ABS with EBD, electric windows and mirrors, air and on-demand lockable all-wheel-drive and the class's only V6 powerplant. The Elite S version we tested, complete with upgraded interior, sunroof, full complement of airbags (including side curtain bags), dressier six-spoke 16-inch alloy wheels, auto headlights, body-colour bumpers and special metallic paint, will set you back $33,200. That's ultra competitive when you consider the high-$30K, low-40 sticker prices of similarly-equipped versions of the big three mentioned above.
Hyundai has significantly improved the cabin of its latest cars and the Tucson is another step along the road. It's not perfect, but better, and should age more gracefully than the maker's earlier offerings. Hyundai champions the flexibility of the interior layout which features flat-fold front and rear seats. We liked the touches like underseat storage trays, two position centre console, load area shopping bag hooks and luggage net. While yours truly didn't have trouble getting comfortable, two other drivers stated they'd like the ability to tailor steering wheel position.
Even more importantly, not only has Hyundai improved the quality of the finish and plastics, but in the Tucson it has delivered probably the best Korean drive yet. Herr Butler praised the car on its Aussie launch and while our 7-day test was limited strictly to bitumen roads, we'll happily concur.
The 2.7lt V6 is not what we'd call muscular. Producing 129kW and 241Nm of torque, it requires a reasonable head of steam to give its best. Fortunately it spins readily and the result is enough urge to satisfy 95 per cent of us. It's not intrusive either -- it appears Hyundai's claims of working hard on NVH (noise, vibration and harshness) can be believed.
Picky types would say four-speed auto could do with an extra cog (we're getting pretty used to the multi-speed autos these days) but what are there work fine. There's no big gaps around town or on the open road, however economy is not a high point at 12-13lt/100km -- perhaps that extra gear would help.
Wieldy, in softroader terms, the Tucson goes where it's pointed with aplomb. It's no X3, but throw it at a set of twisties and it surprises with reasonable turn-in and a fair degree of suspension sophistication, however steering feel is not as good as say, the XTrail. Body roll is well controlled and bumps big and small are soaked up without histrionics. Only big sharp-edged bumps catch it out.
On-road safety is enhanced by electronic traction Control with ABS. Though we were unable to sample the wagon off-road, the Tucson's lockable all-wheel-drive set up should make it better in the bush/sand/snow than the RAV or CRV. On a par with the multi-mode XTrail? Can't say until we get them side-by-side.
If it sounds like I'm damning the five-door allroader with feint praise, then fear not. This is bloody good little bus -- it's just that a swag of miles have passed under my wheels since I last drove the class-topping XTrail and CRV. Seat of the pants estimations can be deceiving and it'll take a direct comparison between cars to really get the true picture. That fact alone should tell you how far Hyundai has come with this car...