Hyundai Tucson Premium Hybrid 2024 Review

The expanded 17-grade 2024 Hyundai Tucson range is now available, priced from $39,100 to $61,100 plus on-road costs.

Emphasising just how much pricing has escalated in a short period of time – and this is not just a Hyundai trend as we are all painfully aware – the fourth-generation Tucson was priced from $34,500 to $52,000 when it launched in 2021.

Here we’re driving the Premium Hybrid version of the facelifted Hyundai Tucson line-up, priced at $59,600 plus ORCs. Falling in line with global naming practices, Premium replaces Highlander as the peak Tucson trim, while the petrol-electric hybrid powertrain replaces the turbo-diesel.

This is the second most expensive Tucson in the line-up. Tick the box for the largely-cosmetic N Line black pack and it rises to $61,100 plus ORCs.

The hybrid powertrain is available across all three Tucson trim levels and with front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive. In the Premium it is only the latter (AWD).

There are a bunch of logical rivals for the Tucson, led by the now hybrid-only Toyota RAV4. The Honda CR-V also offers a hybrid, as does the Tucson’s in-house rival, the Kia Sportage, and the Chinese duo, the GWM Haval H6 and the soon-to-be overhauled MG HS.

The 2024 Hyundai Tucson comes with a heap of new and upgraded gear that’s been explained in some detail already here.

Externally, there’s not a lot that gives the upgrade away. The parametric grille is revised and there are new bumpers and redesigned alloy wheels.

The Premium gets its own 19-inch wheel design and a panoramic sunroof, but other features such as remote unlock and start, matte-grey front and rear skid plates and gloss-black roof rails are shared with other models. A power tailgate is now standard on more Tucsons as well.

Internally, Premium exclusives include ambient lighting, a heated leather-trimmed steering wheel, heated and ventilated front seats, heated outboard rear seats, two-position memory for the driver’s seat and eight-way power adjustment for the front passenger.

Equipment shared with the entry-level Tucson and/or mid-spec Elite include leather-appointed seat trim, dual-zone climate control, an electric parking brake, rain-sensing wipers, push-button start and a 10-way power-adjustable driver’s seat.

All hybrids include an ‘after blow’ system that keeps the air-con system free of bacteria. Less positively, they swap from a full-size to a space-saver spare tyre.

The Premium alone (excluding N Line) can also be optioned with a choice of two $295 two-tone interior trims. Externally, all Tucsons are available with $595 premium paint and a new $1000 matte green (as per the vehicle in the video review). Only white doesn’t cost extra.

The Tucson comes with a five-year/unlimited-km warranty, while the hybrid adds eight-year/160,000km protection for its high-voltage battery pack.

The Tucson Hybrid comes with 12-month and short 10,000km service intervals that add up to $2040 over the first five workshop visits. The price is the same for front- and all-wheel drive vehicles.

The turbo-petrol AWD also has the shorter intervals and costs $1799 for five visits. The 2.0-litre petrol with 12-month/15,000km service intervals costs $1799 over the first five years.

The facelifted 2024 Hyundai Tucson brings various safety upgrades.

These include new navigation-based smart cruise control and highway driving assist – which maintains the distance to the vehicle in front – for most models. Crosswind stability control is added to all models.

High-beam assist and front and rear parking sensors are now standard (higher specs get side sensors as well), autonomous emergency braking (AEB) now detects two-wheeled vehicles and operates at junction crossings, while the intelligent speed limit assist system has been improved.

The latter upgrade is quickly obvious because – hallelujah! – Hyundai has added an overspeed mute button on the steering wheel to silence the bing-bong that notifies a transgression of the speed limit.

While it has to be muted every time the vehicle is started, it’s a big step forward from the multi-step drilling into the infotainment screen previously required.

A 12-inch head-up display is now standard in Premium variants, as is parking collision-avoidance assist, park distance warning and projector-beam LEDs with intelligent lighting that blanks off part of the high-beam to avoid blinding oncoming drivers.

An updated Tucson Bluelink connectivity system now runs on the latest Hyundai Group ccNC operating system. While safety features such as automatic collision notification and SOS emergency assistance carry over, it now includes over-the-air updates that could add future safety features.

The Tucson Premium also comes with a surround-view camera, a blind-spot monitor that pops up in the instrument cluster when indicating, seven airbags, three top-tether child seat anchors in the rear seat and two outboard ISOFIX mounts.

A 2021 five-star ANCAP rating is carried over.

Twin 12.3-inch digital screens for infotainment and instrumentation sit behind a single curved piece of glass on the dashboard and are the obvious technology upgrade in the 2024 Hyundai Tucson.

Lifted from Hyundai’s IONIQ EVs, it replaces two separate screens and brings along with it a new pod housing climate controls, a floating centre console and a column-mounted gearshifter.

The aforementioned ccNC operating system allows the Tucson Premium to upgrade to wireless (as well as wired) Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone connection.

The infotainment system also hosts Bluetooth streaming, AM, FM and digital radio bands, and satellite-navigation with live updates via Bluelink – which Hyundai provides for five years free of charge.

There are also a variety of sub menus within the infotainment screen, including a display showing the various flows of petrol and electricity.

Sounds are projected via an eight-speaker Bose audio system.

A wireless charging pad is located in the centre console, while USB-C ports are found in the front and rear sections of the cabin.

While the 2024 Hyundai Tucson offers a petrol-electric hybrid option for the first time in Australia, it has been on sale overseas. Here, the same 1.6-litre turbo-petrol powertrain is used in both the newly-launched Santa Fe seven-seat SUV and its predecessor.

An e-motor is housed between the engine and the six-speed automatic transmission, while a small 1.49kWh lithium-ion battery sits under the rear seat. The combined outputs are 172kW/367Nm, which is up on power and down on torque compared to the diesel it replaces. 

The powertrain drives via a mechanically connected all-wheel drive system, so there’s no second e-motor on the rear axle.

The powertrain can be tuned through eco, smart and My Drive (individual) modes.

Curiously, despite a substantial 60kg difference (approx) in kerb weight and the added friction that AWD creates, the 2024 Hyundai Tucson Premium hybrid claims the same fuel consumption rate of 5.3L/100km no matter how many wheels are being driven.

We mention that because our driving at the media launch didn’t reflect that experience. A run in the AWD produced a 7.8L/100km average, while the FWD came in at 5.8L/100km. We have to stress that these weren’t recorded over the same loop, but they were both long drives in varied conditions.

The hybrid uses wallet-friendlier regular unleaded fuel and has a 52-litre tank – down two litres on non-hybrid Tucsons. So a range of about 600km between refills seems plausible.

Unlike some other hybrids – including the Kia Sportage that’s fitted with fundamentally the same powertrain – the Tucson comes with regenerative braking paddles on the steering wheel.

They can increase the amount of energy clawed back when coasting through four levels, from virtually non-existent to a lot.

In sport mode the paddles become manual gear-shifters.

Not that long ago Hyundai made a big deal about local dynamic tuning of all its incoming models. That’s been cut back dramatically in recent years.

But localisation has made a bit of a comeback with the 2024 Hyundai Tucson, albeit not in terms of springs and shock absorbers.

Hyundai’s adopted an international tune for the new hybrid, just as it did for the fourth-generation Tucson range when it launched in 2021.

No, the localisation focusses around tuning the sensitivity of the electric motor’s torque delivery to better suit the types of speed bumps and heave motions found on local roads.

Hyundai calls this system E-Motion and it impacts on steering, traction, ride, transmission and brakes. Buried inside My Drive there’s even a ‘world-first’ baby mode that softens acceleration responses to relax young ones onboard.

While in Australia to tune E-Motion, Hyundai engineers also had a crack at a local tune for the electric-assist power steering system. On the road the driver can set it in normal or sport mode.

So what’s the result on the road? Well, to be honest, the AWD Tucson Premium is a bit underwhelming. The ride is quite firm and even coarse on the nasty stuff.

On lumpier surfaces the independent suspension’s settings struggle to control the body’s vertical motion. It can seem a bit lurchy.

The steering response has some of the rubberiness that electric assistance can induce, a bit like the way lane-keeping can tug when it spots a line.

The front-wheel drive Tucson Elite Hybrid proved a more resolved and satisfying experience. It rode better and controlled its lighter weight better, but steered much the same.

In both cases the hybrid system contributed a very similar experience. It has strong and smooth throttle response thanks to the contribution of the electric motor.

It will be terrific for the cut and thrust of urban traffic.

As things progress it feels solid rather than powerful. The old 2.0-litre diesel would have it covered for all-round energetic response.

But the hybrid does it with less clatter and noise and outpoints the 2.0-litre and 1.6-litre turbo-petrol variants in the range. You just have to pay more for the privilege.

While all 2024 Hyundai Tucson Hybrid AWDs come equipped with an off-road Terrain mode, this is not a serious off-road SUV.

This is a vehicle more suited to ventures to the snow, the beach and for negotiating dirt roads. That helps explain the three choices Terrain mode offers – snow, sand and mud.

When it comes to the interior of the 2024 Hyundai Tucson Premium Hybrid, it’s the dashboard and centre console where the important changes have occurred.

The screens are easy enough to navigate, although most people will surely take the easy route and plug in their smartphones for infotainment.

The digital instrument cluster is configurable but only through a few colours and numerals that don’t change the basic concept of two dials for road speed and engine revs/power metering.

The configuration can be linked to the drive mode or selected individually.

There are both hard buttons and touch graphics used throughout the infotainment and climate screens. Happily, key functions retain the former.

The front seats are generously comfortable and widely adjustable. In concert with the reach- and rake-adjustable steering wheel, most driver sizes should find an appropriate position.

Storage is plentiful up front because of both the move to gear selection via the steering column and the new centre console, which includes multiple trays, a lidded bin and a huge flat area below.

Trim materials and presentation are of a high perceived quality and appear well put together. Australian Tucsons come from Korea.

The rear seat is familiarly spacious. Two adults will never have an issue fitting in here. As always though, the high and hard middle seat is the short straw.

Rear-seat features include a fold-down armrest with dual cup holders, dual net pockets, bottle holders in the doors, rear air-con vents with adjustable flow and direction, two USB-C ports in the centre console and a seat back that adjust through multiple positions.

Unlike some rivals, there is no third-row seating.

The boot is also spacious. In fact, the hybrid offers more space than pure-combustion Tucsons because its space-saver spare tyre allows the floor to be dropped lower down.

Cargo capacity for the hybrid is claimed to be 592 litres expanding to 1903 litres with the rear 60:40 split/folded, a task that can be easily executed via handles on the seats or in the boot.

Boot features include a retractable two-position cargo cover, a luggage net, six tie-down points, two underfloor storage recesses, a cargo light and a 12V outlet.

The 2024 Hyundai Tucson Hybrid Premium AWD cost well over $60,000 by the time you get it on the road.

Yep, we can see where the spend has gone into the powertrain and cabin technology, but that’s still a hell of a lot of money for what was once a humble medium SUV.

To cap it off it’s not a stellar driving experience. The AWD hybrid feels like it could use a bit more fine-tuning.

Based on this first taste, the sweet spot in this range lies further south among the front-wheel drive hybrids.

And based on our previous experience, the cheapest 2.0-litre naturally-aspirated Tucsons shouldn’t be ignored either.

2024 Hyundai Tucson Premium Hybrid at a glance:
Price: $59,600 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Powertrain: 1.6-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol/electric
Output: 132kW/264Nm (electric motor: 37.4kW/264Nm)
Combined output: 172kW/367Nm
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Fuel: 5.3L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 121g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP 2021)