Hyundai Tucson Review
The Hyundai Tucson is a small family SUV that’s roomy inside and comes with lots of kit, but it doesn’t look particularly stylish and alternatives have more spacious boots.
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Is the Hyundai Tucson a good car?
The Hyundai Tucson is a small SUV which you should consider if you’re looking for a practical family car with a raised driving position and plenty of standard equipment. It doesn’t feel quite as posh as some alternatives, though, and don’t expect its styling to turn many heads.
If that’s going to be a dealbreaker, the wilder-looking Kia Sportage might be a better bet, but at least the high-riding Hyundai Tucson still towers over most conventional hatchbacks in the supermarket car park.
Climb inside, and there’s less to help you tell the Hyundai Tucson’s interior apart from a run-of-the-mill hatchback. Sure, most of the Hyundai Tucson’s plastics feel nice and soft and you get a neat free-standing infotainment display like in a Mercedes, but it all feels a bit bland compared with the interiors in a Kia Sportage or Mazda CX-5. It’s a bit like a new toaster – it all works very nicely but you won’t be rushing to show it off to your friends next time they pop round.
That being said, at least the Hyundai Tucson comes with plenty of kit as standard. Just like the Sportage, the standard touchscreen infotainment system comes with all the smartphone mirroring features you need to use your favourite apps on the car’s built-in screen.
It’s comfortable, too. You get loads of seat adjustment and the standard reclining rear seats mean there’s more space for passengers in the back than you get in a Nissan Qashqai.
The Hyundai Tucson covers all the important family SUV bases, so it’s pretty roomy, well equipped, fairly economical and comes with lots of safety kit as standard.
It’s a similar story when you need to pack the Hyundai Tucson’s boot. It’s dead easy to load and there’s more space than you get in the Sportage. A Skoda Karoq is roomier still, however – especially with the back seats folded down.
The Hyundai Tucson is slightly more comfortable to drive than the Sportage and CX-5 and its raised seating position gives you a good view out and it doesn’t lean a great deal when you head out of town onto a twisty country road.
A Mazda CX-5 feels more nimble, but you can’t get that car with a clever mild-hybrid system like the Hyundai which helps save fuel by turning the engine off when you coast to a stop or cruise downhill.
You can only get this feature in top-spec 2.0-litre diesel models, but don’t worry; the Hyundai Tucson’s other engines are still pretty economical as standard. The most powerful diesel cars also come with four-wheel drive, but the two-wheel-drive models are plenty grippy enough to tackle a steep leaf-ridden driveway in the rain.
Whichever model you pick, you get a bundle of clever safety features to help prevent accidents including automatic emergency braking and lane-keeping assist – a feature usually reserved for high-spec cars.
All this means the Hyundai Tucson is a very capable small SUV which represents good value for money. Head over to our Hyundai Tucson deals page to see how much you can save on one.
How practical is it?
You won’t have any trouble fitting five adults in the Hyundai Tucson, but there isn’t quite as much space in the boot as you get in most alternatives
The Hyundai Tucson serves up a tasty combination of space and comfort, but that alone isn’t enough to make it stand out from other equally desirable – and more practical – SUVs
The Hyundai Tucson comes with absolutely loads of room in the front, so you won’t have to worry about your head touching the roof if you’re very tall. You get a decent amount of seat adjustment as standard, too, and all but entry-level S Connect cars come with adjustable lumbar support to help stave off backache on long drives. Top-spec Premium SE versions even get heated and ventilated front seats – perfect for cold winter mornings and roasting hot summer afternoons.
Passenger space in the back is pretty good – there’s more room than you’ll find in the back of a Nissan Qashqai – and the Tucson’s standard reclining rear seats are just the thing for making sure tall passengers are comfortable on long journeys.
There’s a slight lump in the Hyundai Tucson’s rear floor that’ll get in the way of your middle passenger’s feet, but its wide body means there’s enough shoulder room for three adults to sit side-by-side without feeling cramped. There’s a decent amount of space under the front seats for three people to put their feet, too.
The Tucson’s tall roof and wide rear door openings mean it’s dead easy to lift in a bulky child seat. The standard Isofix anchor points come with neat folding covers, too, so you can secure the seat base without having to remove any fiddly plastic caps.
The Hyundai Tucson’s 513-litre boot is slightly bigger than what you get in the Kia Sportage and leagues ahead of the rather small Nissan Qashqai’s load bay, but it can’t match the more practical VW Tiguan for load-carrying ability.
That said, it’s still more than spacious enough to carry a large weekly shop, a few bulky baby buggies or a family’s luggage for a week away and there’s a handy space to store the load cover under the floor if you need to remove it.
The back seats fold in a two-way (60:40) split so you can carry some long luggage and a rear-seat passenger at once, but some alternatives come with a more practical three-way split which leaves room for two passengers in the back seats.
If you need even more space, fold all the back seats down and the Hyundai Tucson’s load bay grows to a roomy 1,503 litres. The completely flat floor makes it as easy as possible to push heavy boxes all the way up behind the front seats and there’s even space to carry a bike with its wheels attached, but a VW Tiguan is even roomier still.
What's it like to drive?
Whichever engine you pick, the Hyundai Tucson is a doddle to drive and it soaks up bumps pretty well. Other five-seat SUVs are more fun and more frugal, however
Unlike plenty of alternatives, the Tucson doesn’t try to live up to the Sports in Sports Utility Vehicle – instead, it tries to be as comfortable and as easy to drive as possible
What's it like inside?
The Hyundai Tucson’s smart dashboard comes with a big infotainment screen and loads of equipment as standard but only top-spec models get leather seats
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