Hyundai Tucson 2.0 Diesel 4WD AT First Drive Review

On the move, you’d notice that the engine wants to hover around 1,500rpm at light to partial throttle inputs. And the gearbox shifts seamlessly between 1,750-2,000rpm to keep the motor spinning at an effortless pace. But, a slight dab on the throttle and the Tucson manages to pace forward without any noticeable lag.

Similarly, for quick overtakes in the city, you need not plan your move as the gearbox is quick in kick-down as well. And if you want to get up to speed quickly, the engine races all the way up to 4,000rpm redline. It only gets vocal past 3,000rpm but you wouldn’t notice it, given the easy manner in which the Tucson reaches highway speeds. And the strong mid-range allows Tucson to maintain triple-digit speeds all day without straining the engine. Speaking of the gearbox, it was only a couple of times where it would hold on gear, making the engine sound snarly. But on usual usage, it won’t give any reason to complain.

The Tucson also comes with three driving modes – Eco, Comfort, and Sport. These driving modes alter the throttle response and steering, where everything is subdued in Eco and vice a versa in Sport. That doesn’t mean the Eco mode is any slouch, it can still rev happily to 4,000rpm redline and can accelerate hard when required. But in the Sport mode, the throttle response feels eager while the gearbox now holds gears for longer. Even the steering weighs up in the Sport mode, making it feel engaging to drive. But you do hear the engine more in the Sport mode which is a good tradeoff for a fun-to-drive nature. Meanwhile, the Comfort mode is the middle ground and so you could leave the car in the Comfort for your everyday driving.

As for the steering, we found it to be on the heavier side, especially at low speeds. But it does get better at higher speeds. And there’s also slight vagueness off the dead centre. But beyond that, the steering feels direct and responsive. It’s also quick, going less than two-and-a-half turns lock-to-lock. As for the brakes, they failed to impress due to their lack of bite and feel. We think the Tucson deserves a better set of brakes to make the best use of those 180 horses.

Lastly, this top-spec Tucson comes with electronically-lockable 4x4 hardware which includes ‘automatic traction cornering control’. This simply controls the power sent to the rear wheels depending on the traction available on the road surface. We didn’t get a chance to try the off-roading prowess of the Tucson, so that’s something for the next time.

The leather-wrapped steering wheel feels the right size. It’s a practical cabin too, with more than ample usable space around the centre console, large door pads, and arm-rest storage. Even the centre console feels uncluttered and the buttons on it feel good to use as well. The floating touchscreen system uses the same interface as the one seen on the other Hyundai line-up, but the presence of physical buttons on either side add to its usability to a great extent.

Moving on to the second-row seats, which again are easy to get into, and there’s more than sufficient legroom on offer. Here, the seats are comfortable with good support and the reclining backrest adds to it. There’s ample shoulder room for three to sit abreast and adequate headroom as well since you sit quite lower into the seat. All three passengers get adjustable headrest and middle one also has a provision of a three-point seatbelt.

Lastly, the massive boot space could carry a couple of large suitcases along with some smaller bags with ample room to spare for other knick-knacks. What’s more, the 60-40 split-seats can be folded down flat, should you want more space.

On the safety front, the Tucson is equipped with dual front, side and curtain airbags, ABS and EBD with brake assist, hill start, and descent control. You also get convenient features like front and rear parking sensors with a reverse camera, but there’s no option of a 360-degree camera. It also misses out on cooled seats, which are sorely missed.