Yahoo Autos 2024 Hyundai Tucson Review: Sensible shoes with wild clothes
Pros: All-star hybrid powertrain; excellent tech; huge cargo area; strong safety credentials; high-quality cabin
Cons: Sad sack base engine; some weird interior controls; a bit blah to drive
The 2024 Hyundai Tucson has all the makings of a sensible, uber-practical compact SUV choice. It’s really big, with one of the most voluminous cargo areas around. It gets good fuel economy, including the surprisingly powerful and very-much-recommended Tucson Hybrid. The interior is well put together and features user-friendly technology. The safety credentials are top notch in terms of equipment and crash ratings. Add it all up and you have a very sound choice.
Thing is, words like “sensible” and “uber-practical” are usually attached to bland, anonymous SUVs that practically disappear in a parking lot. People almost expect them to be boring. “Oh yeah? Watch this!” That’s what we imagine Hyundai designers saying as they went about putting together the explosion of creases, odd bulges and kitchen-sink details that is the Tucson. The smiling grille lights up on its edges like a Vegas marquee; the wheel arches are angular rather than actual arches; there are diamond shapes in the rear bumper; the LED taillights drop down into the liftgate like quadruple Dracula fangs. It’s a lot. Maybe too much, so if you like all of the above sensible stuff but would rather a different look, consider the mechanically related Kia Sportage. We also recommend the Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4 and Mazda CX-50. Not that any of the above are that boring any more, but none make quite the statement of the 2024 Tucson.
Interior & Technology | Passenger & Cargo Space | Performance & Fuel Economy
What it's like to drive | Pricing & Trim Levels | Crash Ratings & Safety Features
What's new for 2024?
The Tucson gets an infusion of safety equipment for 2024. Rear seat side airbags, rear outboard seatbelt pre-tensioners, seatbelt reminders for all seats, and haptic steering wheel feedback for the lane-keeping and blind-spot warning systems are not only now available, but standard. There are other feature enhancements as well. The 10.25-inch touchscreen is now added to more trim levels, including the SEL Convenience and all hybrids; dual-zone climate control is now standard on all but the base trim; and the ambient lighting color selection goes from 10 to 64. The N-Line trim level is also now powered by the hybrid, which is a good thing.
What are the Tucson interior and in-car technology like?
The Tucson’s cabin is stylish, tech-focused and premium in terms of both appearance and quality. We especially like the dash-width vents and cloth trim. There are some key differences based on trim level, however. Besides upholstery and color choices, the center stack controls actually differ. The SE and SEL come with an 8-inch touchscreen, while an upgrade 10.25-inch widescreen unit is standard on everything else. Their basic user interface is similar, but the bigger screen increases functionality. Frustratingly, only the 8-inch screen is compatible with wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay; the larger unit requires a wired connection. This is true of every Hyundai or Kia with the 10.25-inch screen.
With either, Hyundai ditched a traditional volume knob and other physical controls, which is a downgrade. The 8-inch screen is paired with scroll wheels for volume and tuning (below with Apple CarPlay on the screen), which is technically better than the tap-tap-tapping you have to do with the all-touch controls paired with the 10.25-inch unit (below with black screen), but they're still strange. Touch-sensitive controls have also historically been difficult to find and successfully press while driving, and these are no different. All that piano black trim also means lots and lots of fingerprints.
How big is the Tucson?
For something dubbed a “compact SUV,” the answer is “very big.” It’s almost exactly the same size as a Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V and its mechanically related Kia Sportage cousin, making it one of the largest in the segment. Besides offering plenty of room for adults, we could easily fit a rear-facing child seat while maintaining plenty of space up front for driver and passenger.
Behind the raised back seat, Hyundai claims 38.7 cubic feet of rear cargo room, which puts it just shy of the Sportage and the non-hybrid CR-V for segment-best. That was largely confirmed in our Tucson luggage test, where it managed to easily swallow all six of our standard bags plus an extra duffle and a 38-quart cooler with plenty of room leftover. Only the Sportage has managed to perform better, with a key reason being its hybrid trim still includes a spare tire. So does the RAV4 Hybrid. The Tucson Hybrid does not.
What are the Tucson fuel economy and performance specs?
The Tucson comes standard with a 2.5-liter inline-four that produces an adequate but uninspiring 187 horsepower and 178 pound-feet of torque. Acceleration tests from various publications have shown a 0-60 “sprint” takes more than 9 seconds, making it one of the slowest vehicles in the segment. EPA fuel economy estimates are 25 mpg city, 32 mpg highway and 28 mpg combined with standard front-wheel drive and 23/29/25 mpg with optional all-wheel drive.
The 2024 Hyundai Tucson Hybrid is a substantially better choice than the base engine as it represents both a fuel economy and performance upgrade. Its combination of 1.6-liter turbocharged inline-four, electric motor and six-speed automatic transmission produces a total output of 226 hp and 258 lb-ft of torque. That’s a huge jump and one you’ll notice behind the wheel. All-wheel drive is standard, and unlike the Toyota RAV4, it is an actual mechanical AWD system rather than a “through-the-road” system that uses an additional electric motor to power the rear wheels. Fuel economy estimates standard at 38 mpg in 37/36/37 for most trim levels, and 38 mpg in all cycles for the basic Blue trim.
The Tucson Plug-In Hybrid basically adds a substantially larger battery pack and a more powerful electric motor to the Tucson Hybrid powertrain. This results in an increase to 261 hp and the same 258 lb-ft of torque, but also allows for 33 miles of all-electric range and a rating of 80 MPG-e from the EPA (2023 figures as those for 2024 were not available at the time of this writing). That isn’t quite as thrifty as the Toyota RAV4 Prime and Ford Escape PHEV, but if your commute and daily errands fall within that 33 miles (a strong possibility), you’re still going to be rarely filling up.
What's the Tucson like to drive?
We described the base engine as “adequate but uninspiring” above, which is probably a bit generous. Its sluggish throttle response and reliance on downshifting to maintain speed makes it frustrating to drive in traffic as the eight-speed automatic hunts for gears. More succinctly, it’s just slow, even for a segment where swift acceleration isn’t expected. We’re happy the sporty N-Line trim level is no longer stuck with it.
Instead, it comes only with the hybrid powertrain, which is what we recommend regardless of trim level. Not only does it have a better powertrain than the base engine, it’s one of the best options in the entire segment (the Kia Sportage has the same setup). Theconventional transmission and turbocharged engine provide a quieter and more normal driving experience than that of other hybrid SUVs, while the turbo-plus-electric-motor combo makes it feel notably gutsier around town and when merging onto the highway. The Tucson PHEV, meanwhile, effectively adds even more smooth, effortless electric power to the Hybrid driving experience along with all-electric range.
