Punchy moves

With turbocharging becoming the preferred choice for many car brands, Hyundai has added it into the Tucson SUV for the extra kick.

WITH the turbo fever catching on among the eastern carmakers, Hyundai has wasted no time jumping on the bandwagon.

For Hyundai enthusiasts in Malaysia, the Elantra Turbo that was launched in June last year was quickly followed up with two turbo variants in the latest Tucson, expanding its range to three.

These are the Tucson 2.0-litre CRDi, the diesel variant with a sixspeed automatic transmission, and the 1.6-litre Gamma T-GDI petrol variant that comes with the seven-speed dual clutch automatic transmission.

Like the normally aspirated Tucson 2.0-litre Elegance petrol variant, all of them are front-wheel driven SUVs (sport utility vehicles).

There is little difference in body styling to distinguish them other than the badges at the rear and the design of the alloy wheels; the diesel Tucson has the CRDi badge and the petrol turbo Tucson simply carries the word ‘Turbo’ in red.

Generally, there is not very much difference among the three model variants in fittings and equipment to discern them, which is good as it keeps costs down.

What is more important is the power aspect and this is the motivator that would influence the purchase of the respective model.

For now, our attention is on the two freshly introduced turbocharged variants for which a Kuala Lumpur to Ipoh media drive was arranged recently to announce their introduction to the market.

The 1.6-litre petrol Turbo-GDI engine delivers 177PS at 5,500rpm and 265Nm of torque that develops fully very early at 1,500rpm and holds on till 4,500rpm; that means plenty of ready pulling power when you need it while cruising on the highway.

Power-wise, the 2.0-litre turbodiesel is marginally better with 178PS at 4,000rpm but heaps better in torque output of 400Nm that also peaks early at 1,750rpm and holds till 2,750rpm; the short engine speed range is typical for a diesel engine.

Hyundai-Sime Darby Motors quoted the performance of the 2.0L CRDi as a 0-100kph sprinter in 9.8 seconds and a top speed of 201kph; we presumed this is the faster of the two variants.

For the media drive, we were given the turbodiesel for the KL-Ipoh drive, which started with a convoy-style highway drive till a rest stop near Tanjung Malim, along the old trunk road, after which we were left to choose our own route to Ipoh.

Our co-driver decided to take the old trunk road, which was fine with us as we could evaluate the Tucson’s ride comfort over less smooth roadways.

We could relate to the immediate thrust of the strong torque the moment we hit the road and the good build-up of speed when we step on the accelerator to pass slower vehicles.

The diesel engine was quiet on the move but the clatter that is typical of such engines would still come through as we sat out the traffic lights in the towns that we passed through.

It wasn’t loud, not from the inside of the Tucson anyway, but the quietness of the interior served as a double-edged sword in that we could hear this characteristic diesel engine noise.

As both turbo variants ran on 17-inch alloy wheels with 225/60 R17 tyres (the same as that for Elegance normally aspirated engine model), ride comfort was fully enjoyed over the more undulating nature of the trunk road and its higher incidents of dips, bumps and road degradation.

Our go at the 1.6-litre petrol turbo variant for the return leg after lunch was all-highway mainly because of the heavily overcast sky; we figured there would be less chance of a flash flood on the highway.

As it were, more than 60% of the drive was done in the wet and road speed was kept to a moderate range, often within legal speed limit.

While the slight lack of a strong initial push was clear due to the far lower torque developed, the seven-speed dual clutch automatic transmission probably had a lower first gear to compensate somewhat.

We were just as comfortable driving the 1.6-litre petrol turbo on dry stretches as engine response for quick overtaking was nicely met with speed build-up that was almost as quick.

We noted that at legal highway road speeds (110kph), the engine speed between diesel and petrol was pretty similar in the low 2,000rpm area.

If the tachometer needle was at 3,000rpm, we were prime targets for the AES cameras on the highway as we were driving above the 110kph speed limit, and the car was hardly “breaking a sweat.”

Wind noise was well controlled as we gathered speed; although the decibels were higher, this went mostly unnoticed as we could continue talking without raising our voices nor was there a need to turn up the audio volume.

In average fuel consumption, we recorded more than 13km per litre with the 2.0-litre turbodiesel despite the somewhat quick driving we did on the highway and truck roads.

When we took over the Tucson 1.6-litre petrol turbo, the reading was about 9km per litre reflecting the gung ho driving that the SUV was subjected to by the media team earlier.

With the less aggressive drive in the rain and more prudent use of the accelerator even when going fast we raised that average to more than 11km per litre by the time we reached KL.

That goes to show that you can still have your cake and eat it too without losing too much of its flavour.

As turbo variants that are locally assembled they are come reasonably well priced; the Tucson 1.6L turbo GDI is available at RM145,688 on the road without insurance and the 2.0L CRDi diesel is RM155,788.