Hyundai Tucson Hybrid
HELLO
£37,400 OTR/£39,565 as tested/£425pcm
WHY IT’S HERE
Is Hyundai’s crossover as ambitious underneath as its looks suggest?
DRIVER
Andy Franklin
STRIKING, ISN’T IT? ACTUALLY, DIFFERENT IS PROBABLY A BETTER word. In the short few weeks I’ve been running this car the looks have been the main talking point. Let’s face it, this corner of the market is completely saturated with Qashqais, Kugas and Tiguans. With the Tucson, Hyundai wanted something that was confident and stood out. Those “parametric hidden lights” have done the job. But the Tucson has always been a quirky looking thing and over the past couple of generations Hyundai has concentrated on value for money, dynamics and interior quality. With those sorted it left this generation free to concentrate on styling. We’re told it’s a “design revolution” for the brand. It wasn’t kidding. Granted, the latest styling won’t be to everyone’s taste, but it does feel like Hyundai is on a roll with its new design language – the stunning new Ioniq 5 has been one of the best looking cars we’ve seen this year.
Admittedly, on the inside there isn’t quite the same wow factor, but it’s decent nonetheless and still carries over much of the previous generation’s quality while feeling extremely roomy. Better still, it’s absolutely loaded with tech, including two 10-inch screens and clever blind spot technology. More on that to come in a later report.
All engines are versions of the same 1.6-litre turbo petrol. The base car has a manual gearbox, FWD, 148bhp and no electrical assistance. Then there are two mild hybrids with 148 or 178bhp. The former is manual or auto but FWD only, while the latter is auto only and gets the option of AWD. A full hybrid links a 44kW electric motor with the same 1.6-litre turbo (for a 227bhp total) and AWD. And this being TopGear we obviously went for the top of the range one.
But what is it like to live with in the real world? Well, that’s what the next few months will be about, I just hope the looks don’t wear thin...