Find Reviews by Make:
Hyundai thinks 300,000 Tucson warriors can stand up to the global legions of RAV-4s and CR-Vs. Madness? This is Tucson!
35 Comments on “For Tucson!...”
Read all comments
Latest Car Reviews view all
Latest Product Reviews view all
Recent Comments
- Lou_BC: @Carlson Fan – My ’68 has 2.75:1 rear end. It buries the speedo needle. It came stock with the...
- theflyersfan: Inside the Chicago Loop and up Lakeshore Drive rivals any great city in the world. The beauty of the...
- A Scientist: When I was a teenager in the mid 90’s you could have one of these rolling s-boxes for a case of...
- Mike Beranek: You should expand your knowledge base, clearly it’s insufficient. The race isn’t in...
- Mike Beranek: ^^THIS^^ Chicago is FOX’s whipping boy because it makes Illinois a progressive bastion in the...
Car Reviews By Make view all
New Car Research
Who We Are
- Tim Healey
Managing Editor - Matt Posky
News and Social Media Contributor - Timothy Cain
Sales Analyst - Murilee Martin
Junkyard Finds Author - Matthew Guy
Contributor - Chris Tonn
Contributor
- Adam Tonge
- Bozi Tatarevic
- Corey Lewis
- Jo Borras
- Mark Baruth
- Ronnie Schreiber
This is blasphemy!
Looks very European. Main design issue is that the rear wheel looks tiny beneath all that sheetmetal.
There’s something Euro Ford-ish in the look of it.
Looks very Ford Kuga-ish – and that’s not a bad thing.
Instantly identifiable as a relative of the Elantra with the two arc cut lines high above the wheels. And it does seem to draw from euro Fords- not a bad thing.
I don’t get the trend to essentially eliminate rear cargo area windows though – makes for a lot of boring sheet metal and poor visibility.
Given Hyundai’s upmarket aspirations, this is a fine ‘Elantra Wagon’ – seems to be the currently accepted fashion for that class of car.
Put a manual transmission in it and I just might buy one.
Twotone
That image is a huge improvement over the current styling on the Tuscon. From what I hear the current Tuscon and Sante Fe are pretty decent crossovers, and the Sante Fe at least has a nice interior, but their sheer exterior ugliness has always kept me away from looking at either one seriously.
This vehicle looks fine to me. Hyundai seems to be doing a lot things right. First, they realize that a fresh product line up drives the consumer. Second, their vehicles come with one of best warranties offered. I don’t particularly care for some of their marketing gimmicks(low gas prices,or car buy back programs) but they must be effective.Now, if they could just put a fuel efficient small crew cab truck on the ground.
looks like EX35, XC60, Kuga and X5 all morphed into one… not bad…
IMO, it looks like a 2010 Chevy Equinox, smiley face edition when comparing head-on views
http://www.chevrolet.com/tools/comparator/compareVehiclePhoto.do?anchorVehicleYear=2010&anchorVehicleID=10001&comparisonVehicles=A25708^A25596^A24305&aS3_LanguageCode=7&aS3_ClientID=Chevrolet
Hyundai (and Kia) sell on price, any kind of improvement will only increase sales.
nmcheese: “I don’t get the trend to essentially eliminate rear cargo area windows though – makes for a lot of boring sheet metal and poor visibility.”
Right! If there’s any justice, those who make the rear ends of CUVs and wagons look like a ’49 Chevy fastback will spend eternity trying to fit a forty-inch cube into a vehicle they created.
They ought to have no problem selling 300K of these worldwide, especially with the 184hp 2.0 diesel. In the US, the 2.0 Theta II (which gets 27/36 in the Kia Forte FE with a 5-speed auto) combined with the 6-speed automatic ought to put the Tucson at or near the top of the CUV MPG list
The interior is nicer than its competitors as well. Nissan should be grateful there’s still Hyundai prejudice out there, ’cause if there weren’t the Rogue would be dead in the water.
@nmcheese
I agree it looks like a Hyundai, and they are doing an excellent job with their design language. A Hyundai doesn’t have to look like a million dollars; it just needs to look about $5000 more expensive than it is.
There already IS an Elantra Wagon though: the Touring. Don’t defame the respectable wagon genre by calling a CUV something that a CUV is not.
Recipe for CUV:
* Take one slightly overweight wagon, fillet slice longitudinally, remove top half.
* Insert yard-thick donut of steel, replace top.
* Sell.
–chuck
Deepsouth, Hyundai DO built a small crew cab pickup.
It just doesn’t look like any pickup sold in the United States for the past 45 years, that’s all.
Go here:
http://worldwide.hyundai.com/
Go to “showroom” then “commercial vehicles” then scroll to the right and highlight “light commercial” to find the H100 and you’ll see….
And yes, it is a diesel (or a turbo-diesel) and 5 speed manual shift, only.
Here’s a standard 2/3 seat cab version for sale used in New Zealand if you can’t get to the Hyundai site to see the new photos
http://search.junkmail.co.za/view/Cape-Town-Motoring-Bakkies–LDVs-2007-HYUNDAI-H100-26GL-R89-T34131-200935
I like the look of the current Tucson better. That thing looks like a little rip off of the butt fugly Subaru Tribeca.
it’s seriously ugly and looks like a crummy toy.
Chundai looks good. I like.
Current one is fugly. As the 1st gen Santa Fe
So, unless I missed something, here’s Kia/Hyundai’s near-future lineup:
Rio/Accent
Soul
Forte/Elantra
Elantra Touring
Optima/Sonata
Amanti/Azera
Tiburon
Genesis
Genesis Coupe
Equus
Sportage/Tuscon
Sorento/Santa Fe
Borrego/Veracruz
Rondo
Sedona/Entourage
What a mess! What a freakin’ mess. For any intended mission, instead of one, single, well-crafted, well-thought product, there are two, three, four products, each with an ad budget, each screaming for your attention. Remind you of any other automaker out there?
Want a budget, A to B appliance? There’s Rio, Accent, Forte, or Elantra!
Want a value-oriented sedan with room for passengers? There’s Forte, Elantra, Optima, and Sonata!
Want an upscale, mid-to-large sedan at a rock-bottom price? There’s Optima, Sonata, Amanti, or Azera!
Want a premium, large sedan? Amanti, Azera, or Genesis!
Luxury RWD performance? Genesis or Equus!
Cheap thrills? Tiburon (next gen) or Genesis Coupe!
CUV? We’ve got small, smallish, medium-small, small-medium…
People-and-stuff moving? We have them aplenty!
Compare this lineup to, say, Honda’s. The Acura lineup may not be serious contenders in their respective classes, but for any intended mission, there is one bright, shining jewel. If a Civic meets your needs, it’s unlikely you’ll be distracted by an Accord, CR-V, S-2000, or TSX.
I agree with carguy, my immediate reaction was “that’s a Ford Kuga – Bangled.”
Maybe just me, looks like it has the same styling ques as the Hyundai I30 (Elantra Touring here in the U.S)
Just my two cents though.
An amalgam of the worst styling trends from Nissan, Honda, Toyota, and BMW. It makes the Terrain look elegant.
Axel:
The Entourage has been axed.
Hyundai (and Kia) sell on price, any kind of improvement will only increase sales.
You obviously haven’t driven a newer Hyundai.
We chose our Santa Fe over Honda, Toyota and Nissan because of the looks, the rich interior, silky-smooth powertrain, safety features and solid construction. The price was just the icing on the cake.
“Hyundai (and Kia) sell on price, any kind of improvement will only increase sales.”
“You obviously haven’t driven a newer Hyundai.
We chose our Santa Fe over Honda, Toyota and Nissan because of the looks, the rich interior, silky-smooth powertrain, safety features and solid construction. The price was just the icing on the cake.”
Hyundai’s have poor long term reliability, 2002-2004 models (63,000+) miles at least have displayed serious mechanical and structural problems, and the warranty does not cover the expensive timing belt changes.
I personally hope this very generic looking new Tuscon is better built.
One thing you have to Hyundai credit for, is thievery!
Every damned car they have is a collaboration of direct rip-offs of other successful designs.
The newest, the Equis, or whatever, steals from both Mercedes and BMW.
The Genesis is a Mercedes.
Now this is the Kuga!
How the hell can they get away with these design copies?
@Axel
So, unless I missed something, here’s Kia/Hyundai’s near-future lineup
You missed a lot by conveniently blurring a ridiculous number of lines:
Budget A-to-B: Rio, Accent, Soul
Compact sedan: Forte, Elantra
Compact wagon: Elantra Touring, Rondo
Camcord competitors: Sonata, Optima
Large sedan (e.g. Avalon): Azera, VG
Luxury sedan: Genesis
Premium luxury sedan: Equus
Sport coupe – small: Tiburon
Sport coupe – midsize: Genesis Coupe
CUV: Tucson, Sportage
Standard SUV: Santa Fe, Sorento
Premium SUV: Veracruz
B-O-F SUV: Borrego
Minivan: Portico, Sedona
The comparisons to Honda/Acura are off base as well.
1) Both Hyundai and Kia offer full product lines worldwide. Acura does not. For that matter there are other cars Kia offers elsewhere but not in the US, like the Venga and cee’d.
2) Does a loaded Elantra cost as much as a lower level Sonata? Sure. If you want to say a loaded Elantra competes with the Sonata and that constitutes a “mess,” then take a second look at Honda. At the $19-20K price neighborhood, the loaded Fit, Civic EX, Insight, Accord, Element, and CR-V all intersect; by that measure Honda’s lineup is a mess as well.
3) If you think Honda’s so perfect go take a hard look at Acura’s new corporate nose.
@Axel:
Hyundai does not own 100% of Kia, only about 50%. They share some products and parts, but not everything. The relationship is more akin to Ford/Mazda.
Hyundai’s have poor long term reliability, 2002-2004 models (63,000+) miles at least have displayed serious mechanical and structural problems, and the warranty does not cover the expensive timing belt changes.
Same goes for Toyota (seized engines and rusted-out truck frames), Honda (blown auto transmissions) and Nissan (oil consumption problems, rusty fenders, abysmal quality on all 2004 Canton-built vehicles). We won’t even get into the German or American brands.
As for timing belts, no manufacturer warranties those. Besides, many Hyundais now come with a chain, and overall the brand has the longest warranty of any car maker.
My point is simply that it’s not 1996 anymore. Most people know that Hyundai’s quality has improved drastically, whereas other brands have declined. Most people, but apparently not all.
“Same goes for Toyota (seized engines and rusted-out truck frames), Honda (blown auto transmissions) and Nissan (oil consumption problems, rusty fenders, abysmal quality on all 2004 Canton-built vehicles). We won’t even get into the German or American brands.
As for timing belts, no manufacturer warranties those. Besides, many Hyundais now come with a chain, and overall the brand has the longest warranty of any car maker.
My point is simply that it’s not 1996 anymore. Most people know that Hyundai’s quality has improved drastically, whereas other brands have declined. Most people, but apparently not all.”
Yes, it certainly is not 1996 and you have raised some points however the dips in long term quality for Toyota and Honda have been slight, and others have been catching up. (Yes, GM and Ford are improving…as well as Hyundai)
By judging Hyundai vehicles made from that time period they still age worse than most Japanese and Domestic competitors, for someone keeping a car for 5-10 years they would not be recommended.
i rented an Escape not long ago, even with the more conventionally designed D-pillar, rear vision was still awful.
i like the current Sportage/Tucson because a, they’re smaller & b, they have that nice 2.7 V6
Hyundai designers talk about this car.
In 2003, According to Consumer Reports, Hyundai’s reliability rankings tied Hondas.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2003-03-11-cr-picks_x.htm
reliability already same level with honda 6 yrs ago
Cute. Like an Elantra SUV.