Hyundai Tucson

Most of us would probably not remember the butch Hyundai Tucson, the compact SUV that was launched in India in April 2005. For those who remember, the Tucson was quite a package back then – a comfortable five-seater, good ground clearance, a punchy diesel engine and a shift-on-fly four-wheel-drive. The Tucson is back in its latest avatar and is more premium than ever.

The new Hyundai Tucson is a third generation car globally. The styling is modern and resembles the Santa Fe. The gaping hexagonal front grille is flanked by swept back headlamps that have two projector units apart from the reflector unit for high-beam. The LED day-time running lamps are integrated on the fog-lamp housing on the front bumper which also gets a faux skid plate. The side profile also imitates the Santa Fe with the shoulder line climbing up towards the tailgate. The black cladding around the perimeter of the car gives it a rugged look. It also gets the i20 inspired tail lamps that stand out on the creased tailgate.

The interiors are not as dramatic as the exterior but premium nonetheless. The Tucson is a five-seater SUV and gets a spacious cabin. The seats will get leather upholstery as an option. The top spec variant gets an electrically adjustable driver seat while the rear seats can be reclined and also split 60-40 and folded up as well. Two-zone automatic climate control, automatic headlamps, cruise control and push-button start are standard along with electrically foldable wing mirrors.

The dashboard is dominated by the touchscreen display at the centre with steering-mounted audio controls. It gets USB, AUX, Bluetooth connectivity along with GPS navigation. For safety, dual front airbags with ABS and EBD are standard across the range with the top-spec car getting six airbags.

The Hyundai Tucson is offered with both petrol and diesel engines. The 2.0-litre four cylinder turbo-diesel belts out 182bhp of power and 400Nm of torque and comes mated to six-speed manual and automatic transmissions. The 153bhp, 192Nm 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol also comes with similar six-speed manual and automatic options. The Tucson gets only the front-wheel drive setup as of now expect the torque-on demand all-wheel drive Tucson to come in soon.

The Tucson is slotted between the Hyundai Creta and the Hyundai Santa-Fe SUVs. It ideally competes with Honda CR-V and Skoda Yeti both being five-seater SUVs. But with its price tag it also competes with the Innova Crysta and D-segment sedans like Skoda Octavia, Toyota Corolla Altis and Chevrolet Cruze.