Hyundai's Value-Packed Tucson

Hyundai’s all-new Tucson AWD raises the bar in Australia’s booming compact SUV market with an armoury of exclusive amenities and safety features, and an eye-opening entry-level price of $29,990 for the V6.

The appealing new Tucson also complements its slightly larger Santa Fe stablemate in extending Hyundai’s SUV model choice across more demographic groups of drivers and families.

Going up against the likes of the entrenched players such as the Subaru Forester, Nissan X-Trail and Toyota Rav4, Hyundai is claiming taut handling, a new generation of refinement and a crisp new style will combine with benchmark value for money, making for a very solid alternative to the opposition.

Hyundai has high hopes for its latest modernistic vehicle, projecting sales in the vicinity of 200,000 Tucsons by 2006, with up to 65,000 of these destined for the European markets.

This demand will have some initial effect on supply to Australia, restricting sales to around 200 per month for the first few months at least.

One of the Korean SUVs best assets is that it can claim the only V6 in its subclass, bringing the torque, smoothness and quietness of a bigger engine with six cylinders compared with its four-cylinder competitors.

The Tucson's 2.7-litre, all-alloy, quad camshaft, 24-valve ‘Delta’ V6 engine, driving through an electronically adaptive four-speed automatic transmission with Selectronic sequential clutchless manual mode, creates some 241Nm of torque @ 4000rpm and power peaks at 129kW @ 6000rpm.

The Tucson will hit 100km/h from standstill in 10.5 seconds and it takes 17.2 seconds to cover the quarter mile (400m). ADR 81 combined fuel use is 11 litres/100km on standard unleaded petrol.

Power assisted rack and pinion steering via the tilt-adjustable steering makes the cut, and is complemented by ease of parking and a compact 10.8 metre turning circle diameter between kerbs.

In terms of all round ability, the Tucson is designed with minimal front and rear overhang, a prerequisite for satisfactory offroad performance.

There is also a dashboard-mounted 4WD lock button that allows the driver to manually “lock” the transmission into 4WD for a 50/50 torque split.

In addition to this, Tucson features switchable traction control and four-channel ABS with EBD applied to power-assisted 280mm vented front discs with pad wear sensors and rear 284mm solid discs to maximise safety and fully exploit the potential and performance of this drive system.

The Tucson also offers unrivalled interior seating flexibility for occupants and gear stowage thanks to its ‘Space Wizard’ system.

A 2.7 metre long surfboard can be stowed in-cabin, while protective exterior cladding on doors and wheel arches give the vehicle a rugged look, and on the Tucson Elite a power sunroof is offered and, for the first time on a Hyundai, six airbags too.

Appealing particularly to young, active singles, couples or families, Tucson’s clean, sharp sculpturing and stance on the road exude an appropriately subtle hint of offroad toughness with short overhangs, high ground clearance, the longest wheelbase in its class and consequent best or near best-in-class aggregate legroom front and rear and finished off with dual chrome oval exhaust pipes out back.

Adding further ease to the enjoyment of driving Tucson is standard Selectronic adaptive automatic transmission with clutchless sequential manual mode for when the driver wants more gear selection control.

Hyundai will be offering good value on the new AWD, with amenities in Tucson not normally found on entry level models in this class, including ABS with EBD, 16-inch alloy wheels (including the spare wheel), cruise control, MP3-capable CD audio, a cargo area cover and elastic net, windscreen wiper de-icer, roof rails, front and rear fog lights, pollen filter and an overhead console with sunglasses bin and map lights.

Urban-savvy Tucson touchstones include a park-friendly 4.33 metre overall length, ideal step-in height to moderately elevated seating, a plethora of storage facilities and cupholders, good all round vision and ideal rear stowage access.

Tucson’s tailgate shelters from rain, requires less space and effort to open than a spare wheel-laden offside-hinged door and in very tight confines, boot space is accessible through its separately openable window and a lift-up cargo cover panel inside.

Pricing:
Tucson: $29,990
Tucson Elite: $32,490
Tucson Elite S: $33,200

Tucson V6 AWD debuts at $29,990 in Australia, the only V6-powered SUV under $30,000 and a sequential-manual mode automatic at that.

As well as the standard features above, this also includes:

pollen-filtering air-conditioning
remote central locking with alarm
power windows with driver’s glass one-touch lowering
dual front airbags
electric door mirrors

Tucson Elite V6 AWD is solid value at $32,490, which adds:

front seat side (thorax) airbags
side window (curtain) airbags
power tilt/slide sunroof
leather steering wheel rim and gearshift knob
trip computer
tweeters
16-inch six-spoke alloy wheels with wider and lower profile 235/60 Bridgestone Turanza rubber
ambient light-sensitive headlight control
a more luxurious cloth seat trim
gloss brushed alloy-look centre dash surround and shifter plinth

Tucson Elite S models are distinguished by their prestigious all-body-coloured bumpers and side cladding finished only in Aqua Silver (light-medium green mica) or New Mid Silver (light gold metallic) from September and are priced at $33,200.

Tucson is offered in seven exterior colours and grey or beige interior trim matched with them. Noble White and Ebony Black are both solid tones while the three metallic and two mica finishes add $215 and $225 extra respectively, Elite S excepted.

Like all Hyundais, Tucson offers owners the quality assurance of Australia’s best continuously offered factory new car warranty, five years or 130,000km.

“Hyundai’s new ‘Future Driven’ philosophy is exemplified by Tucson in every respect,” said Theo van Doore, Director of Sales & Marketing for Hyundai Motor Co Australia.

“Tucson is the most thoroughly researched car we have ever launched, and both European and Australian motorist clinics warmed to Tucson, preferring its style, size, powertrain and intelligent interior flexibility to CRV and RAV4 four-door.

“Our main target for Tucson is 25 to 30 year-old singles and ‘DINKs’ couples, urbane, successful and with the active lifestyles that will be best-in-class catered for by Tucson’s exceptional user-friendliness. For these buyers, as their first-new-car-as-SUV, Tucson is the best package on the market and it just happens to cost less as well.

“Everyone who has driven some distance in a Tucson is extremely impressed with its detail design delights and its very refined yet rewarding driving experience,” Mr van Doore said.