When I first heard that Hyundai was developing a new SUV smaller than the Santa Fe, I was confused. They already offered an inexpensive compact SUV, the Santa Fe. Did they feel there was a market for something even smaller, like the Toyota RAV4? My suspicion is that such a market is limited.

Well, the Hyundai Tucson is here now. After a test drive, I’m a bit less confused.

Styling

For me the weakest aspect of the Santa Fe is its odd styling. I especially dislike its concave wheel arches. Usually wheel arches bulge outward, and there are solid aesthetic and functional reasons for this.

The Hyundai Tucson strongly resembles the Santa Fe, but is considerably more attractive. The concave wheel arches are absent, replaced by convex cladding, and there are fewer dips and bulges all around. A relatively clean design, yet with enough still going on to make it interesting. The thick D-pillars look like something BMW might have done if they’d done the X3 the right way. All in all, the Tucson looks like a cross between the Santa Fe and X3, and is more attractive than either. Only one aesthetic weakness to my eye: as with the Acura MDX the front end sticks out too far. I suspect a combination of packaging a V6 ahead of the axle and safety considerations. Most people won’t mind it.

Inside the Tucson is also more restrained than the Santa Fe, with one significant exception. The interior design is largely conventional. Even the shifter positioned on a small shelf that angles down from the instrument panel, pioneered by the first Lexus RX, is becoming the norm on compact SUVs. The one exception is the fabric used on the cloth seats in the GLS. It’s flat out hideous. You want the LX so you can get leather and not have to look at this stuff. The LX is only $1,250 more than the GLS at any rate, not a bad price for heated leather and an upgraded stereo with CD changer.

Materials are clearly a step or two down from the Santa Fe. All of the plastic is the hard stuff, and it generally looks it. Using hard plastic for the door pulls was an especially poor decision. You’ll be grabbing these all the time, and they feel like what they are, hollow tubes of hard plastic. The materials inside a Toyota RAV4 and especially those within a Honda CR-V look and feel considerably more substantial.

Accommodations

Now for the big surprise: although half a foot shorter in length, the Tucson offers even more front and rear legroom than the Santa Fe. Go figure. It’s the X5 vs. the X3 all over again. At least in Hyundai’s case the next Santa Fe will be significantly larger and put some distance between the sibs.

The front seats are comfortable, provide very good lateral support in turns, and manually adjust for both height and tilt. The view forward is very open, with unobtrusive A-pillars. The view to the rear corners is restricted by the wide D-pillars I mentioned early, but I personally didn’t have an issue with this as long as the mirrors were properly adjusted.

The rear seat is fairly comfortable, with plenty of knee, leg, and head room but an overly flat shape. It helps that the seat cushion is positioned high of the floor, and thus provides good thigh support. (This makes me wonder once again why the rear seat in the new Grand Cherokee is low to the floor and cramped.) The rear seats manually recline in steps. They fold easily and in one step, as the seat cushion automatically shifts forward and downward as the seatback is folded.

Cargo volume is lower than in the Santa Fe, but about average for a compact SUV. I should mention that the front passenger seat also folds flat, giving a flat surface the entire length of the passenger compartment. Excellent packaging all around.

On the Road

Another aspect I didn’t care for in the Santa Fe was suspension tuning biased in favor of ride quality over handling. I hoped that the Hyundai Tucson would offer a sportier driving experience, something like a budget X3. Well, the Tucson does handle better than the Sante Fe, with less lean in turns and a firmer feel, but is still no sporting machine. At best its slightly above average in the handling department. One nit: the leather on the steering wheel rim has no texture and is very slippery. Why?

Why isn’t the handling sportier? As in the Santa Fe, Hyundai seems to have emphasized ride quality. While the Tucson does not feel as plush as the Santa Fe, likely because of less sound deadening materials, it also rides very smoothly, especially for an SUV. I drove it through a pothole filled parking lot but managed to produce no severe jolts.

Just last year Hyundai cured the Santa Fe’s performance shortcomings by stuffing a 3.5-liter six in its engine compartment. The 3.5 doesn’t produce as much power as most engines its size, but it’s torquey, and in conjunction with a five-speed automatic moved the Santa Fe with authority.

With the Tucson we’re back to where the Santa Fe was. The Tucson is about a quarter-ton lighter than the Santa Fe. (After producing a series of portly vehicles, it seems Hyundai has finally figured out how to keep vehicle mass in check.) But 3370 pounds is still quite a bit for a 173-horsepower 2.7-liter V6 to move, especially with only four ratios to choose from. I drove the front-wheel-drive version and noticed no torque steer, likely in part because there's not much torque. Acceleration is adequate, but far from thrilling. Don't race any Saturn VUEs with the Honda six or even Chevrolet Equinoxes for pink slips, okay? The automatic has a manual shift feature, but the character of the Tucson hardly encourages using it.

Safety

The Hyundai Tucson handles safely, with moderate understeer and none of the tippy feel possessed by some SUVs. But just in case you get in over your head, a very impressive list of safety features are standard, including traction control, stability control, and both seat-mounted and curtain-type side airbags. Many competitors (and the Santa Fe for that matter) don’t offer all of these features even as options. Subaru, for example, only offers stability control on the priciest Outback. Let me say again, very impressive. In ten years these features will probably be standard on everything, but it’s nice to see Hyundai leading rather than following the industry. They’re clearly not expected to sell vehicles based on price and their long warranty alone.

Hyundai Tucson Price Comparisons and Pricing

The Tucson offers about 90 percent of what the Santa Fe does, and costs about 90 percent as much—the sticker is roughly $2,000 lower. However, currently there is a $1,750 rebate on the 2004 Santa Fe, and none of the Tucson, so the actual prices are very close. Once the 2005 Santa Fe is out the price will be a bit higher and the rebate lower, so if the Tucson also gets a rebate I’d expect the gap to approach $2,000.

Comparing the Tucson and CR-V using TrueDelta yields a $2,000 to $2,500 advantage in the Hyundai’s favor despite its extra pair of cylinders. Compare base models and the gap widens to about $3,500.

Comparing the Tucson to the Chevrolet Equinox, the gap is about $3,000 for loaded vehicles, and again in the Hyundai’s favor even with a $1,000 rebate on the Chevy.

Prices change frequently, and differences will vary based on feature level. To quickly generate these and other comparisons with the specific features you want, visit my Web site, www.truedelta.com. (It's the only site that provides true "apples-to-apples" price comparisons.)

TrueDelta's page for the Hyundai Tucson:

http://www.truedelta.com/models/Tucson.php

Last Words

Okay, the Tucson is no BMW X3 for half the price, but it’s a very impressive product nonetheless for the average compact SUV buyer. Performance is adequate; the interior is roomy, comfortable, and very functional; the safety features are impressive; and the price is low. Sure, I’d have liked more power, sharper handling, and a nicer interior, but how much can I really expect considering the low 20s price? An especially good choice for a college student.

Update: Six months later I drove the related Kia Sportage. I prefer the styling and handling of the Sportage, and it costs less, so naturally I prefer it. The link to my review can be found below.

Update October 2006: The compact SUV market has gotten much more competitive since I wrote this review. Today I'd give the Tucson at most four stars.

A Note on Hyundai Tucson Reliability

I cannot practically cover reliability within the context of this review. However, many people are interested in such information, so I've started collecting my own data. Results, once they are available, will be posted to my site, www.truedelta.com, with updates every three months.

Unlike other sources, TrueDelta will clearly identify what difference it will make if you buy a Tucson rather than another vehicle by providing "times in the shop" and "days in the shop" stats (among others). You will be able to specify the number of years, annual miles, and types of repairs to include in Hyundai Tucson reliability comparisons.

Before I can report results, I need reliability data on all cars--not just the Tucson--from people like you. To encourage participation, those who help provide the data will receive free access to the site's reliability information. Non-participants will have to pay an access fee.

For the details, and to sign up, visit www.truedelta.com.

A link to this website and alphabetized links to my other vehicle reviews can be found on my profile page.

Some of my reviews of related vehicles:
BMW X3 review
Chevrolet Equinox review
Ford Escape review
2005 Honda CR-V review
Honda CR-V review
2004 Hyundai Santa Fe review
2007 Hyundai Santa Fe review
Kia Sportage review
Mitsubishi Outlander review
Saturn VUE review
Subaru Forester review
Toyota RAV4 review

Amount Paid (US$): 24000
Model and Options: GLS FWD with sunroof