Rocky Mountain Hy

With its potent Common Rail Diesel motor and the right combination of size, looks and ability, HYUNDAI’S TUCSON may be exactly what you’re looking for.

Aspiration drives the motor car industry. It’s fuelled by the desire of people who aspire for something more than just basic transportation. You stretch your budget to buy the car you want, not the car you need. The car you reach out for, the one you stretch your budget to buy, is the car you really, truly desire, the one you imagine owning. And increasingly this image, wherever you live on planet earth, looks more and more like an SUV.
Of course, everybody loves supercars and limos, but these are not the cars you see yourself owning and using on a day-to-day basis. If you're an American, the official car of your dreams is not the red Corvette you see leaping in the air as in the ads, it's an SUV. A massive three-tonner that also has a fridge stocked with Budweiser. They can afford the fuel, remember. And it's not just the Yanks. The whole world and its cousin seem to be going gaga about off-roaders with sales of SUVs having risen totally out of proportion to any other type of vehicle.
This is the case in India too. Ask most Indians what their perfect vehicle would look like and you'd find a very large percentage arriving at a car that looks like an off-roader, or more specifically a soft-roader powered by a good common-rail diesel engine. It would have to be the right size. Large enough to be comfortable, but not massive or unwieldy. Looks like we’re describing the Tucson (Pronounced as ‘Two Saw’). Let's see. The Hyundai looks the part. Of late, Hyundai designs have become safer, with clean European lines dominating. Look at the Getz or the new Sonata, yet to be introduced into India, and you'll see what we mean. The Tucson however does not have that 'Euro-clean' look. Full of interesting details and concessions to style, it tries hard to look sporty without losing its off-roader dimensions. The basic two-box off-roader profile remains, with the voluminous body and the high bonnet left intact. Large wheel arches done in black plastic, a large high bumper and substantial cladding are pure SUV. The big 215 tyres on 16-inch rims too.
The first sign of its sporty intent is the way the glasshouse or cabin of the car has been raked at all four corners. The windscreen is steeply raked for an SUV, the roof is narrower than the cabin of the car and the pillars taper inwards as they ascend. The roof also dips as it meets the tight, sporty rear. Hyundai designers have sacrificed the practicality of a larger boot for style: the pronounced 'hip' you see at the rear looks great, and is very Porsche Cayenne. These lines really do make the Tucson look appealing, especially when viewed in three dimensions. Individual details are less successfully done. The trapezoidal headlamps look neat and are well integrated into the various surfaces of the design, but the mournful grille, overdone bumper and the MPV-like tail are nothing to write home about.
Under the skin, the Tucson is more saloon than off-roader. Built on the very capable Elantra platform, the Tucson, like the Honda Civic-based CR-V, is a monocoque construction rather than a body-on-frame design. As can be expected, the Tucson chassis has been considerably strengthened and stiffened to make it resistant to the additional forces experienced off-road. This also helps improve safety as well as on-road ride and handling. Its long-travel suspension is all-independent, with the ubiquitous MacPherson struts and coil springs used to suspend the front wheels. Suspension at the rear is taken care of by dual links with stout anti-roll bars.
Using a part-time four-wheel-drive system, the Tucson runs as a front-wheel-drive car under normal conditions. However, as soon as slippage is detected by the Borg-Warner all-wheel-drive system, drive is channelled to all four wheels. A nice feature is the four-wheel-drive lock that can be activated by the driver at the touch of a button; this is not found on many competing soft-roaders, including the CR-V. But as there is no low-range or lockable differentials, this is not a full-fledged off-roader.
Look at competition like the Nissan X-Trail and it's difficult to believe that the Tucson offers more space on the inside. Interior packaging has concentrated on providing the largest, roomiest cabin possible, so the Tucson delights in this area.
The cabin is wide and airy, with shoulder room and front legroom being particularly impressive. The design of the front seats is ergonomically correct and offers good back support as well as height adjustment. The relaxed driving position is unusual but spot-on. You can set the front seat to an almost cruiser-bike-like position, with your feet stretched out, backrest relaxed and the steering wheel in, close to your chest. And for once, drivers have enough legroom. Comfort at the rear is just as impressive. It is possible to seat three abreast without difficulty, you sit high, the seats are supportive and the backrest can be reclined to a certain extent.
This will make a great travelling car, as fatigue on long drives will be kept well in check. The finish and fit of the interiors is upto Hyundai's usual high standards with plastics well finished. Build quality may not be as tough as that of some European manufacturers, but it is certainly not flimsy. The design itself is super. The central console has a Land Cruiser Prado look about it, with twin vertical bands running down either side.
The vents and buttons are beautifully finished, the instruments are tastefully done and the entire design of the interior has a flow to it, with sharp details that stand out. Space in the boot, or hatch section, is not great. Wide and easy to load but not long, it is almost hatch-like. The rear seat however, can be split and folded totally flat for great flexibility.
Fire the CRDi motor, select first on the light, long-throw gearbox, pad the throttle and the Tucson pulls with a surprising amount of enthusiasm — even if you're used to the power delivery of this motor from the Elantra.
A motor that puts out a useful 111bhp and an even more useful 25kgm of torque, this four-cylinder turbo-charged common-rail engine has very little initial lag at the bottom-end. Awake almost from go, this motor allows you to quickly shift up to a higher gear and hold onto it without much complaint or loss of energy.
This is a boon in traffic, especially as the gearbox is slightly vague. Mid-range progress too is strong, with the torque from the direct-injection motor pulling you forward very energetically. The Tucson is best driven in its mid-range, as the motor is most flexible in this part of the power-band. Power tails off at
around 3500rpm, approximately 1000rpm shy of peak revs.
However, overall power is more than sufficient to allow you to enjoy an energetic drive without feeling let down by a lack of performance. Still, the Tucson did feel like it would be more than a second shy of the more powerful Nissan X-Trail's 0-100 sprint time of 11.9 seconds.
The Tucson is pretty nifty and fleet-footed due to the fact that it is a soft-roader; it's based on a saloon car and not a heavy cumbersome off-roader platform. It willingly changes direction, the light steering is direct and straight-line stability is pretty good, even at speed.
However, it lacks real road feel — essential for driver confidence at higher speeds. Its tall springs also mean that body control around corners is not great. Ride quality is pretty good, though. It copes well with
broken roads and the long-travel suspension swallows even large craters well.
However, ride quality isn't all-absorbing and some amount of the road noise filters through. The CR-V is more pliant and absorbent for regular roads, but the Hyundai is better on rougher ones.
After spending a few hours with the Hyundai Tucson, you're left with one overriding impression. It feels just right. Its sporty looks, compact manoeuvrable dimensions, punchy diesel motor and good on-road handling, make it a vehicle that would be fun as well as practical to own. Comfortable, capable of travelling off-road for a bit and well-built, the Tucson will be great for everyday transport as well as weekend recreation.
At roughly Rs 14 lakh, it is not cheap, but it will be practical, well supported by Hyundai and easy to live with. It may not have your badge of choice, an automatic gearbox or a huge boot, but then it would have everything, and you get seldom get that.