2024 Hyundai Tucson – hyundaiusa.com | Shop 2024 Hyundai Tucson on Carsforsale.com
The Hyundai Tucson sits just below the Santa Fe in the family and offers a more nimble, lower-cost entry point into the Hyundai brand. For 2024 it comes with automatic seat belt reminders for all seats, new rear-seat airbags, new driver warnings for lane-keep assist and blind-spot collision avoidance, and adds a few more features like 64-color ambient lighting, and dual-zone climate control.
Excellent tech
Segment-leading warranty
Clean interior design
Lower powered base engine
Rival hybrids offer better fuel economy
Confusing trim lineup
Excellent value for money
Hyundai offers the 2024 Tucson with a trio of engine choices starting with a 2.5-liter four-cylinder that develops just 187 hp and 178 lb-ft of torque. That’s not much for an SUV of this size and drivers who prefer something with a bit of pep in its step will notice the lack of power right away.
Accelerating from 0-60 mph will take more than eight full seconds in most cases. It pairs with an eight-speed automatic gearbox and front or all-wheel drive. On the plus side, it gets up to 25 mpg in the city and 32 on the highway according to the EPA.
Above that is a hybrid powertrain that combines a 1.6-liter turbocharged engine with a battery and electric motor for a total of 226 hp. It’s certainly more enjoyable to drive than the ICE version but isn’t much faster in the real world. Where it shines is in the fuel efficiency department where it gets up to 38 mpg in the city and on the highway.
The Tucson Plug-In Hybrid uses the same 1.6-liter engine as the normal Hybrid but adds a larger 13.8 kWh battery pack that offers up to 33 miles of electric-only range. It makes 261 hp as a combined powertrain unit and gets up to 80 MPGe. Those figures are good but still far short of competitors like the Toyota RAV4 Prime. Both hybrid versions of the Tucson leverage a six-speed automatic and come standard with all-wheel drive. All Tucsons can tow up to 2,000 pounds when properly equipped.
The Tucson isn’t meant to be an all-out performer. Instead, it’s comfortable, quiet, and composed on the road. It can’t tow very much but it’ll pull a small trailer or a pair of jet skis without issue and that’s more than enough for most buyers.
The Tucson benefits from a simple but elegant interior cabin. The dash itself sits low which in combination with a skinny A-pillar, provides outstanding visibility. We mentioned it last year when we reviewed the 2023 Tucson but we’ll say it again here, this SUV feels more expensive than it is.
The seating, dash, and door cards feature high-quality fit and finish. Small touches like the lines that span from door to door across the dash bring together the design and the four-spoke steering wheel is unique in its design. The one gripe we have is that the piano black plastic feels cheap and gathers smudges quickly.
The seats are highly adjustable including a reclining feature for the second row. The seats in the N-Line trim feature additional bolstering for harder cornering. Upper trim levels get power adjustability, heating, and ventilation. They’re also available with heating for the second row of seats. Most Tucsons benefit from a sound-deadening windshield as well as tint on all of the rear windows.
Behind the second row are 38.7 cubic feet of storage for whatever one might need to put back there. Fold down the second row and that cargo area expands to 74.8 cubic feet. Both of those figures are above average for the segment.
At this price point, the Tucson feels like an absolute steal when it comes to technology but it’s the sum of the parts here, no one feature, that provides that sense of value. The infotainment system starts out on low-end models as an 8-inch unit with climate controls placed directly below it on a capacitive interface.
We like that mix as it allows quick access to important controls and the ease of use of a touchscreen without cluttering one or the other. Luckily, the larger 10.25-inch unit sticks with this convention. Both offer Android Auto and Apple CarPlay though only the smaller screen does so wirelessly. The only change we’d make is to change the climate controls to physical buttons as they would provide better feedback during use.
The standard interface is easy to use though and we especially like the integrated navigation as it’s smooth and featureful. If there’s anything we’d complain about, it’s the lack of a truly excellent sound system. Hyundai does offer an eight-speaker unit from Bose as its premium option but that falls far short of some others we’ve listened to.
Where the Tucson really shines is in the driver aid department. Well-developed driver aids aren’t just highly convenient tech features, they’re safety features too and the Tucson blends the two brilliants. The adaptive cruise control is one of the best we’ve tried and that’s before you get into the Highway Driving Assist II package available on upper trim levels. That latter technology enables the Tucson to change lanes, slow for turns, and be even more smooth than the standard system already is.
For the first time in 2024, the Tucson gets rear seat belt reminders and new airbags for the rear as well. It was an IIHS Top Safety Pick+ in 2023 and we imagine it’ll keep that award for 2024 once testing is completed.
The base Tucson comes with the standard 2.5-liter gas-only engine, 17-inch alloy wheels, automatic LED headlights, LED DRLs, automatic high beams, a sound-deadening windshield, manually-adjustable front seats, a 60/40 split-folding rear seat, cloth upholstery, an 8-inch infotainment system, wireless Android Auto, wireless Apple CarPlay, two USB ports, and a 4.2-inch driver information display.
The SEL adds roof rails, rear privacy glass, an 8-way power-adjustable driver’s seat, dual-zone automatic climate control, heated side mirrors, heated front seats, rear climate control vents, two more USB ports, satellite radio, a power liftgate, a wireless charging pad, and the ability to use one’s phone as a key.
The base hybrid in the lineup gets the 1.6-liter electrified engine along with a shift-by-wire gear selector, dual-zone automatic climate control, voice recognition, and a 10.25-inch infotainment system but loses wireless Android and Apple connectivity.
The rugged-looking XRT model is the only one in the lineup to get side steps, black mirrors, 19-inch black wheels, faux-leather upholstery, roof cross rails, a black headliner, and a tow hitch. It also has a 10.25-inch infotainment system.
This trim adds a panoramic sunroof and expanded 64-color ambient interior lighting.
This top trim sticks with the gas-only engine but gets a panoramic sunroof, dark chrome trim, projection LED headlights, rain-sensing wipers, leather-trimmed seats, an 8-way power-adjustable front passenger seat, driver’s seat memory settings, ventilated front seats, heated rear seats, a heated steering wheel, paddle shifters, remote smart parking, expanded 64-color ambient interior lighting, a surround-view camera system, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert and automatic braking, navigation-based automatic cruise control, and a shift-by-wire gear selector.
The sporty version of the Tucson gets unique 19-inch wheels, a hands-free liftgate, sport front seats, integrated navigation, a wireless charging pad, and a Bose 8-speaker sound system.
The base Plug-In model uses the 1.6-liter PHEV drivetrain and gets 19-inch alloy wheels, a 120v charging port, and the rest of the content from the SEL Convenience Hybrid.
This trim goes back to the traditional hybrid drivetrain and then leverages the content from the Limited trim.
Finally, the Limited Plug-In Hybrid combines the PHEV drivetrain with all of the features from the gas-only Limited Model.
No car is perfect and the Tucson has some glaring shortcomings like a lack of performance and some tech bugaboos like wired Android and Apple connectivity. Despite that, the truth is that this two-row SUV is meant to shuttle people and things in comfort and safety and it accomplishes those goals without serious compromise. On top of that, it offers the best warranty in the class bar none, and the most advanced safety suite (in terms of content AND capability) too. This thing is a serious value for money and that’s before we consider any current incentives.
2024 Hyundai Tucson – hyundainews.com | Shop 2024 Hyundai Tucson on Carsforsale.com
We’ve covered it above to a degree but Hyundai would do well to add a bit more power to the ICE-equipped Tucson models. While not exactly the same, the base engine is closely related to the same one from many years ago with basically no improvement in horsepower or torque. The upcoming 2024 Santa Fe is going to start out with well above 200 hp so there’s a lot of room to improve the Tucson without overlapping with the Santa Fe. We’d love to see wireless phone connectivity across the Tucson lineup and a bit more towing capacity wouldn’t hurt either.
When properly equipped, the Tucson can tow up to 2,000 pounds. That’s not very much but it’s enough for a small trailer or similar items.
The 2024 Hyundai Tucson PHEV is available now but only in select states like Colorado, Vermont, and California.
Both of these two-row SUVs are similarly sized but the Santa Fe ends up being a bit bigger all around. It also offers more interior passenger and cargo space.