2018 Hyundai Tucson

By Alex Forrest

As one of the most popular vehicles in the biggest selling segment of Australia’s new car market, the Tucson is an extremely important model for Hyundai.

The Tucson makes up a whopping 24 per cent of all the vehicles Hyundai sells in Australia, and impetus on Hyundai’s part to keep the Tucson competitive is, for the most part, good news for you.

The Tucson is a mid-sized SUV, and the current generation was launched in 2015 to replace successful ix35.

In 2018, the Tucson range was refreshed. Cosmetically, it’s had a nip-and-tuck to the front and rear styling and had a new set of alloy wheels. It wasn’t much, but the Tucson didn’t need much either – it was a handsome thing from the outset in 2015.   

Material changes to the Tucson range include the addition a new entry level variant called the Go, which get a 2.0-litre petrol engine and starts at $29,990 drive away in automatic guise.

The other new addition is the availability of Hyundai’s eight-speed auto, which is only available when you opt for the 2.0-litre turbo diesel. With the diesel’s relatively low noise levels and a wide selection of gear ratios, these two make an excellent combination.

However, the most significant omission is autonomous emergency braking (AEB) which is not standard equipment across the Tucson range.

While AEB is available on the more expensive Elite and Highlander variants, and you can specify AEB as part of a $2200 safety pack on the cheaper Go and Active X variants, the Tucson’s competition is standardising AEB.

Apart from this, the Tucson is particularly well equipped technologically. There’s a wireless phone charging pad available in the front, USB charging in the rear, a driver attention warning system, plus the smartphone mirroring capability of Apple Car Play and Android Auto.

On the road, the Tucson is still a neat handler around town and on the open road. For this new one, the suspension has been revised to further reduce noise, vibration and harshness. Changes include different suspension bushes redesigned dampers.      

If your budget stretches to the Tucson models that do have AEB, it’s well worth a look.

Specifications