Hyundai Tucson Elite N Line Hybrid long term review

It was a simple and obvious ploy, really. When the sharply styled Hyundai Tucson’s MY25 update arrived in the middle of 2024, diesels were gone and a new turbo hybrid powertrain had lobbed up and down the lineup.

Why? Because it’s a formula that’s worked so very very well for Toyota RAV4, habitually the biggest-selling passenger car in Oz of late. And that’s precisely what Hyundai wants to ape with its own midsize SUV contender.

It’s not an exact facsimile: Tucson can be had as a naturally aspirated 2.0L front-driver, a turbo 1.6 in either front- or all-wheel drive, or turbo 1.6 hybrid in FWD and AWD.

Add base, mid-spec Elite and flagship Premium guises, and you’re spoilt for choice. And you can have any of the five available powertrains in the Elite trim. With or without sporty N Line accoutrement. Gotta love choice.

So which variant did Chasing Cars go for? And what are we planning on doing with it?

Month 1: Taking delivery of the Tucson

What is it? The newest member of the Chasing Cars long-termer garage sits smack bang in the middle of the Tucson grade hierarchy. Our White Cream finished example is (exhaustively) called the Hyundai Tucson Elite N Line 1.6T HEV 2WD…but at least we know what we’re getting into from the label on the tin.

What’s a Tucson? It’s Hyundai’s volume-selling midsize SUV, named after the town in Arizona, USA. It’s a running theme for the South Korean brand whose portfolio also includes the Santa Fe (New Mexico), the Palisade (California), the Santa Cruz (also California) and the Kona (Hawaii).

Google reveals an ‘I-30’ highway running through Texas, which is a long bow to draw, and Venue is (sadly) the name of an inactive township in regional Arkansas, perhaps purely coincidentally…

We were going to nickname our Tucson ‘Olek’, in homage to the now inactive Chasing Cars staff member Olek Novak who’s shuffled off to greener pastures. Until Novak exited stage left, this was his long-termer, but what was his is now ours, with a nickname Ari…a tip of the Stetson to geographical origins as outlined above.

How much is it? At the time of acquisition, Ari lobbed into the Chasing Cars garage at $52,600 list, or $57,606 on road in NSW.

There are nine different configurations of Elite available in the Tucson stable depending on powertrain and N-Line fitment, ranging from $44,100 (2.0L FWD) to $55,100 (HEV AWD N Line), while the range itself starts from $39,100 at its cheapest to $61,100 for the all-you-can eat Premium HEV AWD N Line).

Options? Given there are so many off-the-rack variants offered, extra splurges are limited to premium ($595) or matte effect ($1000) paintwork and two-tone interior trim ($295) for Premium grade examples without N Line.

Worth a look is to bundle in the five-year/50,000km servicing pack ($1990) up front at the time of purchase.

What’s the spec of our car? Mid-grade Elite takes the 12.3-inch media, 18-inch wheels and LED exterior light fitout of the base Tucson and adds niceties such as leather appointment, powered driver’s seat, front seat heating, a powered tailgate and rain sensing wipers.

Stump for the N Line option and the driver’s screen graduates from 4.4-inch to 12.3 inches, while elsewhere it scores 19-inch wheels, suede-leather appointments, extra body colour-coding, and projector LED headlights.

The 1.6-litre turbocharged four-pot petrol in the Tucson lineup outputs 172kW and 264Nm. Stumping for the ‘HEV’ hybrid system adds a further 37kW and another 264Nm via a single electric motor.

Combined total system outputs are 172kW and 367Nm regardless of whether it’s front- or all-wheel drive, backed by a six-speed automatic transmission either way.

How long is it sticking around for? Six months and (hopefully) for 10,000kms.

What are we going to do with it? The usual Aussie family business for an unorthodox Aussie family unit. With three offspring spread up and down the east coast – Brissie and Gold Coast in Queensland, Bendigo in regional Victoria – there’s almost 2000 kilometres of scope for fulsome family catch-ups. There’s a lot of road tripping due.

Between long highway stints, it’ll mostly be daily urban duties. Given Ari is front-driver rather than the slightly pricier Tucson Elite alternative, there’s not much contextual call for anything tougher than mild soft-roading.

Given Hyundai’s main game is to take on Toyota RAV4, we’re pulling strings to line up a 2WD Cruiser to see how the updated Korean challenger takes on Australia’s best selling passenger car on level pegging.

Initial performance figures? We’ve yet to let Ari rip down the Chasing Cars test track but, consumption wise, Hyundai claims 5.3L/100km combined, with a RAV4-challenging 3.6L urban figure and a fairly lazy 6.5L for the open road.

Interesting, they’re the same claims be it the as-tested front-driven or (60kg heavier) all-wheel-driven format. Hmm…