{"id":3337,"date":"2016-01-12T10:33:21","date_gmt":"2016-01-12T17:33:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rickdebruhl.com\/?p=3337"},"modified":"2016-01-09T18:34:00","modified_gmt":"2016-01-10T01:34:00","slug":"car-review-2016-hyundai-tucson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carcentrick.com\/?p=3337","title":{"rendered":"Car review: 2016 Hyundai Tucson"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just about the time that I think Hyundai is going to run out of steam, the folks running the carmaker always seem to find a way to throw more coal into the fire. The 2016 Hyundai Tucson is solid proof that the Korean automaker is only getting hotter.<\/p>\n

\"2016
2016 Hyundai Tucson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The previous generation Tucson was an SUV that offered great value. Having said that, I was never a huge fan of its looks. The Tucson wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t as good as some of the other cars in the class, or even other Hyundais. The 2016 model has changed that. All new from front to back, the styling has taken a huge leap forward with what the company calls its Fluidic Sculpture 2.0 design theme . I’m not really sure what that means, but it looks great standing next to the compact SUV competition, or by itself. The bolder grill (designed to match the company styling)\u00a0is a nice touch up front, along with better looking\u00a0headlights, running lights and turn signals. The old styling looked a little soft to me, the new version has a nice crisp side accent running from front to back angling upwards as it goes.<\/p>\n

\"2016
OK, so it’s not as pretty without sheet metal…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The 2016 Tucson is bigger in just about every way. The wheelbase is more than an inch longer and the overall length added three inches. Impressively, it was done without adding a lot of weight. The new model is only about 60 pounds heavier than last year’s edition.<\/p>\n

You have two engine choices. My test car had the new 1.6 liter turbo four-cylinder. It makes 175 horsepower. While that’s less than the 180 horses that came from last year’s 2.4 cylinder engine, it’s made a big jump in mileage. The turbo delivers 24 mpg in the city and 28 mpg on the highway with a combined number of 26 mpg. That’s a full four mpg better than last year. During my week with the Tucson I managed\u00a0slightly more than 28 mpg.\u00a0I found it pretty peppy accelerating away from a stop, although giving gas at higher speed wasn’t quite as satisfying. You have a choice of sport, eco or normal modes depending on what you want to achieve. You can also get a 2.0 liter cylinder that\u00a0gives a combined 26 mpg, but with 11 fewer horsepower.<\/p>\n

\"2016
Nice refinements to the Tucson’s Interior<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I particularly like the interior. It has a clean dash with a nicely integrated display screen. That display is\u00a0five inches on the base model but eight inches on the\u00a0Limited model. It definitely makes a difference.\u00a0The seats were comfortable and everything just felt right. While most of the interior dimensions are slightly larger, for some reason the rear seat leg room was a little less. Still, we went out to dinner with a six-foot three friend of\u00a0ours in the back seat, and he said it\u00a0felt fine. That rear seat also has optional heating which is something you rarely see in this price range. Throw in ventilated front seats for those hot summer days, and the interior gets pretty cozy.<\/p>\n

\"2016
Hyundai calls it Fluid Sculpture styling<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of the most impressive improvements\u00a0is the\u00a0list of safety features now available. You can get a\u00a0Lane Departure Warning system, Blind Spot Detection, Rear Cross-traffic Alert, Lane Change Assist, Backup Warning Sensors and Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB). The reality is that most drivers need help and the modern safety systems can really make a difference. If you’re debating about whether they’re worth the extra money, I vote yes.<\/p>\n

My test car with the Limited package came in at $32,510. While that didn’t include every safety option, it was still a lot of value for the money. Throw in Hyundai’s five-year\/60,000 mile basic warranty and 10 years\/100,000 miles on the drivetrain and the price looks even better.<\/p>\n

\"2016
The Tucson even has a bigger gas tank.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From style to performance, the 2016 Hyundai Tucson is proof that the Korean carmaker is steaming full speed ahead. And everyone else is going to have to work harder to catch up.<\/p>\n<\/fb:like><\/fb:like><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just about the time that I think Hyundai is going to run out of steam, the folks running the carmaker always seem to \n [...]<\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newcarsinformation"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p27JFw-RP","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carcentrick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carcentrick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carcentrick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carcentrick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carcentrick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3337"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/carcentrick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3392,"href":"https:\/\/carcentrick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3337\/revisions\/3392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carcentrick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carcentrick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carcentrick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}