2017 Hyundai Tucson Limited AWD Review

I’ve been really impressed with the 1.6-liter turbo-four in our very orange 2017 Hyundai Tucson Limited AWD.

I know, I know, but I’m not that far removed from owning a “compact” Ford Granada, which had an enormous-by-comparison 4.1-liter I-6 pulling around its 3,120 pounds. That’s more than 500 pounds less than the Tucson, and the Tucson is muuuch livelier.

I mean, think about that in 2.0-liter bottles of Diet Pepsi (my soda of choice). The Ford would be two of them side by side. For the Tucson, I’d have to cut off the top quarter of one. We live in amazing times.

The engine has good throttle response for a general-purpose, urban-aimed crossover. It has none of the overly eager tip-in of my former long-term Subaru Outback. It’s easy to have a leisurely or a quick, aggressive start—one that doesn’t leave your passengers wearing the contents of their water bottle.

I can’t disagree with our test team’s comments, which included things such as “modest though acceptable power” and “perfectly fine for the vast majority of this crossover’s consumers, but it is boring.”

They got the Tucson from 0 to 60 mph in 7.9 seconds. That’s more than decent for the engine size and only 0.4 second slower than the venerable 2017 Honda CR-V AWD, which is powered by a 1.5-liter turbo-four, and 0.5 second quicker than the 2017 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring and its 2.5-liter non-turbo I-4.

An interesting but ultimately nondamaging observation: The test team noticed that although the Tucson’s redline is indicated at 6,500 rpm, the limiter kicks in at 6,000.

When would anyone have a Tucson anywhere near that? Well, there is one instance we’ve run into. By and large, the seven-speed dual clutch transmission works well, if biased toward fuel economy. But when the pedal goes to the floor and then is instantly pulled back—such as when darting across an intersection—it’s almost as if the clutch temporarily disengages, and the engine free revs up to redline before coming back down to reality and engaging again. It’s by no means unsafe, just a quirk that’s alarming, then merely low-level annoying, the first few times it happens.

The Tucson did the quarter mile in 16.2 seconds, with a trap speed of 85.5 mph. It came to a stop from 60 mph in 120 feet. That’s 8 feet sooner than a 2016 RAV4 SE but 5 feet later than the CR-V.

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