2021 Hyundai Tucson Highlander 2.0 petrol review

A mid-size SUV is generally not a pulse-racing prospect. Conservative but handsome lines, a well-thought-out interior, a sensible number of specifications ranging from, “oh, that’s not bad” through to, “oh, why not, I’ll treat myself”.

The Tucson epitomised that and did it well for some years. Too many, in fact, because I distinctly recall listening to a dealer saying the Hyundai retail network was “screaming” for a new Tucson.

Hyundai would probably be the first to admit that it probably took a little longer than anyone wanted but then it would just pull one of those big showy drop sheets and show you what a little longer in the oven has meant.

As a result, the new Tucson still covers that range of emotional purchasing responses but adds in a hearty dose of, “hot damn, just look at this thing”. With Luc Donckerwolke at the design helm after stints at various car companies – including, as you may have guessed from the triangles, Lamborghini – the new machine is wild-looking, right down to the wheels.

Hidden LED driving lights that melt into the grille, big Bangle-esque creases and slashes in the side, you can’t miss the new Tucson.

Pricing and Features

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The Tucson now comes in three trim levels, with the top two offering a choice of powertrains, two petrol and a diesel. The top-of-the-Tucson range is the Highlander and you can have it with the 2.0-litre petrol, 1.6-litre turbo or the 2.2-litre diesel.

If you’re wondering where the hybrid or PHEV option is, keep wondering – Hyundai reckons it can’t offer them at a compelling price so, er, isn’t. Toyota is probably fairly pleased with that as two-thirds of RAV4 sales are the hybrid and they’re not made in Europe with expensive Euros to exchange at the airport.

Anyway, the car I’m going to take you through is the 2.0-litre Highlander that retails for $45,000 before on-roads. That’s a bigger number than the 2020 model but there’s a lot more to this new Tucson than the old.

I’d go as far as to say that in some respects, it’s an even bigger jump between the 2020 and 2021 cars than there was between the ix35 and the Tucson. And in other, admittedly fewer respects, not so much.

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Your forty-five large includes 19-inch alloys, LED lighting front, rear and inside, eight Bose-branded speakers, 10.25-inch touchscreen, digital dashboard, cameras all around, front and rear parking sensors, active cruise control, electrically adjustable front seats with heating and cooling, heated rear outboard seats, sat-nav, leather seats, power everything and wireless charging for compatible phones.

Hyundai’s excellent new media system lives in that big screen along with the satellite navigation, a bunch of clever features like quiet mode, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto (both, infuriatingly, via USB) and DAB+ digital radio.

The stereo is pretty good and I guess the Bose badges mean Bose speakers. I thought the sound was perfectly acceptable but haven’t driven a Tucson without them.

Just one of the eight colours is free (white. Surprise!) while the rest are a fairly annoying $595. Well, annoying when you’ve already dropped $45k.

You can also add the N-Line Pack for another thousand dollars, which just adds some cosmetic frippery, unlike the more expensive pack on the entry-level and Elite grades that adds a lot more stuff like LED lighting already included on the Highlander.

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The comprehensive safety package includes seven airbags, ABS, stability and traction controls, forward AEB (10-85km/h for pedestrians and cyclists, 10-180km/h for other vehicles), junction turn assist, rear cross-traffic alert, rear AEB, lane keep assist and blind-spot monitoring. The seventh airbag is a centre front airbag to stop heads clashing in side collisions.

As in the Santa Fe Highlander, the Tucson ships with Hyundai's Blind Spot Monitor. This system somewhat soothes my disappointment at a fully digital dash not doing much other than changing colour.

When you hit the indicator, a camera feed of the corresponding side of the car replaces the dial on that end of the instrument panel. It’s terribly clever and beautifully integrated.

You also get two ISOFIX points and three top tether mounts for child seats. ANCAP has not yet awarded a safety rating but it will be quite a surprise if it isn’t five stars given the centre airbag and the rest of the safety gear.

Comfort and Space

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This is a cracker of an interior. When I posted a pic online, my Twitter followers were most impressed before asking if it was as good as it looked. And it is. The light leather looks great (you can also choose brown or black), brightening the cabin no end.

The big touchscreen is surrounded by glossy black plastic and touch-sensitive 'buttons'. I’m not a fan of the lack of physical buttons but the dual-zone climate controls are physical and very easy to use.

The fantastic looking front seats could be out of something significantly more expensive, echoing the triangle patterns from outside. A few hours in these saddles were no trouble at all, the phone charging in the wireless charging pad, our coffees in the two cupholders and our water bottles in the doors.

Along with the wireless charger, there are two USB-A ports up front and two more in the back. The centre armrest also has a console bin underneath.

This is a cracker of an interior. My Twitter followers were most impressed before asking if it was as good as it looked. And it is.

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This new Tucson is bigger and, crucially, has a longer wheelbase. Most of that has gone to looking after rear-seat passengers, who have a ton of room. I can sit behind my driving position – I’m a gnat’s under 180cm – and I have knee room, legroom and space to shove my size tens under the seat.

Even with the panoramic sunroof, I’ve got plenty of head clearance and the seat itself is really comfortable. Storage runs to mesh pockets, two cupholders in the fold-down armrest and bottle holders in the doors.

Owners of small children will be pleased to read that the back doors open up really wide.

The boot is a massive 539 litres and with the seats down that triples to 1860. It has a nice wide opening and the boot floor is flush with the loading lip and the wheelarch intrusion isn’t too bad.

On the Road

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Sadly for a car that looks so wild and is sold on the idea of being a peek into the future, the only contemporary thing about the 2.0-litre engine is that it’s new.

Power is down over the older, lighter car, to 115kW at 6200rpm and 192Nm at 6200rpm. The combined cycle figure of 8.1L/100km is higher than the old direct-injected car but it still has a six-speed torque converter transmission.

It might sit behind the amazing, clever lighting and grille arrangement that makes it look for all the world like an EV but it’s depressingly old school.

It’s not a bad engine, but it can struggle a bit with the Highlander’s 1530kg kerb weight plus two people, a dog and a water bottle on board.

It’s quiet enough most of the time and does what you ask it to do, but really, it’s a bit weak for a car at this price level. There’s a reason Mazda doesn’t offer the higher-end CX-5s with the gasping 2.0-litre.

Compounding the crushing ordinariness of the engine is the fact this Tucson has a very impressive chassis. Like other freshly arrived Hyundais, the suspension tune is a global tune wrought by many more hands than the local tune of some others in the range.

That immediately sets off alarm bells in my head because the Tucson is sold in America and we all know how they love a handler. Well, they might love a well-sorted car, it’s just so many Americans haven’t met one yet.

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My suspicions were confirmed when I discovered that this new car rides absolutely beautifully.

Unruffled by Sydney’s pathetic excuses for suburban streets, its laissez-faire attitude to arterial road maintenance and the frankly hideous state of the motorways and their Hague-worthy surfaces, it suddenly makes sense to pay this kind of money.

Even on big 19-inch wheels, the Tucson rides with uncanny smoothness across pretty much anything. Even the sternest test of a car’s suspension, the shopping centre rubber speed bump, is dispatched with almost Audi air suspension-like haughtiness.

That should mean the handling is less than great, right? Well, yeah, but it isn’t. It’s really good fun to drive through the corners, with a front end that’s keen to go where the well-weighted steering sends it. Despite the plushness of the ride, there’s no slack in the front end or that awful, unsettling corkscrewing some softly sprung front ends dish up.

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Remember how I said my suspicions were confirmed? Don’t listen to me. Well, do, just not the bit where I was wrong.

It has plenty of grip even in this front-drive-only version and it makes you wonder why Hyundai is even bothering with this naturally aspirated engine for the Highlander spec.

For a car so comfortable to handle this well is the work of many, many, many hours and miles pounding around, so for me, the engine is kind of selling it short. If this is one of the reasons this car took so long, it’s worth the wait.

It’s also, then, a great pity the wing mirrors punch through the silence created by well-insulated suspension and a quiet engine. They’re probably not loud but because nothing else is, but they sound it.

For a car so comfortable to handle this well is the work of many, many, many miles pounding around, so the engine is kind of selling it short.

Ownership

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As always, Hyundai offers a five-year warranty with unlimited kilometres. You get 12 months of roadside assistance out of the gate and every time you service with Hyundai, you get another year up to a mildly astonishing ten years.

Servicing for the MPI-engined cars comes around every 12 months or 15,000km. A prepaid service plan costs either $957 (three services), $1276 (four) or $1595 for five.

The point of pre-paying is to roll it into your finance. If you don’t do that, the first five services will cost you $319 per service before moving around a bit for the next few years. Hyundai lists service pricing for actual decades.

VERDICT

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The new Tucson is a big jump from what was an already pretty competent, if ageing car. The Highlander spec is always a bit of a stretch in this segment, doubly so when it comes with the lower-powered 2.0-litre.

Of course, I might be in an army of one as I reckon this engine will be gone within the year as most buyers choose the 1.6-litre turbo petrol with all-wheel drive. Cars at this level are a treat.

Having got that off my chest, the new Tucson is seriously impressive. I’m not sure if I want or need everything that’s in the Highlander, but you can’t argue with the specification level, the safety or the sock-stealing looks, inside and out. It’s a properly modern-looking car to carry Hyundai’s medium-SUV hopes in a crowded, hyper-competitive market.

It rides better and looks better than just about anything, is now big enough to trouble them all for space and comfort and throws in bags of individuality. It’s likely to sell by the shipload, but nobody is going to look at it and say it’s just another SUV.

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2022 Hyundai Tucson Highlander specifications