The 2024 Hyundai Tucson Is A Nightmare For The RAV4 & CR-V

Welcome to the 2024 Hyundai Tucson, and under the hood, we have a naturally aspirated 2.5-liter 4-cylinder that goes to an 8-speed automatic transmission. Fuel consumption is 23 MPG around town and 29 MPG on the highway, with power outputs being 187 hp and then 178 lb-feet of torque.

The Tucson Is Futuristic To The Top!

Taking a look at the hood, this is painted in this cool shade of metallic gray; we love the color as well as the strong lines, and down below the 2024 Tucson has got the cool light design where it kind of blends into the grill. It has the headlight action off to the side as well, and putting it all together, especially with this gray color, it looks really cool! 

Coming on the side, the tire-wheel setup is 235-55 R19 in the front and over in the rear. The wheels have silver on the top and then metallic gray in the center, with cool little cuts in the wheel. Pretty chunky fender flares, and the unpainted trim (cladding) is also at the bottom. When looking at the full side view of Tucson, you will notice those body lines that crisscross, and it looks pretty crazy!

The key fob we have comes with the unlock and lock function, the opening for the hatch, and the remote start, while the Hyundai logo is on the back. The cargo area is very spacious in the back of the Tucson, and it's one of the biggest benefits of this segment of crossovers! 

The Tucson is definitely great, and it has a 12-volt socket here in the back as well. Plus, you got these latches right there on either side to throw it on the seats if you need even more storage space here in the rear. When you're all done, just press a button, and that will lower the hatch right back down!

Really cool tail light design, and it kind of goes into a light bar! All the badges are there on the back as well.

Affordable Luxury Is The Definition Of The Hyundai Tucson

The door panel has a trim that goes across the cloth trim, and the handle is also pretty cool. You’ve got some nice-looking seats perforated all down the center portion, and their adjustment action is on the side. The legroom in the back is really good, and it has a little storage pocket, some vents, USB action, as well as a cupholder armrest. 

The front door panel has this trim at the top and the cloth trim down below, alongside the padding where you can rest your arm. You have all the window controls and mirror adjustments, and note that the mirrors do have blind-spot monitoring. The front seat is perforated all down the center portion as well, and you have power adjustments on the side.

The steering wheel is manually adjustable, and it has a soft touch all around. We've got practical controls on the front for stuff like the adaptive cruise control, the steering assist, voice command controls, and all of that; then you have your regular stocks there on the back as usual.

Quality Brings Tech As Well!

This digital gauge cluster can be used to scroll through some different menus and different bits of information on the vehicle, and then you can also change the drive modes. The cool thing is that the sport mode gives you a fun little animation. We just have a traditional backup camera here with trajectory lanes that turn with the steering wheel. Plus, it's got the map view on the other side of the screen.

As for the infotainment system itself, it responds well, it's easy to use overall, and everything is just kind of self-explanatory here. There's a set of vents at the top, and you have climate controls down below; this does actually have a dual-zone climate! It's a soft touch here at the top, which is cool, and you can see the trim that goes across! I think that also looks very fancy!

Below, you have some USB action with some 12-volt action, and you also have a wireless phone charging pad.

In the center console, you have the shifter for that 8-speed automatic transmission, drive mode select there and center-locking-differential, descent control, auto hold, and then your auto-stop-start. 

This does come with heated seats on the front armrest, and we also have center storage. The glove box is also pretty spacious, and then up top you get the control for the sunroof, and you have a nice cloth headliner as well!

The sticker price of this Tucson with all this standard equipment stands at a base MSRP of $30,900, and after options, $35,340.

How Does The 2024 Hyundai Tucson Drive?

In terms of drive experience, the seat comfort is pretty good here, and we are reviewing this back-to-back with a Palisade and a Santa Cruz. Now, the Santa Cruz is just the truck version of the Tucson, so it is interesting to see how differently they drive from each other.

The suspension is not as comfortable as in the Santa Cruz, which is interesting, but when you're on flat pavement, it's fine; just over the bumps, the Santa Cruz seems to be better at absorbing those little bumps. Smooth powertrain too, and pop it into sport mode, and yeah, it just kind of has your normal crossover feel. 

The acceleration is, like, not bad but not fast; it's actually pretty impressive. At least for what this is, right? It's a pretty comfortable car on normal roads, which is what 99.99% of people will use it for. It's pretty good with the get-up-and-go!

Is The Tucson Really A Nightmare For The RAV4 & CR-V?

So to sum things up with the Tucson, we think it's comfortable, the seats are comfortable, and this interior—not even a fully loaded one—is kind of like your middle-of-the-line package. That's the thing about modern Hyundais that even the middle-of-the-line packages feel high quality and upscale. Plus, it drives well.

This competes with the Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V; in my thoughts, it just feels more upscale than those. I will say the RAV4 has more power from its engine, but none of the crossovers in the segment feel fast in this area. The only time you start to feel fast is when you get like the Tucson hybrid, that's pretty fast; the Mazda CX-5 Turbo, that's pretty fast; but yeah, these entry-level ones, they're more about fuel economy and affordability than speed!