First look at new Tucson – smart tech with smart looks

We poke a head over the fence – well, the Tasman Sea, really – to get an early gander at Hyundai’s crucial new model.

AN early preview of the new sharp-suited Hyundai Tucson heading to New Zealand has conceivably been delivered by our next-door neighbour.

Disclosure of technical and model line information heading into Australia will likely be largely valid for NZ, save for usual detail differences such as an adjustment of the flagship’s name.

Australia can get away with Highlander for the highest spec car there because the Toyota that sells with that name here is a Kluger across the Tasman. Here it’s likely to be a Limited, as per convention expressed on the Santa Fe and Palisade. 

It’s wholly possible we will see a less fulsome line-up to that launching over there between April and June. Yet the look and core elements of what has been unveiled across the Tasman is assuredly heading this way.

There’s a strong spirit of co-operation between the two countries’ distributors that undoubtedly works to NZ advantage. The Auckland-run national operation has relatively modest volume requirements and teaming up with Australia, which is a factory-run outfit with big sales counts, opens doors in Seoul.

So, anyway, Australia is taking three variants – base called Tucson, mid-spec Elite (a name also used here) and a high-end - and three powertrains, all offering the option of an N line package, which doesn’t alter performance but elevates the styling tweaks and features. 

The N Line pack includes a body kit with sportier bumpers and side skirts, a gloss black grille with 'hidden' daytime-running lights, 19-inch alloy wheels (the base car in standard form runs 17s), silver skid plates, and an embossed steering wheel.

The pack also adds LED headlights, LED 'combination' tail-lights, a unique leather/suede trimmed interior and a 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster.

The engines are all four-cylinders, overhauled units now being marketed as members of Hyundai's new 'SmartStream' family.

A 115kW/192Nm 2.0-litre petrol is the base mill, matched to a six-speed auto and driving the front wheels. The more upmarket four-wheel-drive editions arrive with a 132kW/265Nm 1.6-litre turbo petrol mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch auto. The diesel choice is a 137kW/416Nm turbocharged 2.0-litre married to an eight-speed automatic. 

Standard safety features include autonomous emergency braking (with support for intersections), lane-keep assist, blind-spot monitoring, a speed limiter, tyre pressure monitoring, and rear parking sensors. 

Adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go, lane-following assist and rear cross-traffic alert are also expected to be standard across the range.

Driver attention monitoring is standard, while other safety features are expected to include Safe Exit Warning (which reminds passengers to check for oncoming hazards before opening their door) and multi-collision braking (which applies the brakes after a collision to prevent subsequent impacts).

Seven airbags are standard, including a centre airbag between the front seats.

Standard equipment on our neighbour’s entry car includes an 8.0-inch infotainment touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a 4.2-inch driver's information display, manual air conditioning, cloth seats, a leather-wrapped steering wheel and gear selector, keyless entry (but no push-button start), automatic halogen headlights, LED daytime-running lights, and power-adjustable door mirrors.

Their mid-grade adds a 10.25-inch infotainment touchscreen with smartphone mirroring and satellite navigation, leather seat trim, a power-adjustable driver's seat, front seat heating, dual-zone climate control, 18-inch alloys, rear privacy glass, push-button start, a 'smart' key, rain-sensing wipers, a rear-seat alert (notifying drivers if passengers have been left in the rear seats), front and rear parking sensors, and braking functionality for the blind-spot monitoring system.

Elite variants equipped with either of the turbocharged engines also feature paddle shifters and a shift-by-wire gear selector.

The flagship runs 19-inch rims, has LED headlights and tail-lights, a dark chrome grille. a silver skid plate, chrome trim, a power-operated tailgate and a panoramic sunroof.

The cabin sports a 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster, ambient LED mood lighting, heated and ventilated front seats, heated rear seats, a heated steering wheel, memory for the driver's seat, a power-adjustable passenger seat and a Bose premium sound system.

The top grade also delivers a 360-degree camera, a blind-spot view monitor – which, as per the Santa Fe, projects a rear-facing camera feed from the side mirrors into the instrument cluster when changing lanes - an electrochromatic rear-view mirror and low-speed rear autonomous emergency braking.

Australia’s flagship diesel includes remote smart park assist, allowing the vehicle to be moved backwards and forwards into a tight parking space via the key fob, when standing next to the car. Again, a feature shared with Santa Fe.

When the car unveiled internationally last year, Hyundai talked up how a smartphone app could be used to lock and unlock the car from up to 27 metres away.

What more is there to know? Well, conceivably quite a lot.

For instance, the cars so far discussed are five seaters.

Hyundai NZ stated last year it is keen to also take this fourth-generation car in an alternate and new long-wheelbase format – that avails a third seating row – in addition to continuing with a five-chair layout.

The longer version measures 4630mm in length (so up 150mm on the short wheelbase), 1865mm in width (plus 15mm) and 1665mm in height (up 5mm), riding on a 2755mm (plus 85mm) wheelbase.

In addition to the orthodox powertrains, it’s also previously express interest   in the mild hybrid and plug-in hybrid options that are also coming into production, these based around the 1.6-litre turbo-petrol engine and producing a combined 171kW/350Nm. There’s no mention of those in the Australian media share.

Tucson’s new exterior styling is bound to raise plenty of comment. Hyundai says it expresses an evolving Sensuous Sportiness design identity and embodies what its designers call ‘parametric dynamics’ with “kinetic jewel surface details that emphasises Tucson’s distinctly different identity in a crowded segment.” Translation? There are a lot of sharp edges.

It fronts up boldly, too: The grille is filled with LED lights which only reveal themselves when illuminated. The rear will also make an impressive; it has a connected LED light bar sitting across the beltline and joining two clawed LED taillights.

 The interior also seems set to be more plush. Most ‘hard’ controls, such as dials and buttons, are gone. So too the gearstick; with Santa FE-style push buttons instead.