A weekend away in a Hyundai Tucson: 4 Boys Camping

Camping? No love, don’t be a complete and utter knob. We headed to Max’s mum’s place, with 5 cosy charismatic country cottages, in Hyundai’s Tucson.

Our FULL REVIEW and Video will be along in a week or so, meanwhile view specifications HERE: Hyundai_NX4-Tucson_Spec-Table

Anyone with a pulse, knows the world’s weather is on a spin cycle. This bizarre game of cosmic musical chairs has presented somewhat of an opportunity. Covid and its many lockdowns have kept we amigos apart for far too long, and with Casper and Ethan now dating, they’ve opted for Christmas in Cairns. That left Max and I to take Nico and his new squeeze, Raffie, for a turn into the country. Raffie is very pretty, which is just as well, poor love.

We headed out of Sydney, meeting an apocalyptic-weather  abomination as we turned onto the M1 heading north. The rain was so heavy, not even the Tucson’s fabulously sturdy insulation could meet the match. It was as if the SUV was being pelted by billiard balls, so we stopped beneath an overpass to let the worst of it blow itself out, and in 10 minutes it was almost gone.

We got lucky.

A slew of motorists had stopped on the side of the highway, and were brushing glass from their laps from trashed windscreens aplenty.  We really dodged a bullet, so carried on, carefully.

The localised burst seemed to have ended only a handful of kilometres away. We were having to thread our way through debris strewn across the road, with everyone keeping an eye out for errant branches and other such sundry detritus.

We voted for a music selection, and classical won out, so we streamed online tunes through CarPlay while we had decent signal, then switched to the on-board collection once into the countryside.

The real star was the Tucson.

Above: This Week – 2021 Mitsubishi Outlander Aspire AWD

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ABOVE: 2022 Hyundai Tucson Highlander N Line

Max:

Hyundai is doing brilliant stuff. I love the big square design with fabulous LED lighting inside and out.

Inside, seats are comfortable. The dash is lovely and soft, and the big screens are easy to use. The best thing is the amount of space.

I like the smooth engine, but there is quite a lot of turbo lag.

Raffie:

Incredible ride and loads of places to charge a phone. Highway cruising is amazingly quiet. I don’t drive much, but riding in it is comfortable. It looks rather butch, without looking like bits were glued on just to look pretty.

Nico:

What an absolute joy.

There is quite a lot of turbo lag, which took me a bit to get used to it. The transmission has sooth changes that get sharper in sport modes. There is a sport+ mode which didn’t seem to do much more than the sport setting. Drive modes stay selected once chosen. HOORAH! You don’t have to choose it again next time you fire up the old girl.

Long stretches with 4 people are no trouble. In fact, it is rather cosy, WINK WINK.

We did a few round-town chores, and the surround view camera was amazing. It will park itself without a driver in place, once a spot is chosen.

Alan:

132kw/265Nm is pretty mild, but it isn’t what is delivered, rather, how it is delivered. The petrol turbo 1.6L is a much nicer unit than the non-turbo 2.0L. Hyundai could omit that from lower models and be better for it. Why all 3 drivetrains can be had in the top model is a bit of a mystery.

There is a diesel option with 137kw/416Nm which would be the choice as a workhorse. I’d take the petrol, for the smoothness and quiet operation.

AWD came in handy on the farm, but was hardly needed now most of the drive is now paved. It took enough luggage for 4, with room to spare. Remember, queens never pack light.

The farm and drive home:

By the time we reached the farm, the other 3 had long since nodded off . If that isn’t testament to comfort, I don’t know what is.

The storm’s effects were few, save for a soggy parking spot. We lost power so relied on the batteries, which made the weekend cosier. We used kero lamps for light, and the fireplaces for warmth. We sat out on the verandah, and after many bubbles, disclosed far more about our sex lives than was advisable. Some of the stories descended in to pure filth.

In a thrice, it was time to turn the interest to the trip home. Google maps showed the highway clear, so we left early . Oh how wrong it was.

The joint was chockers with grey-nomad-driving utes towing caravans the size of Pluto.

There is no escaping the hideous traffic of the Christmas season, but cruise control with queue assist takes a lot of strife and trouble from bumper-to-bumper traffic. Since sipping champers while driving is illegal, we stuck to more dirty takes of cross-country’s trips of old.

Lane control and advanced AEB are comforting. Hyundai is continually developing its safety and driver aids, and lane control now has a single activation sequence, with many features being configured in settings. AEB has junction assist, and blindspot will now steer you back into your own lane if you missed the hot biker beside you.

The big news was that no local suspension tuning was done. Australians get the Korean settings which proved to be a nice balance between comfort and handling. Tucson is not a sports car, not a convertible, and not a supercar, just a comfortable, long legged tourer.

Conclusion:

Do not test drive it expecting a ludicrous, brain-snapping, experience. Let’s set expectation by saying Tucson is an excellent city car, with clever parking cameras. It is also an excellent highway tourer, with bags of space and comfort.

There is a ton of room to take rover to the dog park, and a 3rd row for those really annoying nieces and nephews.

What’s not to like?

2021 Hyundai Tucson Highlander 1.6L AWD

Price: $50,000 (2.0L petrol $46,000, 2.0L diesel $52,000)

Engine: 1.6L turbo Petrol

Power: 137kw/416Nm

Econ: 7.2L/100k

CO2: 164g/km

Trans: 7 sp DCT

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