Great Style, Comfort, Misleading HEV Range
I was personally attracted to the styling of the front grill, angled fenders and aerodynamic shape. The interior is comfortable and clean and very quiet. General ride comfort is on par with other vehicles in the price range. I also liked that the HEV model would, according to the dealership and sticker, provide an average of 37mpg city/highway.
Unfortunately, the reality of the HEV performance is much less than advertised. I purchased the vehicle in January of 2022. The delearship charged me nearly $3.5k over MSRP and the only reason I could justify this cost was the amount of moneyI would save in gas with the hybrid. However, the first 4 months of owning the car, I barely saw an average of 24mpg. The EV would only activate for very short periods of time, even though I kept the car in eco mode and never stomped on the gas. I would have to "trick" the car but constantly letting my foot off the gas to drop the rpms below 3k in order to get it to go back to EV mode. Only to have it switch back to the gas engine as soon as it started above 3K.
In the summer, I started to see better mileage on the highway and long drives, in some cases reaching close to 34 mpg average but my daily driving under 40mph remained below 32mpg. And now that we are back to the winter months, I am back to getting 24mpg average.
All in all, I am not getting any better mileage than those who are driving the non-hybrid versions and paid much less. If you want a tucson for the styling, go non-hybrid. If you want an honest dealership and brand, go non-hyaundai.
Verified Owner
