My Hyundai Tucson: 1 year & 31,000 km ownership experience

Leaving aside the niggles, I had no other problems with the car, be it the fuel efficiency or driving dynamics.

BHPian LONG_TOURER recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

So, after almost 1 year and covering around 31000kms in the Tucson, the ownership experience of the car has been pretty mixed due to some niggles that came up which I will discuss in a bit, however, the driving experience with this car has been phenomenal. The engine and gearbox combination of this car certainly is the best in the segment.

Drive

The car has covered around 31000 kms and will be covering another 1000 kms as I write this post. My drive has been on the higher side considering covering 30k + kms within 1 year of ownership.

My friends know that I am a light-footed driver most of the time until my ego is provoked by less powerful cars like the Harrier, Jeep Compass, etc. honking and flashing lights on me. A full pedal to metal input on this car makes these cars disappear in my rearview mirror, such is the engine response from the 2L engine, of course, I don't try to mess with Skoda Karoq or VW Troc in the pedal to metal inputs as those cars will certainly be faster off the line.

You can cruise around 110 kmph all day long without a hint of fatigue. But yes, those speed warnings at 80 kmph and 120kmph has become quite annoying day by day. Any way to disable them?

I have covered most states of north and east India viz Assam, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Odhisha, Delhi, J&K and Ladakh with the Tucson and I don't mind driving to these places again and again with this car.

Service

The Tucson requires the first service in 1500 kms, next at 10k kms and thereafter every 10k kms. With the 30k kms maintenance package the Tucson came with, the car has been easy on the pocket. Most of the consumables were free (except DEF) during the service.

• 1st service cost at 1.5k kms : 0 /-
• 2nd service cost at 10k kms : 789 /-
• 3rd service cost at 20k kms : 2253/-
• 4th service cost at 30k kms : 1550 /-

Now that the maintenance package of this car has expired, the real ownership cost experience will only be realised after 40k kms service. Please note that 14L DEF last around 7500 kms as per my driving conditions.

Service experience

My overall service experience has been good with Hyundai. You get a service advisor as soon as you drive your car into the service station. My SA told me they have kept a special service advisor for premium Hyundai cars like the Elantra and Tucson which I believe is true. All your queries and issues are dealt with on time or at least they try to resolve as early as possible. Being driven in multiple states in the last one year, my car has been driven into various Hyundai service centers and the treatment has been more or less similar.

Niggles

The 1-year ownership hasn't been fuss-free for me and I had quite a bit of niggles with the car including a major one.

Issues with the exhaust system

During my trip to Leh - Ladakh, the car kept on showing DPF clog warning on the instrument cluster. I somehow managed to regenerate the DPF driving above 2k rpm but it used to get clogged again while driving through high mountain passes. This cycle continued till we completed the entire mountainous circuit. More can be read about the issue in the link here.

Upon completing the journey, the car was sent for wheel alignment at the Hyundai service center where this issue popped up again. This time the DPF light was flashing. Clueless about the issue, the SA had to call Hyundai Engineers to diagnose the problem. Initially, it was thought that the DPF was fully clogged but that was not the case. The car was kept for 7 days at the service center during this period. At this time, the car had covered just about 25k km.

Upon checking by Hyundai Engineers, it was concluded that the catalytic converter was faulty and needs a replacement. However, the part needed to be ordered which took full 45 days to arrive at the service station. While I understand that any part may fail but waiting for 45 days for a part replacement is not at all acceptable given the car is still in production. I had escalated the issue to senior Hyundai officials, they acknowledged the problem but couldn't do much to source the part sooner. For your information, the part was replaced for free since the car is under warranty, however, it cost around 2L when I enquired with the SA.

Upon asking why the catalytic converter failed just under 30k kms of ownership, the SA had admitted to using the wrong engine oil during the 3rd service which might have caused the catalytic converter to fail. They had used BS4 engine oil instead of using BS6 engine oil which led to the failure of the catalytic converter. Recieved the car after 45 days of waiting. Very disheartening indeed!

Rattles from the sunroof

This is something which is there from the very first day of ownership, couldn't find a permanent solution to it as of now. The rattles occur when I keep the sunshade open and the sunroof closed. They would go away when both the sunroof and sunshade are closed or open simultaneously. The only temporary solution is to apply silicon gel spray on the hinges and joints in the sunroof after a regular interval.

Please note that the rattles are not that intense and won't be heard if you play music on the excellent 8-speaker Infinity sound system in the Tucson.

Alignment issue

The car had a tendency to pull towards the left side. This issue started only after 2nd service at 10k kms. I had to take the car to the service center numerous times to get it resolved. Even the SA were also clueless regarding this. A brief discussion with a Hyundai engineer concluded that while doing wheel alignment, three parameters need to be calibrated which are wheel speed sensor, steering sensor and gravity sensor. It was found that the gravity sensor was not calibrated during the alignment process and hence the car kept pulling to the left.

Now the car drives the arrow-straight after calibration of all three parameters. If you own a Tucson, please don't make the mistake of doing wheel alignment at an outside alignment shop as they may not have the necessary scanning tools to recalibrated the sensors.

Exhaust pipe detached from the muffler at 30k km

One fine day while reversing I heard a strange sound coming from the rear of the car, upon observing, I noticed that the exhaust pipe had detached from the muffler. Immediately called the SA, car was taken from my home and they welded the pipe with the muffler returned the car the same day. I suspect poor Hyundai QC is behind this problem.

Verdict

Leaving aside the niggles, I had no other problems with the car. Be it fuel efficiency or driving dynamics. The car returns 12kmpl in the city and around 22 kmpl on highways, did I say I am a light-footed driver?

I usually keep cars for more than 5 years but I don't think I would like to keep the Tucson for that long. I will look forward to selling the car off once the warranty expires (5 years/140000kms). The Tucson may be Hyundai, but parts are expensive and may take a decade to arrive at your nearest service center. Also, the technicians are not very well trained to deal with major issues with this car. I think Hyundai India need to raise their shocks to set foot in the premium segment in India.

Now some pictures.

30K kms on the ODO

Tucson gets a very advanced TPMS

At Chandubi, Assam

At Jispa, Himachal Pradesh

At Siachen Base Camp, Ladakh

NH327, Bihar

The halogen fog lamps work very well in foggy situations, LED headlamps are utterly useless in the fog, however, they are excellent under normal conditions.

Somewhere in Jharkhand

Tucson shares the garage with his older sister Elantra

That's all for now folks. I now look forward to having fuss-free Hyundai-like ownership in future. Keep checking the thread for updates. Thanks for reading and wish all the BHPians a very happy new year 2022.

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