2022 Hyundai Tucson Hybrid Reviews, Pricing & Specs

It feels like just yesterday when the Hyundai Palisade arrived, showcasing an impressive design that would help launch Hyundai’s general popularity toward the stratosphere. With the big Palisade and the slightly smaller Santa Fe, the Korean automaker had unlocked a visual design that was both unique and universally appealing. Fast forward a few short years, and the all-new Tucson has met the proverbial fork in the road and, along with the new Santa Cruz “Sport Adventure Vehicle,” opted to take the other path.

The undisputed truths: the 2022 Hyundai Tucson is a new car that wears a dramatic new face. It features sharp, angular cues across the fascia and down its sides. The vehicle is longer. It is wider. No shopper in the market for a Tucson will accidentally buy a 2021 model instead of the all-new 2022. And if you think that’s stating the obvious, just look across the segment at Subaru, whose redesigned styles are rarely obvious.

Considering the Tucson a bit more subjectively, it’s hard to see the fourth generation’s exterior styling aging particularly well. Yes, the previous Tucson had a more bubbly, less aggressive design, but it was also safer and more widely appealing. Some shoppers may love the hard creases along the 2022 Tucson’s profile, but the overall exterior aesthetic is more of a risk, a big bet that may pay off… or may not.

Similarly, the Tucson and Santa Cruz share a grille unlike anything else on the road. It blends almost seamlessly with the LED headlights, running lights, and turn signals. Flip those on and the result is a dramatic, futuristic look. Turn them off, and they all but disappear, especially if you opt for the top trims, which paint the grille with a dark chrome finish.

The lower trims, Essential and Preferred, wear 17-inch alloy wheels instead of 19s that come on the N Line, Luxury, and Ultimate grades. On the Preferred trim, the Trend Package adds a panoramic sunroof. A hands-free smart liftgate is equipped on the Luxury and Ultimate trims.

At the rear of all Tucsons, you’ll see a small cutout in the glass with a plastic half-moon showcasing the brand’s “H” logo. It’s not altogether bad-looking, but it does make one wonder if the Tucson design team finished up the rear before remembering that they hadn’t made space on the sheet metal for the company’s badge.

On the interior, shoppers will find standard heated front seats and cloth upholstery, with an eight-way power driver seat and heated and leather-wrapped steering wheel being added on the Preferred trim level. A proximity key is also included as standard equipment from Preferred up. The N Line, Luxury, and Ultimate trims add a 10.25-inch digital driver information display, wireless device charging (also on the Preferred with Trend Package), and ambient lighting, while an auto-dimming rear-view mirror is equipped on Ultimate along with ventilation for the front seats (also on Luxury) and memory for the driver’s seat.

Regardless of trims, the Tucson features an impressively open and airy interior. The centre console feels bulkier than necessary, but because the infotainment display is integrated into the dash and the driver information display has no hood, the view at and just below eye level is nearly unobstructed.

That hoodless driver information display, in particular, looks very sharp. It doesn’t suffer from any noticeable glare, but it does tend to gather dust. And, because of its big windshield and the big sunroof in the Ultimate grade that served as one of our test cars, we found that the Tucson’s interior got very hot, very fast. Thank goodness for fast-acting air conditioning and those ventilated front seats.

We were fortunate to test drive both the gas-powered and hybrid-powered Hyundai Tucson. While the gas model and its 2.5-litre direct-injected four-cylinder engine felt uninspiring, the Tucson Hybrid was much more impressive. An all-wheel drive (AWD) drivetrain is optional on all trims and standard with most, including Tucson Hybrids. The latter comes with a 1.6-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine that makes power specs of 180 horsepower and 195 pound-feet of torque on its own, but add in Hyundai’s electric motor and the combined system horsepower jumps to 226, while torque climbs to 258 lb-ft. It feels noticeably quicker than the gas-powered Tucson.

The Tucson’s steering is responsive, quick, and direct. The six-speed automatic transmission found in the hybrids manages everything admirably, considering the increasingly common seven- eight- nine- and ten-speed competition. (Gas-only Tucsons come with an 8-speed automatic.) And, although they don’t do much to liven up the driving experience, steering-wheel-mounted paddle shifters are included on upper trims.

Further, the Tucson’s suspension is outstanding. It soaks up bumps, ruts, dips, cracks, and other road imperfections, but it doesn’t feel bouncy. It does a terrific job keeping the Tucson Hybrid balanced through corners.

With regards to fuel efficiency, the results are good, if not class-leading. Natural Resources Canada lists the Tucson Hybrid at 6.3 litres per 100 kilometres in the city, 6.6 on the highway, and 6.4 combined. These numbers are a notable improvement over the gas Tucson, which burns 9.9 L/100 km city/8.0 hwy/9.0 combined with AWD and 9.1/7.1/8.2 with front-wheel drive (FWD). At the end of our test in the hybrid, we saw 6.4 L/100 km.

For maximum efficiency, shoppers may want to opt for the plug-in hybrid Tucson. The Tucson PHEV features a similar powertrain plus a 13.8 kWh battery. NRCan rates that vehicle at 2.9 Le/100 km with 53 kilometres of all electric range.

Even with a longer and wider footprint than the outgoing Tucson, the new one doesn’t look huge. Yet this vehicle packs a ton of cargo space. The hybrid’s trunk will swallow 1,097 litres, and folding down the rear seat nets you 2,108 litres (1,095 and 2,119 litres in non-hybrid models). For reference, the Mazda CX-5 and Toyota RAV4 offer 871 and 1,059 litres in the trunk, respectively, and 1,680 and 1.977 litres with the rear seat down (again, respectively). Moreover, the Tucson delivers great front and rear legroom, at more than a metre each, and the rear seats recline.

The Tucson’s cargo floor has a dual-level system. Raise it for a flat loading floor, lower it to maximize space. All the doors offer decent, angled bottle holders. The front seats are also served by two cupholders in the centre console, and the rear seat has a fold-down centre armrest with two cupholders.

To top it off, our Ultimate trim’s ambient lighting systems did a nice job of adding a little flair to the cabin.

Across its lineup of vehicles, Hyundai’s tech is consistently good but often frustrating. The 10.25-inch touchscreen in our Ultimate tester looked great when running the native software. But, like with many competing vehicles, the screen only utilizes roughly 8 inches of real estate when running Android Auto or Apple CarPlay. And projection on the 10.25-inch screen requires a wired connection, whereas the smaller 8-inch screen in lower grades offers wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay in addition to standard Bluetooth.

The interface controls for the infotainment and HVAC are also frustrating touch-capacitive buttons, rather than physical buttons or knobs. You’ll get tired of poking at them to change the radio station, turn up the volume, or adjust the air conditioning. Luckily, the infotainment commands can be handled via the steering-wheel controls.

On the bright side: the Tucson provides lots of USB ports (including two for rear-seat passengers), a beautiful touchscreen display, and our Ultimate test vehicle had a Bose premium audio system.

Safety features including automatic emergency braking, pedestrian detection, cyclist detection, a driver-attention monitor, lane-keeping assist, lane-following assist, and rear occupant alert all come standard on the Tucson in Canada, while blind-spot collision avoidance, rear cross-traffic alert, adaptive cruise control, and safe-exit warning are included with an upgrade to the Preferred trim.

Move up to the Ultimate to also get a surround-view monitor, highway-driving assist, navigation, and two features currently unique to the Korean brands: blind-spot view monitor and remote smart park assist.

The blind-spot view monitor displays a video feed of the Tucson’s right and left blind spot on the driver information display, temporarily replacing the right or left gauge cluster. It’s a terrific feature that is particularly helpful when trying to avoid cyclists.

Remote smart park assist is, frankly, more of a gimmick. This technology allows you to pull the Tucson forward or backward into or out of a parking spot remotely, using the key fob. It’s a great way to impress your friends, but we have trouble seeing a plethora of real-world situations where it would be necessary.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has yet to test the 2022 Tucson, but the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) awarded it a Top Safety Pick+.

Our Tucson Hybrid Ultimate sports an MSRP of $41,799 Canadian. (An $1,825 destination charge is extra.) The highest-trim gas-powered Tucson with all-wheel drive is the N Line, which rings in at $37,299. At those prices, we’d take the better-driving hybrid models all day long.

However, nearly 42 grand isn’t cheap, particularly for a two-row, compact crossover. The Tucson doesn’t show the killer value for your dollar that we’ve come to expect from Hyundai, and in an automotive segment filled with competitors like the Honda CR-V, Ford Escape, and Toyota RAV4 Hybrid, Hyundai needs an edge. The entry-level Tucson Hybrid, the Luxury grade, is a compelling option in the compact crossover segment, but at $39,099, it's also pretty expensive.

Of course, pricing for the gas-powered Tucson starts much cheaper: $27,899 for the lowest-level Essential trim.

So, while the Hybrid is a better new vehicle, it also effectively comes with a cover charge just to get you in the door. If you’re comfortable budgeting close to $40,000 for your next car, the Hyundai Tucson Hybrid may be worth a look. But it’s hard to recommend the sub-$30K gas-powered trims.

Note: Images show a US model.