Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Nothing Says ‘American’ Like A Happy Hyundai
Nothing Says ‘American’ Like A Hyundai?
Which automaker is the most ‘American?’ You might instinctively think of brands like Chevrolet or Ford. But the most American brand may soon become Hyundai.
By next year, the Korean automaker will manufacture 80 percent of the vehicles it sells in the United States domestically. That will be more than any other automaker. By comparison, General Motors says between 60 and 70 percent of vehicles sold in the United States are built here. Ford’s exact figures aren’t available, but it’s estimated to be below 80 percent as well.
“I’m going to build my three best selling cars in the U.S.,” said Hyundai Motor America chief John Krafcik. “Ford builds its best selling car in Mexico.”Technically, a greater percentage of Hyundai’s lineup will soon be produced in the U.S. compared to the Big Three, but the numbers don’t paint the whole picture. The Big Three produce a far greater volume of cars in the U.S. than Hyundai. For example, if GM only built about 66% of the vehicles it sold in the U.S. domestically in 2009 that would mean that GM would have more than tripled the 400,000 cars Hyundai expects to build in the U.S. next year.
There are two reasons why foreign brands like Hyundai are eager to build in the U.S. For starters, it protects them against changes in the value of their own currency relative to the dollar. Secondly, it makes it easier to address rapid shifts in consumer demands. For example, if gas prices suddenly increase and more consumers demand Elantras over Sonatas, domestic factories can alter productive and deliveries to dealers quickly.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Honda Chief "Hyundai is awesome" Happy Hyundai Oak Lawn Chicago
Honda Chief: "Hyundai is awesome."
Old Hyundai Excel print ad. Nobody's laughing at Hyundai today.
Japan's automakers know a threat when they see one, and based on their words, it sure isn't in Michigan. Motown is fleeting image in the Japanese carmakers' rearview mirrors, which they're now nervously checking for a budding South Korean juggernaut. Honda CEO Takanobu Ito minced no words when he told the Associated Press, "Hyundai is awesome. They are undoubtedly a threat because their products are cheap, and the quality is improving." The numbers seem to bear that out, as Hyundai and its corporate sibling, Kia, continue to show substantial sales chart improvements in key markets like the Europe and the US, where it continues to show strong growth while many other automakers look at double-digit shortfalls year-over-year. Nissan's Shiro Nakamura echoes Honda's Ito when it comes to identifying Japan's new boogeyman, "Hyundai is the biggest threat for the Japanese automakers. They have the technology, but they seem to have cheaper labour."
Hyundai, once basically a joke (we all remember such legendary products as the Excel, pictured above), is catching the Japanese by beating them at their own game -- offering a mix of value and quality that's hard for shoppers to ignore. Japan knows it needs to defend itself, too. After all, once upon a time, they were what Hyundai is now. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn't too long ago that one could chuckle at Honda's initial foray into the States. We know how that turned out. Now you have to wonder how long it'll be until we see quotes from Hyundai's leadership talking about the Chinese the way Nissan and Japan talk about Hyundai.
HAPPY HYUNDAI your #1 HYUNDAI dealer in Chicago land for sales and service in customer satisfaction . Our website is online and ready for your questions. please visit Happyhyundai.com or just click this HYUNDAI.
The All New Turbo Sonata is here! Happy Hyundai Oak Lawn
Forced Induction Makes For More Family Fun
Here in the U.S., the mid-size sedan market is thought to be all but impregnable to newcomers. Ruled for decades by models that have become icons of the industry, the segment has enjoyed a long and peaceful reign by the likes of the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord. But the funny thing about success is that if you're not very, very careful, it breeds complacency. While the titans of the four-door kingdom have been sleeping on beds of cash made on the innovations of two decades ago, Hyundai has been busily polishing its reputation and pouring over $550 million into fresh research and development for new and advanced drivetrains for its 2011 Sonata.
One of the long accepted tenants of the mid-size sedan is "Thou Shalt Have a Six-Cylinder Option." Ironically enough, this mode of thought arose as a challenge to the previously held belief that if you wanted to move four-doors in America, you had to offer a V8 under the hood. But when Japan's Big Three proved they could dish out V8 horsepower with six-cylinder fuel economy, the eight-cylinder family hauler all but disappeared from the scene. Now, Hyundai is out to repeat history by debuting a turbocharged four-cylinder designed to rattle the cages of Toyota, Honda and Nissan.
Photos copyright ©2010 Zach Bowman / AOL
From the exterior, there's little to differentiate the Sonata 2.0T from its non-turbocharged siblings other than a few subtle badges. The sedan retains the same beautiful "fluidic sculpture" design as the 2.4-liter four-cylinder variant, so buyers can expect the same swept nose, complete with artfully-pointed headlights and sculpted hood up front. Likewise, the profile is still dominated by a single, arching crease that reaches from just below the front fender well to meet the wrapped taillights at the rear. In all, the look is cohesive and is about as far from the copycat designs of the company's past as you can get. We dig it.
Inside, buyers won't find the interior any different from what's available in the base Sonata. The same high-quality soft-touch dash remains in place, as does the smattering of piano black accents along the door panels and center stack. Speaking of the door panels, soft material insets just above the armrest do much to improve their feel.
The Sonata's center stack is dominated by easy-to-navigate dual climate controls and an attractive navigation/entertainment touchscreen. While we typically rail against the easily-scratched faux-metal trim that frames the rest of the waterfall, it serves the Sonata cabin well. Perhaps the best praise we can lay on the interior of the Sonata is that it has its own personality – you're simply not likely to mistake the cabin for that of a Toyota or a Honda, despite the fact the material quality is finally on par with those makes.
That's not to say that everything's right as rain inside. The Sonata 2.0T packs a heap of intelligent engineering solutions under the hood, and those tricks had to have cost some serious money. Even so, Hyundai has kept the vehicle's base MSRP down to a miserly $24,145 without destination (compared to $19,195 for the basest of naturally aspirated Sonatas). That means that some things had to be done to keep the price point at an acceptable level, and while most of those concessions remain well out of sight of both driver and passengers, the Sonata's gear selector feels more than a little flimsy. The shifter lock button comes across as light and hung-up more than once during our time behind the wheel. Likewise, the overall action of the transmission stalk felt sloppy and lacked the precision inherent in the rest of the vehicle.
Still, we think we can forgive Hyundai for a cheap-feeling shifter given all that's going on under the hood. The company has managed to successfully blend its direct-injection system with forced induction to create a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder good for a dizzying 274 horsepower and 269 pound-feet of torque. Even better, all of that twist comes in at a low 1,750 rpm, so you can nearly forget about turbo lag. Of course, slapping a turbo onto a small-displacement, direct-injection engine and calling it a day is nothing new – look no further than the Ford line of EcoBoost mills or some excellent-but-unbranded engines from General Motors as proof – but Hyundai has chucked in a few of its own tricks to both improve response and ensure the engine is as bulletproof as any of the company's other powerplants.
The little 2.0-liter engine packs some pretty advanced tech, including a cast stainless-steel exhaust manifold. In addition to boasting slightly better thermal properties than a standard cast-iron piece, Hyundai says that the manifold was specifically built to handle pressures well in excess of what the Hyundai-designed, Mitsubishi-built twin-scroll turbo can handle. Why? Longevity. The engineers say this engine has been put through a grueling 300 hours of testing at wide-open throttle. Once that was wrapped up, the powerplant was then subjected to a further 20 hours of testing at engine speeds above the redline.
Of course, that stout manifold is only a small part of the recipe. In order to help keep the engine's temperature under control, Hyundai has implemented something it calls "aluminum thermal sprayed counter spiny liner," which is essentially a new way of layering aluminum onto the exterior of the cylinder sleeve to increase surface area. That greater surface area allows for improved cooling efficiency. According to Hyundai, this is the first application of the counter-spiny liner in the automotive industry.
Speaking of keeping things cool, Hyundai is also using a unique air channeling system on the vehicle's intercooler. The guide routes air to the intake and outlet areas of the intercooler, and Hyundai claims it keeps intake air up to 50 degrees cooler than with no guide. All these refinements help contribute to that nearly instantaneous throttle response and lofty horsepower figures.
But here's the real shocker. Hyundai has tuned the four-cylinder to have a compression ratio of just 9.5:1. That means that even with all of that grunt on tap, this engine drinks regular unleaded gasoline. Even better, it drinks very little of it. Fuel economy sits at 23 mpg city and 33 mpg highway, though the company has included an Active Eco button that helps flatten out throttle fluctuations to keep fuel consumption as low as possible.
Bolted behind the engine is the same proprietary six-speed automatic transmission found in the regular 2.4-liter Sonata. Hyundai has thrown in a set of steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters for manually rifling through the gears, and while the pieces serve up a satisfying click and feel solid enough, the gear changes are a bit too reluctant to be worth using all the time. Our recommendation is to simply leave the car in Drive and let the computer do the thinking. The shift logic on the Sonata 2.0T is crisp, putting the car in the right cog for the right speed no matter what your driving style.
We spent our time behind the wheel of a Limited model, which comes packed to the gills with all kinds of interior niceties, though Hyundai also offers up an SE model with sport-tuned dampers and springs. Even so, the Limited simply feels good to drive. It has the sort of confident, planted feel that has all but evaporated from the mid-sized import sedan segment, and we have to admit that we're glad to have it back. The ride is comfortable without being marshmallowy soft, and the four-door moves well through bends despite its substantial size. Curb weight has been kept to around 3,400 pounds depending on equipment, and the Sonata 2.0T comes with brakes that are more than capable of handling the tonnage.
And there's more than enough power to get this show moving, too. The four-door dispatches traffic with glee, all without so much as a peep from under the hood. The revs swell, and there's a slight sense of urgency from under the hood, but the cabin isn't inundated with buzzing from the thrash of four tiny pistons out front nor any whine from the turbo. You simply dart quickly away from surrounding traffic. Hyundai says that the jump to 60 mph from a dead stop takes just 6.8 seconds, and we're inclined to believe them. Even better, there's next to no torque steer, even when your right foot gets overzealous.
It's hard not to be genuinely surprised by the 2011 Hyundai Sonata 2.0T. With more power and better fuel economy than the V6 variants of the Camry, Accord and Altima, all at around $3,000 less than the majority of its major competitors, we just can't find a coherent all-around argument against the turbo'd Korean. Regardless of how many of the cars hop off of the lot when they go on sale this week, it looks like the days of the V6 mid-sized sedan are numbered.
Happy Hyundai is located in Oak Lawn IL and proudly serving all of Chicagoland. We are your #1 Hyundai Dealer in the Chicagoland market for sales and service in customer satisfaction. Please click here to visit our website HYUNDAI.
2011 Hyundai Sonata 2.0T – Click above for high-res image gallery
Here in the U.S., the mid-size sedan market is thought to be all but impregnable to newcomers. Ruled for decades by models that have become icons of the industry, the segment has enjoyed a long and peaceful reign by the likes of the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord. But the funny thing about success is that if you're not very, very careful, it breeds complacency. While the titans of the four-door kingdom have been sleeping on beds of cash made on the innovations of two decades ago, Hyundai has been busily polishing its reputation and pouring over $550 million into fresh research and development for new and advanced drivetrains for its 2011 Sonata.
One of the long accepted tenants of the mid-size sedan is "Thou Shalt Have a Six-Cylinder Option." Ironically enough, this mode of thought arose as a challenge to the previously held belief that if you wanted to move four-doors in America, you had to offer a V8 under the hood. But when Japan's Big Three proved they could dish out V8 horsepower with six-cylinder fuel economy, the eight-cylinder family hauler all but disappeared from the scene. Now, Hyundai is out to repeat history by debuting a turbocharged four-cylinder designed to rattle the cages of Toyota, Honda and Nissan.
Photos copyright ©2010 Zach Bowman / AOL
From the exterior, there's little to differentiate the Sonata 2.0T from its non-turbocharged siblings other than a few subtle badges. The sedan retains the same beautiful "fluidic sculpture" design as the 2.4-liter four-cylinder variant, so buyers can expect the same swept nose, complete with artfully-pointed headlights and sculpted hood up front. Likewise, the profile is still dominated by a single, arching crease that reaches from just below the front fender well to meet the wrapped taillights at the rear. In all, the look is cohesive and is about as far from the copycat designs of the company's past as you can get. We dig it.
Inside, buyers won't find the interior any different from what's available in the base Sonata. The same high-quality soft-touch dash remains in place, as does the smattering of piano black accents along the door panels and center stack. Speaking of the door panels, soft material insets just above the armrest do much to improve their feel.
The Sonata's center stack is dominated by easy-to-navigate dual climate controls and an attractive navigation/entertainment touchscreen. While we typically rail against the easily-scratched faux-metal trim that frames the rest of the waterfall, it serves the Sonata cabin well. Perhaps the best praise we can lay on the interior of the Sonata is that it has its own personality – you're simply not likely to mistake the cabin for that of a Toyota or a Honda, despite the fact the material quality is finally on par with those makes.
That's not to say that everything's right as rain inside. The Sonata 2.0T packs a heap of intelligent engineering solutions under the hood, and those tricks had to have cost some serious money. Even so, Hyundai has kept the vehicle's base MSRP down to a miserly $24,145 without destination (compared to $19,195 for the basest of naturally aspirated Sonatas). That means that some things had to be done to keep the price point at an acceptable level, and while most of those concessions remain well out of sight of both driver and passengers, the Sonata's gear selector feels more than a little flimsy. The shifter lock button comes across as light and hung-up more than once during our time behind the wheel. Likewise, the overall action of the transmission stalk felt sloppy and lacked the precision inherent in the rest of the vehicle.
Still, we think we can forgive Hyundai for a cheap-feeling shifter given all that's going on under the hood. The company has managed to successfully blend its direct-injection system with forced induction to create a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder good for a dizzying 274 horsepower and 269 pound-feet of torque. Even better, all of that twist comes in at a low 1,750 rpm, so you can nearly forget about turbo lag. Of course, slapping a turbo onto a small-displacement, direct-injection engine and calling it a day is nothing new – look no further than the Ford line of EcoBoost mills or some excellent-but-unbranded engines from General Motors as proof – but Hyundai has chucked in a few of its own tricks to both improve response and ensure the engine is as bulletproof as any of the company's other powerplants.
The little 2.0-liter engine packs some pretty advanced tech, including a cast stainless-steel exhaust manifold. In addition to boasting slightly better thermal properties than a standard cast-iron piece, Hyundai says that the manifold was specifically built to handle pressures well in excess of what the Hyundai-designed, Mitsubishi-built twin-scroll turbo can handle. Why? Longevity. The engineers say this engine has been put through a grueling 300 hours of testing at wide-open throttle. Once that was wrapped up, the powerplant was then subjected to a further 20 hours of testing at engine speeds above the redline.
Of course, that stout manifold is only a small part of the recipe. In order to help keep the engine's temperature under control, Hyundai has implemented something it calls "aluminum thermal sprayed counter spiny liner," which is essentially a new way of layering aluminum onto the exterior of the cylinder sleeve to increase surface area. That greater surface area allows for improved cooling efficiency. According to Hyundai, this is the first application of the counter-spiny liner in the automotive industry.
Speaking of keeping things cool, Hyundai is also using a unique air channeling system on the vehicle's intercooler. The guide routes air to the intake and outlet areas of the intercooler, and Hyundai claims it keeps intake air up to 50 degrees cooler than with no guide. All these refinements help contribute to that nearly instantaneous throttle response and lofty horsepower figures.
But here's the real shocker. Hyundai has tuned the four-cylinder to have a compression ratio of just 9.5:1. That means that even with all of that grunt on tap, this engine drinks regular unleaded gasoline. Even better, it drinks very little of it. Fuel economy sits at 23 mpg city and 33 mpg highway, though the company has included an Active Eco button that helps flatten out throttle fluctuations to keep fuel consumption as low as possible.
Bolted behind the engine is the same proprietary six-speed automatic transmission found in the regular 2.4-liter Sonata. Hyundai has thrown in a set of steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters for manually rifling through the gears, and while the pieces serve up a satisfying click and feel solid enough, the gear changes are a bit too reluctant to be worth using all the time. Our recommendation is to simply leave the car in Drive and let the computer do the thinking. The shift logic on the Sonata 2.0T is crisp, putting the car in the right cog for the right speed no matter what your driving style.
We spent our time behind the wheel of a Limited model, which comes packed to the gills with all kinds of interior niceties, though Hyundai also offers up an SE model with sport-tuned dampers and springs. Even so, the Limited simply feels good to drive. It has the sort of confident, planted feel that has all but evaporated from the mid-sized import sedan segment, and we have to admit that we're glad to have it back. The ride is comfortable without being marshmallowy soft, and the four-door moves well through bends despite its substantial size. Curb weight has been kept to around 3,400 pounds depending on equipment, and the Sonata 2.0T comes with brakes that are more than capable of handling the tonnage.
And there's more than enough power to get this show moving, too. The four-door dispatches traffic with glee, all without so much as a peep from under the hood. The revs swell, and there's a slight sense of urgency from under the hood, but the cabin isn't inundated with buzzing from the thrash of four tiny pistons out front nor any whine from the turbo. You simply dart quickly away from surrounding traffic. Hyundai says that the jump to 60 mph from a dead stop takes just 6.8 seconds, and we're inclined to believe them. Even better, there's next to no torque steer, even when your right foot gets overzealous.
It's hard not to be genuinely surprised by the 2011 Hyundai Sonata 2.0T. With more power and better fuel economy than the V6 variants of the Camry, Accord and Altima, all at around $3,000 less than the majority of its major competitors, we just can't find a coherent all-around argument against the turbo'd Korean. Regardless of how many of the cars hop off of the lot when they go on sale this week, it looks like the days of the V6 mid-sized sedan are numbered.
Happy Hyundai is located in Oak Lawn IL and proudly serving all of Chicagoland. We are your #1 Hyundai Dealer in the Chicagoland market for sales and service in customer satisfaction. Please click here to visit our website HYUNDAI.
Monday, October 18, 2010
2010 Hyundai Tuscon Happy Hyundai
2010 Hyundai Tuscon New Car Review
by Bob Plunkett
A car-based CUV redesigned for a smooth ride
Pitched in the foothills of the Cascade Range southeast of Seattle, the Washington state route 169 winds
through crossroads communities like Maple Valley and Morganville on the way to Black Diamond.
This twisty asphalt strip, rolling over fir-tipped hills and cutting more than a few acute-angled corners,
seems like it was designed expressly to show off the road-hugging agility and sticky tire traction of the
agile Tucson, Hyundai's crossover utility vehicle for the compact class.
Formatted with swoopy lines which completely disguise the two-box body of a five-door hatchback
wagon, Tucson rides on a car's chassis and scores a radical make-over for 2010 with an expanded
structure, bold new Euro-style body design and the passenger compartment laced with more safety
equipment and downright fancy features.
The 2010 Tucson measures 3.3 inches longer and an inch wider than the previous edition, yet its 61
pounds lighter.
A generous wheelbase length of 103.9 inches and a wide wheel track of 64.2 inches up front and 62.4
inches in back set up a long and broad foundation for stability when steering through a set of curves.
And, unlike some wagons with a solid rear truck axle and crude leaf springs, Tucson carries four-wheel
independent suspension components -- a MacPherson strut-type front suspension with gas-charged
hydraulic shocks and stabilizer bar and an independent multi-link design in the rear using coil springs
and gas-charged hydraulic shocks and stabilizer bar -- which bring more control over the vehicle for a
driver and more comfortable ride sensations for passengers.
As a result, Tucson offers the easy-to-drive manners of a refined sedan.
Tucson also brings a forceful four-cylinder powertrain distributed across two tiers of trim -- the base
GLS and deluxe Limited.
And the wagon supports two traction formats for both trims with front-wheel-drive (FWD) or all-wheeldrive
(AWD).
The optional electronic AWD system normally directs all power from the engine to the front wheels, thus
reducing the fuel consumption. When front wheels slip, however, the device can divert some of the power
to turn the rear wheels. A driver-activated locking switch for the center differential fixes the torque split
evenly at 50/50 front/rear for tackling slippery dirt trails.
Hyundai packs the 2010 Tucson with a long list of safety gear.
Each trim edition stocks passive safety systems like frontal air bags and seat-mounted side-impact air
bags front and rear plus curtain-style air bags above outboard seats on two rows. And Hyundai adds
active adjustable head restraints for the front seatbacks.
For active safety, every issue also has a disc brake at every wheel, with electronic linkage to a fourchannel
anti-lock brake system (ABS) with electronic brake force distribution (EBD), plus hill-start assist
control (HSC) and downhill brake control (DBC).
Each Tucson trim also carries an electronic stability control (ESC) device which automatically
coordinates the brakes and throttle to check against lateral wheel skidding.
All versions pull from one eco-efficient powertrain.
The dual-cam four-cylinder Theta II engine displaces 2.4 liters and has Hyundai's CVVT (continuously
variable valve timing) equipment on both camshafts and VIS (variable induction system) for better
engine breathing.
The Tucson GLS edition comes with a standard six-speed manual transmission or optional six-speed
electronic automatic rigged with Hyundai's Shiftronic manual mode.
Tucson Limited edition gets the six-speed Shiftronic automatic exclusively.
EPA fuel economy figures reach as high as 31 mpg for highway driving using the automatic transmission,
or 28 mpg for highway driving with AWD traction.
Tucson's slick body styling comes out of Hyundai's European design and technical center in Frankfurt,
Germany.
Theme for the exterior is a fluidity of lines drawn in rectangular format but with curt prow and radically
canted windshield and a tapered canopy over the cabin with narrow windows and side pillars muted to
forge the profile of a slinky two-door coupe.
Hyundai labels the design language for Tucson as "Fluidic Sculpture" inspired by nature to produce the
illusion of motion from curvy shapes of rigid surfaces.
Still, you can't miss that brash face sporting narrow eye-slit headlamp clusters on front corners flanking
a trapezoidal grille with chrome bar and black fins.
Side panels are chiseled with ripples and bulges for the swollen wheel wells fore and aft.
The blunted rump looks clean with a disguised hatchback door, twin-lamp taillight assemblies wrapping
around corners and a body-colored bumper swooping low.
Tucson's rigid structure whittles out a rather spacious cabin and a utilitarian cargo bay.
Door sills are set low like the sills on a car so you can slip aboard easily.
Seats are tall so you sit up for good visibility.
Eace cabin layout pitches a pair of bolstered buckets in front
flanking a versatile console. On the second row a bench is designed
to seat two comfortably but hold three riders if necessary. The
seatback splits 60/40 and folds down to expand the cargo area.
The storage area is generous at 25.7 cubic feet but with rear
seatbacks folded it expands to 55.8 cubic feet.
It also has under-floor cargo storage with a reversible cover.
Tucson GLS comes with a load of standard equipment, including
air conditioning, power controls for windows and door locks and
mirrors, a remote keyless entry system with alarm, tilting steering wheel, two power outlets (front and
cargo area), bottle holders in all four doors, rear wiper and washer, and an audio system with
M/FM/CD/MP3/Satellite Radio and six speakers plus iPod/USB input jacks.
Optional packages load more gear -- Popular Equipment, Navigation, Premium Equipment.
Price points for the 2010 Tucson begin at $18,995 for a GLS FWD M/6. Top model Limited AWD A/6
lists at $25,845.
by Bob Plunkett
A car-based CUV redesigned for a smooth ride
Pitched in the foothills of the Cascade Range southeast of Seattle, the Washington state route 169 winds
through crossroads communities like Maple Valley and Morganville on the way to Black Diamond.
This twisty asphalt strip, rolling over fir-tipped hills and cutting more than a few acute-angled corners,
seems like it was designed expressly to show off the road-hugging agility and sticky tire traction of the
agile Tucson, Hyundai's crossover utility vehicle for the compact class.
Formatted with swoopy lines which completely disguise the two-box body of a five-door hatchback
wagon, Tucson rides on a car's chassis and scores a radical make-over for 2010 with an expanded
structure, bold new Euro-style body design and the passenger compartment laced with more safety
equipment and downright fancy features.
The 2010 Tucson measures 3.3 inches longer and an inch wider than the previous edition, yet its 61
pounds lighter.
A generous wheelbase length of 103.9 inches and a wide wheel track of 64.2 inches up front and 62.4
inches in back set up a long and broad foundation for stability when steering through a set of curves.
And, unlike some wagons with a solid rear truck axle and crude leaf springs, Tucson carries four-wheel
independent suspension components -- a MacPherson strut-type front suspension with gas-charged
hydraulic shocks and stabilizer bar and an independent multi-link design in the rear using coil springs
and gas-charged hydraulic shocks and stabilizer bar -- which bring more control over the vehicle for a
driver and more comfortable ride sensations for passengers.
As a result, Tucson offers the easy-to-drive manners of a refined sedan.
Tucson also brings a forceful four-cylinder powertrain distributed across two tiers of trim -- the base
GLS and deluxe Limited.
And the wagon supports two traction formats for both trims with front-wheel-drive (FWD) or all-wheeldrive
(AWD).
The optional electronic AWD system normally directs all power from the engine to the front wheels, thus
reducing the fuel consumption. When front wheels slip, however, the device can divert some of the power
to turn the rear wheels. A driver-activated locking switch for the center differential fixes the torque split
evenly at 50/50 front/rear for tackling slippery dirt trails.
Hyundai packs the 2010 Tucson with a long list of safety gear.
Each trim edition stocks passive safety systems like frontal air bags and seat-mounted side-impact air
bags front and rear plus curtain-style air bags above outboard seats on two rows. And Hyundai adds
active adjustable head restraints for the front seatbacks.
For active safety, every issue also has a disc brake at every wheel, with electronic linkage to a fourchannel
anti-lock brake system (ABS) with electronic brake force distribution (EBD), plus hill-start assist
control (HSC) and downhill brake control (DBC).
Each Tucson trim also carries an electronic stability control (ESC) device which automatically
coordinates the brakes and throttle to check against lateral wheel skidding.
All versions pull from one eco-efficient powertrain.
The dual-cam four-cylinder Theta II engine displaces 2.4 liters and has Hyundai's CVVT (continuously
variable valve timing) equipment on both camshafts and VIS (variable induction system) for better
engine breathing.
The Tucson GLS edition comes with a standard six-speed manual transmission or optional six-speed
electronic automatic rigged with Hyundai's Shiftronic manual mode.
Tucson Limited edition gets the six-speed Shiftronic automatic exclusively.
EPA fuel economy figures reach as high as 31 mpg for highway driving using the automatic transmission,
or 28 mpg for highway driving with AWD traction.
Tucson's slick body styling comes out of Hyundai's European design and technical center in Frankfurt,
Germany.
Theme for the exterior is a fluidity of lines drawn in rectangular format but with curt prow and radically
canted windshield and a tapered canopy over the cabin with narrow windows and side pillars muted to
forge the profile of a slinky two-door coupe.
Hyundai labels the design language for Tucson as "Fluidic Sculpture" inspired by nature to produce the
illusion of motion from curvy shapes of rigid surfaces.
Still, you can't miss that brash face sporting narrow eye-slit headlamp clusters on front corners flanking
a trapezoidal grille with chrome bar and black fins.
Side panels are chiseled with ripples and bulges for the swollen wheel wells fore and aft.
The blunted rump looks clean with a disguised hatchback door, twin-lamp taillight assemblies wrapping
around corners and a body-colored bumper swooping low.
Tucson's rigid structure whittles out a rather spacious cabin and a utilitarian cargo bay.
Door sills are set low like the sills on a car so you can slip aboard easily.
Seats are tall so you sit up for good visibility.
Eace cabin layout pitches a pair of bolstered buckets in front
flanking a versatile console. On the second row a bench is designed
to seat two comfortably but hold three riders if necessary. The
seatback splits 60/40 and folds down to expand the cargo area.
The storage area is generous at 25.7 cubic feet but with rear
seatbacks folded it expands to 55.8 cubic feet.
It also has under-floor cargo storage with a reversible cover.
Tucson GLS comes with a load of standard equipment, including
air conditioning, power controls for windows and door locks and
mirrors, a remote keyless entry system with alarm, tilting steering wheel, two power outlets (front and
cargo area), bottle holders in all four doors, rear wiper and washer, and an audio system with
M/FM/CD/MP3/Satellite Radio and six speakers plus iPod/USB input jacks.
Optional packages load more gear -- Popular Equipment, Navigation, Premium Equipment.
Price points for the 2010 Tucson begin at $18,995 for a GLS FWD M/6. Top model Limited AWD A/6
lists at $25,845.
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