2010 Hyundai Tucson GLS AWD

2010 Hyundai Tucson GLS AWD 2010 Hyundai Tucson GLS AWD
Short Take Road Test

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Honda should be blushing at the sight of the new Hyundai Tucson. It’s not quite a bootleg copy of a Honda CR-V, the kind a Chinese carmaker might make, but the new Tucson is clearly modeled after, or inspired by, the bestselling CR-V.

Immediately apparent is a distinctly Honda-like responsiveness to the controls and the handling. The electrically assisted steering has a pleasing weight, and the ­Tucson’s firmly tuned ride is pure CR-V. Note that the sporty feel doesn’t sacrifice refinement—suspension crash is muted, and the structure doesn’t surrender so much as a quiver.

Hyundai claims to have worked to shed weight and that the solid-feeling structure doesn’t add mass; the new Tucson is indeed lighter than its predecessor. Our Tucson GLS with all-wheel drive weighed 3382 pounds, or nearly 200 fewer than the last similarly equipped CR-V we tested. In fact, the Tucson would have been the lightest SUV in our recent comparison of the breed [“The (Just) O.K. Corral,” February 2010].

The reason Hyundai is able to keep the weight down is because the Tucson is optimized for a four-cylinder engine. Don’t fret—the 176-hp, 2.4-liter four makes more power than the previous gen’s optional 173-hp, 2.7-liter V-6. EPA fuel economy for this Tucson is 21 city and 28 highway, 1 mpg better than the all-wheel-drive CR-V on the highway. We got a sorry 17 mpg in 500 miles of admittedly aggressive driving.

Hyundai one-ups Honda by offering manual and automatic six-speed transmissions. Our six-speed-automatic example pulled an 8.6-second run to 60 mph, 0.1 second quicker than a CR-V. There’s a liveliness to the four-cylinder engine, and it moves the speedometer to highway velocities with surprising eagerness. Even in the tall sixth gear, the Tucson manages to hold highway speeds without constantly downshifting to fifth. Revving the engine does reveal an uncouth grittiness, and interior noise at 70 mph measured 72 dBA, a number that verges on loud. But the Tucson is right in line with its peers here and reminds us that this class is essentially made up of inexpensive compact cars on stilts.

The rest of the senses will be pleased by the Tucson’s interior, however. It’s easy to find a comfortable seating position. Hyundai avoided imitating the CR-V’s lumbar-heavy seats, which can make you feel like a log has been driven into your lower back. A 60/40 split rear bench seats two adults comfortably but lacks fore-and-aft and backrest adjustments. The Popular equipment package (mandatory on AWD GLS models) brings vinyl that looks like leather and cloth-insert upholstered seats whose high quality seems distinctly European.

Outfitted with navigation ($2000), our fully loaded all-wheel-drive Tucson GLS totaled $26,090. A similarly equipped all-wheel-drive CR-V EX without nav runs $25,805. Like all Korean cars, the Hyundai offers a tempting price. Unlike the Korean cars of the recent past, the Tucson is actually on par with its Japanese inspiration. Hyundai wisely picked the bestselling SUV—and one of our favorite small SUVs—to go after with the new Tucson, but we wonder if CR-V shoppers will bite. As Louis Armstrong once said, “A lotta cats copy the Mona Lisa, but people still line up to see the original.”