The Hyundai Tucson with a plug-in hybrid powertrain isn’t a light vehicle with its weight of around 4,235 pounds (1,921 kilograms). This isn’t surprising, though – a compact SUV that has a combustion engine, an electric motor, and a battery was never meant to be lightweight. But does that fact affect its road behavior? Sure – no one can beat physics, but it’s actually significantly better around the cones in the moose test than we expected.
Before we head to the results from the test filmed in the video at the top of this page, let’s take a quick look at the dry numbers. While relatively heavy, the Tucson PHEV is quite efficient with its fully electric range of 33 miles (53 kilometers) according to the EPA thanks to its 13.8-kilowatt-hour battery pack. The South Korean SUV has an all-wheel drive with a 1.6-liter turbocharged engine and an electric motor for a combined output of 261 horsepower (195 kilowatts) and 258 pound-feet (350 Newton-meters) of torque. A six-speed automatic transmission distributes that power.
Gallery: Hyundai Tucson PHEV
During the moose test, the electrified family vehicle shows very good manners in going around the corners. The highest achieved entrance speed is 46 miles per hour (74 kilometers per hour), which doesn’t put it among the best performers in the test (the Kia Niro, for example, did 50 mph/81 kph), but the speed of 40 mph (64 kph) in the middle section is impressive. According to the test driver, the Tucson PHEV’s electronic stability system acts very gently and lets the SUV maintain its high speed.
All in all, the team at km77.com is impressed by the Tucson PHEV, saying it doesn’t show any unforeseen reactions that could catch the driver unprepared. Further cementing its status as a good performer is the fact that it goes around the cones in the slalom test with a speed that is higher than the results of performance-oriented vehicles such as the BMW i4, which also has a significantly lower center of gravity.
