Hyundai Tucson vs Suzuki Jimny

What's the difference?

The updated Hyundai Tucson Elite Hybrid N Line offers families space, features and easy-enough handling for everyday stuff and the occasional weekend adventure pursuits.

The price point is higher than the previous non-hybrid model but you get a lot of bang for your buck and my family was comfortable this week.

If you currently own a three-door Jimny and expect the XL to provide you with much beyond a more spacious second row (or luggage compartment overall), it might be best to hold on to what you’ve got.

And if you don’t own a Jimny and want one, there’s not much I reckon I’d be able to say to stop you if the resolve of anyone I know who’s ended up buying one is anything to go by.

If you’re a ‘get out on the weekend’ kind of person but you live a city Monday-to-Friday, it’s hard to look past the Jimny for simplicity, fun, and a competitive price.

Not to mention, of course, that it is also just so bloody cute.

The Hyundai Tucson has seen a minor facelift on the exterior but most of the changes are in the cabin.

The N Line pack means that you get 19-inch alloy wheels over the standard 18-inch version as well as extended body panelling instead of black plastic trims. There is N Line badging across the car too, but N Line option pack does limit you to just four exterior colour choices.

The front features new stacked LED DRLs which tie in with the fang-like design of the rear LEDs. The origami-styled panelling looks more severe than the previous model which helps it stand out in a class that’s heavy on rivals. 

The cabin features a completely reconfigured dashboard and now sports a large curved display panel that houses those upgraded tech screens and a new 6.6-inch climate control panel.

The centre console has been redesigned to look like it’s floating and now adds an extra-large storage cubby underneath it.

The upgraded interior makes the Tucson a leader for the mid-sized SUV segment and is very pleasant to spend time in.

There will be no prizes for a ‘spot the difference’ between the Jimny and the Jimny XL. 

You may have spotted the extra doors (and the subsequent longer body, 3965mm over 3645mm, a 320mm increase according to the spec sheet), but did you spot the chrome accents in the Jimny’s grille? 

That’s right, it’s not just the doors… it’s the doors and the grille.

Of course, some more changes naturally follow the new body style - it’s rear-most side windows are now much narrower, though the second-row windows do a lot to prevent losing any visibility, and the longer side silhouette looks a little more ‘grown up’.

Even then, the Jimny XL is shorter than a five-door Mini hatch by 58mm, and only 50mm longer than a Mazda MX-5.

The Jimny’s body elements still remain the same though, down to the 15-inch alloy wheels, plus the spare on the back. It’s also shares its 1725mm height and 1645mm width with the three-door, although its wheelbase is now 2590mm instead of 2250mm.

Inside, the rugged nature of the 4WD blends with a little bit of youthful modern design. The steering wheel is borrowed from other Suzuki models like the Swift, and the big dial housing has a fun retro vibe.

The cabin up front is spacious with plenty of head- and legroom on offer. You also won’t jostle for elbow room either when you have a passenger.

The seats are comfortable with their heat function but you might still get fatigue on longer trips as you only get adjustable lumbar on the drivers side and it's simple at best.

The back seat has really good space for the class and no matter the passenger, they were comfortable back there. The seats in the rear are well-padded and access to this row is good for sliding in a child seat as the door aperture is wide.

Other amenities are average with directional air-vents, a single reading light, and a fold-down armrest. My seven-year-old son found the window sills to be quite high, so he didn’t get the view he wanted.

The individual storage is excellent for the class with the redesign as you get a dedicated storage shelf in front of the front passenger and a massive cubby that easily fits a handbag underneath the mid-sized centre console.

There are two cupholders and two drink bottle holders per row but the rear storage bins are skinny. The rear row also gets map pockets but again, these are shallow.

The upgraded technology is a must have and the new multimedia system is easy to use once you spend time with it and looks great with its graphics. The system has built-in satellite navigation, over-the-air updates and wireless connectivity for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

Connecting the CarPlay is simple and maintains a strong connection.

Charging options are great with two USB-C ports per row and the front also gets a wireless charging pad and a 12-volt socket to choose from. The centrally located position of the charging pad is handy and the liner grippy - so no phone movement.

Rounding out the practicality is the boot, which has a wide aperture and a loading space level with 582L of capacity available with all seats in use, which is good for the class.

The back row has a 60/40 split but don’t fold flat – they sort of spring up a bit, which might annoy when you do a big Bunnings run. 

There is a 12-volt socket, a space-saver spare tyre underneath the floor and you get a powered tailgate in this model – which I always like.

If practicality to you means plenty of spaces to put things or a lot of little additional features, you’re going to be disappointed by the Jimny XL’s cabin. But if you see it more as a ‘could be hosed out if something goes horribly wrong’ type of thing, then I have good news for you.

Okay, don’t hose out your Jimny, but the hard-wearing basic materials are clearly here to accommodate mess. We’re talkin’ plastic, we’re talkin’ cloth, we’re talkin’... plastic. Yep, not much in the way of soft-touch or supple armrests, but you wouldn’t want to accidentally tear a leather seat with a tent peg, would you?

In terms of actual ergonomics and user-friendliness, the Jimny scores pretty well once you’re across some of the slightly odd elements.

Its front window controls are below the climate controls, rather than with the rear window controls, for example, which I assume is due to the second-row windows not being part of the original design. 

There’s also not a huge amount of storage space, front or rear, for anything other than small items or the usual drink bottles.

Fortunately, the big change for the XL is noticeable. Being able to get in and out of the second row is now easier thanks to, you guessed it, doors! 

And once you’re in there, even if you’re an adult, you’ll find yourself in a space that you could probably survive a road trip in, even if loading up a tiny ladder-frame SUV with more than two people for a long drive should at least attract some kind of fine or other minor punishment. You literally couldn’t have five people in the Jimny, though, as it’s only a four-seater.

If you needed a reminder of how tiny the Jimny is even in XL form, the luggage space is listed as 332 litres, which is less than a Hyundai i30 hatchback by 63 litres.

Oh, and that’s with the seats down. Up? You get 211L of luggage space, which is about as much as a Mini Hatch.

What features does it come with, you ask? Not many - but that’s kind of the point in a mid-$30K off-roader, isn’t it?

While you can pick up a Jimny XL from $34,990 before on-road costs with a five-speed automatic, our four-speed auto here on test starts from $36,490. 

The list of accessories and parts Suzuki offers for the Jimny is extensive and allows you to essentially build your perfect little weekend getaway ride, but here I’ll focus on the standard gear rather than listing every type of cargo rack or body protection you can add-on.

The Jimny XL comes with a 9.0-inch multimedia touchscreen, up from the three-door’s 7.0-inch unit, which also adds wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

It has a four-speaker sound system up from two in the standard Jimny, and it’s also the only Jimny that gets adaptive cruise control.

Just about everything else is standard Jimny fare - it’s got LED headlights, rear parking sensors and a reversing camera that does the job but isn’t crystal clear, a USB port and 12V outlets in the centre console and in the rear luggage compartment, plus physical dials and a digital display for the driver.

The Elite Hybrid N Line model features a hybrid powertrain that combines an electric motor with a 1.6-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine. They combine to produce 172kW of power and 367Nm of torque. Which is more than enough to make the mid-sized Tucson feel spirited.

This particular variant is AWD and uses a six-speed automatic transmission, which can over rev at times but is mostly smooth with its gear changes.

The Jimny XL uses the same 1.5-litre, naturally aspirated four-cylinder engine as the original.

It only makes 75kW and 130Nm, and even though the Jimny is a relatively light SUV (actually, relatively light for a car in general), it still doesn’t quite feel like enough for hauling around 1200kg of 4X4 plus a person or two.

The official combined cycle fuel consumption figure is a low 5.3L/100km, and my real-world usage came out at 6.0L after doing a lot of open-road driving where hybrids tend to be at their least efficient, so that is an excellent result.

The Tucson hybrid is the second best for fuel usage after the Toyota RAV4 hybrid, which sits at 4.8L/100km for combined usage. Overall, the new hybrid powertrain has proven itself to be pretty frugal. 

Based on the official combined fuel cycle and 53L fuel tank, expect a theoretical driving range of up to 981km, which is great for a family road tripper.

Suzuki claims the Jimny XL, with the four-speed automatic transmission as tested, should consume 6.9L/100km on the combined cycle - the manual uses a claimed 6.4L, both figures are the same as the three-door equivalents.

On test, with primarily inner-urban and city commute driving, I saw the XL use 9.4L/100km. Anyone frequenting stop-start traffic can expect similarly high figures and, even though many owners will see lower figures, achieving the claimed 6.9L would be a solid effort even on long highway drives.

The new hybrid powertrain offers respectable power delivery that makes the Tucson feel zippy in the city and a relaxed cruiser on the open road.

There can be some over-revving when you’re trying to get up to speed and the accelerator and brake feel touchy at first until you get used to them.

On the hybrid side of things the Elite Hybrid has regenerative braking and there are moments of pure EV mode but it kicks in seemingly when it feels like it. When it is on, there’s practically no engine noise but when it's off, the cabin still remains fairly quiet.

My family went off the paved stuff this week and hit muddy and gravel roads on our quest to find a cool picnic spot, and the Elite Hybrid impressed with how it handled the different terrains. It’s not an off-roader but you can still do mini adventures.

The Tucson is mid-sized and has a very clear reversing camera with front and rear parking sensors, so it’s not too hard to manoeuvre or park.

The real negative feedback is that on three separate occasions, our test car randomly shifted into neutral while driving and to clarify, this did not occur while trying to shift into or out of 'drive' but while on the road, already in drive.

The first time it happened, I thought I had somehow bumped the column shifter but on the other two occasions, I happened to be watching my husband drive and he didn’t touch the shifter.

This is probably just a fault on out test car and not indicative of the model in general but it wasn't fun.

The Jimny might be a little bit more work than you’re used to if you’re swapping out of a hatchback or small city SUV.

That’s not meant to sound like a scathing criticism, either, because despite its cutesy appearances and (whether intended or not) appeal to young inner-city types, the Jimny is a ladder-frame chassis off-roader. And it drives like one.

During my time with the Jimny XL, each Instagram story I posted would garner at least a couple of responses in the vein of ‘What’s it like?’ or ‘Should I buy one?’ from people in their late 20s and 30s who I’m 70 per cent sure wouldn’t care much for off-roading.

Most of my responses were probably disappointing to them, because it drives like a small 4X4 and if you’re going to get annoyed by steering corrections, vibrations and noise, it might not be for you. 

But if the little Zuki’s off-road ability (or even just its irresistibly endearing looks) are appealing enough to you, the Suzuki is a fairly easy steer once it becomes second nature. In fact, its engaging nature is part of what makes the Jimny fun to drive. 

Reacting to strong winds or changing road surfaces should be familiar to those who grew up driving older, more rudimentary cars, and even though there’s a fairly noticeable ‘dead’ spot in the centre of the Jimny’s steering, it means you’re able to more subtly adjust (quite regularly, you may find) the steering wheel to keep aligned in your lane.

The suspension can feel a little soft and ‘jostly’ - lean to the side while you’re stopped at an intersection and you’ll feel the Jimny lean too - it’s also a decent reason to be a little cautious with your speed around corners. The Jimny will let you know if you’re going too quickly.

Sure, the longer wheelbase of the XL should help with stability over the three-door, but the nature of the Jimny doesn’t exactly encourage you to find out how much more stable exactly. But it’s fortunately not so much bigger that it sacrifices its advantage over most other off-roaders.

Its ability to get around inner-city areas in the Jimny is a plus if you live urban but need something that can head off-road on weekends - the XL is still relatively small compared to anything else that’s intended for the trails. It feels perfectly comfortable in Melbourne’s laneways and underground car parks in the CBD… as long as you’re okay with how heavy the steering can feel at low speeds.

For trips out of the city where you’ll be getting the Jimny’s tyres a bit dirty (hopefully, it’s what it was built for), just know that the Jimny doesn’t feel its best at highway speed. Its 75kW is pushed to its limit, 130Nm doesn’t inspire great overtaking confidence, its steering and suspension don’t feel massively dialled-in, and the four-speed automatic transmission has a whine to it that’ll bring back memories of watching the V8 Supercars cut laps in 2002.

But like I said, if you’re not looking for a car that’ll use sensors to sit you in the dead-centre of your lane while a leather seat massages your back, the Jimny’s simple nature is endearing, and most of the time quite fun.

As a side note, CarsGuide’s off-road expert Marcus Craft has published an in-depth off-road test of the Jimny XL, and gave it a thumbs up as a capable vehicle for tricky trails - it’s worth reading or watching if you’re considering the Jimny as an adventure companion.

While the Jimny’s safety features are fairly rudimentary and the XL hasn’t been specifically tested, there are some good points to the Jimny that might help potential owners decide if it’s the right decision for them.

First, the standard three-door Jimny was crash tested in 2019 and scored three stars, primarily due to its lack of active safety features.

That lack of safety features remains for the Jimny XL, requiring drivers to be alert and react to hazards of their own volition, but if the XL’s occupant protection is anything like the three-door version (which scored 73 per cent for adult occupant protection and 84 per cent for children), it should do a decent job of keeping passengers safe in most nasty situations.

The XL comes with front, side and curtain airbags, ABS, electronic braking assist, stability control, traction control, hill hold and descent control, AEB, lane departure warning, weaving alert and rear parking sensors.

It’s missing some active gear like lane keep assist, blind spot monitoring or driver monitoring.

Hyundai offers the Tucson with a five-year/unlimited km warranty and the battery is covered by an eight-year/160,000km warranty which is pretty standard for the class now. 

You can pre-purchase servicing for up to five years and the breakdowns are as follows.

Three years or up to 30,000km for $1240 (average $413 per service).

Four years or up to 40,000km for $1700 (average $425 per service).

Five years or up to 50,000km for $2040 (average $408 per service).

The five-year pricing is comparable to its rivals and not outrageous for the class.

Servicing intervals could get annoying if you put a lot of kilometres on your car as they sit at every 12 months or 10,000km, whichever occurs first.

The Jimny XL’s covered by Suzuki’s five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty, with intervals every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever comes first.

The services range from costing $349 to $589, but average out at $453 per service. You’ll spend $2265 servicing your Jimny XL over its first five years, assuming you do it by the books (as they’re currently written).