Hyundai Tucson 2007 News

Elantra and i20 are likely next targets after i30N for Hyundai's new N performance brand, but Tucson, Sonata and Veloster could follow.

Motoring journalist and safety advocate Clive Matthew-Wilson said importers of European cars had “completely lost the plot in the past decade”.“They are more concerned with style over substance,” the New Zealand-based author of The Dog & Lemon Guide said.“Stripping out safety features to keep costs down helps the manufacturers sell more cars as it makes them cheaper, but the end result is that ordinary people die,” he said.“What also worries me is Australians are reading international crash test reports where the safety features were included.”Matthew-Wilson, who successfully lobbied the New Zealand Government to make unsafe old seatbelts unlawful, said he was “probably not on car companies' Christmas card list”.He said stripping out curtain airbags was of particular concern as they were known to save lives in crashes with poles and trees.“An airbag at the factory probably costs about $25. If they can get away with it they do.”He said cars imported into Australia had fewer standard safety features than those imported into New Zealand.“The Barina (imported from Korea) has ABS standard in New Zealand, but in Australia it does not come with ABS, but costs about the same price,” he said. “In New Zealand, importers are competing with second-hand Japanese imports with all the safety features. In Australia they do not have the same competition.“It's a cozy arrangement between the car companies to leave safety devices off to cut costs.”GM Holden national media relations manager John Lindsay said the markets and pricing structure were different between Australian and New Zealand markets.“The Barina in NZ starts at a higher specification which we believe is required to compete in that specific market and this is reflected in a higher entry-level price,” he said.Matthew-Wilson said electronic stability control was a crucial safety device available in most new European cars.However, in Australia, only the top models had ESC fitted.“Airbags and electronic stability control are considered luxury features and are usually only included in a package with mag wheels.”Matthew-Wilson said top-of-the-range imported cars had a substantial array of safety features, but we were being overcharged for them.He said Asian cars often featured more safety features and were near the top of consumer satisfaction surveys on reliability while European cars were near the bottom.The latest British customer satisfaction survey has awarded Lexus, the luxury arm of Toyota, the top rank for the seventh consecutive year.“English cars are the worst of the worst, but most of them are not truly English any more, they are German,” he said.Matthew-Wilson is also concerned about the poor standard of seatbelts in second-hand Australian cars.He wants the Australian Government to legislate for the replacement of unsafe seatbelts.“This is of real concern because some older style seatbelts stretch like rubber bands in an accident. They are as bad as no seatbelt at all,” he said.  Differing safety features   (Australia and New Zealand markets)All Honda Odyssey (imported from Japan) versions have dual front and side airbags but in New Zealand head curtain airbags are also standard and in Australia they are only fitted to the luxury model.Current Honda Civic models (imported from Thailand) have six airbags on all models in New Zealand, but in Australia they have a cheap version (VTi) with two, a moderate version with four (VTi-L) and others with six.Mitsubishi L200 Triton (imported from Thailand) has ABS standard on all models in NZ, but in Australia it is an option on most models and standard on expensive models.Hyundai Tucson (imported from Korea) has dual front, side and head curtain airbags on all models in NZ. In Australia they have dual front airbags standard, but dual side and head curtain airbags available on Elite and City models. Electronic stability control is standard on all NZ models, but it is not available in Australia.Holden Viva (imported from Korea) in New Zealand has ABS standard and in Australian it's standard on the wagon and an optional extra with alloy wheels on others.(Source: The Dog & Lemon Guide)Clive Matthew-Wilson on these statistics "They are not however 100 per cent accurate simply because many car manufacturers and dealers make it very difficult to find out what safety features are on their cars, even if you go to official websites or call the actual dealers, you are quite often put through to someone who simply doesn't know much about the product they are selling. Also it's worth noting that the week after we ask (a manufacturer) about safety features...they may have a new load in with a different configuration."

The compact Hyundai Tucson City is the only SUV to offer front-drive technology to Australian buyers and with the addition of the five-speed manual it is cheaper and more fuel efficient.At $24,990 the Tucson City SX is $2000 cheaper than the comparative automatic model while Hyundai claims a combined fuel cycle figure of 8.0-litres per 100km.The City SX comes standard with air-conditioning with pollen filter, ABS with EBD, five 16-inch alloy wheels, cruise control, leather trim steering wheel and gearshift knob, remote entry with alarm, power windows and mirrors, dual front airbags, roof rails, front and rear fog lights and a luggage area blind.Also new to the Tucson City range is the Elite variant which sits above the SX model.Fitted standard with selectronic automatic, the Elite also adds a stability program with integrated traction control, curtain side airbags, side thorax airbags in the front seats, electric tilt/slide sunroof, seats trimmed with leather side bolsters and cloth centre pads, five-mode trip computer, six-speaker audio and auto headlights. The Elite will cost $29,990.

With new SUVs, it's a case of four wheels good, but two wheels good enough.They cost less, weigh less, drink less and are more popular — and more such models are on their way to showrooms for buyers who want to look adventurous but have no intention of going off-road.Sales of two-wheel-drive sports utility vehicles such as Ford's Territory (which started the trend locally) and the Korean-made Hyundai Tucson exceed their 4WD equivalents.Toyota will introduce a 2WD version of its Kluger wagon when a second-generation model is released in August. Suzuki will import a 2WD version of its existing SX4 wagon. Presently both models come with an all-wheel-drive function.Because of the success of the Tucson, Hyundai also plans to add another two-wheel-drive SUV to its range, but is tight-lipped about which.Car companies have found the typical macho look of a 4WD is a strong selling point, though the majority of these wagons serve as cars and never use their off-road capability.In the Ford Territory range, 2WD versions are $4800-$5350 less than their all-wheel-drive counterparts, and account for 55 per cent of total Territory sales.In the smaller Hyundai Tucson, the difference is $4000, and the 2WD model, called the City, makes up 60 per cent of sales.Ford Territory Ghia owner Sandra Cameron bought a rear-wheel-drive version of the Ford Territory Ghia (list price $52,090) three weeks ago, and said she was never interested in the all-wheel-drive version.“I totally love it because it's like a car — I'm not about to go off-road,” she says.Sandra has three sons, and said her priority was to get a roomy wagon. “I got a seven-seater because my children will always want to bring friends along,” she said. “In the Territory you're raised a bit, so you can see out better, but getting in and out is no problem at all.”Hyundai spokesman Richard Power said: “People like SUVs for the high-riding stance and the convenience.“In the case of the City, it's popular because it's lighter, with a smaller engine, so it saves fuel. There are plenty of people who like the style of SUVs but have no intention of ever going off-road.”The four-cylinder Tucson City weighs 158kg less than its six-cylinder, all-wheel-drive equivalent, and averages 9.2 litres per 100km, compared with 11 litres per 100km for the all-wheel-drive model. Even the petrol tank has been made smaller in order to cut weight.In the Territory, the weight saving is 80kg and the official fuel economy rating is 12.2 litres per 100km for the 2WD, compared with 12.8 litres per 100km for the all-wheel-drive.

And more "fake 4WDs" are on the way as buyers, who want to look adventurous but have no intention of going off-road, embrace the idea of two-wheel drive sport-utility vehicles (SUVs).Sales are booming for the Australian-made Ford Territory, which started the trend, and the Korean-made Hyundai Tucson that followed.Toyota will introduce a 2WD version of its Kluger wagon when a second-generation model is released in August, and Suzuki will import a 2WD version of its existing SX4 wagon.Both Kluger and SX4 have all-wheel-drive at present. Because of the success of the Tucson, Hyundai also plans to add another two-wheel-drive SUV to its range, but so far is tight-lipped about which model it will be based on.Car companies have found the typical macho look of a 4WD is a strong selling point, though the majority of these wagons serve as cars and never use their off-road capability.In the Ford Territory range, 2WD versions are $4800-$5350 less than their all-wheel-drive counterparts, and account for 55 per cent of total Territory sales.In the smaller Hyundai Tucson, the difference is $4000, and the 2WD model, called the City, makes up 60 per cent of sales.Ford Territory Ghia owner Sandra Cameron, of Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast, bought a rear-wheel-drive version of the Ford Territory Ghia (list price $52,090) three weeks ago, and said she was never interested in the all-wheel-drive version."I totally love it because it's like a car – I'm not about to go off-road," she said. She has three sons, and said her priority was to get a roomy wagon."I got a seven-seater because my children will always want to bring friends along," she said."In the Territory you're raised a bit, so you get good visibility, but getting in and out is no problem whatsoever."Hyundai spokesman Richard Power said: "People like SUVs for the high-riding stance and the convenience. "In the case of the City, it's popular because it is lighter, with a smaller engine, so saves fuel. There are plenty of people who like the style of SUVs, but have no intention of ever going off-road."The four-cylinder Tucson City weighs 158kg less than its six-cylinder, all-wheel-drive equivalent, and averages 9.2 litres per 100km, compared with 11 litres per 100km for the all-wheel-drive model.Even the petrol tank has been made smaller, in order to cut weight. In the Ford Territory, the weight saving is 80kg and the official fuel economy rating is 12.2 litres per 100km for the 2WD, compared with 12.8 litres per 100km for the all-wheel-drive.