Hyundai Tucson - MPG, CO2 and running costs

No matter how well the Hyundai Tucson drives, how comfortable it is to sit in, or how much equipment is crammed on-board, if it costs too much to run, then it won’t make it onto customer shortlists. Thankfully, the Tucson has a full range of petrol, mild-hybrid, full-hybrid and plug-in hybrid powertrains to suit all budgets and needs – basically everything short of an EV.

The cheapest version to buy is the 158bhp 1.6 TGDi petrol-only model in Advance trim. It comes with a six-speed manual gearbox and manages a respectable 41.5mpg on the combined cycle, while CO2 emissions are 154g/km.

If you opt for this engine with an automatic transmission, the fuel efficiency improves to 44.8mpg, and emissions drop to 142g/km (40.4mpg and 158g/km for the four-wheel drive version). The improvement over the manual comes because the automatic uses mild-hybrid technology, which gives you a tiny electric motor to provide a little assistance when accelerating and lessen the load on the engine. A similarly equipped Volkswagen Tiguan is slightly more efficient, but not significantly so.

The 227bhp full-hybrid model improves on these figures further, with up to 49.6mpg and emitting 129g/km of CO2. We covered over 8,000 miles in our Tucson Hybrid long-term test car, and averaged 46.5mpg during our time with it. We were pretty pleased with that result. 

Of course, the most efficient (and most expensive) variant is the Tucson Plug-in Hybrid. According to Hyundai, the Tucson PHEV can return up to 201.8mpg and emits 29g/km of CO2 emissions; and while you might not get close to that (remember to charge the battery as frequently as possible to minimise your running costs) it should be an affordable family SUV to run. Even more so if you’re a company car driver, because it falls into the 12 per cent Benefit-in-Kind (BiK) tax band, compared with the 35 or 30 per cent bands the petrol and full-hybrid versions sit in, respectively.

Electric range, battery and charging

The Tucson PHEV model is the only hybrid model you need to charge yourself because the rest rely on energy recuperation from braking or the engine to charge their batteries. The Tucson Plug-in Hybrid uses a 13.8kWh lithium-ion battery to offer a pure-electric driving range of up to 38 miles. Although the figure we saw during our own testing was a little lower, you should have no problem covering more than 30 miles without using a drop of petrol if the car is fully charged. That’s good, but the latest Volkswagen Tiguan eHybrid can go up to 77 miles on a change thanks to its much larger 25.7kWh (19.7kWh useable) battery. 

Unlike the Tiguan eHybrid, the Tucson doesn’t have rapid charging capability, but its 7.2kW on-board charger means you can fully recharge the relatively chunky battery in under two hours if you use a suitably fast home wallbox or public charging point.

Insurance

Insurance premiums start from group 18 for the entry-level 158bhp Tucson version in Advance trim, which is the same as the base Volkswagen Tiguan.

The 158bhp mild-hybrid variant sits in group 20, while the 212bhp full-hybrid is in group 21. The top-of-the-range 249bhp Tucson Plug-in is a couple of positions higher in group 23, which is lower than the equivalent Tiguan eHybrid, so premiums for the Tucson won’t break the bank.

Depreciation

Our expert data suggests that the fourth-generation Hyundai Tucson range will retain between 47 to 51 per cent of its list price after three years and 36,000 miles of ownership. That’s on par with the Nissan Qashqai, but slightly behind the Kia Sportage which is expected to retain between 47 to 56 per cent of its showroom price over the same period.

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