Joined
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27 Posts
There had better be some major tuning changes.
First, the car.
I was met by the salesman and said he had a couple left on the lot. They are selling quickly and they had just sold two more today. I suspect this was true because he took me through the lot looking for them. It turns out that there was only one left on the lot.
He said it was the mid range model but:
No Turbo
No all wheel drive
No sunroof
No ventilated seats
Analog gauges in the dash
And nothing automated in the "climate control". (No temperature set, you control fan speed).
245/65-17 wheels and tires
Second, what I'm comparing it against.
Six months ago I inherited a 2012 Camry hybrid. 2.5 liter four cylinder CVT.
The second car I'm comparing it against was my last car. A 2009 Mazda 6, 2.5 liter four cylinder, 6 speed manual. I drove it for eight years.
Third, my impressions.
First the good. I really liked how it felt in size, both seat and cabin. All the controls where comfortably in reach and easy to understand. At 5' 10" I had about five inches of head room. Then again, it did not have a sun roof installed. I also had no trouble driving through traffic. Both bumper to bumper and interstate, the vehicle size felt natural to me.
Ingress and egress was different but comfortable. Face outwards, lean straight legged towards the seat, and it made contact with my "butt" at the top of my thighs. All I had to do was transfer my weight. Again, I'm 5' 10". I would prefer it to be a couple of inches lower, we'll see what they do with the Santa Cruz.
The steering was comfortably light pulling in and out of the parking space. Once you started driving, the wheel picked up some "weight". The brake pedal had a lot of travel before it started to "grab", and then it felt "spongy". The accelerator was weighted normally.
And that is where the disappointment begins.
Once out of the parking area, I leaned into it to see how the "launch" felt.
I pressed the throttle about three quarters of the way down and left it there.
First the "nose" rose, then it cut power and the nose fell. Then it shifted gears and tried again. This time rolling cautiously forward and then deciding to try another gear. Again cautiously picking up speed. When I got to 35 mph I was at the speed that I should be at for the side road. Plus I had traumatized the Tucson's drivetrain enough.
It felt really comfortable with gentle changes in speed like if you were in bumper to bumper traffic, inching along. It has definitely been programed to prevent you from experiencing spirited take offs.
Once you get to 45 mph and above, like I was on the interstate, then the throttle doesn't fight you, but it doesn't reward you either. Punch it to pass somebody, and the car waits a second to see if you really meant to accelerate (or maybe pushed it by mistake?) Then it downshifts and reluctantly increases in speed. I would never try to pass someone on a two lane road while trying to beat oncoming traffic. You'd never make it. I would never pull out into traffic without it being a big opening, because the new Tucson, as tuned from the factory, is not interested in getting out of anyone's way.
If I didn't know what 2.5 liters of displacement was capable of, I wouldn't be so aggravated by this experience. Even if the weight of the Tucson was a challenge for this engine, it didn't really try to push itself at all. And that is how the engine and transmission were tuned to react from the factory.
So I have to ask the question. Is the drivetrain that gets 0-60 in 5.3 seconds for the Stinger going to be "tuned" to give us a 0-60 of 9.0 or 10.0 seconds in the Santa Cruz for insurance and mileage purposes?
If so, even though I love the utility concept, I'm out.
P.S.
I've decided to wait until they get another shipment in and retry the test drive with the Turbo drivetrain. I'm praying that it will react differently.
First, the car.
I was met by the salesman and said he had a couple left on the lot. They are selling quickly and they had just sold two more today. I suspect this was true because he took me through the lot looking for them. It turns out that there was only one left on the lot.
He said it was the mid range model but:
No Turbo
No all wheel drive
No sunroof
No ventilated seats
Analog gauges in the dash
And nothing automated in the "climate control". (No temperature set, you control fan speed).
245/65-17 wheels and tires
Second, what I'm comparing it against.
Six months ago I inherited a 2012 Camry hybrid. 2.5 liter four cylinder CVT.
The second car I'm comparing it against was my last car. A 2009 Mazda 6, 2.5 liter four cylinder, 6 speed manual. I drove it for eight years.
Third, my impressions.
First the good. I really liked how it felt in size, both seat and cabin. All the controls where comfortably in reach and easy to understand. At 5' 10" I had about five inches of head room. Then again, it did not have a sun roof installed. I also had no trouble driving through traffic. Both bumper to bumper and interstate, the vehicle size felt natural to me.
Ingress and egress was different but comfortable. Face outwards, lean straight legged towards the seat, and it made contact with my "butt" at the top of my thighs. All I had to do was transfer my weight. Again, I'm 5' 10". I would prefer it to be a couple of inches lower, we'll see what they do with the Santa Cruz.
The steering was comfortably light pulling in and out of the parking space. Once you started driving, the wheel picked up some "weight". The brake pedal had a lot of travel before it started to "grab", and then it felt "spongy". The accelerator was weighted normally.
And that is where the disappointment begins.
Once out of the parking area, I leaned into it to see how the "launch" felt.
I pressed the throttle about three quarters of the way down and left it there.
First the "nose" rose, then it cut power and the nose fell. Then it shifted gears and tried again. This time rolling cautiously forward and then deciding to try another gear. Again cautiously picking up speed. When I got to 35 mph I was at the speed that I should be at for the side road. Plus I had traumatized the Tucson's drivetrain enough.
It felt really comfortable with gentle changes in speed like if you were in bumper to bumper traffic, inching along. It has definitely been programed to prevent you from experiencing spirited take offs.
Once you get to 45 mph and above, like I was on the interstate, then the throttle doesn't fight you, but it doesn't reward you either. Punch it to pass somebody, and the car waits a second to see if you really meant to accelerate (or maybe pushed it by mistake?) Then it downshifts and reluctantly increases in speed. I would never try to pass someone on a two lane road while trying to beat oncoming traffic. You'd never make it. I would never pull out into traffic without it being a big opening, because the new Tucson, as tuned from the factory, is not interested in getting out of anyone's way.
If I didn't know what 2.5 liters of displacement was capable of, I wouldn't be so aggravated by this experience. Even if the weight of the Tucson was a challenge for this engine, it didn't really try to push itself at all. And that is how the engine and transmission were tuned to react from the factory.
So I have to ask the question. Is the drivetrain that gets 0-60 in 5.3 seconds for the Stinger going to be "tuned" to give us a 0-60 of 9.0 or 10.0 seconds in the Santa Cruz for insurance and mileage purposes?
If so, even though I love the utility concept, I'm out.
P.S.
I've decided to wait until they get another shipment in and retry the test drive with the Turbo drivetrain. I'm praying that it will react differently.
The base Tuscon gets 26 city / 33 highway, so its clearly optimized for MPG not stop light drag racing.
