2022 Hyundai Tucson Hybrid Owner's Manual Original
Attention to details
So, I am buying a new car. I decided on a Hybrid SUV, and, based mostly on /Consumer Reports/, narrowed my choices down to the Honda CRV Hybrid, the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid, and the Hyundai Tucson Hybrid. I looked at a CRV Tuesday, a Tucson yesterday, and will see a RAV4 today. To prep for each viewing I read (skim, really) the manual. In rating these, I am not rating the manual itself. Obviously the manuals are terribly boring. Instead, I am rating the cars, based just on the manual and a single viewing.
The Tucson made my list because /Consumer Reports/ gave it a rave review. Based on the manual and my look at it yesterday, I also give it the coveted L-five-star rating. What is impressive about the Tucson (here I'm talking about the highest trim level, the Utltimate Hybrid AWD) is the attention to detail. It is as if a bunch of auto engineers kept notes, every time they drove their cars, of all the times they thought to themselves "Wouldn't it be nice if my car did THIS?", and then built a car that did THIS, for all the values of THIS they had discovered.
For instance, when I got into the Tucson yesterday to test drive it, I put my backpack in the back seat and told the salesman, "Don't let me forget that my pack is in the back." (I'm a senior citizen and aware of my limits.) He answered, "The car will do that. It remembers that you opened the back door, and when you get out, it will warn you to check the back." It did!
This seems like a small thing, but that one such hit implies that there are probably a bunch more such features. (In fact, because I read the manual, I know there are.)
The big disadvantage of the Tucson Hybrid is that 2022 was the first year that Hyundai has offered this model with a Hybrid powertrain. So it has no track record. They somewhat attenuate that lack by offering a 5-year comprehensive warranty and 8-year power train warranty. (Compared to 3 and 5 for most auto manufacturers.)
Now, in itself the warranty is not so valuable, or at least one hopes not. The warranty is valuable only if the car breaks -- because then one gets the car fixed at Hyundai's expense. I am not looking for a car I can get fixed for free -- I am looking for a car that doesn't break. But as an evolutionary biologist I see an application of the Handicap Principle here. It would be very expensive for Hyundai to offer such warranties if the cars were going to break. By offering 5/8, they are signaling that they are confident their cars will not break.
The Tucson has knocked the CRV out of contention for me. I will see a RAV4 this afternoon (and therefore need to get cracking on the manual right now). Toyota, of course, has a long record of sterling reliability with Hybrid power trains. That will be difficult to beat.