Hi there,

I previously wrote a message saying how I loved the Tucson but had some gripes, well I've had just about enough gripes to last me a life time in under well three years of motoring from new in this car.

For the guts of £17k here are the problems we have with it...

1) Gearbox - The gearbox is and always has been terrible, I seriously wish it would just pack up altogether so the dealer would be forced to replace it. Twice it has refused to go into reverse at all and daily it feels like you are bending metal bars just to get the thing to grind into any gear. Really tired of flimsy dealer excuses about why it is so pants at this stage also.

2) Fuel economy - Forget the published figures the Tucson justifies the gas guzzling stereo type all the way, we plumbed for the CRTD CDX model hoping for the published figures, not a bit of it, by the time you go the gallons conversion we're lucky to get 25mpg with conservative driving. I call that total misadvertisement of a product.

3) Shudders - If you are anyway underpowered the car will shudder to bits really annoying, while I accept this can happen on many cars, I owned several and it is the worst I've experienced on the Tucson especially given that it is new and has been driven carefully since receipt.

4) Isofix Child seats - The anchors are there ok but the Tucson seems destined to be awkward as on this front aswell. You basically need to have the seat in the unlocked position to be able to insert the plastic guides. Several seats require an over the seat teather on the Tucson (but not on most other cars) which means you can kiss goodbye to the nice simple, quick clip in clip out mechanism and instead say hello to messing around with a nylon strap pulling it over you rear seats hoping it does mark them.

5) Air blowers - Hey presto another problem just up, for some reason we can get no substantial airflow from our fans. It was great all winter we could barely get the steam off our front window never mind deicing it using the aircon.

6) Cruise Control - Awkward as bedammed is the only way to describe it, you can pull down the level sometimes it'll set it others it won't. Cruise control of the Tucson surely is like a box of chocolates you never know what your gonna get. Its a great distraction from road safety having to focus so heavily on it.

7) Dealers - Are all Hyundai dealers inept, bumbling excuse making do nothings ? cause thats been my experience of them so far, from fitting wrong cloloured panels, to excusing gearboxes that don't work and they in't cheap either thats for sure.

8) Hyundai - Shall we invent some figures to get sales and then imply our customers are stupid and incorrect when they notice and complain later......

I know I've missed things here everyday there's something new to further condem this car.

As a family we had many options of what to do for our transport options, we saw the Tucson as an economic (based on published figures \ size \ weight), reliable and safe option - how wrong we were. Its been a pain no more pretending about it, I wish we had just bought two new small cars and been done with it. I can't wait to have the thing paid off so I can sell it and I won't be buying another Hyundai thats for sure.

Even if they had a good car now I don't feel you can depend on the dealers or any published info Hyundai will put out there, we'll be going for a Honda or something next time....

This post has been edited by mully1999: Apr 30 2007, 10:18 AM

It's been well documented that the published economy figures are a joke and nowhere near reality for all cars. That's not the cars fault if the testing procedures for economy are unrealistic. Personally, I think 25mpg for a vehicle that size isn't that bad. I'm happy to get 17mpg out of my 4-cylinder minivan. (Assuming US gallons)


Many cars require the teather (or anchor) strap. I don't see how a safety issue of an aftermarket seat is the cars fault.


Have you checked the cabin air filter? It could be blocked from debris and need to be replaced.


Find a better dealer. I don't have this problem with my dealer but I know some are better than others. Again, how is this the cars fault?

This post has been edited by NovaResource: Apr 30 2007, 11:43 AM

1) Gearbox - The gearbox is and always has been terrible, I seriously wish it would just pack up altogether so the dealer would be forced to replace it. Twice it has refused to go into reverse at all and daily it feels like you are bending metal bars just to get the thing to grind into any gear. Really tired of flimsy dealer excuses about why it is so pants at this stage also.

REPLY

You must take it back to the dealer-leave it with him so that he starts it from cold when a gearbox is usually at its most difficult due to cold gear oil. Get him to organize Hyundai Technicians to be there for the test-Other than that write to Hyundai and ask that one of their techs checks it out for faults .

2) Fuel economy - Forget the published figures the Tucson justifies the gas guzzling stereo type all the way, we plumbed for the CRTD CDX model hoping for the published figures, not a bit of it, by the time you go the gallons conversion we're lucky to get 25mpg with conservative driving. I call that total misadvertisement of a product.

Reply

There have been a few Hyundai upgrades out since your Tucson was built and my former Tucson was plagued until I got the final Revision for the ECM-Have your dealer do proper tests on the economy as per the hyundai tech report to see what they can get it to do-I take it that you are not using a fuel guage to see what mpg you are doing but doing checks by filling to the brim and checking mileage that way?

3) Shudders - If you are anyway underpowered the car will shudder to bits really annoying, while I accept this can happen on many cars, I owned several and it is the worst I've experienced on the Tucson especially given that it is new and has been driven carefully since receipt.

Reply

Never experienced this in normal driving mainly when towing then had to drop a gear to ensure continuety. Again this is one for your dealer to sort out or a Hyundai Tech.

4) Isofix Child seats - The anchors are there ok but the Tucson seems destined to be awkward as on this front aswell. You basically need to have the seat in the unlocked position to be able to insert the plastic guides. Several seats require an over the seat teather on the Tucson (but not on most other cars) which means you can kiss goodbye to the nice simple, quick clip in clip out mechanism and instead say hello to messing around with a nylon strap pulling it over you rear seats hoping it does mark them.

Reply

Sorry I am an oldie and have had no need for childrens seats, when I carry my grandkids they sit on little
seats to raise them to correct position and then use the car seat belts.

5) Air blowers - Hey presto another problem just up, for some reason we can get no substantial airflow from our fans. It was great all winter we could barely get the steam off our front window never mind deicing it using the aircon.

Reply

My reply to this would be the same as Nova Resource- otherwise get dealer to show you how to use them this is a good way to ensure that the dealer sees that they are not working properly if thats the real problem-and if you have had it dealer serviced it may prove that they didn't do their job properly.

6) Cruise Control - Awkward as bedammed is the only way to describe it, you can pull down the level sometimes it'll set it others it won't. Cruise control of the Tucson surely is like a box of chocolates you never know what your gonna get. Its a great distraction from road safety having to focus so heavily on it.

Reply

This will have to be fixed properly by the dealer-I found that on my first Tuc I had a similar problem, I was going to get it seen to but then bought a 2007 model and it changes first time. Dealer to fix or Hyundai Tech.

7) Dealers - Are all Hyundai dealers inept, bumbling excuse making do nothings ? cause thats been my experience of them so far, from fitting wrong cloloured panels, to excusing gearboxes that don't work and they in't cheap either thats for sure.

Reply

All Hyundai Dealers are independant garages or groups of garages and as such some are better than others. They have to wait for spares to be delivered to them from a central spares depot (usually an overnight service) They dont get paid for long winded fault finding only for fixing the fault and as such I think that some fall down on the service they give.
Tell Hyundai about your dealer if you are dissatisfied they do like to know of problems caus3ed by dealers . By telling Hyundai you could also suggest that a Hyundai representative be available when you take it in for the faults to be rectified. That way you may get a better service.

8) Hyundai - Shall we invent some figures to get sales and then imply our customers are stupid and incorrect when they notice and complain later......

Reply

Lets be Honest in the UK we used to have Friday afternoon cars and in the US they have the occasional Lemons and I cannot think of any manufacturer who doesn't hove problems but tell the manufacturer Its his Warranty- But in the UK you also have Rights under the sale of goods act, the product must be fit for the purpose and from what you are saying yours is not so :
1. Write to Hyundai put your problems to them and send it by Registered Letter to the Managing Director.
2.Do the same with your dealer
3. Go to see trading standards and seek their advice and also send them copies of those sent to the dealership and Manufacturer.
4. Consider changing to another dealer he may be more helpful than your present one.

I know I've missed things here everyday there's something new to further condem this car.

As a family we had many options of what to do for our transport options, we saw the Tucson as an economic (based on published figures \ size \ weight), reliable and safe option - how wrong we were. Its been a pain no more pretending about it, I wish we had just bought two new small cars and been done with it. I can't wait to have the thing paid off so I can sell it and I won't be buying another Hyundai thats for sure.

Even if they had a good car now I don't feel you can depend on the dealers or any published info Hyundai will put out there, we'll be going for a Honda or something next time....


Mully1999 try contacting everyone that needs to know and also any other owners locally with a Tucson who may be experiencing similar problems.
More heads together are better than one.
Last resort see a solicitor for advice re Sale of Goods Act and possible rejection even at this stage , the dealer is the target as he sold you the car he then takes it up with Hyundai.

Best wishes
Itza :460: :460: :460:

Thanks for the replies guys.

I know this is a very whingy message but I am at the end of my wits with this.

All the advice has been good but here's the thing I don't expect or want to have all this chasing, hassle and fighting with dealers when we've spent close to £20k on a new car - surely it should be of a high enough standard that we shouldn't be in this position and surely the after sales support should be of a consistent and high enough standard to address these issues without trying to fob us off with lame excuses.

A big lesson for me has been that I will never buy any new car model on release again, best to wait for a few iterations check out the feedback and let the bugs get ironed out.

I've used two local dealers already the one's we initially bought from who proved to be less than useless, after fitting a completely incorrectly colored external trim panel and trying to pass it off as ok to us and taking about 8 weeks to do it, and the new one who is ok for servicing but really skirts around any issues like the one's highlighted and essentially tries to blame our driving or claims they don't see the problem.
There is only one dealer left locally and its just not that easy having one car, two kids and working full time to get the time required to chase these people. There is only one alternative dealer left locally at this stage who we could use, I may just give them a try as they are a bit closer to home now too.

That said I'm stuck with the car now, in truth if the gearbox and fans were sorted I'd be about 70% happier, every day they are a real issue, baby seats are definitely more awkward than any other car I've used (over seat tethers aside) but only get moved infrequently, the cruise control works if you hassle it enough, mappings may help the fuel economy or we could use the Powerbox option also.

Is the cabin air filter something I could check myself ? any ideas how I do it ?

The gearbox is as awkward when the car has been running for an hour as from a cold start it always feels like metal is grinding off metal, I've tried to pinpoint specific environmental factors but none are apparent it happens everyday now and is getting worse with time. My wife has real difficulties changing gear on this car now because of it.

Rant out !
Mully

I'm sorry to see your having so much problems with the Tucson, but mine is a V6 automatic, so the balky shifting, and shuttering, don't apply. If this is as bad as you say, I've had cars like this, (a 74'Chevy Vega comes to mind) I'd deeply look into finding out why? and if there's no fix, get something else. As far as gas milage, even my V6 is hard on gas, but mostly on the highway 20-23mpg Max, around this rural area of Pa. I usually get 20mpg., where my old 2002 Santa Fe used to get between 20-24mpg?

Best I've ever gotten was 374 miles out of a full tank, but it was with premium at 22.75 miles per gallon. Usually my range is 325, which is far below my expectations.

Dealers definitely SUCK. Read my post on vibrations with my Tucson. :)

My next and future vehicles will never again be a Hyundai. Major disappointment in terms of advertized vs. the real results. Oh well, at least it drives...

Just to update on this saga. We found a new dealer locally who has taken our concerns on and has had the car all this week several issues have cropped their head: clutch fork welding issue \ clutch cover \ weak pressure plate

Looks like we definitely got a friday afternoon car.

Our gearbox issue has been resolved thanks to a committed and diligent local dealer who I cannot speak highly enough of, if you live in Northern Ireland and want to know the name contact me not sure if I can post it here.

The problem turned out to be the damper valve on the clutch line which was not holding the pressure, this has been flawed since we first received the car over 2 1/2 years ago and has gotten progressively worse over time.

I feel aggreived that we received a flawed car in the first place and had to struggle so much to get this issue resolved, so there is no way I will ever be buying a Hyundai again.

Hi Mully

Glad you have found a dealer who will listen and act have you told him of all the other things too?

He may be able to check everything to ensure you finally get what was paid for.

Cheers

Itza :460: :460: :460:

I mentioned the fans \ aircon to him aswell and low and behold they seem to be fixed aswell which is great. Additionally a rattle we had seems to have cleared up as a result of all the clutch work.

Delighted with the dealer no doubt about it, on our next service I plan to ask him about the engine mappings to see if we can't imrpove the fuel economy aswell.

Still feel conned in that I paid for a new car but received something more akin to second hand and have had a ball of hassle getting it sorted....

Sorry to hear about your troubles, but I wouldn't discount an entire brand based on one dealer's bad service. I'm glad you are getting things worked out now with the "friendly" dealer and I wish you the best on your car.

It is true that if you buy new, you should have a close to perfect car, but it is the service that backs that car which really justifies or kills your purchase.

You're right but this was the first new car we bought and it was for family purposes. It was bought specifically to avoid all the grief and hassle we ended up having so I'm afraid it definitely will be a case of once bitten twice shy with Hyundai for us.

I'd be completely eaten up with rage if we stuck loyal to them to get another turkey in the future so am happy to have the car working now but will be steering clear for all future purchases.

Just q quick rely regarding iso fix, use your brain and you will solve it.

Ok I will tell you, just put the seat in the most backward position by pulling the leaver. Now it´s easy to clik in the seat. It took me a while when trying to do this to realize that it was that easy.

:banana: :gitara: :banana: :banana: :beer:

P:S when atatched just pull the seat forward.

What an amazing tip !

Here's another:

use your brain - stop stating the obvious like it news

this method is about the only way you can get isofix clipped in so this is how I and every other Tucson user has been doing it. Reclining the seats is not especially easy if you have a dog guard and it also loosens the tension on the overseat tethers.

Wouldn't it be nice if it just fitted without all the fussing like it does on other cars !!

This post has been edited by mully1999: Jul 3 2007, 07:58 AM

Spring forth mine next random manufacturing flaw !!

Not to disappoint we now have the random airbag light challenge, will it be on, will it be off who knows its so fun having a crappy Tucson an airbag can off in your face at any time.

Its so fun in fact that we're getting rid of the piece of crap asap for a VW Touran cannot wait, better speced, nippier, 7 seats. Goodbye forever Hyundai and Tucson I'm just so excited to see what else will fail before we get it sold.

:grin: