I understand that he never turns off TC, but if the vehicle has any ability , IMHO he should really be making all possible adjustments if he thinks it would be better. Obviously mention it (as a downside), but "this is the only vehicle where we had to turn off traction control" would be better I think. Obviously not an off-road vehicle. I wonder if it makes bad decisions in heavy snow too (more relevant to me .

I do like his attitude overall, like "these are the 'hidden' headlights, they look nice but nothing to get excited about" is a refreshing change from gushing over the look (and they're not as hidden as the news-release style reviews make them to be).

 

Why didn’t he try snow mode too???? Isn’t that also called mud mode too in some markets?

 

Why didn’t he try snow mode too. Isn’t that also called mud mode too in some markets?

^ Yes, snow mode is also referred to as mud mode in some markets. The reviewer states in one of his replies to a commenter that snow mode simply reduces traction power/torque to reduce the propensity of wheel spin. I guess the last thing he wanted to do was to further reduce power when he wasn't going anywhere.
In my experience (especially with the '09 Cadillac CTS RWD I owned), overly aggressive TC intervention can render your vehicle "dead in the water" in certain conditions.

 

Personally, I wouldn't consider taking mine on a trail like that without proper tires and maybe a lift kit, though it was a reasonable test of the Tucson's off road capabilities and AWD system out of the box. But I had to laugh when the reviewer started complaining about the car being "jittery" in ECO mode. I mean seriously, what did he expect? And why not test snow mode while you're at it, a mode that was clearly engineered for slippery situations? That was disappointing.

My biggest concern with the AWD system is Winter weather, a good set of snow tires should help significantly with that.

The 2022 Tucson hybrid is a brand new model, so hopefully the system will improve with SW updates over time.

 

IMHO the 4x4 system on a Hyundai is best kept for slippery road surfaces only.

 

rbreeze on a brand new 2022 tucson its clearly unexeptable the way it performed climbing i would never buy one but then again its a cheaply made hyundai compared to other vehicles no surprise there.

 

^ Hey Johns2.0T - Your comment is a little over the top IMO - you obviously have a "bone to pick" where Hyundai is concerned. While the performance of the Tucson HEV in that particular video is disappointing, it can almost certainly be addressed with just revised software. Also consider that 99% plus of Tucson HEV owners will never be hill climbing their vehicles over rock bed dry rivers. The new Tucson is no more "cheaply made" that any of its immediate competition. I'm impressed with the design and quality of my new Tucson HEV, and I've just come out of a late model Audi.

 

IMO, the reviewer should have turned off the traction control system at some point, but in his own defense he states that ne never turns off traction control in any of the vehicles he test-drives...

The jittery sensation he spoke of was probably the traction control kicking in. He needed to shut off traction control and stability control.

 

What I take from this video. It brings into question how the Tucson hybrid will handle certain conditions, also cements it as arguably the best Hybrid in the segment on the majority of roadways. If you need a more solid performer in the minority of conditions/roadways, you may be not be driving this.

 

The reviewer is an idiot. He needs to stick to Yapping about Jeep’s if his rating criteria is based on whether a vehicle can climb a side of a steep hill comprised of loose rocks. Of course I guess if you are one of the .001 percenters that would actually attempt such foolishness is a compact SUV then I guess you’ve found your favorite vehicle reviewer Youtuber.

 

useless review. if i were driving a suv to my mountain retreat, it would be one that would suck on normal roads. testing a vehicle at the extreme side says nothing. we just bought a 2021 elantra hybrid, and i see reviews trying to make it a sports car.

 

In this new/latest video review of the 2022 Tucson Hybrid Limited AWD the vehicle fails the off-road rocky hill climb test - quite miserably I might add. Based on this result it appears Hyundai really need to tweak the software for the AWD and traction control systems.
IMO, the reviewer should have turned off the traction control system at some point, but in his own defense he states that ne never turns off traction control in any of the vehicles he test-drives.
Below is the embedded link to the videl

i thought it looked good and handled well driving through the the water : )

He should probably have spent a few minutes going through the menus- He would've seen the 360 camera DOES have dynamic guidelines, and he was too quick to say it didn't.... and they do an amazing job, turning exactly where the vehicle does, best guidence i've seen on a 360 cam...

The last vehicle on Earth i would purchase for even moderate off- roading would be my Tucson. The second last would be the Santa Cruz - More than likely he will have same complaints about that next year : )

 

I agree it's a useless review. Given that, I actually think the Tucson did pretty good with the stock tires it had along with the fact the reviewer had no idea on what mode the 4WD system needed to be in.

I've learned from my 2019 Rav4 hybrid with the exact same Michelin tires that hybrids are outfitted with tires with minimal footprint and low friction rubber design to optimize MPG. These type of tires are not going to be very good at 4 wheelin'!

 

I think he is a great reviewer. Disappointed in the off road but I won't be taking my Tucson to those roads

 

i watched that video and then i read all the comments. he said he was getting the car again to try all modes and turn off traction control. we will see

 

Saw it when it first came out, I was disappointed by the guy not trying more stuff, I watch his reviews and they are usually good and real world, but he didn't bother with this one, he should have turned of traction control, unless he didn't know how, anyway, I want AWD just for the occasional rain here in Vegas, rains a few times a year, that's about it. I would have been OK with FWD, but since the Hybrid comes with AWD standard, I'll take it.

 

I want AWD just for the occasional rain here in Vegas, rains a few times a year, that's about it.

I'm kind of like you. I'm an Oregon transplant in CA. I grew up with winter sports and driving in the snow. Here in CA, it seems that all it takes are a few snowflakes on the road and CA-DOT puts up roadblocks and forces everyone that doesn't have a 4X4 or AWD to chain up. I won't intentionally be taking the Tucson off paved roads - however, there was the time Google directions has sent me up some pretty rough and snow-packed forest service roads to avoid an I-5 accident, so there's that 😏 (fortunately I was in my 4X4 pickup at the time).

 

What percentage of Tucson owners go off road?
I'll bet it's tiny, especially with the hybrid.
Useless review IMHO.
Only a small percentage of Jeep owners go off road for that matter.
I bought my Tucson because the higher seat makes it easier to get in and out of.
Also I can put bulky stuff in the back with the hatch.
That's it. No interest in AWD. When the snow gets deep I stay home.
AWD won't save me from the idiots out there.

 

Yes agreed- maybe i will venture on the tiniest portion of a gravel dirt road when office parking lot is under construction... Other than that, my Tucson will be "all asphalt, all the time...

Shame, he started off so, so, so positive on that review and then he just did an, "360 about face" & totally trashed it....

 

on the reverse side, what about a review on a jeep taking a trip across several states on the freeways? bouncing all over the place, deafening inside, lousy a/c, hurtyourback seats, poor braking/handling/acceleration, oh, and the famous fiat-chrysler reliability?

 

I watch his reviews and they are usually good and real world,

This was the first video of his I watched, but I like him as a reviewer. It feels like he's planned what he'll say (without just reading a script) and his voice doesn't sound like it's overtime in the 7th game of Stanley Cup finals. He's a little negative at times, with is also a positive for me.

The hill climb in Tucson seemed dumb, apart from having read comments here ahead of time, it didn't look that terrible. But in his other reviews I've stopped watching once he starts up the hill. I'm in it for the walk-around, sit-in, and the freeway and paved-road driving. I feel he does that very well. In fact his Santa Fe review was the first video review I went to after adding the vehicle to my the list of possibilities.

What percentage of Tucson owners go off road? I'll bet it's tiny, especially with the hybrid. Useless review IMHO.

To be fair, at most the second half was "useless" (for you, and for me). I just don't watch after he hits the hill, which saves time. And having driving a FWD Camry up and down a couple of steep (city) hills in various snowstorms, I have trouble imagining that gravel-and-rocks hill being as bad as he makes out. Of course I've never done it.

 

I shouldn't have implied the whole review is "useless".
Just the hill climb.
Just as I SMH at the "SavageGeese" reviewer doing full throttle take-offs in FWD grocery-getters.

 

As someone coming from a Jeep Wrangler Sahara Unlimited who did (and still does) go off road at least a couple times a month, I appreciated the hill climb test because now I know what to expect on rocky terrain and to avoid it in the Tuscon. In my opinion the AWD system should have distributed power better than it did even with traction control enabled.

Terrain like that is nothing to a Wrangler. It's true that the seats can get uncomfortable and the ride is a bit bouncy, but there were absolutely zero reliability issues with mine. It was a great vehicle, but the Tuscon fits my needs better right now and I can still get to most of my favorite get-away spots up in the mountains via fire roads.

 

Just a guess here... This type of hybrid is adapted from the Sonata/Optima hybrids out since 2011. They use the old 6 speed planetary automatic but with an electric motor and wet clutch in place of the torque converter. The motor is used to get the car moving and then the starter/generator spins the engine up (if needed) until the crank speed and transaxle input shaft speed match and then the wet clutch locks the engine to the transmission. When rock crawling, the car is moving too slow to lock the engine to the powertrain - just as you'd have trouble dumping the clutch on a manual when the car is barely moving. What he is seeing as no throttle - or transmission disconnecting - is the electric drive motor not producing enough torque to climb the hill. And the computer will eventually cut the motor way back to prevent it from overheating and to preserve the battery, which is getting hammered with the accelerator on the floor. This design wasn't intended for rock crawling, and it shows in the Tucson and in Kia's Sorento. The upcoming Santa Cruz - if the hybrid arrives - will have the same limitation. Anyone taking the Tucson on these rutted rock trails should get the 2.5 with the 8 speed planetary automatic. Skip any type of DCT and any hybrid - they're not the right tool for the job.

 

Do you have a guess on how they will operate in snow? I would like to be able to drive in six inches of snow if necessary.

 

There was one review (I think the one under discussion) where he says the hybrid is great for city driving, but if you're going 40mph and need a little extra, it's not going to help, you're effectively driving a 180HP 1.6L T. That's not terrible, since the non-hybrid is 187HP, Forester is 182HP, Rogue is 181HP, and CR-V is 190HP, so the gas part of the Tucson hybrid is competitive. But my desire for extra power is primarily when going 40mph or 65mph and getting out of trouble (my old Forester Turbo was great for that). Is he right the electric motor does nothing at those speeds, even when you're asking for all possible acceleration?

Thanks.

 

The Toyota and older Honda hybrids are the ones with the electric motors that don't offer much assist at high speeds. In the earlier versions of the Toyota HSD, the engine had to spin at speeds above about 50mph even if it wasn't powering the car. The Hyundai parallel hybrid setup lets both engine and motor propel the car together - or individually. At highway speeds at light loads, the engine should shut down and the car should run as an EV for 30 to 60 seconds before the engine spins up again. You can see the charge level rise and fall as the engine cycles on and off. At least on the older hybrids, Hyundai had a gimmicky green "EV MODE" light in the dash cluster that would light when the engine was off.

If the need for instant emergency power comes along at a time when the engine is off, there will be a short delay - maybe a second or less - experienced while the engine gets spun up to the correct speed, relit, and coupled to the transmission.

 

Thanks for the answers re: the gas and electric motors working together. Maybe I misunderstood the reviewer, but he seems to say the electric motor isn't going to kick in if you're running at 40mph and look to accelerate. Is he right? It seems not but maybe I'm still not clear. Here's the video cued up to 12:16:

Thanks.

 

I can assure you that the electric motor will kick in, I just did it in mine.
I think this is one of many reviewers that state the headlights are in the grill; when I see that I pretty much dismiss the rest of the review.

 

duplicate

 

Reviewer put up a new one due to all the viewers comparing in about him not utilizing all the modes.

This time he used the gas version. Props to him for doing another review and listening to his viewers

 

yes it was. only thing to me it was a disappointment to me that he did not get another hybrid and try all modes plus taking off lock traction off on it. this way we will no for Shure what the hybrid can do in different modes. you no there is a difference between the to cars hybrid and the gas version they are different animals. he does a good job in his reviews but this time he fell short in leaving the thoughts in minds if the hybrid is any good. that is why he should get a hybrid. all he was doing is covering his butt.

 

It did better than the hybrid, perhaps the 2023 model will have the issue fixed, or a software update soon for the 2022 hybrid.

I wonder how the hybrid would do on snowy roads, which is where the AWD would be used by 99% of the time by crossover owners anyway.

I would like to see the hybrid and NA be tested on rollers.

 

See previous posts on how the hybrid powertrain works and why it's wrong for rock crawling but fine for just about everything else.