Smoothness and Style Over MPGs
The hybridized Tucson sees the same revisions as other Tucsons for 2025 and stays in our good graces.
Look, we’ll get this out of the way at the start. The 2025 Hyundai Tucson Hybrid Limited is perfectly fine. In fact, it’s even a bit better than fine, and we think the hybrid version of Hyundai’s compact SUV is the best version. Sometimes you just need a solid SUV that’s up to the task of daily suburban life, and the Tucson fits that role nicely. For 2025, Hyundai has made its Tucson even better, if only slightly.
Look, we’ll get this out of the way at the start. The 2025 Hyundai Tucson Hybrid Limited is perfectly fine. In fact, it’s even a bit better than fine, and we think the hybrid version of Hyundai’s compact SUV is the best version. Sometimes you just need a solid SUV that’s up to the task of daily suburban life, and the Tucson fits that role nicely. For 2025, Hyundai has made its Tucson even better, if only slightly.
Casually Stylish
The Hyundai Tucson’s styling hasn’t changed very much since 2022. For 2025, it receives a mild (read: subtle) update, and most of the news is the addition of an off-road-themed XRT trim level. This isn’t that version. Instead, this review covers the Tucson Hybrid Limited model, which wears street clothes; that’s just fine because the Tucson’s sharp lines and angular headlights make the SUV look slick and futuristic. Will you notice the 2025 model’s new bumpers and simplified headlights? Probably not, but that’s OK.
Living Spaces
Sitting inside the Tucson Hybrid Limited is like experiencing a greatest-hits compilation of all of Hyundai’s recent ICE and EV models. The Tucson Hybrid now shares the same shift-by-wire transmission control knob on the steering column used in the Ioniq 5 and 6 EVs, plus the same dual digital display layout sharing a dramatic curved enclosure. The Tucson also has a healthy helping of physical buttons with which to navigate audio and infotainment. Aside from physical temperature knobs, HVAC controls are mostly capacitive but they’re very responsive; we never had an issue with them not registering touches.
The leather-clad seats are comfortable, and we’re fans of the heated and cooled seats that come with the Hybrid Limited trim. We also appreciate a lot of the little touches like the shelf space on the passenger side of the dashboard, ample storage space under and inside the center console, and the modern-looking new steering wheel.
At 38.7 cubic feet, the trunk is cavernous, though to achieve that, a little bit of rear passenger legroom is sacrificed. It’s not uncomfortable for most people, but anyone taller than 6 feet might have their knees closer to the back of the front seats than they’d like. Front passengers need not worry about space as there’s plenty to go around up there.
The 2025 Hyundai Tucson Hybrid Limited trim comes with a host of infotainment features and safety tech, which is appreciated at its $42,800 as-tested price. Some OEMs are making moves to force drivers to deal with their internal user interfaces, but the Tucson still offers wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. We know it won’t be like this forever, but it’s nice to put off learning yet another UI for a bit longer and just mirror our devices.
Driver Assist Tech, and Safety
A significant portion of the Hyundai Tucson Hybrid’s value comes from the driver assistance and safety tech that’s served as standard equipment. There’s a whole host of sensors and cameras that work together for a comprehensive driver assistance package.
Hyundai’s Highway Driving Assist (HDA) works fairly well and only required one intervention during our time with it. We were cut off by a vehicle on the freeway, and the system didn’t have time to adjust its speed, so it alerted us to take over. If HDA is a function you want to use on your daily commute, it may take a little while to fine-tune the follow distances and speed to give the system more room to predict the traffic you usually deal with. As good as it is at steering, braking, and accelerating within a lane on a marked freeway, you must always pay attention and be ready to take over.
The blind spot warning system is also somewhat inconsistent. Sometimes the blind spot indicator light in the side view mirrors doesn’t come on or the system makes the audible chime to alert us of a car in the blind spot. In one instance when driving at night, there was a car with its headlights off in our blind spot that we noticed but the system did not.
Enjoying the Drive
If there’s one thing that’s remained consistent through the last several model years of the Hyundai Tucson Hybrid, it’s the smoothness of the powertrain. The hybrid system glides between combustion and electric power almost seamlessly. If you force the issue, you can feel the changeover, but even then it’s quite subtle.
The suspension package offers a comfortable ride without delivering a boring experience when you want to get spirited. With 231 hp combined between gas and electric power sources, there isn’t an overabundance of muscle to play with, but it’s enough to keep things interesting and flow with traffic without feeling strained.
Associate road test editor Erick Ayapana notes the Tucson has good brake feel with no noticeable step between regen and mechanical braking. Road test editor Chris Walton is impressed with the Tucson Hybrid’s performance in the MotorTrend figure-eight lap evaluation:
“Considering its peers, this [Tucson Hybrid] is really quite a good performer, both in terms of test data, but also driving feel. There’s good, consistent bite from the brakes; they’re easy to modulate and trail off,” Walton said. “There’s an unexpected amount grip in the corners, and decent power off of them. The steering is typical EPS, but it’s precise and adds just enough heft to the weight to make it actually feel like something is happening. Nicely done.”
One area where the Tucson Hybrid Limited falls short is its fuel economy, a key why-buy for a hybrid. Its EPA-estimated efficiency isn’t terrible at 35 mpg across the board, but competitors like the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid and Ford Escape Hybrid offer much better fuel economy. Hey, buy the Hybrid Tucson for the decent gas mileage, keep it for the smoothness.
Is This the Right SUV for You?
If you’re looking for an SUV that offers a smooth drive, a great interior, and plenty of driver assistance features, the 2025 Hyundai Tucson Hybrid is a good choice. All the changes made for 2025 enhance that impression, with the updated interior delivering a better wow factor and the other revisions keeping things fresh enough without spoiling the essential goodness this generation Tucson has enjoyed for years.
Hyundai Tucson vs. Santa Fe Pros and Cons Review: Two Spacious SUVs Face Off
Both are value-conscious, spacious SUVs—but which one is right for you?Zach GaleWriter
MotorTrend StaffPhotographerAug 12, 2022
This used to be a much easier decision. Between the compact Hyundai Tucson and the company’s midsize Santa Fe SUVs, the latter was an obvious pick when interior space was important to you. Now, the new-for-2022 Hyundai Tucson boasts handsome, angular styling and top-of-its-segment interior space. That doesn’t leave out the midsize Hyundai Santa Fe , whose pricing is so reasonable with its base engine that compact SUV buyers might want to consider it, too. We’ve driven both; read on for pros and cons on the two Hyundais.
Performance
Both the new 2022 Hyundai Tucson and Santa Fe offer hybrid and plug-in hybrid options and we like the hybrids even though fuel economy lags behind competitors in both cases. With the 187-hp base-engine Tucson, we’re greater fans of the tech and design than the way it drives. In in a previousMotorTrendcomparison against the Toyota RAV4, Nissan Rogue, and Honda CR-V, the Hyundai placed fourth, in part because of its surprisingly stiff ride and lazy powertrain.
The 191-hp base-engine Santa Fe also won’t win any drag races, but we didn’t find the ride to be stiff. The larger of the two Hyundai SUVs isn’t entertaining on the road, but it gets the job done . Damning with faint praise, perhaps, but it’s certainly better than the Santa Fe 2.5 Turbo models (pictured here), which have an unrefined dual-clutch automatic.
Neither the Tucson nor the Santa Fe are dynamic leaders in a straight line or around a curve, but we give the slight advantage to the Santa Fe here.
Advantage : Hyundai Santa Fe
Safety
Safety is a mostly positive story for the Santa Fe and Tucson. Both Hyundai SUVs are 2022 Top Safety Pick+ award winners, the highest rating the IIHS gives.
With NHTSA evaluations, however, the Santa Fe comes out on top. The 2022 Tucson gets a five-star overall rating, but only for FWD models built in Korea on or after September 6, 2021, or American-made models built on or after September 27, 2021. Models built before those respective dates (and all AWD models) carry a four-star overall rating. For the 2023 model year, Tucson FWD models get a five-star rating, but AWD models miss the five-star-overall-score cutoff and instead earn four stars out of a possible five. The story is easier to tell with the Santa Fe; the FWD, AWD, and hybrid models all earn a five-star overall score.
Advantage : Hyundai Santa Fe
Style
Yes, styling is subjective, but we find the Tucson’s design to be effortlessly cool. Its sharp lines are recognizable from 100 feet away, not something you can say about many SUVs. As a more conventional design, the Santa Fe’s front end is too fussy for us. The Tucson also has a lot going on, but it partially disguises this by having a few grille-trim pieces do double duty as daytime running lights.
Inside, the dash layout is completely different. Both SUVs offer a digital gauge cluster on higher-trim models, but the central touchscreen is mounted at the top of the dash in the Santa Fe. Infotainment screen sizes measure 8.0 and 10.3 inches in both SUVs. The sleek controls look futuristic on the Tucson, but keep in mind that the Santa Fe’s knobs and buttons are easier to use.
Advantage : Hyundai Tucson
Interior Space
The Tucson’s biggest practical change from the previous generation to the present SUV is its interior. The truth is, there’s so much more space that your passengers win no matter which Hyundai SUV you choose. In fact, the Tucson may be 6.1 inches shorter overall, but it offers 38.7 cubic feet of cargo space compared to the Santa Fe’s 36.4 cubic feet. The Santa Fe (pictured here) simply has a bit more space inside for passengers, and we appreciate its many storage areas. One of those areas exists below the center stack, and there’s also a deep, closed compartment beneath the central armrest between the driver and front passenger.
Advantage : You, with either Hyundai SUV
| L/W/H* | Cargo Space | Legroom F/R | |
| 2023 Hyundai Tucson | 182.3/73.4/65.6 in. | 38.7 cu-ft | 41.4/41.3 in. |
| 2023 Hyundai Santa Fe | 188.4/74.8/67.3 in. | 36.4 cu-ft | 44.1/41.7 in. |
| *height measurements include roof rails | |||
Pricing
As this is written, the 2022 Hyundai Tucson SE carries a base MSRP of $27,095 including destination. If you want a power liftgate, a 2022 Tucson SEL with the Convenience package comes to $30,995. The 2022 Santa Fe is priced at $28,995 for a base model and runs $32,445 with its own Convenience package that includes a power liftgate, among other features. So the difference here—spread out over three or five years of payments—isn’t that great.
With either SUV, you get three years or 36,000 miles of complimentary maintenance, as well as Hyundai’s five-year/60,000-mile basic warranty.
Advantage : Hyundai Tucson, but not by as much as you’d think.
Fuel Economy and Range
Here’s the truth: Neither Hyundai SUV boasts great fuel economy—and it doesn’t matter if you choose the base engine or a hybrid when you compare against key rivals. Pit Hyundai against Hyundai and this is what you find: The 2023 Santa Fe comes in at 25/28 mpg city/highway with the base engine and FWD, or 22/25 mpg with AWD. As you’d expect, that’s not quite as good as the 2022 Tucson, which is rated 24/29 mpg with AWD and 26/33 mpg with FWD.
The same story continues with the standard hybrids. The 2023 Santa Fe Hybriddelivers a respectable 33-36/30-31 mpg to the Tucson Hybrid’s 37-38/36-38 mpg.
So the Tucson wins on fuel economy, but the Santa Fe fights back with a longer driving range. That means you get more miles out of each tank before having to refuel, and that’s true when comparing base engine to base engine as well as hybrid to hybrid.
Advantage : Tie
Tucson vs. Santa Fe: Which Is Better?
With the Santa Fe, you don’t just pay for more interior space for your passengers, but also the subtle satisfaction of knowing you bought a midsize SUV, and the pricing splits the difference between most compact and midsize five-passenger SUVs. That’s why, if we were deciding between the Tucson and Santa Fe, we’d more strongly consider the latter in base-engine form. It offers a ton of value.
If the hybrid models are of interest and in your budget, the Tucson is our pick. With greater fuel economy and that captivating exterior design, it’s a good package if you’ve crossed the rivals from Honda, Kia, Toyota, and Ford off your list.
Hyundai Santa Fe and Tucson Pros and Cons
- Midsize presence at a reasonable price
- Spacious inside for passengers
- Good features-per-dollar value
- Fussy front styling elements
- Could be more efficient
- The 2.5 turbo’s unrefined transmission
- Slicker styling
- Lower base price
- Huge cargo area
- Touchscreen mounted lower on the dash
- Lazy base powertrain
- Some controls more difficult to use
