Part 2 – The Test Drives & Ordering
I will never order a car without at least a half day unaccompanied test drive. I’m not prepared to risk ordering a car that we have to live with for 3 years with an hour (or less) test, especially if accompanied. Every new car seems great for the first hour, but I want to test them on all road types (including motorways) and on long journeys over several hours at a time to test long distance seat comfort. I also want to test the exact model we are interested in, as I know from experience that different specifications, as well as different drive trains, can be vastly different. As I often say, order in haste, repent at leisure 😂
Our local Hyundai dealership excelled in this respect. When we finally got around to looking at the Tucson the facelifted model wasn’t out, so I delayed the test drive until they were on the road. At first, it didn’t go well. A brand new PHEV Ultimate was registered for me in order that I could have it for 24 hours, but when I turned up although it was brand new (registered that day), it was the pre-facelift model 🙄. I said that there was no point in me taking it as I wouldn’t order a car based on the old model, and I particularly wanted to try out the much improved infotainment system in the facelift. The sales guy said that as the car had been registered, I might as well take it for 24 hours anyway, as I’d never driven a PHEV before, and he would arrange another 24 hour test with a facelift model. I won’t go into any detail about the test drive as it’s irrelevant now I’ve got 1,000 miles under my belt in the new model.
When I took the car back they let me take a brand new unregistered facelifted PHEV Ultimate out for a short drive back-to-back with the one I was returning to see if it felt any different. The main difference was that it was quieter. Finally, they had registered a brand new facelifted self charging hybrid Ultimate that day and they let me take that home for a second 24 hour test. This was primarily so that I could have a good few hours walking through all the infotainment options, which was valuable, plus to check out the new driving controls etc which have all changed (it’s called a facelift but has more comprehensive interior changes than many all new models).
When it was dark I took it out for a round trip journey that I do weekly, as I wanted to see if the new matrix LED headlights were any good (the LED headlights on the pre facelift I found to be poor). They were excellent and, I’m delighted to say, as good as the ones on the BMW (the adaptive headlights on our previous VW were too slow to react, so I know how they can vary). Although I wasn’t overly bothered about the fuel economy, as the self charging hybrid wasn’t of interest, I was surprised to find that the car achieved worse mpg over that journey than our non-hybrid petrol BMW does. Also, the engine was far more obtrusive than it was in the PHEV, as it comes on so frequently in comparison to the PHEV. In all honesty, had the self charging hybrid been the only option I don’t think I’d have ordered one. The PHEV was far better as it runs on electric far more.
We decided that we really liked the car (I’ll go through all the reasons why in part 3, based upon now having one for a few months) so the decision then boiled down to model (Ultimate or N-Line S) and colour. I preferred the exterior of the N Line S, as it has painted wheel arch trims and side sills, but we both preferred the interior of the Ultimate which, due to the leather, looked the more premium model, and was pretty damned close in terms of build quality to our BMW. With the Ultimate you have a choice of 3 leather interiors. Black (which looked too austere), Cypress Green (which is black with some subtle green trim highlights – sounds awful but looks really nice) and Moss Grey (which is really a light cream). As for exterior colours, none of the existing colours particularly grabbed us, but the dealership had received one in stock in the brand new Cypress Green pearlescent colour and we both loved it. We also liked the pale leather interior and neither the Cypress Green or Moss Grey leather were available for the N Line S, so the Ultimate it was. Thankfully, the Cypress Green paint is very dark (people sometimes think it’s black) so thankfully it ‘masks’ the plastic wheel arches and side sills, so you don’t really notice them. There were Cypress Green Ultimate PHEVs available at Tilbury with both black and Moss Grey leather interiors, so we snapped up one of the latter and we took delivery 4 weeks later, having had a person hoist installed.
……Part 3 will be living with the car – likes and dislikes after 1,000 miles