Hi so far, very good. It is a lovely car to drive around town. Very quiet as you’d expect. So far on a single charge it looks like I’ll be able to do a week or more of the school and shopping runs and it’s currently £2.xx to charge from close to empty up to full which takes 2 hours. (I tend to force the electric mode using the button on the control panel as much as possible, rather than the hybrid/auto mode.)
One of the really good aspects is the user interface on the main tablet, it’s very simple/intuitive. I always found the Honda interface to be a bit of guesswork but every time I go to do something in the Tuscon the setting or feature is where I’d expect it to be and there are a couple of places you can assign custom functions to get quick access to your favourite screens quickly. I assigned the main quick access button to show the engine/drive summary so you can see which source is powering the wheels and how much battery is being used, etc.
There is also plenty of room for a set of crutches in the front passenger seat area and the boot is a decent size for the lightweight power chair. One minor issue is that there are two positions for the back seats, “normal” which has them leaning back a bit and upright where the capacity of the boot is increased. When you do this the cover which hides the contents of the boot doesn’t extend as far as the seats so there is a gap of a few inches. (I need to double check that to make sure I didn’t miss something).
One other minor issue is the app. It’s ok, doesn’t crash or anything (Android phone) but it has a few times now sent me a notification saying the car is unlocked when I know I locked it. It’s not a big problem, you can send a remote command to lock it (pointless in this case) and then it leaves you alone. Also, when you first collect the car it talks about “bluelink” and a free trial. It turns out that free trial is years, so definitely activate it as some functionality is disabled until you do.
On the one long journey so far where there were 4 people in the car and the outside temperature was quite low. We travelled 29.5miles with the electric mode forced and had around 25% battery remaining on arrival. On the way back I tried the sport mode and there was definitely a real kick in the performance. I haven’t tried the terrain mode yet which allows you to switch between mud, snow and sand. The report from the back of the car was that the comfort levels were good and the sound was decent from the audio system. Also, everyone is different in terms of mobility but for me it feels a good height to get in and out of without awkward movements.
Something to be aware of is that the power/engine on button is in a completely hidden location as the driver. When sitting in the driver seat your eyeline to the on button is blocked by both the indicator lever and the steering wheel. Once you know it’s there, it’s obvious but I admit the first time I sat in it that I couldn’t find it initially. Sounds silly, I know… but you’ll see what I mean!
So, yes, overall a lot of positives and I haven’t really touched on a bunch of nice features like the red warning that lights up on the wing mirrors when other cars are overtaking or the good display which gives plenty of info on the surroundings/car/journey.
I think I’d sum it up as there being some very minor features which could be slightly improved but in all of the key aspects you want from a car it is very impressive… I can mainly compare it to the CR-V which was a good, big car. It always felt solid and that it would be reliable/solid for a long time without being exceptional. The new Tuscon is way more fun.
Any other questions, feel free to ask.