Hyundai Tucson City 2005 Review

That way, families can still enjoy the flexible and large interior space that an SUV offers without the high petrol bill that an all-wheel-drive system and larger engine creates.

Hyundai says the Tucson City is made for parents who run the kids to school or weekend sport, single women aged 25 to 35 or couples in the same age bracket.

Instead of the plastic grey bumpers of some of the other compact SUVs, and the City's bigger brother Tucson, it gets refined colour-coded bumpers. The City badge on the rear is another feature to separate them.

The City is 158kg lighter than the Tucson and saves nearly two litres of fuel per 100km with a claimed fuel economy of 9.2 litres/100km from the 2.0-litre powerplant shared with the Elantra.

The City's most recent competition comes from Holden with the Astra and Viva wagons as well as Mitsubishi's Lancer Sportswagon and the Toyota Corolla wagon. But the City is also an alternative to some of the smaller hatches. While shorter in length than most of the wagons on the market, the City offers more interior cargo space. With the boot at waist level, it has easy access.

The City's SUV advantages are a high-driving position and easy ingress and egress which eliminates the need to bend and strain the back to get small children in and out of the car. A negative is the tendency for body roll that comes with the SUV-style, although the City sits on a pretty good chassis so there is little body roll to speak of anyway.

The 104kW, 184Nm engine does well to shift the 1467kg with starting acceleration sprightly off the line. Traction control helps acceleration in both wet and dry conditions.

Under medium to harsh acceleration the small engine is a little noisy. It is noticeable on take-off, overtaking or accelerating uphill. The four-speed automatic is geared lower than the Tucson but does a good job and is rarely left hunting.

The new model sits on 16-inch alloys and has a full-size alloy spare. Inside, it is almost identical to the Tucson, except for the missing 4WD lock button.

The City has airconditioning, four-wheel disc brakes (front vented) with ABS and electronic brakeforce distribution, cruise control, power windows, mirrors and steering,

roof rails and front and rear fog lights as standard features.

One small gripe is the leather steering wheel. The smooth feel is nice but it lacks grips to hold when turning a corner. When the wheel slides between the hands the stitching tends to bite a bit.

The lack of steering wheel-mounted stereo controls is a bit of a bugbear, especially when the company's baby car, the Getz has recently acquired them.

The seats fold down to a flat floor and there is no need to remove the head restraints.

The City has a lift-out, washable cargo area floor and washable backs of seats.

There are plenty of storage places including four cupholders and four bottle holders.

Safety is good with traction control, four body rollover hoops and dual front airbags.