Mid-Size SUV Comparison Review - Toyota RAV4, Kia Sportage & Hyundai Tucson

The RAV4 is the longest of these three models by a decent margin, and that could be worth considering especially if you live in the city and find yourself negotiating tight parking spaces often.

But when it comes to width and height, all three are pretty close. And in truth, it’s the boot capacity that helps justify the extra length of the RAV4. Here are the specs:

That’s right, the RAV4 has 20 per cent more boot room than the Sportage, and 16 per cent more than the Tucson. But the Toyota is also the only one without a full-size spare, if that matters to you. It makes do with a space-saver, where the other two have matching alloy spares under their boot floors.

The Toyota is also the only one without a full-size spare.

Now, the usability of the cargo area is clearly Advantage Toyota, with a more copious cargo zone allowing for easier loading. It’s not just the space on offer, but also the size of the boot opening - it’s wider and taller than its competitors, which is great when you’re loading in prams or luggage, as you can see from the images.

As for back seat space, the Toyota again trumps its rivals.

There is more leg room, more head room and more shoulder room in the RAV4 than in the other two, not to mention better back seat airiness thanks to its larger windows. It offers near-as-much space as a large SUV in the back.

The Kia and Hyundai are still roomy enough for a young family, though they might fall short when it comes to the Taller Teens Test. There is almost identical knee room, head room and shoulder room in the two Korean twins-under-the-skin, but the glasshouse design of the Kia does make it feel a little freer in the back, even if the tinted windows make it feel a bit dark.

Storage in all three is good, with cup holders between the front seats and in a flip-down armrest in the rear seat of each, plus bottle holders in all four doors, too. Each has a covered centre console and a decent glovebox… but again, it’s the Toyota that takes the storage smarts to the next level, with a shelf across the dashboard for loose item storage, and a big bin section in front of the shifter which also happens to house a Qi wireless phone charger.

Up front, these models all get media systems with decent tech, but here’s a rundown on what each has.

On test, we found the Kia’s flush-fit media screen to be a neater aesthetic, but it was a little harder to reach when driving, and also not as easy to get that ‘at a glance’ info that the tablet-style screens offer. Though we did find that the ‘old-school’ array of buttons below the screen was actually really handy, and nicely laid out, too.

The Hyundai’s screen looks modern and tidy, with a more user-friendly button layout than the Kia. It is simple to operate, with an almost identical menu system to the Kia, too.

The Toyota’s screen is one of its least impressive elements. Sure, it’s easy enough to use and the menus are easy to find your way around because there are hard buttons either side of the screen to assist, but - at the time of writing - there’s still no smartphone mirroring available. It’s due late in 2019, and we reckon the addition of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto will lift the game of the RAV4 even further.

The Tucson screen looks modern and tidy, with more user-friendly button layout.

All of our judges felt the presentation of the RAV4’s cabin was the most modern and sporty, while the Tucson was found to be simple but maybe a touch too basic, and the Sportage was a bit more flash thanks to splashes of silver throughout, despite an abundance of black plastics.

All told, the extra boot space and bigger back seat of the Toyota put it as the clear winner for practicality, and it also won for presentation - so it outscores its competitors here.

It’s a tried and tested formula for hatchbacks, but SUVs…? Well, these three all run a 2.0-litre petrol engine, an automatic transmission, and front wheel drive.

There are some differences here, namely outputs and how the fuel is fed to the engine - the Kia employs and old-world multi-point injection system, where its rivals both have direct injection. The Toyota hits hardest for power, while the Hyundai has the top torque figure.

Plus both the Kia and Hyundai have a regular torque-converter automatic transmission, but the Toyota hits bucks the trend with a continuously variable transmission (CVT) automatic that has an innovative launch gear for smoother take-offs and ten ‘ratios’ to use.

Take note of that towing figure if you’re actually planning to embrace Toyota’s tagline of “Return of Recreation” by towing a caravan somewhere.

By class standards, and even considering what other drivetrains you can get in the model line-ups of these cars, none of them are amazing engines. 

We’ll discuss the performance of the powertrains in the driving section below.

These three SUVs are all impressive offerings when it comes to road manners - none of them are ‘bad’ to drive, but there are some elements we picked up on that you might want to consider when choosing your new SUV.

These three SUVs are all impressive offerings when it comes to road manners.

The Hyundai was perhaps the most perplexing of these three, because it feels like it doesn’t quite know what it’s trying to be.

It has overly heavy steering that lacks feel and makes for some uncertainty about how much you actually need to turn the wheel, particularly at lower speeds. You might get used to it, but we know Hyundai can do better - we’ve seen so in their other cars.

The Tucson’s firmer suspension tune also has an element of rolliness to it, as though the brand’s Aussie tuning team was trying to find the right balance between comfort and control. It errs more towards the latter, with the suspension often being bouncier than its rivals in this test.

The Hyundai feels like it doesn’t quite know what it’s trying to be.

Its engine offers enough spirit and the transmission is mostly fine, shifting smoothly and choosing the correct gear in most situations. The drivetrain can be thrashy under hard acceleration, however.

The Kia’s biggest letdown was its engine, because you can feel that it lacks the power and torque of its rivals, and that also means that the transmission can be overly active as it doesn’t quite have as much pulling power as it should. This was particularly noticeable up a steep hill climb we included as part of our testing loop.

The steering of the Sportage is better balanced than the Hyundai, though still errs towards heavy weighting as though it’s trying to be a sportier thing than it actually is.

The steering of the Sportage is better balanced than the Hyundai.

The Kia’s suspension tune - also engineered for Australian conditions - is a nice balance between control and comfort - it doesn’t spring back as violently over sharp bumps as the Hyundai, and deals better than the other two when it comes to rippled, rougher surfaces. 

The steering in the RAV4 is the best of this bunch.

The Toyota’s suspension is softer, tuned more for the occupants as a whole rather than just the driver. It doesn’t have an Australia-specific tune, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t good. It’s not as firm, and therefore doesn’t quite offer as much control or tightness over bumpier sections of road - but it really is more comfortable in 90 per cent of everyday situations.

The steering in the RAV4 is the best of this bunch, with a nicer weighting and response at high and low speeds, though it does feel like it has a bigger turning circle than its rivals despite all of them officially stating an 11.0m radius.

The powertrain benefits from the CVT’s launch gear, which helps get things underway without fuss. There is some CVT drone to contend with and a little bit of engine whine, but the fact is that it was more eager when you mashed the throttle, and that’s going to be a benefit whether you’re overtaking or just in a hurry.

This section of the test was close. The scores reflect that.

Your ideal ownership plan could just be cheap servicing. Or it could be a long warranty. Or complementary roadside assist. Or even the possibility to pre-pay your servicing costs as part of your finance payments.

We’ve got all the info you need to know in the table below. You’ll note there’s an asterisk alongside the warranty period of the Toyota - that’s because it has a five-year warranty that can be extended to seven years for the powertrain if you have logbook service history (and it doesn’t need to be through Toyota dealers, either). 

While Kia’s seven-year ownership plan is impressive, there’s no doubt about that. But the Sportage is easily the most expensive to maintain, especially for a simple multi-point engine.

Hyundai’s roadside assist is appealing - service your car with the brand, you get ten years of cover. It splits the difference on maintenance costs, too. 

The Toyota doesn’t come with roadside assist included, but the service costs are phenomenally low in the first five years. 

This is too close to call. They all score well (and identically) here.