2020 Hyundai Tucson vs Kia Sportage

What's the difference?

The only thing you should really consider is this: does the Highlander do more than the Elite? The answer is probably no. Most of the stuff in the Highlander is cosmetic or nice to have and as the car moves inexorably toward its end, the compelling reason for a petrol Highlander is the prosect of a hefty discount. Get one and you've got a ripper motor.

But, sometimes, you just have to have the top-of-the-range and I completely understand that. So if that's your motivation, there is nothing in this package that should give you pause for thought. As I said, it has held on very well over the past four or five years with lots of little tweaks keeping the Tucson well and truly in the game.

When it comes to value for money, the lower-spec Sportage SX is unbeatable in the range, but a close next-choice would be the SX Plus with its bump in features and improved cabin ambiance.

This will be worth it to many buyers, and it’s nice to see the Sportage is still very worthy of consideration since it now competes in a congested field of new or more recently updated rivals.

The MY20 update slapped a new nose and tail on the Tucson. I'm not entirely convinced by the really chunky bit of chrome on the inner corners of the headlights and what was once a quite balanced and restrained design has been blown out a bit. The new grille is an overall improvement but, to my eyes, could do with less shiny chrome and a slightly lighter hand.

The interior update is better, with a lot more i30 goodness added in, including a new central strack with a much nicer touchscreen and a general lift of the quality of the materials. The Tucson's interior is one of the lighter ones in the segment and does it without resorting to the coloured patches in the Mazda that always look a bit cheap. If you go looking you'll find some hard plastic but there's a lot less of it these days.

Although almost every single one I see is in this 'Steel Grey' colour (please buy the 'Fiery Red') I think the Sportage has stood the test of time well thanks to its avant garde styling.

This car could have been launched this year and you wouldn’t know any better. The light clusters which sit high on the bonnet, light strip across the rear and bulbous, slightly insectoid styling, really set it apart from the crowd, including its mechanical cousin, the Hyundai Tucson.

Always a subjective call, but I see a Porsche influence which gives it a welcome point of difference.

Mazda’s CX-5 looks a bit more swish and delicate, while Toyota’s RAV4 has a newfound toughness in all its angles. Truly, there’s now a mid-sizer for every taste.

On the inside, the Sportage offers a sportier look than the modern Tucson, but much like the outside, it’s ageing pretty well.

I like the contoured leather bound wheel, traditional quad analog dial instrument cluster, and the nicely integrated dash design.

Some will see the embedded screen as a little older looking than some of its tablet-mounted competition, but it’s bright and functions well. The choice of plastics ranges from great to not-so-impressive as you work your way down the dash.

The seating position is a bit more hatch-like than the glasshouse of the RAV4, Tucson, and Forester. Some will prefer its more engaging feel.

The dash centre might look a little old fashioned with its smattering of buttons, but the shortcuts are a practical alternative to offering most of the car’s functions through a touchscreen.

While the Tucson doesn't look very big, it seems to pack a fair bit in, something we discovered since our stewardship of one for six months. With a 488-litre boot that expands to 1478, there's a fair chunk of space here, bettered only really by the slidey-seat Tiguan and five-seat Honda CR-V.

For smaller items, there are four cupholders and the same number of bottleholders. You can also get some bits and pieces into the spare space in the spare wheel.

Back-seat dwellers will appreciate the reasonably generous legroom and headroom unless they're sitting in the middle seat, which isn't a great place to be unless you're quite thin and short. The front seats are very comfortable and while the driving position is very hatchbackey – Hyundai is excellent at getting everything right – you still have a good view out.

A bit of smart packaging goes a long way, and Kia’s done a great job here. Every bottle holder and storage area is oversized and clad in hard-wearing plastics, leaving loads of room for all sorts of objects around the front of the cabin.

The 8.0-inch multimedia suite is no-nonsense. The base software is easy to navigate, and connected to my iPhone without problems every time I got in the car. There’s no lag, either, and being placed in the dash means it's less susceptible to glare.

In the tray under the air conditioning controls there are two 12-volt power outlets, as well as USB and AUX inputs. There’s also a large (if unadorned) armrest console and a glove box on the passenger side.

Although the Sportage's glasshouse isn't as expansive as some of its rivals, visibility is fantastic, and the reversing camera proved paired with front and rear parking sensors made maneuvering in tight quarters a cinch.

Back seat occupants get fantastic amounts of legroom, providing ample airspace for my knees behind my own (182cm tall) driving position.

Amenities are up-to-spec too with large bottle holders in the doors, netted pockets on the back of the front seats, a set of directional air vents, as well as 12-volt and USB outlets.

The rear seats can be reclined in two steps and the Sportage’s rear door apertures are gigantic, allowing for ease of access or the fitting of child seats.

The boot is where the Sportage loses points. Its capacity is listed as 466-litres (VDA) which is modest compared to most of its mid-size competition, although this compromise is largely to facilitate a full-size matching spare wheel which will be significant for some.

Kia has switched the names about for the Sportage in 2020. The car tested here is the SX Plus grade, what was once known as the SLi.

Our car is a petrol 2WD wearing an MSRP of $37,490. This means you’ll be looking at this car against Subaru’s Forester (2.5i-L $36,940), Toyota’s RAV4 (GXL 2WD hybrid - $38,490), or Mazda’s CX-5 (Maxx Sport 2WD - $36,090). We obviously could go on to include more rivals, but these are perhaps the most notable in the segment.

If you’re a keen observer, you might have noticed the problem right from the outset, and that’s the fact that for such a similar price, Subaru is offering all-wheel drive and the RAV4 will cut your fuel usage right down with a hybrid drivetrain.

Drivetrain issues aside, the Sportage still has competitive gear inclusions. At this SX Plus grade, you’re getting 18-inch alloys, an 8.0-inch multimedia touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity as well as built-in nav, DAB+ digital radio, 'leather-appointed' seat trim, keyless entry and push-button ignition, electrically adjustable driver’s seat, an electronic parking brake, privacy glass, front and rear parking sensors, a reversing camera, and LED DRLs with matching rear combination lights.

Still a great spec level, although it comes at a significant price jump over the SX which sits below it, so you’ll really have to want the keyless entry, leather seats, and electronic handbrake, because there’s nothing extra going on from the outside.

Safety spec is competitive, although it has fallen behind some of the more recently updated players. For more on that take a look at the safety section of this review.

The Tucson leaves South Korea with a 1.6-litre turbo four-cylinder engine dishing up 130kW and 265Nm. It's found all through Hyundai's and Kia's range and while its outputs aren't startling, they're pretty good, 8kw and 60Nm more than the 2.0-litre in the lower models. It's a fair way off the 400Nm of the diesel, though.

Power gets to all four wheels via Hyundai's own seven-speed twin-clutch automatic. The all-wheel drive system is, obviously, not a hard-core off-road version.

The Tucson is usefully quick off the mark, cracking the 9-second mark for the sprint to 100km/h – not bad for almost 1700kg of mid-size SUV.

The Sportage we tested soldiers on with a 2.0-litre, non-turbo petrol engine, producing 114kW/192Nm. It drives the front wheels via a six-speed (torque converter) automatic transmission.

It's also available as a 2.0-litre turbo-diesel all-wheel drive (136kW/400Nm) at a significant price hike ($44,490), although it comes packaged with a newer eight-speed auto.

The Sportage’s powertrain, while not bad for the segment is really the main issue with the value on offer. Newer rivals offer turbo, all-wheel drive, or even hybrid at this price.

The official combined cycle figure of 7.7L/100km looks a little high compared to some of its rivals, but I've always found Hyundai's testing to be a bit more honest than many others. We got 8.2L/100km in mostly suburban driving, which I reckon is good going.

This figure also comes without any stop-start cleverness, which – weirdly – Hyundai still doesn't do.

The 2.0-litre engine is a lower-tech solution than many emerging low-capacity turbocharged solutions, and hence has to be pushed a bit harder to move a vehicle of the Sportage’s (1532kg) weight.

Subsequently, fuel consumption could be better. The Sportage wears an official/combined figure of 7.9L/100km, but I scored 10.7L/100km over my week of mostly urban testing.

I recorded similar figures from tests of other petrol variants in the Sportage range, so this isn’t an outlier, either.

Thankfully, you can fill the Sportage with base-grade 91 RON petrol. It has a 62-litre fuel tank.

When the Tucson landed it instantly became – as far as I was concerned – the benchmark, particularly in front-wheel drive form. I know it's getting tired, but the local team who tweaks the steering and suspension before the cars go on sale here are absolute guns. None of this Nurburgring nonsense, but a sensible balance of ride and handling to get you through the trials and tribulations of Australian road design and maintenance.

The turbo models with the bigger rims are not quite as successful on the ride and handling front as the 2.0-litre front drivers. I'd still take it over the CX-5 for ride and handling, but it's a much closer-run thing. The steering is really positive and the car does go where you point it, something that's been a hallmark of Hyundai's locally-tuned cars.

On that subject, the Tucson has, by and large, held up pretty well over the years of its current existence. It still feels pretty good, the only real blot being the hesitation from the seven-speed twin-clutch transmission. You need to have the car in Sport mode to get it to respond which rules out turbo lag and rules in a dithering gearbox. It will be interesting to see if the next-gen Tucson will have Hyundai's new eight-speed twin-clutch or the eight-speeder in the Santa Fe.

On the move, the Tucson is quiet and composed, for the most part riding really well on the big 19-inch wheels. When the road gets a bit crusty, the bigger rubber and lack of compliance from the sidewalls does count against the Highlander. Rear-seat passengers might be a bit unsettled by the way the rear can crash a bit into large potholes but, other than that, everything is fine. 

Once you wind it up, it moves aong very smoothly and happily indeed, the small-ish numbers from the engine pushing the Tucson along without fuss. It's still a very impressive package, really, with just the mildly annoying seven-speed dither.

Despite more recent competitors launching, the Sportage continues to impress with its balanced ride and handling characteristics.

Part of this is down to its Australia-specific suspension tune, but a recent comparison test pitting the Sportage against its Tucson cousin had us preferring the Sportage.

The ride is firm, but not brutally so. When pitched against major rivals, it’s a sportier ride than the Forster or RAV4, yet not as firm as the CX-5 or Tucson. Food for thought when choosing against competitors.

The steering is nice and direct, too, making the Sportage decent to helm around corners.

The Sportage’s weak point is its 2.0-litre petrol engine, as tested here. It’s predictable and works well with the transmission to provide a decent amount of low-down torque for springing off-the-line, but has a tendency to be thrashy and unrefined further up the rev-range.

I recently tested the SsangYong Korando with a 1.5-litre turbo which proved more engaging and powerful.

As mentioned, asking this engine to pull such a heavy SUV pushes up fuel consumption. While many rivals suffer from the same issue, it could be worth considering.

The six-speed auto proved reasonably smooth, and certainly better than CVT-equipped rivals.

The Sportage once had an impressive active safety package, although with only minor updates year-on-year its score has fallen since it was last overhauled because competitors are offering more.

On the active safety front, there's auto emergency braking (AEB), forward collision warning, lane keep assist and departure warning, driver attention alert and high-beam assist.

Those are nice standard features, but only the flagship Sportage GT-Line can get blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert, lane change assist and active cruise control.

Major competitors like the Toyota RAV4, Mazda CX-5 and Subaru Forester are now offering these features on base variants.

The Sportage has a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating as of 2016 and has six airbags, the expected electronic stability and brake controls, as well as two ISOFIX and three top tether child-seat mounting points.

Hyundai offers an impressive 5 year/unlimited kilometre warranty that is dragging other marques into the 21st Century. Only sister brand Kia is better. You also get roadside assist for the duration, as long as you keep servicing the car with them.

Which is probably not a bad idea because you also get lifetime capped price servicing. You can also pre-pay servicing for a three-, four- or five-year period (maximum 10,000km per year) for $885, $1290 and $1585 respectively. 

Service intervals are 12 months or 10,000km – de rigeur for Hyundai turbo engines, sadly – and cost $295 for the first three, $405 for the fourth and back to $295 for the fifth. Look, it's not cheap, but you know what you're up for.

And it's cheaper to service than a turbo Vitara, for example.

Kia continues to offer its seven-year/unlimited kilometre warranty; still one of the best in the business, although Kia has fellow Korean challenger SsangYong biting at its heels with an identical promise on its new Korando.

Kia also backs the Sportage with seven years of capped price servicing, although averaging out to 391.71 per year it’s not as cheap as something like the RAV4.