The Hyundai Tucson is a pleasant family SUV that boasts distinctive styling and a spacious, practical interior. But its base inline-four is almost completely devoid of personality, with dull performance and lackluster fuel economy compared with other compact crossovers.
That changes, however, if you opt for the Tucson Plug-In Hybrid. Do that and the 2.5-liter snoozefest goes away, with a turbocharged 1.6-liter four-banger taking its place driving the front wheels and a torquey electric motor mounted to the rear axle. The plug-in’s 261 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque are a useful upgrade over the gas-only Tucson’s 187 and 178, respectively – though the Toyota RAV4 Prime does even better with 302 hp. Still, the Tucson PHEV represents a solid value against its competitors, whether they be gas, hybrid, or plug-in.
