Goodbye my Tucson
This month I will say good-bye to my little Tucson. I bought it on July 28th, 2005 (First Model Year). It was an LX (Alpine Frost) with everything. In the 9 yrs I have had it we have put on 125,000 miles together and she is still running well. The leather is supple and except for a few rock chips, the body is in great shape. I have enjoyed the car very much, but it is time to say good-bye, the mileage was never good and the air conditioner is on its last legs (making that grinding sound from time to time). I figure if I put another 5K into her she might last another two years but then again she could give up the ghost tomorrow. I went to look at the new Tucsons...ugh! Felt like I was riding in a cup holder! The doors come up too high for my liking and the body "fluidic" styling makes it look like a Murano. I was also shocked to see that after 9yrs the mileage is the same as it was in 2005. In 2005 the excuse was an old engine design and a poor transmission, but now Hyundai there is no excuse. I understand that the DFI should help, but it seems that according to the estimates that it did not. The features I will miss the most are the rear headrests that stay out of your way without removing them and that automatically retract when you lower the seat. What I will not miss is the absolutely useless rear side windows in the cargo space...who thought you could see thru the pillar to look out of them! Still all in all, she was my first brand new car and I will always have fond memories of her. She has been rugged and dependable, I have carried 30 bags of mulch at one time with the front passenger seat down without a problem multiple times. I have moved my wife into my house and we moved out to a bigger house with her. Adios my little Tucson, Adios and Happy Trails from the Merry Wanderer
Comments
Good "wrap-up" review, thanks.
Will be curious to learn what you buy to replace it - oh yeah, you're close to a deal on a CR-V.
I looked at the Mazad CX-5, the Tucson, the Tiguan, Toureg, CR-V and the Forester. Really the only serious contenders were the Forester and the CR-V. I finally dropped the Forester due to the poor location of the back-up camera (on a bright day it was washed out to where you cannot see it) and the overall ride/performance. The Forester has essentially the same HP as my old Tucson but is bigger and heavier thus its performance seems to lag a bit, especially in comparison to the CR-V with an additional 30 or so HP with essentially the same mileage. I do wish the CR-V had a CVT, but still it is better than the transmission in my current Tucson.
Different strokes - we were shopping a couple of months ago. I liked the Forester but my wife didn't (she wasn't wild about the CR-V either). We both liked the CX-5 but not quite enough to price one out. It seems to hit a size/mpg sweet spot though. We decided to get a used van to hold us over for a year, but right now the Kia Soul is the leading contender, with a Prius V in second place. But who knows what we'll actually buy when push comes to shove.
UPDATE ON TUCSON....
Bought a CR-V AWD EX-L for $26,800 OTD. They gave me 4k for trade-in for my Tucson, the last great service she did for us. CarMax and Criswell Honda only offered 3K but another dealer saw the care I took with her and the detailed service records and 4K it was, making our total cost (excluding tax and title) a low $22,800 which ironically is almost exactly what i paid for my Tucson, 8yrs 11 months, and 28 days previously.
No more Hyundai for you! Congrats. The CR-V will do fabulously well. It has Honda's backing on it. I'm glad you got the great mileage on the Tucson and at the rate I'm going, I don't know if I'll see 20k on the Hyundai I have and time will tell. We got 150 to 161k on our cars (117k on one that I sold after ten years). To get the mileage, you need dealership and technician backing as well as the corporation. The Elantra, I'd like it to crumple up and have it disappear with the dealership. I paid $23k for the 2013 Limited earlier this year. To err is human and to make a car last even longer, commute or buy a motorcycle (I get 60 MPG - Kawasaki 2009 Vulcan 500).
People thought I was crazy buying a Hyundai in 2005, especially as the Tucson was a first model year. But they honored the warranty and all in all I had good experiences with it. I miss it, but as I told my wife, "The Tucson is running well and it is time to let go now before it starts to fail and leaves us with bad memories". I would have bought a new one, except for the wretched design and the unimproved mileage.