2026 Hyundai Tucson -- Still a GREAT Choice for 2026! (What’s New?)

What's going on YouTube? So the Hyundai Tucson has been increasingly growing in popularity year over year despite all the competition. And today we're with the latest 2026 model which receives a few tweaks to keep it very competitive in its segment. So with there soon to be an all-new RAV4 and more is this still a great choice? Well let's go ahead and find out. Like always let's start off this review with a quick spec dump. So the 2026 Tucson will be available in three different powertrains. We have the standard gas option. It's a 2.5 liter four-cylinder engine making 187 horsepower. It's paired to an eight-speed automatic transmission and with all-wheel drive our combined fuel economy comes in at 26 mpg. Now the base price in 2026 is $29,000 and if you're looking to buy one or any new vehicle we'd encourage you to go to carconfections.com slash newcarquotes to get the best price. Now of course later on we'll be taking this out for a spin. While we're on that spin we'll get things like our sound level reading so you can see how quiet it is and at the end discuss resale and reliability. But let's go ahead and close up the hood so you can take a look at what features you get on the outside as well as the inside. So as far as the exterior is concerned before I get into these details I want to just mention one tweak to the trim structure for 2026. That is that the SEL convenience trim has been eliminated and has been replaced with what they're calling the SEL premium trim. The equipment is pretty much exactly the same as before they're just renaming it to bring it more in line with other Hyundai products. Now in terms of the design the Tucson has always had a very bold look for this compact SUV segment which tends to be quite bland. That continues this year they refreshed this look a little bit last year with a more boxy appearance. As you can see for the we have a smoked chrome finish and a blacked out Hyundai branding and then we also have a chunky silver lower bumper. The lighting is very unique on this model since it's integrated partially into the grille for the daytime running light and turn signal indicator and then the actual headlight unit itself is over here. You have standard LED headlights they'll be reflector LEDs but here on the limited trim you get the more premium projector LEDs. And as we take a look at the back the design continues with that signature look. Yeah it's overall pretty aggressive looking for this segment. We have a spoiler our wiper is integrated underneath and our Hyundai logo is integrated in the glass. Now let's take a look at our taillights as well. So one of the things that changes among the trim levels are these taillights. So you'll get the LED brake light portion on the SEL premium trims and above and then down here at the bottom we have our incandescent reverse light and incandescent turn signal indicator. Now also down in this region you will notice a new feature for 2026 and that's actually related to this tow hitch here. So for 2026 the gas model has increased its tow capacity to 2,750 pounds up from before so that's a nice addition and the hybrid versions will tow 2,000 pounds. Wheel sizes on the Tucson range from 17 to 19 inch alloys. This limited of course has the 19 inch alloy with the very geometric design. I think it matches good with the rest of the exterior including the very geometric wheel arches and lower part of the body. Now as far as the mirrors are concerned blind spot monitoring is standard equipment on all trims. The SEL and above add heating and then the limited gets the silver accenting. Now overall vehicle length comes in at 182.7 inches and hopefully you like body lines because there's a lot of them going on with the Tucson. We have a little bit of chrome on the upper window part that kind of sweeps into the rear and then blacked out roof rails up top. Now when it comes to your safety systems Hyundai knows this is a family vehicle and indeed you have all of your active safety features as standard equipment. Additionally as you move to the higher trim levels that will throw in highway drive assist. But guys there's a lot to talk about when it comes to the interior luxury. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised but first if you're new here we're brothers and we've been reviewing cars since we were 12 and 16. We started young and since then we've reviewed over 2,000 cars at every price point. And if you want to know about all the latest and greatest rides then make sure to subscribe to be a part of our car confections family. Let's learn a lot and have some fun with all the newest cars. All right let's move to the inside. First here's our key fob it's the latest Hyundai design here kind of a smoked finish. You have of course on the Limited a smart entry system remote start and you also have the smart park system right there on the side. Getting inside the vehicle reach behind the handle that will unlock the door and then take a look at the interior. So like we were talking about earlier this was extensively refreshed for the 2025 model year. So you're going to see all those changes which were quite significant carry on for the 2026 model year on the inside. Before we get into the individual details let's talk about the seating. So your lowest two trims start with cloth seating that new SEL premium trim is where the leatherette seating begins and then on the top in Limited trim that's where you get the genuine leather you see today. So it has a nice perforation obviously it feels nice and premium because it is real leather and you can get a few different color choices as well. All but the base trim will get power adjusting seats with two-way lumbar support however you only get memory seats on just the Limited trim. Let's go ahead and climb inside. Closing up the door let's look around at the rest of the cabin materials. Over here on the door trim we have leatherette all through here with a nice padding piano black around the window switches. The center section has a cloth accent and then we also have another strip of leatherette this is finished in a unique green color but you can kind of tell the contrast between the two that's one of the special colors I was talking about earlier with just the Limited trim. Up top we have soft touch plastic that continues up here as well we have a stitching detail more of the cloth accenting around the storage shelf and then down on our lower panels these are not going to be padded but you do have some gloss black around your controls up here. Let's fire it up now with the standard push-button start. Now moving into the individual details let's start with the gauge cluster as always. So what you're looking at right now is the full digital 12.3 inch gauge cluster this was one of the new additions to the lineup for 2025 model year and this begins on the new SEL premium trim level. That being said you will have to get the Limited if you want the blind spot camera system you'll also have to get the Limited if you want the nice head-up display so this is really the same head-up display that they use in a lot of more expensive models it's very good and you also get rain sensing wipers on the Limited and a heated steering wheel on the Limited. Speaking of the steering wheel of course you have the latest Hyundai design here it's manual tilt and telescoping with the leatherette trim. One thing I want to point out for 2026 I'm not sure this will impact a lot of people because a lot of people didn't even realize it had it to start with but right over here in this panel we're noticing that there used to be a fingerprint reader here on the Limited now this is just the cloth trim so they have removed that for 2026 that was used to verify some of the digital key stuff and also to sync your settings. Alright let's take a look now at interior storage this is a very strong area for the Tucson we'll begin with the center console where you will see inside there are donuts that of course is because the donut is our logo and we like to compare to the competition in this case today we have 11 donuts inside of the center console but there's a ton more storage in front of this as well so we've got two cupholders wireless phone charging pad on most models and then we've got this just absolutely massive pit here where you can stick all types of different things and it will be held in place by a nice rubber pad and there's even a storage shelf which is a very spacious a good spot to stick the passenger cell phone and other types of objects so you've got a lot of different choices of places to stick things that's especially true with the limited trim because this model is a little strange in the fact that the storage here with our center console area is different on the limited trim than it is from the other gas power trims this is actually the arrangement the hybrid uses with an electronic shifter up here on the steering wheel instead of a physical shifter now as far as how this operates of course just twist up to d for drive twist down to r for reverse the limited will give you this 360 degree camera system as well with active trajectory you also have the overhead view and the ability to spin around the vehicle in 3d press the p on the end there for park and you also have electronic parking brake with auto brake hold now over here in this area you've got a row of buttons for various different functions one thing i want to mention about the drive modes that have been updated for the 2026 model year is that you now have the ability to access a terrain mode that previously wasn't on this model rising above next to this panel we have a lot of mostly physical controls for audio and climate we'll start with climate you have a dual zone automatic setup for this on all but the base trim level also on all but the base trim you'll find three stage heated seats however just be aware that the ventilated seats are limited exclusive now as far as the audio system is controlled we have a bose eight speaker sound system on the limited trim let's give it a sample right now pretty nice uh definitely fills up the cabin nicely it's one of the better sounding sound systems i think in this segment all right so let's zero in next on the main infotainment system this is a 12.3 inch display it is standard equipment on every single version of the tucson even the base model and with this you also have wireless android auto and apple car play abilities right now that's what we're in it's the android auto and i can cycle in to the main hyundai display to show you what the other software looks like this is their new ccnc software so it's nice and responsive we also have built-in navigation on your upper end examples up above we have an auto dimming mirror with home link remotes built-in that comes on the sel premium and above and then finally let's take a look at the sunroof so the panoramic sunroof is standard on just the limited trim level however the sel premium will add a conventional size sunroof and we've got to talk about the back seats of the tucson as well because that's really a highlight of this vehicle this is one of the largest in the entire segment when it comes to space that's of course very important to families we're sitting at 41.3 inches of legroom and 39 inches of headroom like i said that is actually one of the class leading legroom figures the only option that will be really bigger than this would be something like a honda crv but this is bigger than rav4 as well as things like the nissan rogue now as far as how much knee room we have i'm five foot nine this seat is adjusted to drew who's five foot eight and that's why we brought along the official car confections ruler so we can get a realistic knee room figure for you and we're looking at nine and a half inches of knee room that is fantastic for the segment also my feet can slide up underneath of the seats or underneath the front seats and then here in the back i want to point out these back seats are really quite comfortable the headrest hits you in just the right spot and they have the ability to recline a really good distance to maximize your comfort if we fold down the center armrest we have two cup holders inside we're not done with amenities yet because uh the most of the models will have the rear vents here in the center section you additionally have two usb c ports for charging and if you look over at the door trim the limited is going to include heated back seats that's a feature that really a lot of the options in the segment have decided not to include so i like that they're offering that as far as the rest of the door trim materials we have hard touch on the upper part a little bit more of the leatherette and cloth through the center section and the armrest portion there's a little bit of door storage down below it's big enough to fit a bottle like this and so walking up to the tailgate you get a hands free power one on scl trim levels and above you just use that button there to open it up and let's talk about overall cargo capacity is it as big as the second row well i'm happy to tell you we have some really good numbers back here 39 cubic feet behind the second row of seats and a maximum of 75 cubic feet you can easily use these little levers right here on the sides to fold down the seats they fold 60 40 split that's going to give you your maximum 75 cubic feet that's a really good number that's one of the very top options in the segment when it comes to cargo capacity and speaking of all the other options in the segment we'd encourage you to go to car confections.com slash vehicle rankings we've looked at all the compact suvs on the market there are tons of choices and ranked them in the 10 most important categories to you things like cargo capacities interior technology luxury features powertrain choices safety and reliability are all detailed there for you so you can actually sort and see what might be your best options depending on what matters most to you so if you want to make an informed buying decision definitely use our tool at car confections.com slash vehicle rankings now let's get our cargo length width and height figures so the seat is adjusted to drew's 5a driving position and we're looking at 74 inches of overall cargo length behind there behind the second row of seats 38 inches all overall opening is 41 inches wide height 31 inches tall and then the load-in height is sitting at starting to blow the wind there we're looking at about 29 inches in height underneath of the floor we have a spare tire so that's definitely nice to be included here on the gas tucson models well guys here we are behind the wheel of the hyundai tucson and this test drive we're going to be discussing quite a lot as you can see on the screen right now we'll also be getting things like our sound level reading but first we need to start with a hard acceleration all right that was just a little shy of 60 so we can get stopped for this red light here in the 26 tucson now like we were talking about at the spec dump at the beginning this vehicle is sold in three different powertrain configurations and it really just kind of depends on what is best match for your lifestyle this is the traditional gas powertrain this is still what most people are choosing although the hybrid is definitely increasing in share as the years go on this is a 2.5 liter naturally aspirated four-cylinder engine has 187 horsepower and 178 pound feet of torque now compared to some other gas options in this segment that's kind of uh average yeah um there's definitely some with a little bit more power but it's not a big deal for most people that are looking in this segment you can definitely do a little bit worse as well yeah now for those of you that do want a little bit more oomph as you accelerate i would recommend getting the hybrid not just for the additional fuel economy but because it gives you more power that's a 1.6 liter turbo four-cylinder and that has of course electric components all together it's making 231 horsepower so last year they gave it a little bit extra power and you can do the math on that you know 187 all the way up to 231 horsepower that's a pretty substantial horsepower difference and i think the thing that you know kind of goes unnoticed sometimes is the fact that you have that all electric torque to really get you off the line so in our experience the hybrid definitely feels a lot faster than this traditional gas setup but like we said it's just going to kind of be up to your personal opinion additionally they do have the plug-in hybrid if you'd rather go for that now as far as the other element of the powertrain let's talk transmission we've got an eight-speed automatic we're here with this traditional gas model nice and smooth overall good partner six-speed automatic if you choose the hybrid variant as well yeah and as far as how power is put to the ground you have standard front wheel drive or available all-wheel drive but now that we're just kind of cruising down the highway here i think it's a great time to talk about ride quality we've spent tons of time in tucson's over the years pre-refresh and even after the refresh as well and we've been very impressed with the ride quality time and time again it does a great job of soaking up all of really the road imperfection so very little of that makes it into the cabin the seats are incredibly comfortable as well this is really a vehicle that you can take on long road trips and arrive in comfort that's for sure and that's important in this segment so i'm very happy to tell you that in the tucson we actually took it i believe to chicago was the last time we were in a road trip into tucson and we arrived absolutely in comfort all right so let's get our sound level reading going 55 miles per hour we have it on fan speed one and we'll see how quiet it is 55.2 decibels is what we are sitting at as our sound level reading we don't have to sit here and guess how it compares to its numerous rivals we can find that at carconfections.com sound level readings and indeed that is testing very similar to other tucsons that we have found on the channel it's not quite the quietest option in the segment it is one of the quieter options though so compared to rivals like the honda crv this definitely will be quieter so that's something to keep in mind let's get to our air ball and slam dunk our least favorite and favorite element drew why don't you go ahead and kick us off with the slam dunk for the 26 tucson the slam dunk will continue to be the space and packaging of this model it's one of the most spacious they have a lot of storage as well in the entire segment and also the packaging in terms of equipment keeps this as a very value-oriented model compared to a lot of the competition absolutely now on the flip side our air ball is uh going to be the fact that they have gotten rid of complementary maintenance now we haven't quite mentioned this at this point but all 2026 hyundai products got rid of complementary maintenance entirely so instead of three years you now have none and compared to a lot of the competition they actually do include some complementary maintenance it wasn't quite as long as hyundai's previously but i think the warranty and the complementary maintenance was kind of one of hyundai's big advantages so i wish they hadn't got rid of that and while we're sitting here at the red light i think it's a great time to talk about fuel economy as well so in terms of that the standard gas option is sitting at 28 mpg for the front wheel drive version all wheel drive goes to 26 miles per gallon now the hybrid is going to be a lot better in terms of efficiency as you might expect that's going to be sitting at 35 miles per gallon combined for the vast majority of models you can get up to 38 mpg but keep in mind it's just going to be about 10 to 11 mpg better fuel economy when it comes to the hybrid as compared to this gasoline option so factor that into your overall decision now let's talk pricing so i'm happy to tell you for 2026 hyundai has not raised the price too much it's less than a thousand dollars on all the trim levels so pretty minimal price increases this year we start at twenty nine thousand dollars for the se trim level of course you have all the other trim levels you can see on the screen right now the sel premiums 33 550 and this limited jumps all the way up to 39 000 with front wheel drive we have the 26 tucson limited all-wheel drive 40 675 is our starting point we have quite a few options as well as quite a few accessories a 1495 destination we're sitting at 43 830 as tested today if you're curious as to where this vehicle is manufactured it's manufactured in the u.s montgomery alabama the hybrid models are made in korea though so keep that in mind and if you're looking to buy one or any new vehicle we'd encourage you to go to carconfections.com slash new car quotes the reason you do that is because we have a tool on our website that'll connect you with local car dealers in your area to get you the best price it's also going to give you access to invoice pricing information which is a great tool to use while dealer negotiating if you'd like to take advantage of that as well as things like our monthly payment tool you can find a link to that in our video description as well as a pinned comment down below buying a vehicle is about more than just the original msrp so let's discuss resale and reliability first up let's talk about resale value as an economics graduate myself we took the time to develop what we think is a good estimate for this hyundai tucson's potential resale value we estimate that after five years and 60 000 miles it'll be worth 55.35 of original msrp and after 10 years and 120 000 miles 19.6 now it's worth noting those are actually above industry average resale value figures however it is still less than a lot of its main competition such as honda with the crv the toyota rav4 the subaru forester or the mazda cx-5 now we've also done the same for reliability by developing the combined reliability index this takes into account several reliability studies from trustworthy sources it combines them in a way that gives you the most holistic picture in this regard hyundai is rated just slightly below the overall industry average for all vehicle brands now if you'd like to learn more about our resale values our reliability data or our methodology be sure to go to carconfections.com slash resale and carconfections.com slash reliability buying a new vehicle is a big decision so you want to make sure you're making a smart purchase especially if you're cross-shopping between different vehicle brands now when it comes to your warranty that's also an important role in that decision you do have a really good one a five year 60 000 mile basic warranty a 10 year 100 000 mile powertrain warranty however i do want to point out for 2026 model year hyundai has eliminated all complementary maintenance across their lineup and guys that wraps up our in-depth review of the 2026 hyundai tucson limited if you enjoyed watching this video or found it helpful in your purchasing decisions which we hope you did detailing all the 2026 changes we'd really appreciate it if you hit that subscribe button down below by subscribing you're going to be a part of our car confections family we have a lot of fun on this channel and i promise you won't want to miss out if you're already part of our family thank you so much for your continued support and we'll catch you next time as we sample more of the latest automotive delicacies