How Well Can The New Hyundai Tucson Dodge A Moose?

The all-new Hyundai Tucson debuted last year with a daring design that helps it stand out in the crowded compact SUV segment. Hyundai’s redesigned SUV entered production last month, and now it’s faced its toughest test yet: the moose test. In this notoriously difficult handling test, cones are laid out on the track to simulate how well a car can avoid a hazard in the road in emergency scenarios.

We recently watched the Toyota RAV4 fail the moose test spectacularly after oversteering and nearly losing control. While the Hyundai Tucson doesn’t humiliate itself during the moose test, there’s definitely room for improvement. In the same test, the Jeep Compass completed the moose test with an entry speed of 49 mph, while the Subaru Forester and Volkswagen Tiguan completed it at 48 mph.

In the first test conducted by Spain’s KM77 at 47 mph, the Hyundai Tucson understeers and clips the cones. Specifically, KM77 used a Tucson Hybrid in Sport trim with adaptive dampers and AWD, but this didn’t improve the SUV’s performance in the moose test. At 47 mph, the test drivers couldn’t avoid hitting at least one cone in ten attempts. Despite failing the test, the SUV was “safe and easy to predict” according to the publication. After several attempts, the Tucson eventually completed the moose test without hitting any cones at 44 mph. How does this compare to other SUVs?

At least the Tucson performed better than the RAV4 Prime, which completed it at 38 mph. Embarrassingly, this was too slow to pass the test.

While it may not be the most agile SUV, the Tucson performed well in the slalom test with minimal body roll during the sudden changes in direction.

Powering the Tucson hybrid is a turbocharged 1.6-liter inline-four and an electric motor generating a combined 230 horsepower and 258 lb-ft, while the standard version packs a 2.5-liter four-cylinder producing 190 hp and 182 lb-ft of torque. At the top of the range is a plug-in hybrid version with a 1.6-liter inline-four and electric motor producing a combined 265 hp and 258 lb-ft while offering 31 miles of electric range on a single charge.