Like clockwork, every five or six years, Hyundai introduces a new generation of a car that we’re all used to seeing on the road and that, frankly, seems to come from another planet. I don’t know if I like the design of the 2027 Tucson, but that doesn’t matter. Look at him: they succeeded. Again.
This is the fifth-generation Tucson, a “compact” SUV that, like all compact SUVs, expands the very meaning of that word even further with each facelift. This one is 2.4 inches longer, including 1.2 inches between the wheels, and offers two powertrains: a turbocharged 1.6-liter developing 184 horsepower, and a hybrid version using that same engine, good for a combined output of 233 horsepower.
You may have noticed the conspicuous absence of a plug-in hybrid, and Hyundai is effectively removing that powertrain from the list, citing lack of consumer interest. The base engine is rated at 28 or 26 miles per gallon (two-wheel drive versus four-wheel drive), while the hybrid should see around 40 mpg.
But back to the exterior, which is the highlight of everything Hyundai has to offer design-wise in 2026. Not as boxy as the Santa Fe, but also not as sleek as the outgoing Tucson, this fifth-generation model is defined more by its perforated fenders and curious lighting treatment that unites vertical and horizontal LED sliders into a large H, front and rear.
At both ends, a wide LED bar sits beneath a body ridge, creating an indirect light that should emit a soft glow at night, similar to the approach Tesla took with the latest Model Y redesign. The brake lights are also three-dimensional prisms that protrude from the sheetmetal, like the modern auto designer’s version of rear fins.
Is it elegant? Not really, but it gets your attention, which has sort of been Hyundai’s full bag for six years now. And none of this has come at the expense of practicality, at least as far as we can tell. Hyundai says that despite its squat appearance, the new Tucson has a lower drag coefficient than the old one – 0.30 Cd versus 0.33 Cd – and each door opens an additional 10 degrees, making it naturally easier for people and/or objects to get in and out.
The angular exterior gives way to curved surfaces in the cabin, as well as a very large touchscreen. Measuring 12.9 inches diagonally in lower trims and 17 inches in better-equipped models, it’s a significant departure from the wide wraparound panels Hyundai previously used, which united the instrument cluster with the center console. By the way, these digital gauges have been converted back to a slim display mounted high and far to the right on the dashboard.
When we talk about tablets in interiors, we’re talking about cars like the Tucson. Hyundai has maximized that space with a new interface called Pleos Connect that can display two apps side-by-side, along with a left-most pane reserved for vehicle alerts and critical information. Of course, there is also a natural language AI assistant called Gleo. But I feel like this might all be a bit overwhelming.
Fortunately, there are still plenty of buttons, like the volume and tuning buttons, temperature buttons, seat heater buttons, and steering wheel controls that are honest-to-goodness physical buttons, not touch-sensitive capacitive buttons. So it’s not as intimidating as it might seem. And the ambiance is really nice here, with a mix of soft-touch and natural materials, plus soft lighting that plays nicely with all the curves. Additionally, a USB-C port is rated for 100 watts of power, which is pretty remarkable for a non-EV. You could quickly charge a laptop in this thing.
And last, but certainly not least, there’s the Tucson XRT Pro, the all-terrain Tucson which, in the US, is exclusively available in hybrid form. The XRT Pro brings meaner bumpers with a faux forged carbon pattern, because of course it is, but it also adds all-terrain tires, an extra 1.2 inches of ground clearance (8.3 inches total), and functional front recovery hooks. I would also add that it cleans quite well in this Red Rock Orange Metallic shade that it is marketed in.
Hyundai said it sold just under 235,000 Tucsons in the United States last year. Clearly, its recipe for a compact crossover is a winning one, and conventional wisdom suggests that you shouldn’t fix what’s not broken. But the company didn’t get there by making all of its products look like nesting dolls. I don’t know much about the following next Tucson, but I’d bet it won’t look like that.
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