2025 Hyundai Tucson

The Tucson is Hyundai’s best-selling vehicle and among our higher-rated compact SUVs. It’s in that sweet spot of being roomy but not cumbersome, it comes with numerous safety features as standard, packs a lot of equipment for the money, and has better warranties than most of the competition. On top of all that, we’d say it looks pretty darn good as well. Unsurprisingly, our owner reviews are overwhelmingly positive. Hyundai is well into its stride as a builder of impressive and desirable vehicles, and the Tucson is a prime example.

We’ve logged hundreds of hours driving and evaluating this generation of compact SUVs, including the Hyundai Tucson.

This generation of Tucson launched for the 2022 model year and so receives a mild revamp for 2025. The front and rear receive minor revisions, the cabin gains more tech, and a new N Line trim level makes its debut. These changes also apply to the Tucson Hybrid and Tucson Plug-in Hybrid.

Looking at the rivals, the Kia Sportage is priced similarly to the Tucson, as is the Nissan Rogue and Subaru Forester (which comes with all-wheel drive as standard). The Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4, and Mazda CX-50 all begin a thousand or so above.

Before buying a new Tucson compact SUV, check the Kelley Blue Book Fair Purchase Price to know what you should be paying. Resale values are typical for the class. Recouping more money when you sell a vehicle can mean a bigger down payment and lower monthly payments on your next one.

As much as we like the Hyundai Tucson for its many virtues, we’d prefer a more energetic engine. This combustion-only configuration produces just 187 horsepower, resulting in a relaxed standstill-to-60 mph time of around nine seconds. Then again, the base Honda CR-V is not appreciably faster or more muscular. We could say the same thing about the Toyota RAV4.

On the plus side, we’ve enjoyed the Tucson’s smooth ride quality, composure through the corners, and its relatively quiet cabin. We’d be more than willing to take a Tucson for a long road trip. From Tucson to Tucumcari, maybe.

A small difference in the 2025 Tucson is the inclusion of a new Baby Mode. It doesn’t suddenly play “The Wheels On The Bus” at the touch of a button (although, hear us out, isn’t that a good idea?), but it’s a driving mode that smooths acceleration so as not to unsettle the little bundles of joy snoozing in the back.

Fuel Economy

We’ll assume that 2025’s fuel economy figures will be the same as 2024’s, since there’s no difference to the drivetrain. With all-wheel drive, the Tucson achieves 25 mpg in combined city/highway driving. For some context, a comparable Honda CR-V squeezes another four miles out of each gallon. A front-drive Tucson returns 28 mpg combined, closer to its CR-V equivalent.

The dashboard gets a real makeover. Higher trims gain a curved display unit that includes a 12.3-inch instrument cluster alongside a 12.3-inch infotainment touchscreen. The steering wheel and door panel accents have been redesigned, and there’s now a shelf above the glove compartment.

Hyundai has also added physical controls for the heating/air conditioning system and the audio system’s volume and tuning functions. Higher trims gain a gear shifter that’s been relocated to the steering column, freeing up space in the center console.

The Tucson is one of the roomier offerings in the compact SUV class. Rear legroom measures 39.5 inches, not far off the Honda CR-V (41 inches). There’s a generous 38.7 cubic feet of luggage area behind the rear seats, expanding to 74.8 when they’re folded. That’s only a couple of cubic feet shy of the CR-V.

Both the front and rear fascias have been tweaked, although the overall look is preserved. That’s fine by us — we always liked the multiple lights in the grille. You can tell a Tucson at night quite easily. Now there are two fewer lights, making a total of eight, but they keep the effect. The 2025 Tucson also offers fresh wheel designs.

Anyone who stopped themselves from buying a new Tucson SUV before, because they thought the rear wiper was too short, has no excuse now. The 2025 model’s is three inches longer, clearing a larger section of the rear window.

Wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto
Back in the bad old days, Hyundai would offer wireless phone integration with its smaller infotainment touchscreens, but not the larger ones. Which always had us wondering why. Every new Tucson gains a large screen and, hooray, wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto. In addition, the infotainment system can now receive over-the-air updates and gains USB-C ports.

Highway Driving Assist
We’re always impressed by how well Hyundai’s driver assistance features work (as well as those from cousin brands Kia and Genesis). Highway Driving Assist makes small steering corrections to keep the Tucson in its lane. When used with the standard adaptive cruise control, we’ve noticed that long freeway stretches are less tiring.

Hot stuff
As well as the heated front seats (available from the SEL trim and up), the 2025 Tucson offers a heated steering wheel in the Limited trim, along with heated rear seats with more precise temperature control.

Head-up display
A new 12-inch color head-up display makes it into higher trims of the 2025 Tucson. When using the onboard navigation system, this display can show directions from Apple CarPlay or Android Auto.

Fingerprint sensor
This new feature in the top Limited trim brings greater security.

Remote Smart Parking Assist
Exclusive to the top Limited trim (which is also one of the more popular Tucson variants), this feature allows drivers to inch their SUV into or out of parking spaces while standing outside.

With no changes to the Tucson’s drivetrains for 2025, this regular combustion-only model retains a 2.5-liter 4-cylinder engine making 187 horsepower and 178 lb-ft of torque. This goes through an 8-speed automatic transmission to a standard front-wheel drive system, or optional all-wheel drive.

5-Year/60,000-Mile Warranty

Hyundai’s warranties are unbeatable. New-vehicle coverage is for five years or 60,000 miles, whichever happens first. The powertrain warranty lasts 10 years or 100,000 miles. Hyundai also includes free scheduled maintenance for three years or 36,000 miles.

Safety Ratings

The Tucson has been named a Top Safety Pick by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and took a maximum 5-Star overall score from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Standard safety equipment includes forward collision warning with automatic emergency braking and pedestrian/cyclist detection, junction turning assistance, and blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert.