All new Hyundai Tucson, really new?

The All new Hyundai Tucson will be launched soon, and Hyundai Malaysia is sure dumping some marketing money to showcase the new Tucson all over, especially locating show units in shopping malls, politely asking potential buyer to wait for it before making any decision to jump ship to the its hottest competitor, which could be the Nissan X-Trail, Honda CR-V and Mazda CX-5.

The existing Tucson could just be the best selling Hyundai's model in Malaysia, as the brand has not been performing quite well in pushing for a decent sales figure.  Being a Korean, it still lack the known reliability from the Japanese, adding the perception of lower used car value, the brand still has a lot to do.  Hyundai seems to be lacking in persuading the mass, even with new Sonata and Elantra which is well design and loaded with high specifications.  The numbers on the road is still pathetically low.  Kia, its brother is slow as well, but it has better looking model.  The Fluidic concept of Hyundai is really outdated now.

The rear of the Tucson has always look good, which I personally feel is better than any of its competitors.  Again, being a Korean, the front grille is always the questionable portion, which still looks terrible, though a big improvement form 10-15 years Hyundai's models.

This all new Tucson does not seems to get any excitement in the powertrain, as it shall remain the same old same old unit.  No downsizing turbo engine here, which could be a good choice, as to remain competitive, it is too risky for Hyundai Malaysia to bring it anything new, especially the turbo unit, which need better-skilled technicians to service.  A 2.0-litre engine will soldier on!

Interested?  Register yourself at Hyundai's website.  The Tucson could be your new car for the upcoming festive season, be it Christmas or Chinese New Year!  This could be a nice SUV to share with the family.

Before the new Audi Q3, the existing luxury

While waiting for the arrival of the all new Audi Q3, let's take a look at the existing luxury mini-SUV that is available now.  The Q3 has no clear competitor in our market, and the nearest would be its own brother, the VW Tiguan. Both the Q3 and Tiguan is available in the guise of a 1.4-litre or 2.0-litre engine, mated to 7-speed dual clutch gearbox.  Good luck and pray for little or no problem with the gearbox.  Both 2.0-litre  models are only available with either the Audi Quattro or VW 4Motion all-wheel-drive technology.  Different naming, but both born with the same parents.

Look wise, the Q3 front grille with the 4-ring could spell luxury when compare to the VW, which has flooded our market with almost the cheapest continental cars, especially the Polo!  Of course, the Q3's design is timeless as compare to the more rounded shape of the Tiguan.  The Q3's headlight is sexy, especially LED daytime running light.  There is not much of others to compare with, as you pay slightly more...get the Q3...and if you want to save a bit...get the Tiguan.  Anyhow, both companies are known to lose out in after-sales service quality.  Dive deeper to look at the size, and taking Korean-made and Japanese-made into consideration, especially when you just want to get one for the wife to ferry the kid, maybe, and maybe, other options could be a wiser choice.  At least kidnappers will not assume the kids are from a rich family.

	Q3	Tiguan	Sportage	Tucson	CRV
Length (mm)	4388	4426	4400	4410	4590
Width (mm)	1831	1809	1855	1820	1820
Height (mm)	1608	1703	1645	1660	1685
Wheelbase (mm)	2603	2604	2640	2640	2620
Price	253k	240k	138k	117k	162k

For the Q3, of course safety and all other technological stuff are part and parcel of the car.  The premium price automatically tell you, yes, it has all round 6-airbag, traction control, hill assist, auto light and wipers, etc.  The only thing you don't get is the convenience of availability of service center in every corner, and for this, it will never happen as Audi is not the target of mass market.  Yes, I know, usually the wife like to drive a car that is so simple, where any neighbourhood workshop could service it...you know...the minimum downtime type, especially during the great Malaysia sales period!  But usually the husband wants to make himself proud by buying the Q3...and claimed "You see, I sayang my wife, thus I gave her an Audi Q3".  This is especially true when one is at that class of society where each will compare what handbag and designer clothing they have and the Audi is so much stylish than the common BMW and Mercedes.

In the mean time, if the Q3 is your target, there is nothing wrong.  Everyone has his/her own choice.   The Q3 facelift is making its way to the showroom now.  Oh, did I forget the Lexus NX could be another fabulous choice, but that competes in a different league, unless you have RM372k for it.

RON97 & RON95 is now @ RM2.45/litre & RM2.05/litre respectively

Blame it on our weak currency, everyone is doing that, and cost of everything is in the uptrend.  Everyone hope to have few billion in the bank so one need not worry about life and outdated bags.  The fastest and easiest way is to go Indonesia and start spending...everyone is a millionaire there.

Yes, with oil price dipping, we now enjoy pricier petrol where RON97 is at RM2.45/litre and RON95 is at RM2.05/litre.  Diesel suffers the same faith of having RM0.10/litre increase as well.  Anyway, just blame it on the currency, everyone is doing that to increase their price, can never be wrong.  No need an economist to teach you howto!