2025 Hyundai Tucson Hybrid Limited First Test: Smoothness and Style Over MPGs

Look, we’ll get this out of the way at the start. The 2025 Hyundai Tucson Hybrid Limited is perfectly fine. In fact, it’s even a bit better than fine, and we think the hybrid version of Hyundai’s compact SUV is the best version. Sometimes you just need a solid SUV that’s up to the task of daily suburban life, and the Tucson fits that role nicely. For 2025, Hyundai has made its Tucson even better, if only slightly.

Casually Stylish

The Hyundai Tucson’s styling hasn’t changed very much since 2022. For 2025, it receives a mild (read: subtle) update, and most of the news is the addition of an off-road-themed XRT trim level. This isn’t that version. Instead, this review covers the Tucson Hybrid Limited model, which wears street clothes; that’s just fine because the Tucson’s sharp lines and angular headlights make the SUV look slick and futuristic. Will you notice the 2025 model’s new bumpers and simplified headlights? Probably not, but that’s OK.

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Living Spaces

Sitting inside the Tucson Hybrid Limited is like experiencing a greatest-hits compilation of all of Hyundai’s recent ICE and EV models. The Tucson Hybrid now shares the same shift-by-wire transmission control knob on the steering column used in the Ioniq 5 and 6 EVs, plus the same dual digital display layout sharing a dramatic curved enclosure. The Tucson also has a healthy helping of physical buttons with which to navigate audio and infotainment. Aside from physical temperature knobs, HVAC controls are mostly capacitive but they’re very responsive; we never had an issue with them not registering touches.

The leather-clad seats are comfortable, and we’re fans of the heated and cooled seats that come with the Hybrid Limited trim. We also appreciate a lot of the little touches like the shelf space on the passenger side of the dashboard, ample storage space under and inside the center console, and the modern-looking new steering wheel.

At 38.7 cubic feet, the trunk is cavernous, though to achieve that, a little bit of rear passenger legroom is sacrificed. It’s not uncomfortable for most people, but anyone taller than 6 feet might have their knees closer to the back of the front seats than they’d like. Front passengers need not worry about space as there’s plenty to go around up there.

The 2025 Hyundai Tucson Hybrid Limited trim comes with a host of infotainment features and safety tech, which is appreciated at its $42,800 as-tested price. Some OEMs are making moves to force drivers to deal with their internal user interfaces, but the Tucson still offers wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. We know it won’t be like this forever, but it’s nice to put off learning yet another UI for a bit longer and just mirror our devices.

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Driver Assist Tech, and Safety

A significant portion of the Hyundai Tucson Hybrid’s value comes from the driver assistance and safety tech that’s served as standard equipment. There’s a whole host of sensors and cameras that work together for a comprehensive driver assistance package.

Hyundai’s Highway Driving Assist (HDA) works fairly well and only required one intervention during our time with it. We were cut off by a vehicle on the freeway, and the system didn’t have time to adjust its speed, so it alerted us to take over. If HDA is a function you want to use on your daily commute, it may take a little while to fine-tune the follow distances and speed to give the system more room to predict the traffic you usually deal with. As good as it is at steering, braking, and accelerating within a lane on a marked freeway, you must always pay attention and be ready to take over.

The blind spot warning system is also somewhat inconsistent. Sometimes the blind spot indicator light in the side view mirrors doesn’t come on or the system makes the audible chime to alert us of a car in the blind spot. In one instance when driving at night, there was a car with its headlights off in our blind spot that we noticed but the system did not.

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Enjoying the Drive

If there’s one thing that’s remained consistent through the last several model years of the Hyundai Tucson Hybrid, it’s the smoothness of the powertrain. The hybrid system glides between combustion and electric power almost seamlessly. If you force the issue, you can feel the changeover, but even then it’s quite subtle.

The suspension package offers a comfortable ride without delivering a boring experience when you want to get spirited. With 231 hp combined between gas and electric power sources, there isn’t an overabundance of muscle to play with, but it’s enough to keep things interesting and flow with traffic without feeling strained.

Associate road test editor Erick Ayapana notes the Tucson has good brake feel with no noticeable step between regen and mechanical braking. Road test editor Chris Walton is impressed with the Tucson Hybrid’s performance in the MotorTrend figure-eight lap evaluation:

“Considering its peers, this [Tucson Hybrid] is really quite a good performer, both in terms of test data, but also driving feel. There's good, consistent bite from the brakes; they're easy to modulate and trail off,” Walton said. “There's an unexpected amount grip in the corners, and decent power off of them. The steering is typical EPS, but it's precise and adds just enough heft to the weight to make it actually feel like something is happening. Nicely done.”

One area where the Tucson Hybrid Limited falls short is its fuel economy, a key why-buy for a hybrid. Its EPA-estimated efficiency isn’t terrible at 35 mpg across the board, but competitors like the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid and Ford Escape Hybrid offer much better fuel economy. Hey, buy the Hybrid Tucson for the decent gas mileage, keep it for the smoothness.

Is This the Right SUV for You?

If you’re looking for an SUV that offers a smooth drive, a great interior, and plenty of driver assistance features, the 2025 Hyundai Tucson Hybrid is a good choice. All the changes made for 2025 enhance that impression, with the updated interior delivering a better wow factor and the other revisions keeping things fresh enough without spoiling the essential goodness this generation Tucson has enjoyed for years.