I booked my Tucson AWD on 12th August and paid the balance amount on 14th September, I am yet to receive it. Will get it Insha'Allah in next week, however, after seeing a recently delivered Tucson in Black, I have had a change of heart, particularly due to the quality and finish of the paint job.
There is no doubt that the exterior shape of Tucson is outstanding, and that was what pushed me towards Tucson over Sportage. I simply ignored all the crucial features of Sportage and blindly fell in love with the shape of the Tucson.
The Tucson that I recently inspected, had serious paint finish issues, particularly pin holes. Although the orange peel was also there, but that is something that I have learned to accept in PKDM cars. However, dust particles and pin holes are simply unacceptable.
Other than that, the infotainment system is seriously flawed. The shape and size of the 10.1 chinese system is very distracting because of it's height. The OEM system is more wider and less tall. And the performance is just pathetic. And like all other chinese android systems that we get in our Corollas and Civics, this is no different when it comes to the speed, touch sensitivity and viewing quality of the rear camera.
Comparing the Tucson to Sportage, it is seriously laging crucial features which I ignored at the time of booking this vehicle. But now, I have come to realize that those features are what makes a vehicle more value for your hard earned money.
By simply removing those crucial features, and having the audacity to charge more, simply goes on to prove the seriousness of a company towards its customers.
Excluded features:
Front Parking Sensors
Rear Parking Sensors.
Rain Sensing Wipers.
Welcome Lights in door handles.
Android Auto & Apple Car Play.
Added features:
So called "Cool Box".
Puddle Lamps.
Adaptive Headlights.
Wireless Charging Pad.
The only added feature that I find to be somewhat crucial is Adaptive Headlight, other than that all other features are useless and cannot be considered to be good replacement of the excluded features.
As for the quality of the fit and finish of the dashboard, i consider it to be same as that of the Sportage, however I do find the quality of the synthetic leather used in Sportage Seats to be a tad better than the one being used in Tucson.
Btw, I did find similar paint finish flaws in Sportage as well but they were not as great as what I have seen in the Tucson. And I have also noticed that Kia has also been improving the fit and finish, albeit slowly.
Considering that both Sportage and Tucson share the exact same engine and platform, in my humble opinion I am getting the same product with stripped features, lower quality at a higher price. So common sense dictates that I should ditch the Tucson, but then again the shape is what attracted me the first time. Perhaps once we start seeing it on road, the charm of this shape might go away like what happened with Sportage once it hit the roads in greater numbers.
