Hyundai continues to bring back physical controls within the newly revised cabin of its Tucson.
While we in Malaysia have only just received the fourth-generation Tucson, this particular iteration of Hyundai mid-sized crossover has actually been around since 2020. And hence it was high time already for it to receive a mid-life update, to which the South Korean automaker has this time round included a mild exterior change but a massive interior alteration.
Starting with the mild exterior nip and tuck first, this still rather futuristic Tucson has gained a slightly different bejewelled front grille design and updated Parametric Jewel headlights. There has also been a mildly modified bumper and a new faux skid plate down below that, with Hyundai claiming (but not yet showing) a revised rump and some new alloy wheels arriving too as part of its mid-life update.
But the big news with this update has to be its interior, with the Tucson now more closely following the modern IONIQ EV style of dashboard layout. Featuring a panoramic curved display made up of a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster and a matching 12.3-inch infotainment system, these pair of screens is then complemented by a minimalist three-spoke steering wheel (with four dots alá IONIQ instead of the traditional H emblem) and a newly enlarged centre console that houses a wireless smartphone charger and two cup holders.
Other changes within the Tuscon includes the movement of its gear selector to the steering wheel column and joy of joy, Hyundai has since followed a raft of automakers in bringing back conventional physical controls to its cabin. A pair of rotary knobs are now to be found between the climate control screen for easy configuration of temperature without having to dig through the infotainment, with another row of silver buttons flanked by two silver knobs peeking out right below its new slim central air-vents presumably to be used for the volume controls and other settings.
There are also incidentally another row of buttons located right ahead of the aforementioned cupholders and wireless charging pad on the central armrest, but it is hard to discern from the available photos as to what they are for. Rather unfortunately too, Hyundai has been tight lipped about this, and any other changes in fact, that has since been made with this newly-updated Tucson.
The automaker will nevertheless likely start to reveal further information when it comes closer to its official introduction, which will confirm or debunk the current rumours regarding the availability of new colour combinations and slightly improved powertrains with this new Tucson. What is then left therefore is the question of how soon will this facelifted model be replacing the outgoing one that only just arrived over here, or perhaps if it even does make it here at all…
