Christopher Sharp has driven a lot of SUVs this year, but here he looks at a group of them to see how they compare. The cheapest car, the Nissan Qashqai, was the best, scoring 8/10 compared to 7.5/10 for both the Hyundai Tucson and Kia Sportage.
Hyundai Tucson (RRP £35,755)
Like its rivals, the Hyundai Tucson is a hybrid SUV. It is 4.5m long and around 1.8m wide. It is powered by a 1.5 litre four-cylinder engine with 235bhp (239PH) producing 265Nm of torque, that can pull its 2,190kg up to 62mph in just over eight seconds. Inside there is space for five with 616 litres of boot space with the seats up and 1,795 litres with them down.
It also has a buffet of options of how to operate the car, just like the Sportage and Qashqai the interior. After pushback by the public about the spread and growth of large touchscreens in recent years, car manufacturers seem undecided on how to proceed. With this in mind, the Hyundai has haptic touch pads for the air-conditioning and heated seats, with a big touchscreen above it and a few physical buttons for shortcuts as well as some on the steering wheel. The steering wheel is refreshingly round and doesn’t follow the Sportage in having a flat bottom.
In front of the main dash there are two USB-C charging ports, two cupholders and a wireless charging pad. Both the cupholders are useful and well-sized whilst the wireless charging pad doesn’t overheat your phone as other versions have done with mine in the past.
Kia Sportage (RRP £31,395)
Two months and three heatwaves ago when I had more hair, I tested the current contender for best-selling car in the UK, the Kia Sportage, and compared it to the Ford Puma. My view was that the Sportage faired much better than its American rival and I remained surprised that the Ford was top of SMMT’s best sellers list. Then, a few months later, I pit the Sportage against rival Nissan Qashqai in a battle of the top five best selling cars in the UK. On that occasion, the Sportage lost to the Qashqai, and it loses here again, and once more by a solitary half a point.
The Sportage had a pleasant and family feeling interior with buttons to balance out the touchscreens and comfortable seats to balance out the squared off steering wheel. A bit like the Hyundai above the sports mode felt unnecessary, but I really liked its cyberpunk-esque looks. On the road, its squared off stance meant it felt stable yet nimble. Yes, its powertrain in sport felt a bit shouty, but it was otherwise an easy-going drive on motorways and B roads. It was a car which was competent and aesthetically memorable, just not the one I'd have out of the pair.
Nissan Qashqai (RRP £30,635)
Ah yes, the Nissan Qashqai – the SUV that kickstarted a revolution. 20 years ago the Mk1 variant began something that today sees almost every manufacturer, including the likes of Aston Martin and Ferrari, building SUVs. And it is still a potent package. It was easy to get along with, easy to learn, easy to drive, easy to operate. It was the SUV that I felt most at home with soonest. Like the Sportage it had sporty aesthetics, but a relaxed demeanour; it was easy to one pedal drive on the move through its hybrid system.
It was that hybrid system that, at the end of the day, meant it won out over the Sportage and rivals from Ford and Jaecoo. Furthermore, overall the car felt a little bit more practical, something that counteracted the slightly cheap feeling of the interior compared to the more premium Sportage. Looking at the Qashqai compared to the Tucson we have to add the caveat that the version of the Tucson we had was attempting to be a bit sportier than the Nissan that wasn’t. With that in mind the Nissan was always going to be comfier overall, which it is. In terms of practicality they’re pretty neck and neck being similarly sized, but the Nissan still takes it for having the slightly better hybrid system.
