Compare the2024 Volvo XC40VS 2023 Hyundai Tucson

Safety
Warranty
Engine
Fuel Economy and Range
Brakes and Stopping
Tires and Wheels
Suspension and Handling
Chassis
Passenger Space
Cargo Capacity
Towing
Servicing Ease
Ergonomics
Recommendations

Safety

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For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Volvo XC40 have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision and force limiters to limit the pressure the belts will exert on the passengers. The Hyundai Tucson doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.

The XC40’s pre-crash front seatbelts will tighten automatically in the event the vehicle detects an impending crash, improving protection against injury significantly. The Tucson doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.

Both the XC40 and Tucson have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The XC40 has power child safety locks, allowing the driver to activate and deactivate them from the driver's seat and to know when they're engaged. The Tucson’s child locks have to be individually engaged at each rear door with a manual switch. The driver can’t know the status of the locks without opening the doors and checking them.

The Volvo XC40 has a standard driver’s side knee airbag mounted low on the dashboard. The knee airbag helps prevent the driver from sliding under the seatbelts or the main frontal airbag; this keeps the driver better positioned during a collision for maximum protection. A knee airbag also helps keep the legs from striking the dashboard, preventing knee and leg injuries in the case of a serious frontal collision. The Tucson doesn’t offer knee airbags.

The XC40 has a standard Whiplash Protection System (WHIPS), which use a specially designed seat to protect the driver and front passenger from whiplash. During a rear-end collision, the WHIPS allows the backrest to travel backwards to cushion the occupants and the headrests move forward to prevent neck and spine injuries. At the same time the pretensioning seatbelts fire, removing slack from the belts. The Tucson doesn’t offer a whiplash protection system.

The XC40 has standard Post-impact braking, which automatically apply the brakes in the event of a crash to help prevent secondary collisions and prevent further injuries. The Tucson doesn’t offer a post collision braking system: in the event of a collision that triggers the airbags, more collisions are possible without the protection of airbags that may have already deployed.

To provide maximum traction and stability on all roads, All-Wheel Drive is standard on the XC40. But it costs extra on the Tucson.

Both the XC40 and the Tucson have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, height adjustable front shoulder belts, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning, driver alert monitors and available around view monitors.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Volvo XC40 is safer than the Hyundai Tucson:

	XC40	Tucson
	Driver
STARS	5 Stars	4 Stars
HIC	200	364
	Passenger
STARS	5 Stars	5 Stars
Neck Injury Risk	31%	35%

New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does side impact tests on new vehicles. In this test, which crashes the vehicle into a flat barrier at 38.5 MPH and into a post at 20 MPH, results indicate that the Volvo XC40 is safer than the Hyundai Tucson:

	XC40	Tucson
	Front Seat
STARS	5 Stars	5 Stars
Chest Movement	.9 inches	1 inches
Abdominal Force	156 lbs.	223 lbs.
Hip Force	320 lbs.	440 lbs.
	Rear Seat
STARS	5 Stars	5 Stars
Spine Acceleration	48 G’s	59 G’s
	Into Pole
STARS	5 Stars	5 Stars
Max Damage Depth	13 inches	14 inches
HIC	237	332
Spine Acceleration	33 G’s	46 G’s
Hip Force	411 lbs.	614 lbs.

New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.

Warranty

The XC40’s corrosion warranty is 5 years longer than the Tucson’s (12 vs. 7 years).

Engine

The XC40’s 2.0 turbo 4-cylinder hybrid produces 60 more horsepower (247 vs. 187) and 80 lbs.-ft. more torque (258 vs. 178) than the Tucson’s 2.5 DOHC 4-cylinder.

Fuel Economy and Range

On the EPA test cycle the XC40 T5 gets better fuel mileage than the Tucson AWD (24 city/30 hwy vs. 23 city/28 hwy).

Regenerative brakes improve the XC40’s fuel efficiency by converting inertia back into energy instead of wasting it. The Tucson doesn’t offer a regenerative braking system.

The XC40 has a standard cap-less fueling system. The fuel filler is automatically opened when the fuel nozzle is inserted and automatically closed when it’s removed. This eliminates the need to unscrew and replace the cap and it reduces fuel evaporation, which causes pollution. The Tucson doesn’t offer a cap-less fueling system.

Brakes and Stopping

For better stopping power the XC40’s front brake rotors are larger than those on the Tucson:

	XC40	Tucson
Front Rotors	13.6 inches	12.8 inches

The XC40 stops shorter than the Tucson:

	XC40	Tucson
60 to 0 MPH	111 feet	118 feet	Motor Trend

Tires and Wheels

For better traction, the XC40’s optional tires are larger than the largest tires available on the Tucson (245/45R20 vs. 235/65R17).

The XC40’s standard tires provide better handling because they have a lower 55 series profile (height to width ratio) that provides a stiffer sidewall than the Tucson’s standard 65 series tires. The XC40’s optional tires have a lower 45 series profile than the Tucson’s optional 55 series tires.

For better ride, handling and brake cooling the XC40 has standard 18-inch wheels. Smaller 17-inch wheels are standard on the Tucson. The XC40’s optional 20-inch wheels are larger than the 19-inch wheels optional on the Tucson.

The XC40 has a standard space-saver spare tire so you can replace a flat tire and drive to have the flat repaired or replaced. A spare tire isn’t available on the Tucson; it requires you to depend on roadside assistance and your vehicle will have to be towed.

Suspension and Handling

The XC40 has vehicle speed sensitive variable-assist power steering, for low-effort parking, better control at highway speeds and during hard cornering, and a better feel of the road. The Tucson doesn’t offer variable-assist power steering.

The XC40 B5 Plus handles at .86 G’s, while the Tucson Limited AWD pulls only .82 G’s of cornering force in a Motor Trend skidpad test.

For better maneuverability, the XC40’s turning circle is 1.2 feet tighter than the Tucson’s (37.4 feet vs. 38.6 feet).

Chassis

The XC40 is 7.5 inches shorter than the Tucson, making the XC40 easier to handle, maneuver and park in tight spaces.

Passenger Space

The XC40 has .2 inches more front hip room, .7 inches more rear hip room and .3 inches more rear shoulder room than the Tucson.

Cargo Capacity

A standard locking glovebox (which can’t be accessed with the valet key) keeps your small valuables safer in the XC40. The Tucson doesn’t offer locking storage for small valuables.

Towing

The XC40’s standard towing capacity is much higher than the Tucson’s (3500 vs. 2000 pounds).

Servicing Ease

The XC40 uses gas struts to support the hood for easier service access. The Tucson uses a prop rod to support its heavy hood. It takes two hands to open the hood and set the prop rod, the prop rod gets in the way during maintenance and service, and the prop rod could be knocked out, causing the heavy hood to fall on the person maintaining or servicing the car.

Ergonomics

The XC40’s front and rear power windows all open or close fully with one touch of the switches, making it more convenient at drive-up windows and toll booths, or when talking with someone outside the car. The Tucson’s standard power window switches have to be held the entire time to close them fully. Only its driver’s window opens automatically. With the Tucson SEL/XRT/N Line/Limited’s power windows, only the front windows open or close automatically.

If the windows are left open on the XC40 the driver can close them all at the outside door handle or from a distance using the remote. On a hot day the driver can also lower the windows the same way. The driver of the Tucson can only close the windows from inside the vehicle, with the ignition on.

The XC40’s rain-sensitive wipers adjust their speed and turn on and off automatically based on the amount of rainfall on the windshield. This allows the driver to concentrate on driving without constantly adjusting the wipers. The Tucson’s standard manually variable intermittent wipers have to be constantly adjusted.

Consumer Reports rated the XC40’s headlight performance “Very Good,” a higher rating than the Tucson’s headlights, which were rated “Good.”

To help drivers avoid possible obstacles, the XC40 offers optional cornering lights to illuminate around corners when the turn signals are activated. The Tucson doesn’t offer cornering lights. The XC40 also has standard adaptive headlights to illuminate around corners automatically by reading vehicle speed and steering wheel angle.

The XC40’s standard outside mirrors include heating elements to clear off the mirrors for better visibility. Hyundai only offers heated mirrors on the Tucson SEL/XRT/N Line/Limited.

When the XC40 is put in reverse, both rearview mirrors tilt from their original position. This gives the driver a better view of the curb during parallel parking maneuvers. Shifting out of reverse puts the mirrors into their original positions. The Tucson’s mirrors don’t automatically adjust for backing.

The XC40’s standard rear and side view mirrors have an automatic dimming feature. These mirrors can be set to automatically darken quickly when headlights shine on them, keeping following vehicles from blinding or distracting the driver. The Tucson offers an automatic rear view mirror, but its side mirrors don’t dim.

The XC40 has a standard dual zone air conditioning allows the driver and front passenger to choose two completely different temperatures so people with different temperature preferences won’t have to compromise. This makes both the driver and front passenger as comfortable as possible. Dual zone air conditioning costs extra on the Tucson and isn’t available on the Tucson SE.

The XC40’s standard automatic temperature control maintains the temperature you set, automatically controlling fan speed, vents and temperature to maintain a consistent, comfortable environment. The Tucson SE doesn’t offer automatic air conditioning.

Both the XC40 and the Tucson offer rear vents. For greater rear passenger comfort, the XC40 has standard rear air conditioning vents to keep rear occupants cool in summer or warm in winter. The Tucson doesn’t offer rear air conditioning vents, only heat vents.

To quickly and conveniently keep personal devices charged without cables tangling and wearing out, the Volvo XC40 has a standard wireless phone charging system (Qi) in the center console. Only the Tucson SEL/XRT/N Line/Limited offers wireless charging.

Recommendations

Consumer Reports® recommends both the Volvo XC40 and the Hyundai Tucson, based on reliability, safety and performance.

J.D. Power and Associates rated the XC40 second among small premium suvs in owner reported satisfaction. This includes how well the vehicle performs and satisfies its owner’s expectations. The Tucson was rated third in its category.