How many miles can an American-made Hyundai Tucson last? When you’re in the market for a new or second-hand Tucson, that’s, of course, a very reasonable question to ask. After all, you’re probably looking to get the most bang for your buck. In this blog, we’ll look at the most popular models but first, let’s start with a quick answer:
On average, a Hyundai Tucson lasts between 190,000 – 210,000 miles. A Hyundai Tucson needs to go to the garage for unscheduled repairs about 0.26 times per year with a 10% chance of a severe problem. Furthermore, Hyundai Tucson owners spend an average of $426 per year on repair costs.
Having said that, we’re certainly not done. Below we’ll first explain in more detail how many miles a Hyundai Tucson can last. After that, we’ll compare Tucson to its main competitors in terms of potential mileage and compare the Tucson to other Hyundai’s. Furthermore, we also discuss the common problems that a Hyundai Tucson can have, how much maintenance will cost per year and how to maintain a Tucson. Read on!
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How Many Miles Can A Hyundai Tucson Last?
To know how many miles a Hyundai Tucson can last, we had to do some research. For this research, we used the database of autotrader.com. Here, we selected all the Hyundai Tucson’s available in the United States (15,448 in total). After this, we divided the cars into groups depending on the number of miles they had driven. The results are displayed in the table below.
What becomes clear is that 1.13% of the Tucson’s has currently passed the 150,000 miles mark. This does seem to indicate that a fair share of them can already be considered high mileage. However, we also clearly see that a major group hasn’t even passed the 45,000 miles mark.
The reason for this is that many Tucson’s have been sold in the past five years. This means that many of them haven’t yet had time to reach higher mileages. However, given that most Tucson’s are still quite young, it’s good to consider that a bit more than 5% has already reached the 100,000 miles mark, which are encouraging signs.
| Amount Of Miles | Percentage Of Cars |
| Cars With 150.000+ | 1.13% |
| Cars With 100.000 – 149.000 | 3.90% |
| Cars With 45.000 – 99.999 | 16.87% |
| Cars With 0 – 44.999 | 78.10% |
However, we didn’t stop there. We also looked at the Tucson with the highest recorded mileage. The reason for doing so is that this allows us to see what the Tucson is capable of when pushed to its limits and when taken care of properly.
What we found is that the highest recorded mileage on a Hyundai Tucson is 240,000 miles. This is encouraging, and it seems to show that Tucson’s can reach good mileage when they have more time to do so.
How Reliable Is A Hyundai Tucson Compared To It’s Competitors?
However, let’s not stop there. We also compared the Tucson to its main competitors and ran the same experiment in the table below. This gives you a more all-around idea of what the Tucson is capable of and how good that is compared to its competition.
What becomes clear in the table below is that the Tucson seems to be a slight underperformer compared to the Escape and the Journey. However, we also have to say that many of these cars are a bit older and have had more time to ‘age.’
The Tucson is at the bottom of the pack together with the Subaru Crosstrek. In all cases, we would say that it’s probably fairer to compare the cars based on the highest recorded mileage. What we found, in that case, is that all the cars are pretty close (although the Crosstrek does once again seem to underperform). The Tucson is on par with the Dodge Journey and is outperformed by the Escape. In general, the numbers the Tucson is putting up are normal compared to its competition.
| Model | Sample Size | Cars With 150.000+ Miles | % Percentage Of Cars With 150.000+ | Highest Mileage |
| Hyundai Tucson | 15,448 | 175 | 1.13% | 240,000 |
| Ford Escape | 35,265 | 1041 | 2.95% | 280,000 |
| Dodge Journey | 8,087 | 280 | 3.46% | 240,000 |
| Subaru Crosstrek | 8,649 | 91 | 1.05% | 210,000 |
How Reliable Is A Hyundai Tucson Compared To Other Hyundai’s?
Furthermore, we feel it’s also important to compare the Tucson to other Hyundai’s. The reason for this is that this gives you an understanding of what kind of quality Hyundai normally delivers and where the Tucson fits in in that spectrum.
We found that the Tucson does seem to be on the bottom of the pack in terms of how many of them have reached a higher mileage. 1.13% is by far the lowest of them all (only the Elantra comes close), which doesn’t seem to be all that good for the Tucson.
The Tucson seems to do very normally regarding the highest recorded mileage compared to the other Hyundai’s. The car is outperformed by the Elantra, Sonata, and the Tucson but is (almost) equal to the Genesis and the Accent.
| Model | Sample Size | Cars With 150.000+ Miles | % Percentage Of Cars With 150.000+ | Highest Mileage |
| Hyundai Elantra | 22,574 | 331 | 1.47% | 260,000 |
| Hyundai Sonata | 24,172 | 497 | 2.06% | 310,000 |
| Hyundai Santa Fe | 18,059 | 418 | 2.31% | 270,000 |
| Hyundai Tucson | 15,448 | 175 | 1.13% | 240,000 |
| Hyundai Accent | 2,677 | 85 | 3.18% | 250,000 |
| Hyundai Genesis | 814 | 43 | 5.28% | 240,000 |
Also read: Types Of Fuel A Hyundai Tucson Uses (All Generations)
How Much Does Maintenance Cost Per Year?
Besides knowing how many miles a Hyundai Tucson can last, it’s also important to know how much the car will cost in maintenance. There’s no point in having a car that can do big mileage if the car needs so much maintenance that it will leave you bankrupt.
Using repairpal.com, we outlined the maintenance cost for a Hyundai Tucson per manufacturing year and put them into the table below. E.g., the 2015 Hyundai Tucson currently costs $408 per year in maintenance.
We can conclude from the table below that the Hyundai Tucson seems to be a very affordable car. None of the Tucson’s require more than $500 in average spending, which is unheard of for a car this size. Normally some production years have big problems which require a lot of maintenance but not the Tucson.
This is because the Tucson doesn’t have any major problems, and there are also very few little ones. You’ll read about that in the next subheading.
| Year Of Manufacturing | Hyundai Tucson Maintenance Cost |
| 2018 | $ 329 |
| 2017 | $ 342 |
| 2016 | $ 347 |
| 2015 | $ 408 |
| 2014 | $ 459 |
| 2013 | $ 488 |
| 2012 | $ 487 |
| 2011 | $ 470 |
| 2010 | $ 403 |
| 2009 | $ 486 |
| 2008 | $ 422 |
| 2007 | $ 389 |
Also read: The Complete Cost Of Maintaining A Hyundai
Hyundai Tucson Common Problems
Besides knowing how much the Tucson’s will cost in maintenance, it’s also important to see what problems normally cause the repairs that the Tucson needs. Below we’ve outlined the four problems that commonly occur in a Tucson. Let it also be said that it was pretty difficult to find common problems with the Tucson, which shows it’s a reliable car.
NOTE: Before buying a used car, I always like to make sure the vehicle isn´t having any problems that you should be aware of. The easiest way to do this is by buying an OBD2 scanner. These scanners can easily be plugged into any car you’re interested in, and they’ll give you a rundown of potential problems.
Failing Speed Sensor
If the check engine light illuminates and the automatic transmission does not shift t properly, the speed sensor is famous likely failing. This needs to be replaced and will cost you between $300 – $350.
Problematic Shifting
In general, the shifting of the Tucson is not its strongest point. Sometimes it just shifts rough, and general maintenance needs to be done to fix this problem. This includes changing the automatic transmission fluid and updating the computer that controls the shifting. For changing the automatic transmission fluid, you can expect to pay around $150.
Speakers Without Sound
The speakers may suddenly fail in Tucson’s that have a navigation unit. This problem will require a hard reset which means disconnecting the negative part of the battery for 15 seconds and then reconnecting it. This should reset the system completely and fix the problem.
Recall Airbag Module
Some 2005 – 2007 Tucson’s have had a recall for the passenger side airbag module. The reason for this recall is that some airbags didn’t deploy properly during an accident. Fixing this shouldn’t cost you anything if you bring the car to a dealer. Always check the maintenance booklet to see if this recall has been performed on your car.
Is The Hyundai Tucson A Smart Buy?
Finally, it’s a good idea to answer whether or not the Hyundai Tucson is a smart buy. For this, we have to consider its potential lifespan, maintenance cost, and how much value you get for your money.
When we look at the potential mileage, it’s seen that the Tucson does certainly seem to be able to keep up with its competition. Yes, the Ford Escape and Dodge Journey have a higher percentage reaching the 150,000 miles mark. However, the Tucson has only become popular in recent years, which means many are still new. However, it does seem that the Tucson will easily reach 200,000 miles, which we would classify as very reliable.
Also, when we look at the maintenance cost and the car’s potential problems, the Tucson seems to do extremely well. The car only has four common problems (none of them major), and when we look at the repair costs, we also see that none of the Tucson require exorbitant annual spending.
Finally, it’s important to see how much value you get for your money. Using data from caredge.com, we see that the Tucson depreciates by 43% after the first five years. This means you get a good discount if you buy a 5-year-old Tucson. However, this discount is less than we would normally expect to see (around 50%).
The reason for this is that the Tucson is a very reliable car, and it, therefore, depreciates less than most other cars. For this reason, we feel that you get fair value for money, and we would consider the Tucson a smart buy.
Hyundai Tucson Maintenance Schedule
Finally, it’s important to know what kind of maintenance a Hyundai Tucson needs to reach higher mileages. Below we’ve outlined the necessary steps that Hyundai recommends for the Tucson to reach its maximum life span.
- Change the oil every 7,500 miles
- Rotate the tires every 7,500 miles
- Replace the cabin air filter every 15,000 miles
- Replace the air filter every 30,000 miles
- Flush and replace the coolant every 60,000 miles
- Replace the spark plugs every 105,000 miles
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Hi! My name is Stefan; I’m the owner and lead writer at TheDriverAdviser.com.
I’m an active writer on this blog myself, as well as a novice car mechanic. For the really technical stuff, I find writers with experience as a mechanic or who have studied mechanical engineering.
Read more about our fantastic team on our about page!