This 1 Flaw Gives the 2020 Hyundai Tuscon an Edge Over the 2020 Kia Sportage
The Kia Sportage and the Hyundai Tucson are two of the most popular compact SUV options on the market. And for good reason. They each boast an excellent warranty, affordable pricing, and plenty of wiggle room in terms of configuration. However, there is one reason good to pass on the 2020 Kia Sportage and go for the 2020 Hyundai Tucson instead.
According to Consumer Reports, these two compact SUV options are built on the same platform. However, they differ in an important way. Between the corporate cousins there is one of these little SUVs that boasts superior visibility. If you care about seeing out of your new car, you’ll probably want to take a drive in each of these to get a real feel for the difference.
2020 Kia Sportage visibility problems
In the Consumer Reports road test, there is a huge similarity between the Hyundai Tucson and the Kia Sportage. Both of these Korean offerings to the market are built on the same platform. So they are basically the same SUV, right? Well, not exactly.
Consumer Reports mentions that the 2020 Kia Sportage has a big drawback when it comes to visibility. The 2020 Hyundai Tucson, though fundamentally identical, boasts better visibility than the Sportage. According to Consumer Reports, the Kia Sportage doesn’t have the “open, airy feeling of more upright SUVs like the Subaru Forester or Toyota RAV4.”
The styling of the Sportage has a wide rear roof pillar and it lacks a rear corner window. This creates a big blind spot in those rear corners affecting driver visibility. Up front, the windshield pillars are also on the thicker side.
Although the rear window isn’t notably tiny, we can’t exactly say it’s large either. Blending each of these factors contributes to the Kia SUV’s poor visibility. The Hyundai Tucson compact SUV has slimmer pillars and offers greater vantage.
The silver lining
Some updates to the 2020 Kia Sportage mean that not only is a rear camera standard across the board, but another tech feature also helps drivers out. Blindspot warning with cross-traffic warning is an available feature. In fact, it comes standard on a few of the trims too. This is a compact SUV at least worth a test drive, though the Tucson does have better visibility.
The 2020 Hyundai Tucson
According to AutoTrader.com, the Hyundai SUV isn’t one of the best in terms of visibility, but it “is far from being the worst in its class.” In fact, one of the greatest game-changers is that the Tucson––unlike the Sportage––has rear corner windows. In terms of visibility, the Tucson earns a big win over the Sportage here––especially when you consider the it gets the same rear camera, blindspot warning, and cross-traffic alert as the 2020 Kia Sportage.
For the 2020 Hyundai Tucson, we see generally similar features and specs as the Kia Sportage compact SUV. For example, the Sportage is priced between $23,990 – $35,090. According to Consumer Reports, the Hyundai Tucson has a price range of $23,550 – $33,300. So in terms of price, the two are very similar.
In the Consumer Reports road test, the visibility is compared with that of the Subaru Forester. Not great, but definitely not bad. In fact, it’s said to be “good.” The pillars are still wide, but there are corner windows. Plus, Consumer Reports describes the Tuscon’s rear windshield as “pretty large.” Overall, while the Kia SUV and the Hyundai SUV are similar, the 2020 Hyundai Tucson boasts better visibility than the 2020 Kia Sportage.
