2021 Hyundai Tucson Spied Holding Nothing Back At The Nurburgring

All we can say after watching this clip is whoa, Nellie. If the driver in this pitching and rolling SUV doesn’t get queasy during a full lap of the Nordschleife, we’d be supremely impressed. From the opening scene we’re treated to tires being mercilessly tortured, and it stays that way throughout the many corners we see during the short video. Oh, that poor test vehicle.

In Hyundai’s defense, the tire squeal isn’t simply the result of an SUV trying to turn with a little bit of speed. This test driver is pushing extremely hard, as evidenced by the slight four-wheel drift at the beginning of the clip. We don’t envision a Tucson owner ever engaging in such activity, but judging from what we see here, they could. And they just might live to tell the tale.

Camouflage levels are similar to what we’ve seen previously, and it looks like there are placeholder lights still on the back of this test car. Underneath, the new Tucson should get Hyundai’s Theta3 2.5-liter four-cylinder, driving the front wheels in standard trim. We suspect this might be an all-wheel-drive model, as we don’t notice any blatantly obvious understeer from the prototype. All things considered, it seems surprisingly well balanced for an SUV that doesn’t emphasize performance. It almost makes you wonder if some kind of N model could be in the works.

The new Tucson would have to arrive in base trim before any such performance-oriented speculation could proceed further. At this point, we’re expecting Hyundai to lift the camo late this year and bill the revamped SUV as a 2021 model.