10 Biggest News Stories of the Month: 2022 Hyundai Tucson Can’t Contend With Car Seat Kudos
The city of Tucson, Ariz., offers picturesque mountain landscapes, breathtaking sunsets and delectable Southwestern cuisine as well as world-class golf, hiking and rock climbing — if you don’t spontaneously combust in the months when the climate turns into a veritable terra cotta pottery kiln. Like the city of its namesake, the 2022 Hyundai Tucson has so much going for it that can all be undone, depending on your level of tolerance, in one fell swoop — or, in the case of the redesigned compact SUV’s all-touch-sensitive dash controls — one fell smudge.
Related: 2022 Hyundai Tucson, Tucson Hybrid Review: A Touchy Subject
In one of Cars.com’s most popular articles for all of the past month — our rapid-fire roundup of the things our expert reviewers appreciated and depreciated about the SUV’s latest incarnation — the Tucson’s too-much-touch tech issue isn’t the only bad apple compromising the bunch, but it’s definitely the one that displeases us to our core.
Garnering praise were the Tucson’s considerable value proposition for buyers; a spacious, comfortable and versatile cabin; the choice of gas-only, hybrid and plug-in-hybrid powertrains; and top crashworthiness credentials and advanced safety features. Earning criticism were its confusing push-button gear shifter; 2-inch headroom penalty for an optional panoramic moonroof; slow-to-respond acceleration at lower speeds due to its fuel-economy-favoring automatic transmission; and (not to belabor the point) the aforementioned lack of physical climate and infotainment controls, among other convenience tech shortcomings.
For full details on the things with which we were content (plus the things we held in contempt) regarding the 2022 Tucson, follow the link below to September’s No. 2 news story.
Despite the ups and downs of its 2022 redesign, the Tucson nevertheless figures prominently into the month’s most popular article for an unequivocally positive attribute: a perfect score for the hybrid version’s accommodation of car seats. The Tucson joined model-year 2021 versions of the Audi SQ8, Genesis GV80 and Nissan Sentra in earning straight A’s on Cars.com’s annual Car Seat Fit Report Card — for which our in-house team of certified car-seat installation technicians grades vehicles from A to F on how well they’re able to fit a range of standard seat types, including infant, forward-facing and rear-facing convertibles, and booster seats, as well as the cars’ third-row access (if applicable) and the quality of its Latch anchor system.
For the full context on these four vehicles’ perfect scores, in addition to a quick-reference guide to every single automobile Cars.com evaluated in the past year, follow the link below to the No. 1 news story of the month. (And for more car-seat content, check out No. 9 on this month’s countdown for the updated list of vehicles capable of accommodating three car seats in the second row.)
Rounding out the month’s top five are Cars.com reviewer Aaron Bragman’s first impressions on the updated-for-2022 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 (spoiler: overdue interior upgrades keep it competitive with 2021’s Ford F-150 redesign), at No. 3; another introductory review by Bragman on an even more overdue overhaul for 2022, the Toyota Tundra, at No. 4; and a report on the state of used-car prices, the upward movement of which has, at last, begun to level off after an extended period of increases, at No. 5.
Beyond that, we’ve got headlines on the Volkswagen Tiguan, Kia Sorento Plug-in Hybrid and much more, so don’t stop reading till the digits double. Here are the top 10 news stories Cars.com readers couldn’t get enough of in the past month:
1. Cars.com’s 2021 Car Seat Fit Report Card
2. Is the 2022 Hyundai Tucson a Good SUV? Here Are 4 Things We Like and 4 We Don’t
3. Up Close With the 2022 Chevrolet Silverado: Finally as Nice as It Should’ve Been
4. Up Close With the 2022 Toyota Tundra Limited
5. Have Used-Car Prices Finally Plateaued?
6. What’s the Best New-Car Deal for Labor Day 2021?
7. What’s the Best New-Car Deal for September 2021?
8. 2022 Volkswagen Tiguan Review: How to Lose Friends Through Touch Controls
9. Which Cars Fit 3 Car Seats?
10. Pricing Announced for 2022 Kia Sorento Plug-In Hybrid
Cars.com’s Editorial department is your source for automotive news and reviews. In line with Cars.com’s long-standing ethics policy, editors and reviewers don’t accept gifts or free trips from automakers. The Editorial department is independent of Cars.com’s advertising, sales and sponsored content departments.
