Two answers. Yes, you can go on sand with a hybrid vehicle and nothing untoward will happen unless you do something ‘stoopid’, like run it on the soft sinking sand at the tide lines where an evil fate will befall even a regular 4x4 with diff locks, transfer cases et al.
To prove this, NZ4WD borrowed NZ Company Vehicle magazine’s editor and convinced him to visit Port Waikato, home to Sunset Beach, which is where the locals who worship chaps like this dude (reportedly a Hawaiian Surf God, most likely Kanaloa) have the most effective way of controlling traffic on sand dunes.
The dunes at Sunset Beach are well planted with beach-loving foliage and the dunes themselves are accessed from suburban streets, rather than the beach foreshore, which goes a long way to countering erosion.
There are signs at the access ways, suggesting a neighbourhood watch type arrangement where hoon-ish behaviour on the dunes will not be tolerated, will be reported and result in police intervention (the implication also being that the locals will run you out of town as well).
The pathways leading to the dunes are well kept but exciting enough with undulations, deep sand and enough natural hazards to present a challenging trip to entertain the family.
It’s very civilised, very eco-friendly and it’s a great experience for those with ‘shiny’ off-roaders who need to stay out of trouble.
This sand-path paradise is also excellent for experiments like taking a soft-roader off road to see what it can do.
In this case, our test vehicle – a Hyundai Tucson hybrid – was nearly the perfect vehicle for the experiment.
The hybrids are the latest additions to a vast number of Tucson variants and, while they are at the pricier point of the spear, their equipment levels, technology and specification more than justify their price. And then – only then – do you factor in the Tucson’s capabilities, which further puts the price of the vehicle into perspective and into the back of the mind.
So, with a fully specified vehicle with luxuries like heated front and rear leather seats, wireless phone charging, four USB ports, an eight-inch touchscreen for Android Auto, Apple CarPlay and Bluetoothery and the assurance of Hyundai’s incredibly comprehensive SmartSense safety package including lane keeping assist, which we define as ‘firm, but friendly’, what was the ‘nearly’ part of the vehicle being perfect? The driver.
This self-proclaimed muppet who, looking at the Drive selector switch which offers the options of Drive and Terrain, kind of missed the rego sticker which proclaimed that this vehicle was a 2WD version. Rookie mistake.
At any rate, the button was pressed to take the Tucson off the tarmac and into sand via ‘Terrain’ mode and away we went, proceeding through the dune paths at an appropriate pace with the Tucson’s road-going suspension smoothly compensating for those unexpectedly abrupt ‘yumps’ every Targa rally driver knows; the ones the navigator failed to tell you about...
The deeper you follow the sand paths, the more challenging their surfaces become and, as you draw closer to the dunes themselves, the sand drifts become more akin to those found on a Paris-Dakar rally recce run.
Still, the Tucson plowed on bravely, making short work of the shifting sands and coming at last to a respectable climb of oh, about 10 feet, where the nose of the little-SUV-that-could was aimed squarely at a grey foreboding cloud formation.
With more right foot encouragement than had been used to this point, the front Michelin Primacy 235/50 R19s road tyres clawed into the sand and – probably assisted by the controlled outputs of the ‘Terrain’ mode selection – hauled the 2175kg (+100kg of deadweight driver) Tucson up and over to perch victoriously atop the plateau.
After checking out the view and feeling the first hints of salt-laden beach rain it was time to hustle on out, first using the Tucson’s brilliant hill descent control.
A well-controlled shuffle down the slope set us back on the sandy version of Sunset Beach boulevard and back out to what the Hyundai hybrid normally calls home – tarmac.
Terrain mode gave way to Drive and, after saluting Kaneloa (or a mate of his anyway), the Tucson and I were homeward bound. Mission, complete and successful.
A quick footnote: I refuelled on the way home and after cleaning the windscreen, noticed the rego sticker. At that point I think, I had both an epiphany and a heart attack.
Apparently, some soft roaders (looking at you, Hyundai) are damn good at what they can do and I should read the rego stickers more carefully, lest something goes awry when I’m doing evaluations on vehicles which are not what I think they are.
