St. Andrews State Park is open 365 days a year, and December might be the smartest time a Panama City family can show up. Winter runs quiet at the park, with mild temperatures in the 50s and 60s and far smaller crowds than any other time of year. You'll still get the same 1.5 miles of sugar-white Gulf sand and the same Grand Lagoon fishing piers, minus the 20-minute hunt for a parking spot. December just makes it easier.
Is the Tucson the right vehicle for this kind of trip, or should you be looking at something bigger? A fair question before the holidays, and here's our take. The 2026 Hyundai Tucson earned an IIHS Top Safety Pick+, the EPA rates the Tucson Hybrid at 36 to 38 mpg combined depending on trim, and cargo storage comes in at 38.7 cubic feet behind the second row, expanding to 74.4 cubic feet with the rear seats dropped. For five people making the run out Thomas Drive, you get a lot of capability in a package that fits the parking realities of a state park.
See the 2026 Tucson lineup at Bay Hyundai
Why Does the Tucson Fit a St. Andrews Holiday Visit?
Yes, the Tucson fits a St. Andrews holiday visit, with the caveat that its payoff shows up in traffic and not on open highway, because the approach is stop-and-go Gulf Coast driving rather than a torque-hungry cruise, and that low-speed pattern is where the hybrid system does its best work. The park sits at the eastern end of Thomas Drive, accessed via State Road 392 off U.S. Highway 98. It isn't a complicated run from Panama City, and it isn't a cruise where big-engine torque matters. You're working real Gulf Coast stop-and-go on the approach, then a compact state park lane with designated day-use lots. The hybrid earns its EPA numbers there.
| Local condition at St. Andrews | Tucson feature that handles it | Why it matters for your family |
|---|---|---|
| Holiday week crowds on Thomas Drive and State Road 392 (stop-and-go approach) | Hybrid regenerative braking recaptures energy in low-speed traffic | EPA rates the Tucson Hybrid at 36-38 mpg combined; city stop-and-go actually helps the hybrid system |
| Compact state park day-use lots (two main beach-access parking areas) | Tucson's 182.7-inch overall length and 38.6-foot turning diameter | Fits standard parking stalls without a 3-point shuffle |
| Beach gear for 5 people (chairs, coolers, towels, fishing rods for the jetty) | 38.7 cu ft cargo (rear seats up), expands to 74.4 cu ft flat | Hybrid battery sits under the cabin floor. Zero trunk loss |
| Kids and a grandparent in the back seat for the Boat Parade of Lights cruise setup | 41.3 inches of rear legroom (near-segment-leading for a compact SUV) | Three adults fit across the rear bench without trading a seat for a suitcase |
| Mild December temps (50s-60s), occasional Gulf wind, wet boardwalk surfaces | Standard Hyundai SmartSense suite with lane-keeping assist and forward collision avoidance | Active safety runs on every trim, not just the top of the lineup |
| Park open from 8 a.m. to sundown; families arrive at different times | EPA-estimated 493-mile range per tank (Tucson Hybrid, 13.7-gallon tank) | No range anxiety on a 3-mile side trip; also handles longer Panhandle drives back home |
The Cargo Floor Is the Feature Families Ask About Most
The cargo floor is the feature that earns the Tucson Hybrid its place on a holiday beach run, and the bound worth stating is that many hybrids in this class trade trunk space for their battery, where the Tucson instead tucks its 1.49-kilowatt-hour pack below the rear seats and holds 38.7 cubic feet behind the second row. That figure matches the standard gas Tucson exactly. You're not choosing between hybrid efficiency and room for the beach chairs.
Front seat legroom is 41.4 inches. Rear seat legroom isn't far off at 41.3 inches.
You'll notice that balance on a real road trip. Adults in back aren't knee-to-seatback the whole way out, which matters with a couple of kids and a grandparent sharing the December ride.
Browse the 2026 Tucson Hybrid at Bay Hyundai
The honest tradeoff is that the Tucson seats five. No hidden third row, no squeezing in a sixth person. It's larger than the Kona and smaller than the Santa Fe and Palisade (both of which climb into bigger-family territory). If your holiday group runs six or seven, the Palisade is the right conversation to have instead. But for a family of four or five planning a December day at St. Andrews or an overnight in the campground, the Tucson doesn't leave anyone behind.
The Safety Rating Is the Other Thing Worth Knowing Before You Go
The safety rating is worth a close look before a family trip like this one, and we won't oversell it, but it carries real weight the moment you're buckling kids into the back seat for the run out to St. Andrews. The IIHS awarded the 2026 Tucson a Top Safety Pick+ rating, its highest designation for small SUVs, meeting tougher 2026 standards that now require a good rating in the moderate front overlap test alongside more stringent rear-seat passenger protection criteria. Hyundai's own newsroom confirmed that both the Tucson and Tucson Hybrid received 5 out of 5 NHTSA stars for overall safety in 2026.
The IIHS raised its standards this year with a stronger focus on protecting rear-seat passengers, including kids in car seats and teens. Car seats and teens are exactly who fills the back seat on a family holiday trip. Standard SmartSense driver assistance like forward collision avoidance, lane-keeping assist, and blind-spot warning runs across every trim, so you don't need the top of the lineup to get the safety features that matter most on a busy holiday drive out to the park.
What the Tucson Is Not Built For (and We'll Tell You So)
What the Tucson isn't built for is heavy towing, and that limit is worth stating plainly before you hitch anything to it, since the gas-powered 2026 Tucson is rated to tow up to 2,700 pounds with trailer brakes, enough for a small boat or a jet ski to Shell Island access in calmer months. It's not a truck platform. If you're trailering anything heavier, you need a different conversation. And five seats, not seven.
What it is built for is exactly what a holiday St. Andrews trip actually requires. The EPA estimates a total range of 493 miles per tank for the Tucson Hybrid, running a 13.7-gallon tank. Your round trip from Panama City to St. Andrews is a few miles. The Tucson Hybrid's fuel economy shines hardest in the kind of coastal stop-and-go driving you encounter on Front Beach Road and Thomas Drive during the holiday season, where the regenerative braking system recaptures energy every time traffic slows.
