By Karl Peskett.
Compromise is a fact of life. Paypass is convenient, but then it’s simple for someone to steal your credit card and quickly rack up a hefty bill. Having Google Maps is excellent, but then a multinational company tracking your every move isn’t exactly reassuring. Having a bigger car than the previous model is more practical, but it’s going to weigh more.
Or so you would think.
With a new platform, larger interior, larger exterior and much higher quality finishes, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the new Santa Fe would weigh around 100kg more than the previous model. But in fact, the MY19 Santa Fe only tips the scales at a mere 3kg heavier. In today’s world of bloated cars (have a look at the size of the latest Mini for example), this is a remarkable feat.
The Santa Fe comes with one of the best diesel four-cylinders in this price range, with its 2.2-litre turbocharged unit creating 147kW and 440Nm. Match that with a very smooth eight-speed auto and you’ve got a pearl of a powertrain.
Sure, the engine’s basically a carry-over from the previous model, but really, it never needed touching, it was that good. But the extra two gears in the automatic have really made a difference to not only driveability but fuel economy as well. The list figure is 7.5L/100km, and we nearly matched that with our week of use, sitting a smidge over eight.
The styling is a love it or loathe it affair, but we sit firmly in the “love it” camp, with this model’s Kona-like front end featuring low-slung headlights and upper LED daytime running lights giving an attractive eyebrow effect. The wide, cascading grille with its broad chrome upper lip is done in three pieces, which is only something you notice when you’re up close – it’s been cleverly put together.
The wheels on the highest-grade, the Highlander, which we reviewed, are 19-inch alloys, but despite having large hoops, the ride on the Santa Fe is excellent, despite having a relatively conventional MacPherson strut front and multilink rear setup. Thank the local damper and spring tuning for that.
And yet it’s not so soft that it’s unwieldy. Sure, you can feel that it has nearly 1.9-tonnes underneath you in addition to passengers, but there’s enough weighting to the steering so that you know what’s happening with the tyres, and it handles well enough to tackle country roads without falling over.
The H-Trac all-wheel-drive setup is very clever and allows some actual off-roading with locking wheels and smart traction control. And while the ground clearance is only 185mm, that’s exactly the same as the previous model and that was quite capable in deep sand.
But it’s inside where the biggest changes have been made. The quality is now what you’d expect from a $60K vehicle. Hop inside and the large dashtop and its smart hide-like finish is beautiful to both view and touch, the seat leather is superb and the quilted pattern on the pews is echoed in the speaker covers and non-slip phone mat above the glovebox. The presentation is so far above any other product from Hyundai and we’re looking forward to seeing this level of finish on future vehicles.
In the centre is an 8.0-inch infotainment system, with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto functionality, which you’ll need to access extra functions. In front of the driver is a 7.0-inch TFT screen for the instruments, plus there’s a head-up display showing navigation and speed.
Throw your inductive-charging-capable phone onto the Qi wireless phone charger, and you’ve got your tunes sorted for an cross-country drive, knowing it will never go flat. There are also a couple of USB sockets, AUX input and an Infinity 10-speaker system with an external 550W amplifier for pumping out the music.
The Highlander model has plenty included as standard. There’s a cooled glovebox, heated and cooled front seats, dual-zone climate control, a panoramic sunroof, and even the second row’s outboard seats get heating.
Speaking of which, to make access to the third row easier, the second row can slide fore and aft, but it’s worth noting that although the third row is now a little bigger than the last Santa Fe, it’s still for young kids, not adults – this writer’s six-foot frame struggled with headroom and legroom. Fold down those back seats and the boot grows from 547 to 1645 litres.
Want more? Parking assistant, reversing and top-view camera, radar-based cruise control, blind spot warning and lane change assistant, rear cross traffic alert and an overly active lane keep assistant (which you’ll want to turn off immediately) are all standard.
If you want to lug something behind you, there’s a towing capacity of 2000kg (braked, of course).
Add to that Hyundai’s five year, unlimited kilometre warranty and the Santa Fe is starting to sound like a good deal. And that’s because it is.
It drives well, is economical, is safe, spacious, loaded with kit and can carry a family of seven. As an all-rounder, there’s a lot to recommend it. But more so because it doesn’t excuse itself with compromises.
