With the right recipe even the Koreans can make a lovely cappuccino
By Tushal Bhadang
We think a new term should be coined after this vehicle, “We’re Santa Fe’d”. Placed in the market to appeal to the young banker or the under thirty something population (including damsels in motoring distress), Hyundai calls this machine a soft-roader. An SUV for snob value, more show, but just enough go.
The last generation Santa Fe resembled something you ate for breakfast – a croissant. Puffy at all the wrong places and it kept throwing its weight around on fat rubber. The Santa Fe for 2007 is designed in USA and built to appeal to the young gen American (so they claim). Smooth flowing lines dominate its exterior with the trademark Hyundai smiley radiator grille. Wrap around projector headlamps and precariously low fog lamps make an impressive front with a long sloping bonnet accentuated by subtle creases. It looks best from a three quarter angle. Large 18-inch alloy rims shadowed by bulging wheel arches define its stance. The tail light cluster, tail-gate and dual exhaust tubes are sleek in appearance. She just visited the beautician. It still retains its side handle to open the lift-up mechanism at the rear. And we would like to bring to your notice the “4WD” badge on side of the Santa Fe – it’s not just text, it’s full time.
The Santa Fe doesn’t have that big a heart, producing just 138 bhp from a 2.7 litre V6 power plant at 6000 RPM it manages to do a decent job on the road. The torque figures are what impress. Belching out 248 Nm @ 4000 RPM, mid-range power delivery is her forte. A 4-speed automatic tranny with on the fly tip-tronic control seems to eat away at whatever the engine produces. Acceleration from standstill is anything but tarmac shredding, 0-100kph comes up in 11.4 seconds. On the black, she performed better than expected, unlike other tall SUVs which display tremendous body roll, the Santa Fe seemed calm and composed even while taking sharp turns. The feedback from the steering is positive and we could always feel the changing road surface with excellent track, handling and minimal yaw or pitch. A long wheelbase of 2700mm aids its comfortable ride, and it has dropped its control-arm rear suspension for a multilink setup while retaining a strut-type front-suspension. This translated to car-like cornering confidence (Hyundai, what were you doing till now?)
Off the road we can’t emphasize enough about how hard we tried to get it stuck in really bad terrain. Knowing it doesn’t have the power to climb treacherous rock faced mountain faces, we even gave it that with 4 passengers on board! And the result – not once did it get stuck, lose composure, or huff and puff and sink. The little 2.7 litre monster just took all the thrashing we gave it with the electronic 4WD lock positively engaged via a small button behind the shift lever. We call the engine little because looking at the size of the vehicle and its kerb weight of over 1.8 tons, it managed pretty well. 235/60R18 Kumho Sports Touring tyres are responsible for all that she did on and off the road coupled with a short turning radius of 5.45 metres which make it a joy for chuck-ability.
Interiors – now this is where all the efforts seem to lose focus. The model we tested came with leather upholstery and it looked and felt like anything but leather. The instrument lights are bright enough to blind you, though there is a dimmer dial to the rescue. In cabin noise is low and CD audio system up to expectations. Hard plastic panels and dash garnished with garish fake wood is not our idea of pleasing interiors. Regular buffed aluminium finish plastic will do Hyundai.
ABS, EBD and ESP are standard features with disc brakes on all four wheels. Driver and front passenger air-bags are the norm these days but in the new Santa Fe’s case, it also enjoys a 4-star safety rating from EuroNCAP, though that is only for models with the full entourage of over 8 airbags.
Last word
We’re flipping to think why there aren’t enough Santa Fes on the road. Our test model had all the creature comforts that make driving on and off the road pleasurable and its reassuring to know that you wont come back home with the exhaust pipes in your boot if you do choose to take it for a little adventure sports. Yes, interiors are not the best in the class, but it’s a proper seven-seater with air con at the rear. It’s a very capable soft-roader that is safe, built well and though under powered, it scores extra points for fuel economy. You can’t compare apples and oranges.
Rating 4/5
Car supplied by First Motors, Kingdom of Bahrain
By Tushal Bhadang
We think a new term should be coined after this vehicle, “We’re Santa Fe’d”. Placed in the market to appeal to the young banker or the under thirty something population (including damsels in motoring distress), Hyundai calls this machine a soft-roader. An SUV for snob value, more show, but just enough go.
The last generation Santa Fe resembled something you ate for breakfast – a croissant. Puffy at all the wrong places and it kept throwing its weight around on fat rubber. The Santa Fe for 2007 is designed in USA and built to appeal to the young gen American (so they claim). Smooth flowing lines dominate its exterior with the trademark Hyundai smiley radiator grille. Wrap around projector headlamps and precariously low fog lamps make an impressive front with a long sloping bonnet accentuated by subtle creases. It looks best from a three quarter angle. Large 18-inch alloy rims shadowed by bulging wheel arches define its stance. The tail light cluster, tail-gate and dual exhaust tubes are sleek in appearance. She just visited the beautician. It still retains its side handle to open the lift-up mechanism at the rear. And we would like to bring to your notice the “4WD” badge on side of the Santa Fe – it’s not just text, it’s full time.
The Santa Fe doesn’t have that big a heart, producing just 138 bhp from a 2.7 litre V6 power plant at 6000 RPM it manages to do a decent job on the road. The torque figures are what impress. Belching out 248 Nm @ 4000 RPM, mid-range power delivery is her forte. A 4-speed automatic tranny with on the fly tip-tronic control seems to eat away at whatever the engine produces. Acceleration from standstill is anything but tarmac shredding, 0-100kph comes up in 11.4 seconds. On the black, she performed better than expected, unlike other tall SUVs which display tremendous body roll, the Santa Fe seemed calm and composed even while taking sharp turns. The feedback from the steering is positive and we could always feel the changing road surface with excellent track, handling and minimal yaw or pitch. A long wheelbase of 2700mm aids its comfortable ride, and it has dropped its control-arm rear suspension for a multilink setup while retaining a strut-type front-suspension. This translated to car-like cornering confidence (Hyundai, what were you doing till now?)
Off the road we can’t emphasize enough about how hard we tried to get it stuck in really bad terrain. Knowing it doesn’t have the power to climb treacherous rock faced mountain faces, we even gave it that with 4 passengers on board! And the result – not once did it get stuck, lose composure, or huff and puff and sink. The little 2.7 litre monster just took all the thrashing we gave it with the electronic 4WD lock positively engaged via a small button behind the shift lever. We call the engine little because looking at the size of the vehicle and its kerb weight of over 1.8 tons, it managed pretty well. 235/60R18 Kumho Sports Touring tyres are responsible for all that she did on and off the road coupled with a short turning radius of 5.45 metres which make it a joy for chuck-ability.
Interiors – now this is where all the efforts seem to lose focus. The model we tested came with leather upholstery and it looked and felt like anything but leather. The instrument lights are bright enough to blind you, though there is a dimmer dial to the rescue. In cabin noise is low and CD audio system up to expectations. Hard plastic panels and dash garnished with garish fake wood is not our idea of pleasing interiors. Regular buffed aluminium finish plastic will do Hyundai.
ABS, EBD and ESP are standard features with disc brakes on all four wheels. Driver and front passenger air-bags are the norm these days but in the new Santa Fe’s case, it also enjoys a 4-star safety rating from EuroNCAP, though that is only for models with the full entourage of over 8 airbags.
Last word
We’re flipping to think why there aren’t enough Santa Fes on the road. Our test model had all the creature comforts that make driving on and off the road pleasurable and its reassuring to know that you wont come back home with the exhaust pipes in your boot if you do choose to take it for a little adventure sports. Yes, interiors are not the best in the class, but it’s a proper seven-seater with air con at the rear. It’s a very capable soft-roader that is safe, built well and though under powered, it scores extra points for fuel economy. You can’t compare apples and oranges.
Rating 4/5
Car supplied by First Motors, Kingdom of Bahrain
1 comment:
These turn my head every time I see one and I am usually a German car/SUV snob.
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