Can an SUV that was designed primarily for the US work just as well in the UK? That was the question on Glenn Brooks’ mind as he tried out Hyundai’s latest Santa Fe.
Just under a year is how long it took for the Santa Fe to reach Europe, following the DM series model’s international debut at the New York auto show in April 2012. The regional debut for the EU markets model was at the Geneva show a year back but this was also the world premiere of the diesel. This is a 197PS 2.2-litre four-cylinder and can be had with either a manual or torque converter automatic, each with six speeds.
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On the topic of model names, things get a little complicated. In Britain, it’s simple – all variants are called Santa Fe, but in some (mostly European) markets, the seven-seater variant I had for testing is known as the Grand Santa Fe. In the US and Canada, a standard wheelbase model is a Santa Fe Sport, while the longer car is a Santa Fe. Meanwhile, in South Korea, none of this applies – there, the name is ‘Maxcruz’.
Britain and the rest of Europe’s Santa Fe is built at Hyundai’s giant Ulsan plant, but there are two other production locations: Beijing and West Point, Georgia. The Beijing Hyundai joint venture added build of this model at its newest Chinese plant in December 2012. This, the third production facility opened in the Shunyi district of Beijing in June 2012. The local market’s Elantra Langdong is also made there. US production of the Sport takes place at Kia Motors America’s plant in Georgia, but the longer wheelbase Santa Fe is imported from South Korea.
You could be forgiven for wondering why a relatively large SUV would need three global manufacturing locations, especially from the perspective of Europe, where D & E segment non-premium SUVs sell somewhat less than briskly. You might also be as surprised as I was to learn that Hyundai’s average annual global sales goal for this model is in excess of 300,000 units. Yes, most of those owners are in the US, Canada, South Korea and China but European markets make up a sizeable minority of the total.
The Santa Fe is certainly way more popular in Britain and other parts of Europe than global rivals such as the Nissan Murano, and some of that is certainly down to the availability of seven seats. The last row is positioned pretty close to the rear window so those seated there will need to be children, especially as legroom is equally limited. Having said that, with row three upright, there is still a fair amount of boot space – enough for half a dozen supermarket bags I found.
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By GlobalDataPassengers in the second row are well served, with a good amount of both head room and leg room, and a deep window line. Hyundai’s design team did well to make an attractive yet still spacious SUV, which is not something you can say about all vehicles in the D SUV segment. In Europe, the list of rivals isn’t large, and would include the Kia Sorento and Toyota RAV4, and possibly the Opel/Vauxhall Antara, as well as the Murano and from 2015, the second generation Ford Edge.
Next year should also bring a mid-life facelift for the Hyundai, while Volkswagen’s Tiguan replacement is also due and will likely be closer to the Santa Fe’s size so as to make room for two additional SUVs in the B and B/C segments.
The Santa Fe is very car-like to drive, and were it not for the elevated driving position you could even forget about its off-road abilities. Turbo lag can be an issue in particular conditions with the manual gearbox – it can sometimes feel as though you need to downshift when faced with a hill in third or fourth gears at 1,500-1800rpm – which is no doubt why Hyundai-Kia’s 1.6-litre diesel isn’t offered.
Occasional lag issues aside, dynamically, it’s hard to fault this car. When needed, the automatic transfer of drive to the rear axle is seemless, handling is safe and predictable, and the steering is direct with little trace of the vagueness you can find in many ‘proper’ four-wheel drives. In short, it’s easy to see why this vehicle is so successful in the parts of the world where such models are part of a mainstream segment.
If you’re familiar with Hyundai’s other cars, you’ll feel instantly at home in this one. The centre console and steering wheel controls have the same V-pattern design. Everything you touch is intuitively placed. It all looks good, and at night, the lighting is a cool blue. If you had to criticise the feeling from behind the wheel, perhaps you could accuse it not having the same kind of ambience as a Tiguan or Audi Q5. But, as well as being slightly larger, the Hyundai is hardly in the same price category. And therein lies the USP of this car: for an affordably priced brand, there’s a lot of standard gear, as well as styling and an ownership experience which improves with every new model that this company introduces.
