What's the news?
Hyundai has announced pricing and specification for the new generation Santa Fe. The popular SUV will start from £25,495 for the two-wheel drive model rising to £34,395 for a seven-seat, automatic, four-wheel drive variant. The new Santa Fe will go on sale in the UK on October 15.
Exterior
Three trim levels - Style, Premium and Premium SE - are available and there is still a choice of either five- or seven-seat configurations. On the outside, the Style model gets 18-inch alloy wheels, body coloured door handles, body coloured door mirrors with integrated indicator lights, reverse parking sensors, daytime running lights, self-levelling suspension (seven-seat only) and a rear spoiler with high-mounted brake light.
Premium mid-trim adds a Parking Guidance System, electric folding door mirrors with puddle lamps, roof rails and chrome effect door handles. Prices for the Premium models begin at £28,995.
Range-topping Premium SE trim starts at £32,695 for the seven-seat, four-wheel drive manual and gets 19-inch alloy wheels, Xenon headlights, keyless entry with engine start/stop button, front parking sensors and Smart Parking Assist.
A number of safety features are also standard from entry including ESP, Hill Start Assist, Vehicle Stability Management, Trailer Stability Assist and seven airbags. A first for Santa Fe is the Active Bonnet System, which raises the bonnet by 60mm in the event of a pedestrian collision to help minimise the impact of head injuries.
Interior
Inside, air conditioning is standard across the Santa Fe range along with Bluetooth with voice recognition, a multi-function steering wheel and Hyundai's adjustable Flex Steer system. Higher specification Premium and Premium SE models add touchscreen satellite navigation, dual-zone climate control, heated leather front seats and a panoramic sunroof.
Interior space and packaging differs from the outgoing Santa Fe with improvements to rear legroom (+45mm) and first row headroom (+11mm). Luggage capacity has also increased by 48 litres to 534 litres and two quick-release levers are fitted inside the boot to flatten the second row of seats for maximum load space.
Mechanicals
The venerable 2.2-litre CRDi diesel engine has been reworked to ensure better fuel economy and CO2 emissions. While developing 197hp and 422Nm of torque the engine can still return 47.9mpg and 155g/km for the two-wheel model, only rising to 46.3mpg and 159g/km for the four-wheel drive version with manual transmission. The automatic model, while not faring as well, is almost on par with the outgoing manual version delivering 41.5mpg and just 178g/km.
With Britain such an important market for the Santa Fe (UK sales accounted for a third of European sales last year), Hyundai has tuned the Santa Fe's suspension specifically for UK roads. Dampers have been stiffened over the European set-up in order to cope with bumps and uneven road surfaces that are more common here.
Anything else?
The Santa Fe is backed by Hyundai's 5 Year Triple Care package, which means owners get a fully transferable five-year unlimited mileage warranty, five years' roadside assistance and five years' free vehicle health checks.
Paul Healy - 28 Jun 2012