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In the market for a big, family-friendly SUV? If so, then the revamped Hyundai Santa Fe deserves serious consideration. It would also be worth having my review of the Kia Sorento in last week's Motors supplement handy as well, because these are two very, very similar cars.
Which one you ultimately decide on will come down, I suspect, to those hard to pinpoint personal preferences.
The Santa Fe does give a little more choice in terms of model specification and that may well be the deciding factor for you. In this car, for instance, you can choose a five or seven-seat model, whereas the Sorento is seven seats only.
You can also specify front-wheel or all-wheel drive, where again, the Kia just offers all-wheel.
Fairly basic stuff and, as I suggested last week, I believe most would-be purchasers would err towards the side of the seven-seat, four-wheel drive option anyway. Price considerations might dictate otherwise, of course, and at least you have that choice here.
Engine choice is, as with the Kia, restricted to an impressive 2.2-litre diesel. I had suggested last week that Hyundai had unveiled a three engine line-up when relaunching this third generation Santa Fe, including a petrol option, but as I found on taking delivery of the Premium-spec version, UK customers can only opt for the 2.2 diesel; the wider engine choices being restricted to mainland Europe.
In all honesty, this should not be a problem either, for the 194 horsepower diesel powerplant would be the engine of choice for most buyers (if such choice existed).
The Santa Fe is one of those cars that has become progressively better looking throughout its existence and this third- generation car hits all the right notes. The front end features a big grille and a high pedestrian-friendly bonnet line, with all of the lights and intakes a stylised trapezoidal shape. It looks agreeably expensive.
Jump inside and the good news continues. We are getting used to some very smart Hyundai interiors these days and the Santa Fe doesn't deviate from that script one iota. There seem to be quite a variety of materials used on the fascia but the overall look and feel is attractive, the dash being dominated by a central screen flanked on either side by big air vents. Then you have got stereo and ventilation controls below, with quite a few of these functions replicated on the steering wheel. The four- wheel drive running gear controls are mounted just here to the right of the steering wheel.
The three-berth middle row of seats slides back and forth, which is a boon when you have got adult passengers behind you but the middle row of seats don't tumble, which means that if you do specify your car with the two occasional seats in the back, access isn't as good as in some rivals.
On the plus side, those rearmost seats do fold very neatly away into the floor, which means a decent amount of space in the boot when you are travelling in five-seater mode. Luggage space has been increased by 37mm in depth over the previous generation model, yielding a capacity of 534 litres with the front five seats upright.
One inevitable consequence of the Santa Fe becoming better finished, better equipped and better engineered is that prices have crept up. That price rise is partially offset by the provision of the front-wheel drive models, which start at less than £26,000, with the step up to an equivalent all-wheel drive car costing about £1,400 more. It's a £1,200 price step to go from a five-seater models to a seven-seater and around £1,700 to add an automatic gearbox.
You can, therefore, see how it is easy to suddenly start spending about £30,000 on even an entry trim Santa Fe. Something like a Nissan Qashqai+2 with seven seats, a diesel engine and an automatic gearbox will cost you about £3,000 less which shows that this Hyundai has moved into a serious section of the market.
Still, you do get a lot of gear for your money. Even the entry-level trim will net you cruise control, rear parking sensors, three-stage heated front seats, Bluetooth with voice recognition, steering wheel-mounted stereo and phone controls, AUX-in and USB connections for the stereo and a trip computer.
There are 18in alloy wheels, front and rear skid plates, a rear spoiler with an integrated brake light and body-coloured doors and mirrors. Go for a range-topper and you will get gear like 12-way electrically adjustable driver's seat trimmed in leather, keyless entry, touchscreen satnav, a ten-speaker premium sound system with separate subwoofer and amplifier, and a smart parking assist function.
As well as offering decent value for money, the Santa Fe isn't going to break the bank when it comes to day-to-day running costs. With no petrol engine in the range it is hard to come up with a model that is anything other than saintly in terms of economy and emissions.
There is one slight caveat though and that is the automatic gearbox. Compare manual and auto versions of, say, an all-wheel drive seven seater and the manual will register 46.3mpg and 159g/km whereas the automatic, as tested here, fares markedly worse at 41.5mpg and 178g/km.
Still, it's worth putting even that worst case figure in perspective. Getting better than 40mpg from a seven seat four-wheel drive vehicle really isn't that bad, is it?
Residual values look extremely good in part thanks to the Santa Fe's increasingly strong reputation for reliability.
Owners also take advantage of Hyundai's excellent Five Year Triple Care deal. This includes a five-year unlimited mileage warranty, five-year RAC roadside assistance and five-year annual vehicle health checks from your dealer. Reported by This is 9 minutes ago.
Clik here to view.
This is Hull and East Riding --In the market for a big, family-friendly SUV? If so, then the revamped Hyundai Santa Fe deserves serious consideration. It would also be worth having my review of the Kia Sorento in last week's Motors supplement handy as well, because these are two very, very similar cars.
Which one you ultimately decide on will come down, I suspect, to those hard to pinpoint personal preferences.
The Santa Fe does give a little more choice in terms of model specification and that may well be the deciding factor for you. In this car, for instance, you can choose a five or seven-seat model, whereas the Sorento is seven seats only.
You can also specify front-wheel or all-wheel drive, where again, the Kia just offers all-wheel.
Fairly basic stuff and, as I suggested last week, I believe most would-be purchasers would err towards the side of the seven-seat, four-wheel drive option anyway. Price considerations might dictate otherwise, of course, and at least you have that choice here.
Engine choice is, as with the Kia, restricted to an impressive 2.2-litre diesel. I had suggested last week that Hyundai had unveiled a three engine line-up when relaunching this third generation Santa Fe, including a petrol option, but as I found on taking delivery of the Premium-spec version, UK customers can only opt for the 2.2 diesel; the wider engine choices being restricted to mainland Europe.
In all honesty, this should not be a problem either, for the 194 horsepower diesel powerplant would be the engine of choice for most buyers (if such choice existed).
The Santa Fe is one of those cars that has become progressively better looking throughout its existence and this third- generation car hits all the right notes. The front end features a big grille and a high pedestrian-friendly bonnet line, with all of the lights and intakes a stylised trapezoidal shape. It looks agreeably expensive.
Jump inside and the good news continues. We are getting used to some very smart Hyundai interiors these days and the Santa Fe doesn't deviate from that script one iota. There seem to be quite a variety of materials used on the fascia but the overall look and feel is attractive, the dash being dominated by a central screen flanked on either side by big air vents. Then you have got stereo and ventilation controls below, with quite a few of these functions replicated on the steering wheel. The four- wheel drive running gear controls are mounted just here to the right of the steering wheel.
The three-berth middle row of seats slides back and forth, which is a boon when you have got adult passengers behind you but the middle row of seats don't tumble, which means that if you do specify your car with the two occasional seats in the back, access isn't as good as in some rivals.
On the plus side, those rearmost seats do fold very neatly away into the floor, which means a decent amount of space in the boot when you are travelling in five-seater mode. Luggage space has been increased by 37mm in depth over the previous generation model, yielding a capacity of 534 litres with the front five seats upright.
One inevitable consequence of the Santa Fe becoming better finished, better equipped and better engineered is that prices have crept up. That price rise is partially offset by the provision of the front-wheel drive models, which start at less than £26,000, with the step up to an equivalent all-wheel drive car costing about £1,400 more. It's a £1,200 price step to go from a five-seater models to a seven-seater and around £1,700 to add an automatic gearbox.
You can, therefore, see how it is easy to suddenly start spending about £30,000 on even an entry trim Santa Fe. Something like a Nissan Qashqai+2 with seven seats, a diesel engine and an automatic gearbox will cost you about £3,000 less which shows that this Hyundai has moved into a serious section of the market.
Still, you do get a lot of gear for your money. Even the entry-level trim will net you cruise control, rear parking sensors, three-stage heated front seats, Bluetooth with voice recognition, steering wheel-mounted stereo and phone controls, AUX-in and USB connections for the stereo and a trip computer.
There are 18in alloy wheels, front and rear skid plates, a rear spoiler with an integrated brake light and body-coloured doors and mirrors. Go for a range-topper and you will get gear like 12-way electrically adjustable driver's seat trimmed in leather, keyless entry, touchscreen satnav, a ten-speaker premium sound system with separate subwoofer and amplifier, and a smart parking assist function.
As well as offering decent value for money, the Santa Fe isn't going to break the bank when it comes to day-to-day running costs. With no petrol engine in the range it is hard to come up with a model that is anything other than saintly in terms of economy and emissions.
There is one slight caveat though and that is the automatic gearbox. Compare manual and auto versions of, say, an all-wheel drive seven seater and the manual will register 46.3mpg and 159g/km whereas the automatic, as tested here, fares markedly worse at 41.5mpg and 178g/km.
Still, it's worth putting even that worst case figure in perspective. Getting better than 40mpg from a seven seat four-wheel drive vehicle really isn't that bad, is it?
Residual values look extremely good in part thanks to the Santa Fe's increasingly strong reputation for reliability.
Owners also take advantage of Hyundai's excellent Five Year Triple Care deal. This includes a five-year unlimited mileage warranty, five-year RAC roadside assistance and five-year annual vehicle health checks from your dealer. Reported by This is 9 minutes ago.