Ireland first as seven-seater Santa Fé hits road

HYUNDAI’s popular seven-seat SUV, the Santa Fé, has just gone on sale here.

This is the first market in Europe to launch it, and it costs from €41,995.

That is for the 2WD Comfort Plus entrylevel model, which invokes road tax of €390. Prices range all the way to €57,495 for the 4WD Premium Plus Auto.

The fourth generation of the big-selling SUV has just the one engine but it’s a powerful 2.2-litre 197PS diesel.

Like the previous generation it is a substantial motor with an overall length of 4,770mm, while it is 1,890mm wide

and has a 2,765mm wheelbase. Ground clearance is 185 mm. There are 6spd manual and 8spd auto transmissions as well as two-wheel drive and 4WD models.

Standard spec includes drive mode select, autonomous emergency braking, 17ins alloys, Bluetooth, cruise control, lane keep assist, roof rails, auto air con, LED daytime running lights, electric windows, 3.5ins TFT instrument cluster, cloth seats, auto wipers and lights, rear parking sensors, radio with RDS and mono 5ins screen.

Active safety and driving assistance elements include rear cross-traffic collision avoidance, lane keeping, rear occupant alert, safety exit assist, blindspot collision warning, forward collisionavoidance assist with pedestrian detection and speed limit information.