Hyundai Santa Fe
We check in with Korean SUV, plus updates on Touareg and 320d
I’LL admit to being a tad conflicted by our Hyundai Santa Fe. On one hand, I really like it. The dark blue brute has merged into family life with so few of the usual niggles and hiccups that come bundled up with a new car that I find myself going to extra lengths to try and locate something to complain about. It’s the kind of guy I am.
On the other hand, it troubles me. Not really for reasons inherent in the Santa Fe itself, but more as a result of what it stands for and the way SUVs such as it are taking over. The incredible rise in popularity of cars like this over the last decade and more shows they are what the people, or at least significant numbers of them, want.
The contents of the SUV ’s plus column are well known and obvious. You get those tough, chunky looks, plus the extra peace of mind due to big bumpers and a jacked-up ride height that not only keep the expensive bits clear of kerbs and speed humps, but also makes entries, exits, loading and unloading significantly easier. You could even drive the car off road if you want, with a reasonable expectation of not getting stuck.
The minus column for the SUV contains the fact that they are very rarely as enjoyable to drive as an equivalently sized, and priced, car of the conventional hatchback, estate or saloon variety. They also tend to be less economical – although the margin isn’t as great as it once was – and increasingly, there’s the fact that absolutely everybody else seems to have bought one.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders tells us that 136,000 ‘dual purpose vehicles’ (a class predominantly comprised of SUVs) were sold in the UK in 2008, and 502,000 were sold in 2018. That’s a 267 per cent increase, the kind of number that keeps sales managers in champagne and lobsters.
This Santa Fe is a seven-seat diesel SUV, 4,770mm in length and almost bang-on two tonnes, so it’s at the upper end of the size scale. It’s got a 197bhp engine, so although it can’t re-write the physics rulebook and still takes 9.3 seconds to do the 0-62mph sprint, 440Nm of torque from 1,750rpm makes it feel strong enough when accelerating.
Despite that muscle and the smoothshifting eight-speed automatic gearbox, it’s doing nearly 41mpg on average, largely without engaging the Eco mode that shifts the 4x4 system’s torque bias towards front-wheel drive. Remarkably, that fuel economy is only just below the 42.8mpg the Santa Fe manages on the official WLTP combined cycle, where it also records CO2 emissions of 157g/km.
One task where the SUV ’s extra height really comes into its own is fitting child car seats. If you value the integrity of your spine, think twice before going back to a lower car while your kids are still using them; the process is just more of a struggle.
SUVs do the things that matter to most people very well, and the things that these high-riding models don’t do well just don’t matter to the majority of buyers. There’s the rub, the recipe for success. Maybe those who moan about the SUV boom should learn to love them. I’m trying my best.
“The incredible rise in popularity of cars like this shows they are what people want”