Hyundai Santa Fe

Considering the third generation Santa Fe found its way into the history books for being New Zealand’s favourite large SUV, the current fourth generation was going to have to be pretty impressive to fill those wheel tracks. And guess what? It is.

Santa Fe has adopted the strong and impressive Hyundai family grille, with chrome garnishes and ‘bash plate’, accentuating

Santa Fe’s implied off-road robustness.

The main lights have been slimmed, while the lower light assemblies have been revamped to give a more substantial look from the front. LED lights adorn the rear, which has seen a subtle redesign.

That’s about all you need to know about the cosmetics. What’s under the bonnet?

There are 2.5-litre and 3.5-litre V6 petrol engines on offer, but the

2.2 diesels – as found in our Limited AWD test vehicle – are the more popular choice, and there are good reasons for that: refinement and ability, as well as the obvious lowerprice-at-pump/mpg or l/100km running costs.

The engine’s power output has increased marginally, but the fuel efficiency figure has improved dramatically from the previously stated 7.5 litres per 100km to 6.1 l/100km – and yes, that 6.1 is quite attainable.

Of course, you won’t get that figure if you use the Santa Fe as a towing vehicle, but that’s OK because the figure you want to know about in this regard is the uprated-to-2500kg (braked) towing capacity for the 2.2R diesel and the 3.5 V6 petrol models.

The transmission is – as it was – an eightspeed automatic, but this time around, it is a dual clutch automatic – the offspring of Hyundai’s newly formed inhouse transmission division, Transys.

Transys allows Hyundai to produce and deliver the best transmission type for any given vehicle, including the PHEV Santa Fe due here sometime this year.

For regular Santa Fe models, the DCT wet clutch with its faster response time, speed of shifting and fuel efficiency was deemed the best choice. A good call.

Trainspotters are likely to notice all this, but as to regular drivers, the DCT wet clutch eight-speed is…just a really nice automatic.

The Limited models gain a healthy 10.25-inch central command screen sitting over a ‘floating design’ centre console found in the Kona, hydrogenpowered Nexo and the newly arrived Palisade.

It’s safe to call this the design architecture for Hyundai’s SUVS, and it’s refreshingly interesting while being easy to adapt to.

It also seems to me that, while there are bigger buttons, there are more of them, giving credence to Hyundai’s claim that the Santa Fe is now more sophisticated and offers better value for money.

You get three buttons for your transmission, four if you count Park, you gain auto hold, you get an auto start/stop switch, a button to heat your steering wheel, buttons to heat your seat or cool it, the rotary drive terrain selector, hill descent control and camera activation switch.

Above all that you have your climate

HVAC controllers and then the infotainment controllers to match those on the steering wheel.

Then there’s the stuff you can’t necessarily see, Hyundai’s Smartsense safety technology which contributes in no small way to the ANCAP and EURONCAP safety rating.

The 2021 Santa FE is also slightly larger in every respect other than wheelbase. It’s 5mm taller, 10mm wider and 15mm longer, which translates to an inner space gain for the second row, where occupants gain 34mm additional legroom.

Nice to see an automaker thinking of the passengers now and again.

In summary, the 2021 Santa Fe – for all that the changes appear subtle – is a muchimproved vehicle with its bigger brother Palisade to thank for emphasising the value for money proposition.