Hyundai Santa Fe 2015 Long-Term Test

We aim to make your choice of vehicle easier. Our Editorial section does this via our mix of news, international and local launch reviews as well as our seven-day tests.

From time to time we also take the opportunity to spend more time in a vehicle. These longer-term tests can be as short as a couple of weeks, but more recently we've settled on a six-month period as indicative of 'normal' ownership.

Long-term tests give our staff writers and contributors a chance to get to know a car as an owner would. While the car is with us, we pay for fuel, pay for the servicing and generally use and live with the car as a new owner would.

We believe long-term tests give car buyers an added insight into the vehicle on test, but also the qualities behind the brand and nameplate. The extended period also allows us to touch base with the dealer networks in question.

It comes as no surprise that manufacturers tend to have a love-hate relationship with long-term tests. Six months is plenty long enough to fall out of love with the latest and greatest, and start to nitpick -- just like real owners do.

The Hyundai Santa Fe Highlander is a nice car to have a nervous breakdown in … or go house hunting.

The sheer rottenness of trooping from one over-priced rental property to another is enough to drive anyone batty. If a car company offered products this shoddy at any price – let alone these laughably inflated figures – it would be pilloried in the way Hyundai was 20 years or more ago.

But the MY15 version of Hyundai's large SUV shows just how far the Korean giant has come. The newest addition to motoring.com.au's long-term test fleet is comfortable, spacious and well-equipped, and, on one recent Saturday for my wife and I, a haven between each real estate horror show.

It was a torrid but educative introduction to the top-spec MY15 Santa Fe Highlander. The new model tweaks the handsome Yank-oriented exterior with ventilated front seats, adds new driving and LED running lights and a dark chrome grille to the face, and an improved, localised tune of the suspension and steering underneath.

The Highlander also gets some tricky new gear. There's an automatic tailgate which opens if you stand within about a metre of it for about three seconds with the remote key in your pocket. It's the foot swipe function without having to swipe your foot…

There's also lane-departure warning, smart parking assist and front parking sensors (overdue that), joining the already-standard rear sensors and reversing camera.

Add in Hyundai's recently announced lifetime capped-price servicing and 10-year roadside assistance plan – on top of its five-year unlimited km warranty – and the Highlander's $1250 price hike (to $53,240 plus ORCs) seems quite realistic.

Some things don't change for 2015 of course. The combination of 2.2-litre CRDi turbo-diesel engine, six-speed automatic and on-demand all-wheel drive are entirely familiar, as is the seven-seat interior.

Our example also came with the obligatory metallic paint ($595); a tow kit including towbar, towball and trailer wiring harness ($1145); heavy-duty 'load assist' rear springs ($300); and an electric trailer-brake controller ($100). We didn't do any towing in our week with the Highlander, nor did we even pop up the third row seats, but be assured those stories and more are yet to come...

What we did, however, cover more than 1000km of driving, all of which returned a pretty good feel from the Santa Fe's essentially benign nature.

The house-hunting was a great way to see how well the Santa Fe worked in the suburban environment. Not too big to be unwieldy, not too small to be sidelined by families. Quite easy to manoeuvre and park with its 10.9m turning circle and reversing camera. Not only was it a relief to clamber back into, but easy to pilot between each hideous viewing.

Like most diesels, the CRDi does its best and quietest work exploiting its flat torque peak (436Nm between 1800-2500rpm) rather than being revved hard; then it gets noisy and vibrations can be felt through the pedals. There's also some tip-in throttle lag and a little clatter when cold.

The six-sped auto does very good work, aiding both drivability and economy, the latter coming out at 9.0L/100km after a week of driving and more than 1000km. That's compared to the official 7.3L/100km combined claim. Remembering so much of our driving was urban, that's a pretty good result.

The latest round of local chassis tuning hasn't changed the fundamental Santa Fe driving experience. It still tends to be a bit too reactive at low speeds on bumpy and broken surfaces – the heavy duty springs wouldn't help with this. There's still a bit of that high-riding SUV clumsiness about the handling, but that height also delivered a great viewing platform.

The three-mode Flex Steer electric-assist power steering is light and easy but essentially feel-less; which is actually a better option than some of the hydraulic-assist horror shows we've sampled in the past. If the guys at Hyundai Australia could tackle brake performance next time that would be great – the hefty 1968kg Highlander does feel like it's working pretty hard in its current set-up.

The interior is a real highlight; enough space to fit adults front and rear and the bodies of real estate agents in the 516-litre boot. There are lots of storage areas, too, comfortable seating and an equipment list including seven airbags, leather trim, sat-nav, powered and heated front seats, heated and sliding middle row seats – and a full-size alloy spare wheel.

There were a few foibles. The multi-zone climate control system didn't have quite enough juice for us on the hottest days, some regularly touched surfaces were hard and plasticky, AM radio reception was appalling just 50km from the city, and the multimedia system had occasional bursts of indecision. The rising rear window line also makes it harder for shorter people to see out when reversing.

But compared to days of yore the list of issues with the Santa Fe is short and its list of attributes long. It has no gaping issues, as so many Korean cars have had in the past, and maybe that's what impresses about it most.

If only we could find a house with the same qualities!