Hyundai Santa Fe Elite 2006 Review

7-day Test

Hyundai has made such huge strides with each new model generation that the latest Santa Fe is good enough in most areas to share a shopping list with the mainstream players. Throw in almost every luxury feature you can fit into an SUV and the top-shelf Santa Fe Elite can seem like a bargain at the entry price of some of its rivals.

Despite Hyundai aspirations, the Santa Fe is not a Ford Territory alternative.  It is such a long way short in several vital areas, you can scratch it from your shopping list now. The main problem is a very porky 1894kg unladen and large frontal area drawing on a tiny 2.7-litre V6 petrol engine that can only deliver a peaky 138kW at 6000rpm and a puny 248Nm at 4000rpm.

The trusty old four-speed auto has such big chasms between each ratio that an engine this stretched can only cover them with big revs and equally big rise in fuel consumption. A sweet and frugal engine in Hyundai's passenger cars, it is an antelope doing an elephant's job in this context.

A comparably-equipped Territory Ghia AWD weighs 2095kg hauled by a 4-litre six that delivers 190kW and a whopping 380Nm of torque at only 2500rpm, made all the more efficient by the best six-speed auto in this segment. Even if their relative prices are poles apart, there is no point considering the Santa Fe if it can't do what you want. Even with only one person aboard, overtaking on an uphill highway section is an agonizingly drawn out and noisy affair. Women Territory drivers immediately picked the lack of low-speed response in traffic and noted that even with the Santa Fe engine screaming its lungs out, not enough  happened until it was too late.

While Hyundai claims a combined fuel figure of 10.6lt/100km, you won't get close to that with five people and their luggage on board especially while forcing it to perform like a normal six-cylinder family car, which it can't anyway. Towing anything other than a light box trailer under these conditions is not something you would want to consider.

A reasonably sedate country drive with driver only that included several highway sections and hills delivered a disappointing 15.6lt/100km, no better than a Territory in such conditions and probably worse. Normally, it would be loaded up to its family carrying capacity in such a test but the tedium and hard work this would have invited was not worth it. The Santa Fe Elite weighs 120kg more than a fully-equipped Ford Fairlane Ghia before you load it. The Aussie approach of a big, lazy engine that never has to work hard suddenly makes sense.

The Mazda Tribute/Ford Escape twins which are closer in approach to the Santa Fe than the Territory never feel stretched with 152kW/6000rpm and 276Nm/4750rpm and deliver more consistent fuel consumption under pressure.

As a sedate alternative to similar four-cylinder rivals, the Santa Fe might prove to be a smoother and equally frugal performer providing you don't drive it like a six, except that defeats the point. It is a real shame when on fast gravel roads, the Santa Fe is a balanced and grippy handler with a driver-engaged centre diff lock that allows a fixed 50:50 split front-to-rear in tighter, more slippery conditions.

Its ride and relative lack of body sway make it one of the best of its type, something that few people could imagine saying about any Korean product even two years ago. Its much shorter wheelbase than the Territory left it with extra agility and less sway over the same route that exposed the Tucson's suspension shortfalls. The Santa Fe reflects the huge advances made by the Korean industry.

The leather trim, dash design and overall cabin ambience are also a huge step forward over past Hyundai efforts and almost enough to counter the smaller engine, if you don't need to go anywhere loaded-up or in a hurry. With electric front seat adjustment on both sides, electric sunroof, big sound and dual-zone climate control, the Santa Fe Elite certainly has all the goodies but they add the weight this vehicle doesn't need. The wood dash highlight would have been acceptable as well if it didn't look so much like what Australians pasted on their walls in the 1960s.

In the hyper-competitive local market, the Santa Fe Elite ultimately confirms that you very rarely get a serious edge over a rival without paying the cost somewhere. 

Also read CarPoint's Hyundai Santa Fe launch review