Hyundai Santa Fe Elite CRDi 2009 Review

Hyundai Santa Fe Elite CRDi - Road Test

RRP: $46,990
Price as tested: $46,365 (includes metallic paint $375)
Crash rating: four-star (Euro NCAP)
Fuel: Diesel
Claimed fuel economy (L/100km): 8.2
CO2 emissions (g/km): TBA
Also consider: Holden Captiva (more here), Nissan Pathfinder (more here), SsangYong Kyron (more here)

Overall rating: 3.0/5.0
Engine/Drivetrain/Chassis: 2.5/5.0
Price, Packaging and Practicality: 3.0/5.0
Safety: 3.5/5.0
Behind the wheel: 3.5/5.0
X-factor: 4.0/5.0

About our ratings

The family must have been really nice this year (as opposed to the really naughty norm) because Santa paid a week-long visit to our house over Christmas... 'Santa' being Hyundai's Santa Fe Elite seven-seater with the CRDi 2.2-litre turbodiesel and five-speed automatic transmission.

In a week during which the Hyundai was called upon to be taxi, van, shopping trolley and (Gawd help us!) offroader, it proved itself to be the sort of capable and effective multi-purpose gadget that might come with a Demtel badge and free steak knives.

The Santa Fe Elite is the flagship of Hyundai's current range competing in the medium SUV VFACTS segment and, with the diesel/auto combo, is priced at $46,990. For that money, it comes with 18-inch alloy wheels, leather seat trim, chrome, MP3-compatible six-disc in-dash audio system, electrically-adjustable front seats, auto-on/off headlights, an electro-chromatic mirror with integrated compass, and a sunroof.

All Santa Fe models come with a dust and pollen filter for the HVAC system. This was a huge relief for a family of hay-fever-sufferers out in the country. In fact, driving provided the only break from the tribulations of springtime and summer when Family Gratton ventured into Victoria's Gippsland region.

Another boon came in the form of the Santa Fe's MP3-capable audio system, which could play music sourced from either a data CD-ROM disc with MP3 files on it, or patched via the USB connection to a tiny little iPod Shuffle.

The USB connection didn't work with a non-iPod MP3 player, but that could be played through a standard auxiliary input jack. Whatever the case, there were at least two distinct solutions offered for music in areas where decent radio stations just will not reach -- and at no stage did we hear the same song twice. Okay, it's not such new technology these days, but it's a useful thing to have when you're out in the wilds -- and how many SUVs offer this sort of feature anyway?

The Carsales Network has already reported on the upgraded Santa Fe for 2009 (more here), but this was a chance to spend a bit of time with the vehicle as owners are likely to do. Even better, the Santa Fe arrived at what is usually a busy time of year for families and Christmas would certainly test the car's mettle.

During the first two days, we folded the seats flat and loaded two trestle tables and four kitchen chairs of the non-stackable kind, to relocate to the family domicile for Christmas lunch. No problem there. The tables were moderately heavy and the Santa Fe's high ground clearance made it a little more difficult to load them than would be the case for a conventional wagon, but the Hyundai's ground clearance later redeemed itself.

Positioned on the offside of the tailgate is the handle to open it from the outside. Fitted with gas struts, the tailgate is easily opened by a six-year-old boy and will rise readily, even on a steep grade. Pulling the tailgate closed is more of an issue and requires someone with a bit of weight and heft. There's a recessed hand-pull in the lower side, to the right of the latch and -- to the Santa Fe's credit -- once it becomes uncomfortable to lower the tailgate hauling it down with the hand-pull, the user can slam it closed the rest of the way by relocating the right hand to the external handle.

There's no separately-opening tailgate window, which is a shortcoming in an SUV of this size, but the Santa Fe's packaging is on the ball otherwise. Despite its ride height, headroom and roof rails, it was able to sneak in under the two-metre limit for the underground car park at the local shopping centre. Furthermore, being one of the smaller examples of a medium SUV, the Santa Fe was relatively easy to reverse into a parking spot.

The side passenger doors require a fair slam to secure properly. They're solid and well made, but they have to overcome the cabin sealing by means of old fashioned thrust.

Entry to the third-row seat is best gained from the near side of the vehicle, pulling a latch under the second-row seat (the 40 per cent element of the 60/40-split-fold unit), to tip the single-person seat up and forward without changing the seating position for when it's returned to its usual location. Note that if an adult or larger child is attempting access to the third row, it's a squeeze between the door and the up-ended seat, and the second-row seat's headrest brushes the headlining when tipped forward far enough to allow easier access to the third-row seats.

Deploying the third-row seats is a simple matter of hauling them up (50/50 split) by two latches set in the floor behind the second-row seating. This leaves little space for luggage, but it works well enough for those occasions you need to transport seven people.

Headroom in the third row is marginal for larger kids and average-sized adults will find themselves in a constantly stooped position to clear the headlining. Kneeroom is not too bad, even for adults and it is possible to place feet under the second-row seat, but ultimately the third-row is a place best reserved for children and younger teenagers.

If you are transporting seven people, at least two of them are bound to be young kids -- and that prompts a question: where's the reversing camera?

Hyundai offers reverse parking sensors as an accessory, but in the interests of ultimate safety, a reversing camera is surprisingly absent from the spec list. It's not a matter of picking on Hyundai -- reversing cameras for mid-sized SUVs are still the exception rather than the rule.

Redeeming itself as a kid-friendly SUV, the Santa Fe offers bottle-holders in the doors and cupholders in the centre armrest for the second-row seat occupants with additional cup/bottle-holding capacity for the third-row occupants also.

Being basically kid-friendly (the Santa Fe also has a low window-line for young ones to see the world), doesn't mean that Hyundai has ignored the needs of parents. The climate control works in two ranges for left and right side of the cabin and there's effectively a third range for the third-row-seat passengers. This zone can be enabled and disabled from the HVAC console -- so front seaters have ultimate control of the aircon.

On 30-degree days and in high humidity, the climate control -- considering it has a large volume to cool -- certainly did the trick.

For 2009, Hyundai has equipped the Santa Fe with HALO (Hyundai Active Locking Operation). HALO locks all doors once the car has reached 40km/h and then won't unlock until the ignition is switched off. The driver and front passenger can leave the vehicle with the engine running (as in when opening a gate), but other occupants are unable to leave the vehicle and the tailgate cannot be opened. In the Australian context -- and particularly in the case of an SUV -- HALO is likely to be an annoyance as much as a virtue.

After the Christmas get-together, the family piled onboard the Santa Fe and set off for Walhalla, an old mining town north of Moe.

Mining companies gradually deserted Walhalla from around the commencement of the First World War and by the 1960s, it was effectively a ghost town. Since then, it has begun to revive as a tourist destination and offers many 4WD tracks in and around the hills either side of the Thomson River, which flows through the township -- current population: around nine or 10, we're told... not counting the ghosts.

Enough kids' recreational devices were stowed in the back of the Santa Fe to last a lifetime, along with the remains of Christmas lunch and other comestibles, reading materials, clothes, et al.

In our launch review, the Santa Fe's seating has already been discussed and the week with the Santa Fe Elite didn't change that view any. The seats provide some support, but not enough under the thighs for a vehicle that can hold the road quite well, by SUV standards. They're somewhat hard and more than two hours' travel at a time may leave the occupant a little numb. They're not the best seats we've ever experienced in an SUV, but neither are they the worst.

On the open road, the cruise control seems slow to respond and not easy to set at a constant speed of the driver's choosing. If the driver uses the cruise to coast or accelerate, the vehicle will continue to coast or accelerate for as much as three to four seconds after the driver has released the button at the indicated speed desired.

Other than the seating and the cruise control, the open road was easily dispatched by the Santa Fe, which was not particularly susceptible to cross winds or oblique headwinds, remaining stable and pointing straight ahead in such conditions.

There were occasional squeaks from the Santa Fe -- and what seemed like an intermittent gurgling sound from the climate control system -- but the Hyundai was quiet most of the time.

The Kumho 235/60 R18 tyres rumbled on some surfaces, but the engine was virtually inaudible in these circumstances. It was more plaintive when cold, but it's a good unit and impressively free of vibration.

This is an engine that's suitable for passenger vehicles (it's the same engine as fitted to Hyundai's Grandeur) and isn't just a converted commercial vehicle powerplant. It's blessed with torque for dragging up grades, but doesn't endow the Santa Fe with muscle-car performance in a straight line, although the diesel Santa Fe will spin a wheel on dry bitumen with enough throttle...

The upside is the diesel Santa Fe is quite frugal. Over a range of driving situations (urban, open-road and off-road), the Santa Fe used 10.2L/100km for the week. With still one third of the 75-litre fuel tank capacity remaining, the car had covered a distance well in excess of 500km.

Careful open-road driving should easily see this vehicle complete an inter-city run (Sydney-Melbourne) on the one tank of fuel. A brief glance at the trip computer read-out at 100km/h revealed an instant consumption figure of 4.9L/100km, versus 5.6L/100km at 110km/h.

Back in the driver's seat, the relationship between pedals, instruments, steering wheel and the seat itself were easily adjusted to suit the driver, with easy reach to the centre console switchgear and an unobstructed view of the instruments.

The auto-on/off headlights provided us with a puzzling moment during the drive up to Noojee from Melbourne. A sudden downpour as we passed through a heavily forested region left us literally in the dark, but the lights didn't operate. Granted it was around 3.00pm, but dark enough for the instruments to be difficult to read and certainly dark enough for oncoming drivers to miss the Hyundai in its 'Black Pearl' finish until the last moment.

The parking brake in the Santa Fe is a pedal above the footrest. In the test vehicle it needed to be pressed hard and far on any sort of slope, not just the steep ones. It would seem that this is not typical of the breed and this particular vehicle may have led a hard life in the short time it has been on the road. As further testament to this, there were curious scratches in the titanium-look plastic trim piece for the driver's electric window switches mirror controls. It looked as though someone had been hacking away at the plastic with a knife!

Around town, the Santa Fe has a respectable turning circle (for a medium SUV) of 10.9m and it felt fairly manoeuvrable in carparks, but less so out in the bush. Not badly, but on some of the more acute corners on bush tracks around Walhalla, the Hyundai required two bites at the cherry.

Steering feel wasn't quite as good as the vehicle's steering response. There was good feedback -- particularly by comparison with some of the Hyundai's competitors -- but the Santa Fe's turn-in and response to input from the driver was in a different league again. It was composed at all times, adopting a wider, consistent line with power applied and predictably tightening up when the driver backed off.

No vices were experienced and the steering combined well with the Santa Fe's handling and roadholding. Altogether, the Hyundai cornered in a secure fashion, but that doesn't mean it was especially dull or incapable of being whipped along if the driver chose. It certainly felt lively and communicative on the road.

And where the Santa Fe raises a few eyebrows lies in the way it can corner with poise and yet ride well too. It just doesn't drive like an SUV archetype. There's no axle steer (no live axles), no camber change, no other vices. Nor does it handle or ride like a sportscar. It absorbs some rough stuff offroad and, as mentioned in the launch review, is capable of more than anticipated by the reviewer.

On our final day in Walhalla, we trekked out to Brunton's Bridge, an historic example of civil engineering wiped out by bushfires. The frame of the bridge is still there, but you can't drive across it. Instead, we forded the river, after being told enthusiastically by the driver of a Subaru Forester that we would have no trouble. As we discovered, the Subaru driver was correct and the Santa Fe waded through, along the rocky river bed, even finding a slightly deeper section than the Subaru driver had -- and coping nonetheless.

For the return to Walhalla, we made a detour along a track off the main route and then tackled a moderately steep uphill grade. The Santa Fe, with 4WD system locked and stability control disabled, easily drove up this grade and over moguls along the way.

We did lightly bruise the vehicle's underside when exceeding the approach and departure angles on a climb to a historic trestle bridge near Noojee, but didn't ground the vehicle between the front and rear axles during the entire time away.

On the relatively narrow tracks the Santa Fe squeezed easily between overhanging branches, proving that in the Aussie bush, it's an appropriate size of vehicle. It also offers a practical blend of packaging and dynamics, both off the road and on.

There are some minor items that we'd like to see in the car, but as with the real Santa -- and the Rolling Stones -- you don't always get everything you want. Despite that, the Santa Fe has a lot of goodies for people who drive long distances out of town and do actually venture offroad.