Price: $25,380 to $40,800
2009 Hyundai Santa Fe CRDi Long Term Review update
Well it’s been four weeks instead of the usual three, what with the whole Full Throttle trip and all, but the Santa Fe hasn’t been locked up in a garage, with a forlorn look across its grille.
No, the good wife has been getting some use out of the car, while carting the offspring from swimming lessons to playcentres.
In those few weeks, more than 1000km have been added to the odometer, with the current count standing at 2197km. The fuel use has also gone up slightly, with the optimistic trip meter telling us 10.6 litres per 100km, but the real world usage equates to around 0.1L/100km greater than that. That’s not really of great concern, as city only trips can certainly cause the consumption to fluctuate.
In the not too distant future we will attempt a country run and see what we can get the big Hyundai down to.
Mostly the Santa Fe has been holding up well, but a couple of areas of concern are the cheaper plastics surrounding the ignition barrell, as well as the door handles.
If you are chatting while trying to put the key in, and miss the keyhole for the ignition when starting, it also can scuff the textured surround. Care is needed when dealing with the harder, black plastics. Long fingernails (no, not mine) also tend to scratch the door handles slightly.
The seats are still very comfortable, and are softening up now with a bit of use. The clip we spoke about in the last update is doing fine, too. The back of the passenger seat is also resisting the occasional size two boot that the little ‘un rests there during travel. Actually, in the accommodation stakes, the Santa Fe is one very good number.
We are going to keep an eye on the suspension though. My wife reported that there was a thumping sound when going over speed bumps and, sure enough, I was able to replicate it. Even at slow to medium speeds, the springs seem to “top out” which results in a thump through the cabin.
It’s not super alarming, but it is a little uncomfortable, and again, might be due to the Trek’N'Tow package. My first port of call will be to compare it with a standard Santa Fe, and we’ll know exactly what’s what.
We’re loving the parking sensors, and the convex mirror which helps keep an eye on activities in the rear of the car. I also love the towing capabilities.
We recently had to cart around some sand for Master Peskett’s sandpit. A cubic metre of the stuff was loaded up, and with nearly a tonne of weight in the trailer, the Santa Fe simply got on with the job; no hassles, no struggles.
The 2.2-litre diesel has plenty of torque, and even with that weight dragging behind, the auto didn’t flare, or miss a beat. The suspension also hardly moved, proving that the tow in Trek’N'Tow is certainly worthwhile.
You can’t fault the Santa Fe’s performance. So far, we’re fairly impressed.
