Santa Fe, New Mexico, population 70,000,
America’s oldest state capital. What does this have to do with a medium-sized
Korean SUV? Not a lot, except that the very wise folk at Hyundai correctly
reasoned back in 2000 that the way to break the North American market was not
to launch a car called Changwon or Uiwang. Their wisdom was ratified by sales
success in America, and even though they didn’t change the UK model’s name to
Leamington Spa, we Brits kind of got the Santa Fe too. We’ve bought
37,500 of them since 2001, and snaffled 4200 last year alone.
Here we
have the third-generation model, confusingly dubbed ‘New Generation’, which
adds to the Santa Fe’s
established good-value/robust/unfussy DNA a good deal more technology and an
aggressively chromed-up, Yank-tank belligerence around the jawline. As one of
the bold new breed of stylish Koreans it succeeds in making premium Germans
look rather plain and the Japanese a little tired (though having seen off the
Freelander it will have sleepless nights over the arrival of Land Rover’s
spangly Discovery Sport). Battles to come.
Our
car’s ‘Premium’ badge means it’s the current five-seater range sweet-spot (the
Premium SE gets two extra seats and inessential lush goodies), and the kit list
is so comprehensive we’ve only managed to add a paltry £585 to the base price –
that being the cost of ‘titanium silver’ metallic paint. Which means we’re on
the road for £32,315 – slightly less than an equivalent Honda CR-V, slightly
more than a Toyota RAV4 and heaps cheaper than a decent Freelander 2. So, while
Hyundai doesn’t
own value, you’ll find it rolling up its sleeves with gusto when they shoot the
mid-market SUV fight scene.
Credible
stuff then, but in the corner of the room an elephant lurks. Why are we running
a Santa Fe? It’s not a
car that’s only just been launched, it’s neither the best nor the worst nor the
cheapest nor the most desirable car in its class, and keen drivers will dismiss
it as if it had just handled on the goal-line. It’s all my fault really. Since
driving the very first Santa Fe
on its launch back in 2001 I’ve held the view that unfashionable SUVs are often
hidden gems, shielded from readers by a mix of snobbery, tradition and
road-tester bravado. Take a poll of 50 motoring journalists and find out how
many would take an inferior Land Rover over an uncool Santa Fe.
Yes, of course you
get more steering feedback from a Freelander than from this Hyundai,
whose variable power-steering system (called FlexSteerTM) is more numb than a
Sherpa’s nose, and yes the Santa
Fe’s 2.2-litre diesel engine’s mantelpiece is empty of awards for power
delivery or refinement. But with 311lb ft of torque it pulls like Benedict
Cumberbatch at a mums’ speed-dating evening which, added to the likely benefits
of reliability and low running costs (the five-year warranty includes five
years of roadside assistance and an annual vehicle health check) nicely richens
the mix.
So, in
my role as official bucker of trends (at least, I think they said ‘bucker’)
I’ve decided to sample the case for middle-market solidity and the
unfashionableness for which I’m well suited.
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