Hyundai Santa FE Independent Car Review
Hyundai Santa FE Independent Car Review
Hyundai, oh dear... Not exactly a manufacturer that produces cars that you would describe as the last word in style are they? Let's be honest, they have been Korea's redneck, dirt bag, poorer cousins to their neighbouring Japanese big hitters in Honda and Toyota since god was a lad.
Although their cars have always retailed much, much cheaper than their Japanese rivals, nobody ever contract hired or personally leased one because even though they were cheap at the front end, they always had a terrible 3 year residual value, which meant that your rental per month was into the better made and better known big Japanese manufacture territory This made your decision very easy.
Rather than accepting this, Hyundai decided they not only want to just take on the British market, they want to conquer the world. This is evident in their advertising and sponsorship endorsements, they have been title sponsors of the past three World Cups As it is the most watched sporting event in the world, I imagine it would have cost them a hell of a lot of money to beat off the multi billion pound and well established competition to land that gig. They have also just announced that they have signed an agreement to sponsor every FIFA event up until the 2022 World Cup That is a simply staggering amount of investment BUT what they should have done is invest that money in putting the indicator & window wiper stalks the right way round for the British market in the new Santa-Fe
As I'm writing this, we are currently in the middle of the worst snow and bad weather for over 25 years It is bad enough having to concentrate on making sure that the morons in front, behind and at the side of you dont crash into you because they haven't got a clue how to drive in the snow...let alone having to remember that if you indicate left with your left hand your wipers start going faster then a speeding bullet. This in turn means that you panic...and then numpty boy behind crashes into the back of you because he thought you were going straight on This sounds very picky I know, BUT they have managed it with the ix35 (which I drove last week) so why cant they do it with the Santa-Fe? Very lazy on Hyundai's part with absolutely no excuse for it
There is also no excuse for the hideously illuminated blue lighting of the instrument panel, radio and climate controls It is so bad in fact that I took a direct call from the Russian space station asking me to turn it down as it was making them feel sick...2 days later I finally figured it out, so I apologise if you found yourself randomly covered in vomit around Mid-December.....It was the Russians Just forward your dry cleaning bill to Sepp Blatter
So now you are expecting me to moan about the cheap plastic interior, awful ride and crappy 'styling'...Well you are in for a shock as I really like this car. What's not to like (other than the above)? It's very well styled, has a cracking diesel engine that pulls well through every gear. It's quiet on the motorway for a BIG 4x4 and it is BIG With the 7 seater model, the 2 rear seats fold down with the lift of 1 handle. You tower above Honda CR-V's and Toyota Rav-4's, it is very comfortable and compared to these other cars it's far, far, far more practical.
The car that I test drove was the 2.2CRDI Premium which comes with Leather, CD MP3 radio, Dual Zone climate control, Electric windows all round, Alloy wheels and a bullet proof 5 year warranty (currently for 389.00 per month with NO DEPOSIT) That's about 60 per month less than the equivalent CR-V and that is before you take into account that the Santa-Fe has 2 extra seats in the rear. All of that makes this car a real alternative.
Thanks for reading
Pictures/SnapShot :
Hyundai, oh dear... Not exactly a manufacturer that produces cars that you would describe as the last word in style are they? Let's be honest, they have been Korea's redneck, dirt bag, poorer cousins to their neighbouring Japanese big hitters in Honda and Toyota since god was a lad.
Although their cars have always retailed much, much cheaper than their Japanese rivals, nobody ever contract hired or personally leased one because even though they were cheap at the front end, they always had a terrible 3 year residual value, which meant that your rental per month was into the better made and better known big Japanese manufacture territory This made your decision very easy.
Rather than accepting this, Hyundai decided they not only want to just take on the British market, they want to conquer the world. This is evident in their advertising and sponsorship endorsements, they have been title sponsors of the past three World Cups As it is the most watched sporting event in the world, I imagine it would have cost them a hell of a lot of money to beat off the multi billion pound and well established competition to land that gig. They have also just announced that they have signed an agreement to sponsor every FIFA event up until the 2022 World Cup That is a simply staggering amount of investment BUT what they should have done is invest that money in putting the indicator & window wiper stalks the right way round for the British market in the new Santa-Fe
As I'm writing this, we are currently in the middle of the worst snow and bad weather for over 25 years It is bad enough having to concentrate on making sure that the morons in front, behind and at the side of you dont crash into you because they haven't got a clue how to drive in the snow...let alone having to remember that if you indicate left with your left hand your wipers start going faster then a speeding bullet. This in turn means that you panic...and then numpty boy behind crashes into the back of you because he thought you were going straight on This sounds very picky I know, BUT they have managed it with the ix35 (which I drove last week) so why cant they do it with the Santa-Fe? Very lazy on Hyundai's part with absolutely no excuse for it
There is also no excuse for the hideously illuminated blue lighting of the instrument panel, radio and climate controls It is so bad in fact that I took a direct call from the Russian space station asking me to turn it down as it was making them feel sick...2 days later I finally figured it out, so I apologise if you found yourself randomly covered in vomit around Mid-December.....It was the Russians Just forward your dry cleaning bill to Sepp Blatter
So now you are expecting me to moan about the cheap plastic interior, awful ride and crappy 'styling'...Well you are in for a shock as I really like this car. What's not to like (other than the above)? It's very well styled, has a cracking diesel engine that pulls well through every gear. It's quiet on the motorway for a BIG 4x4 and it is BIG With the 7 seater model, the 2 rear seats fold down with the lift of 1 handle. You tower above Honda CR-V's and Toyota Rav-4's, it is very comfortable and compared to these other cars it's far, far, far more practical.
The car that I test drove was the 2.2CRDI Premium which comes with Leather, CD MP3 radio, Dual Zone climate control, Electric windows all round, Alloy wheels and a bullet proof 5 year warranty (currently for 389.00 per month with NO DEPOSIT) That's about 60 per month less than the equivalent CR-V and that is before you take into account that the Santa-Fe has 2 extra seats in the rear. All of that makes this car a real alternative.
Thanks for reading
Pictures/SnapShot :
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