Hyundai's Santa Fe is Coming to Town

The Korean auto maker is working to upgrade its cars and improve sales, and the Santa Fe crossover looks like it could be a hit

by Thane Peterson

Editor's Rating:

The Good: Standard features, low price, lack of road noise

The Bad: Boat-like handling, sluggish acceleration

The Bottom Line: A crossover SUV for the budget-minded

Reader Reviews

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Up Front.

Like The Jeffersons from the 1970s TV series, Hyundai is movin' on up, adding features and size to its vehicles while still trying to offer better value than its big-name competitors.

The Korean automaker's new Santa Fe sport-utility vehicle is an example of the trend. The Santa Fe, which first came out in 2000, used to be fairly compact. But for the '07 model year, the company moved it up into the midsize range to compete with models such as the Honda (HMC) Pilot and Toyota (TM) Highlander (which has the advantage of coming in a hybrid version (see BusinessWeek.com, 5/24/06, "Toyota's Green SUV").

Hyundai also gave the Santa Fe more refined comfort and driving features that put it into the hot-selling crossover category of vehicles that combine the space and hauling capacity of an SUV with the driving characteristics of a car (see BusinessWeek.com, 1/12/06, "Why Carmakers are Crossover Converts").

The new Santa Fe measures 184 inches in length, more than half a foot longer than the previous model. It's also slightly taller and wider. And by paying an extra $1,200 or so for the Touring Package, you can add a third row of seats, turning the Santa Fe into a seven-passenger people-hauler.

To my eye, the new Santa Fe looks a lot better than the old one, too. Its lines are cleaner, and the pointier front end, with its sloped grill, looks downright rakish. The new Santa Fe won't turn heads when you pull into the local health club, but it won't embarrass you, either. And the fit and finish on my test model was excellent, with relatively tight and very uniform gaps around the doors and hood.

The 2007 seems to be a hit with consumers. September sales data were not available as of this writing, but for August, 2006, Hyundai reported that sales of Santa Fes were up 25% over the same month in 2005.

The Santa Fe's list of standard features is impressive. No matter which version you choose, it comes with cruise control, power windows, mirrors and doors, electronic stability and traction control, antilock brakes with brake assist and brake force distribution, as well as such standard safety gear as active head restraints, front and side airbags for the driver and front passenger, and side curtain airbags for all three rows of seats. You can add all-wheel drive to any version of the vehicle for $2,000.

The Santa Fe comes in three trim levels, the GLS, SE, and the fancy Limited. As a value proposition, the cheaper versions are hard to beat. The base GLS starts at just $21,595 with a manual transmission, which is remarkable considering all the standard equipment it comes with. The main downside is that the GLS has a relatively small 2.7 liter V6 engine that only generates 185 horsepower, considerably less powerful than the 3.3 liter, 242 horsepower V6 that comes in the SE and the Limited.

However, you can easily spend more than $30,000 on a Santa Fe if you trick it out with all the available bells and whistles. The Limited, which comes with such standard niceties as leather seats, wood trim, steering-wheel-mounted controls, a heated driver's seat, and a tilting and telescoping steering wheel, starts at $28,595 with all-wheel drive. Going with the most expensive option package, which costs $4,750, adds such fancy enhancements as a power sunroof, an upgraded 10-speaker sound system, and a backseat DVD entertainment system with wireless headsets.

You'd almost think you were riding in a Lexus. (The RX 350 starts out with a MSRP of $37,000, however.) Yet, whichever trim and option level you choose, the Santa Fe's price comes in thousands of dollars less than those of comparably equipped rival models.