Hyundai Motor India Ltd. has just launched the SantaFe, their luxury SUV, in the Indian market. This will be their most premium offering in the country and is a technology showcase for the company. The SantaFe is a seven seater and is powered by a 2.2litre (2199cc), four cylinder, DOHC (16Valve), CRDi engine with an Electrically controlled Variable geometry Turbo for better acceleration and improved in-gear response times.
The SantaFe, already a best seller in the North American and Korean markets, has segment firsts – starting with the power output. The 2.2CRDi produces 197bhp @ 4000 rpm and 420Nm of torque between 1800–2500rpm. The SantaFe comes with all-wheel-drive which kicks in if the vehicle is travelling over slippery road surfaces such as snow, loose sand or such other surfaces that require better traction.
It is predominantly a front-wheel drive and has a user-selectable 4WD option which stays powered on upto a speed of 40kms after which it goes back to being a front-wheel-drive SUV. There’s only a slick six-speed manual transmission for now, with no immediate plans to launch an automatic. Apart from leather seats, climate control, cruise control, a decent audio-kit, large 18†alloy wheels, the SantaFe comes with independent blower control for the third row seats, six-airbags and a fairly advanced ESP system that works well with the Traction Control and ABS package the car has. There will be two-variants on offer - a two-wheel drive only (4x2) and the four-wheel-drive variant (4x4). The seemingly lower-spec variant is also fairly luxuriously appointed but gives ESP, cruise control and no active headrests a miss.
The ARAI mileage claimed by Hyundai is 14.66 kpl and with Hyundai’s history of producing some excellent and efficient CRDi engines, we have no reason to doubt this. Other things like the cavernous centre armrest chiller, excellent ride and handling and very high levels of refinement make the SantaFe quite desirable. The SantaFe will come in as a CBU Import from South Korea and will be available in two variants and four colours (Phantom Black, Sleek Silver, Vanilla White, Steel Blue) for now. The Introductory prices for Santa Fe 4X2 is 20.95 Lakh, and the top-of-the-line 4X4 is 22.95 Lakh (All prices in Indian Rupees, ex-showroom Delhi).
The Hyundai SantaFe will compete with the likes of the Chevrolet Captiva, Toyota Fortuner, Ford Endeavour, Mitsubishi Outlander, Nissan X-trail and the yet-to-be-launched Skoda Yeti. With Hyundai cars in India being known for their excellent aftersales, low cost of ownership and reliability, the SantaFe seems like a very sensible choice in this segment. Interestingly enough, the word SantaFe translates to to 'Holy Faith' in Spanish apart from being the beautiful capital city of New Mexico. The SantaFe is refined, spacious, powerful & fast, has all the right safety kit and looks good too! Watch this space for our first drive report real soon!
