Hyundai Santa Fe hybrid review: a leap upmarket for the Korean seven-seat SUV
The facia is all digital with decent if crowded graphics. The twin analogue dials do clever things, giving a camera rear view on each side when you use the respective indicator, and with the right one mimicking a power meter when the car’s in Eco mode, but a rev counter in Sport. I never failed to find out what it does in the customisable My Drive mode, because I couldn’t work out how to customise it.
It’s that sort of car, offering endless choice with much of it tantalisingly just out of reach. The heating and ventilation controls behind their own glass screen are just the same, with endless confusing permutations of what should be a simple thing to control: temperature, blower and vent direction. As with all the new Hyundai/Kia models, there’s a full suite of advanced driver assistance systems (stepping up to a remote parking system, blind-spot monitor and a surround-view monitor with mid-spec Ultimate trim) along with speed-limit and lane-departure warnings and a driver-monitoring camera, but they form a cacophony of beeps and bongs when you inadvertently transgress their algorithm boundaries, while giving you little idea of what you are being warned about, or why.
On the road
This is not the most mellifluous engine and you will need to tread on it hard if you are overtaking or travelling up a Welsh mountain, where it gets noisy and unattractive.
For most other usage however, the gentle mix of electric and petrol power is relaxing and refined, which in a way is what these vehicles are designed to do. It does a nice motorway canter and while 36mpg isn’t fantastic, the aerodynamics of the body (0.29Cd) means it doesn’t suffer too much at speed. The brakes blend regeneration braking and friction brakes smoothly and the pedal feels intuitive, with a gentle grab at the top of the travel.
Off-road there’s a series of simple drivetrain choices of Snow, Mud and Sand, but it does quite well on its intermediate tyres, restarting on slate shale inclines at the bike park and coping well with the road up the side of the Long Mynd in Shropshire. There’s a bit of “thinking about it” as the vehicle starts to move and the traction control needs the wheels to spin a bit before intervening, but it’s fairly accomplished in conditions which would stop or at least seriously hinder a two-wheel-drive vehicle. The steering feels firmly weighted and reasonably accurate, but this is a softly sprung and high mounted vehicle and it rolls on to its outside front tyre before very much happens to the direction of travel.
You learn to live with it but, handling-wise, Land Rovers are much better. The ride is soft, but the tyres pick up on rattly bumps and even sharper longer ones. On the top of the Long Mynd, the Santa Fe jangled along, tipping our heads from side to side and thumping the cabin with its noisy suspension.
The Telegraph verdict
As the name suggests, the Santa Fe wasn’t really designed for the UK and even Hyundai expects sales to be modest.
That said, there is still a sizeable market for a seven-seat SUV in the UK, even if the rearmost ones are strictly for the young or very bendy. The difficulties of taming such a large and heavy beast for a diet of UK tarmac roads isn’t the easiest and to a large extent the dynamic compromise reached will suit most owners without recourse to expensive active damping or air suspension. At the extremes, however, the Santa Fe will be found wanting; it’s up to you how often you visit those extremes and whether you need a German or Land Rover product to negotiate them.
I quite liked the Santa Fe, though the over-GBP50,000 price seemed a bit hard to swallow, which was something to ponder over as I travelled back through Shropshire serenaded by warning bongs and pings.
The facts
On test: Hyundai Santa Fe 1.6 215PS Hybrid Calligraphy Body style: five-door family crossover On sale: now
How much? range from GBP46,775 (GBP55,730 as tested) How fast?
112mph, 0-62mph in 9.8sec How economical?
38.1mpg (WLTP Combined), 36mpg on test Engine & gearbox: 1.6-litre, four-cylinder 158bhp/195lb ft petrol turbo driving the front wheels; 1.49kWh lithium-ion battery a 36bhp/198lb ft electric motor driving the rears Electric-only range: 0 miles
Maximum power/torque: 212bhp/271lb ft total output CO2 emissions: 167g/km (WLTP Combined) VED: GBP670 first year, GBP590 next five years, then GBP180
Warranty: 3 years / 60,000 miles