An underdog worth betting on
FACE it, in this city laced with freeways, we still do a lot of short sprints. First gear. Second gear. Brakes. And perhaps that’s the most telling test drive for any prospective vehicle. For if you’re happy in second gear, you’ll likely be happy a good portion of your driving time.
Hyundai’s newly upgraded Santa Fe is plenty happy in second gear and beyond. A midpriced SUV -- around $26,000, dressed to thrill -- the Santa Fe makes easy work of L.A.’s stop-and-go lifestyle, and provides a burst of pleasure should the world ever open wide. It competes grandly against SUVs costing thousands and thousands more. Want to spend 40 large on a comparable Lexus or Infiniti, go ahead. But the slender and tempting Santa Fe can seat up to seven and still let you make the mortgage.
A Hyundai prideful enough to compete with the BMWs of the world. Crazy? Get in. We’ll take it up the hill.
But first, let’s pause for this important message: SUVs are the new sedans. Formerly truck-like and slothful, midsize SUVs have emerged as America’s choice for family travel, sexier than a minivan and more multi-tasking than the average four-door.
Choices in this midsize market grow every year, and “saturated” is probably too weak a word. Edmunds says there are now more than 40 vehicles in the class, and good luck keeping all of them straight. Mileage is an issue, but lighter components and hybrid options -- sadly, there are no such plans for the Santa Fe -- keep the market highly competitive.
Americans will give up their SUVs about the same time they give up TVs and handguns. Appealing as the thought may be, don’t hold your breath. This is indeed a car for the masses.
And does the 2007 Santa Fe ever play to them. With a younger-looking stance, it throws the weight to the front paws and gives it an overall feline quality that seems fresh off a Disney animator’s drawing board -- oops, computer screen. The back end, with taillights set at an inward 15-degree tilt, seems almost to want to purr at you. There’s also a sleeker, less-severe hood and a little spoiler on the hatch, presumably to keep it from jumping into trees.
At night, the dash gives off a blue, mysterious “Miami Vice” glow. Imagine Biscayne Bay at sunset. This isn’t the most inspired set of wheels you’ve ever experienced, just an impressively refined one. Price point: about $21,600 for the most basic models. Which is the point exactly.
How does it measure up against others in the class? At the high end of the midsize SUV market, there’s the Lexus RX330, so ubiquitous it could be L.A.’s fleet car. Similar to BMW’s X3 or the snarly-cool Infiniti FX35, it offers the same wheelbase as the Santa Fe and a price tag in the mid- to high-$30s.
The vehicles here offer more power than the Santa Fe and such luxe add-ons as navigation systems but not a whole lot else, other than brand prestige, more leather and silkier touch points.
At the other end of the price spectrum, you’ll find Santa Fe’s biggest competitor, Toyota’s popular RAV4. Lighter, shorter and slightly less expensive than the Hyundai, the RAV4 offers nimble handling and Toyota’s trademark reliability.
It also offers a more respectable 21/28 fuel rating, against the Santa Fe’s 19/24. This is thanks to its 3,300-pound curb weight. The RAV is so light, so translucent, you can almost see its ribs. Because of this, it doesn’t feel quite as substantial as the Santa Fe, which offers three different trim packages -- GLS, SE and Limited, with an option for a third row of seats.
A burst of energy
So up the hill we go in the top-end Limited ($26,000 without all-wheel drive, $28,600 with). For about five days, I took it up mountain roads like this, but mostly across L.A.’s fry-pan freeways, reaching speeds in excess of almost 30 miles per hour at one point in daylight driving.
In routine driving like this, the Santa Fe was deft, intuitive, comfortable. The light, Lambda V6 scoots through first gear, then hits a burst of energy at about 2,200 rpm in second. It’s just assertive enough to get in and out of congested post-game parking lots. Grabby front and rear disc brakes easily handle the Limited’s 18-inch alloys. Thanks in part to bigger bushings and gas-charged dampers, the ride is smooth, with only a little of the typical SUV stiffness.
Safety features are plentiful and include six air bags, anti-whiplash head restraints and electronic stability control -- a system of driver-assisting sensors that help avert skids and crashes.
For the most part, automobile backseats are designed by people who never have to sit in them. That’s evident here, with sort of a plain-Jane appearance in back and unimpressive, out-of-reach cup holders along the doors. But head- and legroom are plentiful -- better than in the Lexus RX, for example -- and seats are comfortable.
At night, when freeways finally began to clear, the Santa Fe darted easily from lane to lane, its handling always sturdy and sure, as powerful uphill as down. At 80 mph, the well-damped interior picks up a bit of tire and wind noise but is still remarkably quiet.
Even at rest, the Hyundai seems to pull away from other cars. The Santa Fe debuted in 2000, with boxy, fairly forgettable styling. That’s been fixed with the 2007 redesign. This thing doesn’t ooze attitude, like Infiniti’s FX, a design profile based on guard dogs. But it doesn’t shuffle off into the corner, the way its predecessors seemed to do.
It’s a contender
What’s the curb appeal, the walk-by wow factor? Well, not off the charts. But the vehicle is impressively thought out and well-hammered together. Small touches like the rear hidden compartment give you the sense that engineers were asking themselves, “What if ...”
In the end, the new Santa Fe is bigger, more upscale and more impressively refined than its ancestor, and a strong contender in a class packed with Type A vehicles. While not a work of art, it is a fairly impressive work of commerce, offering great value at well under $30,000. Add in the 10-year powertrain warranty -- the average in this class is five -- and it’s a hard deal to ignore.
“Rethink Everything” is Hyundai’s new mantra. With the Sonata before it, and now the Santa Fe, it appears they have.
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Highway 1 editor Chris Erskine can be reached at chris.erskine@latimes.com.
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2007 Hyundai Santa Fe Limited
Base price: $25,945
Price, as tested: $26,140
Powertrain: 3.3-liter DOHC V-6 engine, with five-speed automatic transmission and front-wheel drive (AWD available).
Horsepower: 242 at 6,000 rpm
Torque: 226 pound-feet at 4,500 rpm
Curb weight: 3,846 pounds
0-60 mph: NA
Wheelbase: 106 inches
Overall length: 184 inches
EPA fuel economy: 19 mpg city, 24 mpg highway
Final thoughts: The Honda of the 21st century
