It may be a 4x4 but don't judge me yet! (Hyundai Santa Fe)

Member Name: Meggysmum

Product:	Hyundai Santa Fe
Date:	10/06/09 (122 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lovely drive, great visibility and good warranty.

Disadvantages: Bit on the big side!

I will hold my hand up now and admit I drive a 4x4. I do not live in the wilds of scotland or up some inaccesible lane but I do have an excuse, I tow a family caravan. I need my vehicle as a work horse as dragging the caravan (very slowly) behind a Mondeo up a hill once was enough to send me out to the car dealerships!

I am now on my second Santa Fe. The first one I had from new for 5 years. Ihad a problem when it was quite new and the clutch kept slipping whilst towing. This was a recognised fault and the whole clutch was replaced under the warranty. In the later years it developed an electrical problem with the dashboard lights which irritated but didn't effect the performance of the car. The only reason I changed to the newer model was because family commitments meant that sometimes 5 seats were just not enough.

I chose the 2.2 CRTD CDX, this had the stability programme that made it safer for towing. I opted for the 7 seat model. Like many 7-seaters the seats lift up out of the boot space in the back. They are not huge but are adequate for my teenagers and are very easy to put up and down. When they are up there is a small boot space. When they are down the boot is HUGE!

The interior is leather which I would not have out of choice as it is soooo cold or hot depending on the weather. The front seats do have interior heaters but there are always moans coming from the back in winter! The interior looks really nice and has been upgraded a lot from the very plasticky interior of the previous model.

The car has a good safety rating and unlike the previous model the 4x4 is "on-demand". This has made it much more fuel efficient. The listed combined fuel consumption is 38.7, I use it for towing every few weeks and my average is about 35 so I think that is pretty good. I try not to use it for local trips, I either walk or we use our smaller car.

I find the car very easy to drive. Obviously it is quite big so it will not fit into every carparking space and watch the height barriers, I have never hit one yet but I always find myself ducking! It is very easy to manoeuvre and I can park it in most places as long as I go in backwards. The only problem I have is that it has privacy glass in the back and I find it hard to park at night as it is hard to see through when it is dark, the reversing lights are perhaps not strong enough. For a diesel engine it is quite refined and not at all noisey.

What I particularly like with Hyundai cars is that the spec level is good, you don't have to pay for every little extra. This model has everything I would expect, roofbars, luggage net,cruise control heated windows etc. They also come with a 5 year warranty and if the experience with my previous car is anything to go by they do seem good at honouring it!

There were several reasons why we chose this over a lot of other 4x4s on the market. These vehicles are competitively priced compared to others of a similar class. I have had this one a year so bought it just before used car prices fell (isn't that typical?), it was 9 months old and cost £15,000. It has a huge towing capacity of 2.2 tonnes although I would only ever tow up to about 1500 as that is 85% of kerb weight (a safe limit). I am only just over 5 ft and I can reach all the controls with ease and the visibility is good. We looked at a Discovery and I couldn't reach in the boot which wasn't a good start! I loved the colour-very girly I know but it is a lovely metallic blue! Good aftersales service.

All in all I would not hesitate to recommend this car. It does not drink anywhere near the amount of fuel people think it does. I have friends with saloon cars which are far less fuel efficient. It is comfortable to drive and as a passenger and it has the extra seats when required.

Summary: Perfect vehicle for towing and has 2wheel drive for about town too.

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