SA Roadtests
South Africa
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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here probably applies to the models you can get at home.
*To read one of our road tests, just select from the menu on the left.
*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the reports.
This is a launch report. In other words, it's simply a new model announcement. The driving experience was limited to a short drive over a prepared course chosen to make the product look good. We can therefore not tell you what it will be like to live with over an extended period, how economical it is, or how reliable it will be. A very brief first impression is all we can give you until such time as we get an actual test unit for trial. Thank you for your patience.
Pics supplied
Posted on 26 January, 2013
Published in The Witness Motoring on Wednesday January 30, 2013
“So where’s the petrol model?” one of the journalists wanted to know. You had to be there. It’s a little game we all play at new model launches, usually enquiring about the “missing” diesel. Stanley Anderson, Hyundai SA’s director of sales and marketing, had been expecting this one: “Too slow,” he grinned. “Buyers want decent performance from our Santa Fe and the 2.2-litre R-series diesel provides that.”
Briefly, the mechanical parts are much as they were before: same engine, suspension, gearbox and brakes. What has changed is that the body is a little bigger and it has been restyled - a lot. Peter Schreyer, public face of the new Kias, has been appointed to Presidential rank in the chaebol to oversee design for both brands. He is the first European to have been promoted this high in the company.
The design language is still the ‘fluidic sculpture’ theme begun a few years ago, but a new twist was introduced for Santa Fe. It’s called “Storm Edge”; capturing the strong and dynamic images created by nature during the formation of a storm. Just thought you might like to know.
Cutting to the chase, the new range consists of three models. There’s a five-seat, front wheel drive Premium derivative that, despite being at entry level, is very well equipped. One step up is the seven-seat, on-demand all-wheel drive Executive with more kit and finally the seven-seat awd Elite with even more stuff for kids to explain to bewildered parents.
Common to all is the 2.2-litre diesel engine, six-speed automatic transmission, McPherson strut with stabiliser bar suspension up front and a multi-link rear with high performance gas shocks at both ends, motor driven power assisted steering, alloy wheels ranging from 17” to 19”, 320 mm ventilated discs at the sharp end and 302 mm solid discs at the back. The lower models use a 190 mm drum-in-hat foot operated parking brake, while that on the Elite is all-electronic.
Standard safety equipment on all three is four-wheel electronic ABS with EBD, ESP, six air bags, vehicle stability management, active yaw control, downhill brake control and hill start assistance. Combination leather and cloth upholstery, all the usual powered devices, fog lamps at both ends, light-sensitive xenon head lamps with washers, automatically locking doors, filtered dual zone climate control, six-speaker radio and CD player with USB and auxiliary, cruise control, automatic wipers and an onboard computer look after comfort. There is more, but we don't want to bore you.
As models go up in spec, more kit is added, but the range-topping Elite brags with the electronic parking brake, electrically adjusted seats with warmers and two memory settings, puddle lamps, a panoramic sunroof and a camera to supplement the reverse warning beeper fitted to the others.
We drove the two seven-seaters from Cape Town International up to Paternoster for lunch, did some low-level boondock riding in the afternoon, overnighted at Shelley point, then took the long way back via tar and dirt, to the airport. Within its design parameters, it’s competent off-road, comfortable, goes like a greyhound, has plenty of space for picky passengers in the second row and its gearbox works very well indeed.
The Santa Fe is Hyundai’s upmarket SUV and priced accordingly, but you would need very influential friends to get all that this one offers, from a European competitor at similar prices.
Information gathered during a manufacturer-sponsored media launch
The numbers
Prices range from R434 900 to R499 900
Engine: 2199 cc, four-cylinder, DOHC, 16-valve, turbodiesel
Power: 145 kW at 3800 rpm
Torque: 436 Nm between 1800 and 2500 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 9,8 to 10,0 seconds
Maximum speed: 190 km/h
Fuel consumption (claimed): 8,0 to 8,3 l/100 km
Fuel: 50 ppm diesel only
Tank: 64 litres
Ground clearance: 185 mm
Approach/departure/breakover angles: 16,9/21,5/17,1 degrees
Maximum braked trailer mass: 2000 kg
Cargo: 277/994/2008 litres
Warranty: 5 years/150 000 km; with roadside assistance
Service plan: 5 years/90 000 km; at 15 000 km intervals
Maintenance plan: As above, at on-cost of R10 462. Other plans are available on request
All pics of Elite model
This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.
I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material. If I ever place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with that vehicle at least once already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.
My reviews and launch reports appear on Thursdays in the Wheels supplement to The Witness, South Africa's oldest continuously running newspaper, and occasionally on Saturdays in Weekend Witness as well. I drive eight to ten vehicles each month, most months of the year (except over the festive season) so not everything gets published in the paper. Those that are, get a tagline but the rest is virgin, unpublished and unedited by the political-correctness police.
Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. As quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so they can see I do actually exist.
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SA Roadtests
South Africa
ctjag8