Hyundai should offer the third seat in all trim levels. With options such as the navigation system ($1,750) and Touring Package ($3,150) with a rear-seat entertainment system, our Limited tester topped out at $35,795 including freight.īut it’s really not necessary to spend that much to have a nice Santa Fe – although with the base GLS model, you can’t get that third-row seat. To get the third row, you have to move up to the midlevel SE model, which begins at $24,495.Īt the top is the Limited, with a base price of $28,445 for the front-wheel drive model, or $30,145 for the all-wheel-drive, model, which we tested. The 2008 Santa Fe starts at $21,495 (plus $750 freight) for the base GLS model with front-wheel drive and five-passenger seating. Prices for the 2009 models have not been released yet, and dealers are still awaiting shipment of the new ones, but still have plenty of the ’08s in stock.įor this report, we were provided the 2008 model, and except for the very minor changes mentioned above, the ’08s are the same as the ’09s. ![]() It’s also an inch wider and almost two inches taller, and its track is 2.9 inches wider. The Santa Fe is 184.1 inches long, seven inches longer than its predecessor. In the latest safety tests, the Santa Fe has earned the top five-star designation in front- and side-impact crashes from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and has received the “Top Safety Pick” designation from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which conducts its own crash tests at a laboratory near Charlottesville, Va. Other changes include a power driver’s seat and universal garage opener for the optional SE Touring Package (which also adds the third seat, with climate-control outlets extended to those passengers), an available towing package on the SE and Limited models, and roof-rack cross rails standard on the SE and Limited, so luggage can be strapped on top when the third-row seat is in use, taking up most of the interior cargo space. The Santa Fe’s audio system now has USB and iPod/MP3 player auxiliary inputs, which allows for direct connection of either a flash drive containing MP3 music files, or an iPod or other MP3 player. As with those competitors, it qualifies as a crossover because of its unibody construction, which combines the body and frame into a single structure, giving the Santa Fe the ride and handling characteristics of a sedan rather than a truck.įor 2009, the Santa Fe returns mostly intact from last year, but there have been a few minor changes.Īmong them are accommodations for those of us who can’t go anywhere without our iPods or other MP3 music players. With the redesign, the Santa Fe now competes against the segment- leading Toyota Highlander and other popular midsize crossovers with three rows, including the Honda Pilot. That pushed the vehicle into the midsize class from its previous compact size. ![]() ![]() Hyundai introduced the second generation of the Santa Fe two years ago, taking the opportunity at that time to make it a bit larger to accommodate the third row of seating. Such efficiency has made crossover utility vehicles the family haulers of choice for many buyers these days, and the Santa Fe is among the best for value and fuel-efficiency. So when you consider the gallons-per-passenger-mile used by the seven-passenger Santa Fe versus a small car that holds just five people (and not very comfortably, at that), the Hyundai makes sense. While some people might complain when I suggest that a vehicle such as the 2009 Hyundai Santa Fe crossover should be considered fuel efficient, with EPA ratings of up to 18 miles per gallon city and 24 highway, the fact is that this car does go a lot farther on a gallon of gas than the similar-sized, truck-based SUVs we were all buying during the past 15 years.Īnd with seating for up to seven people, the Santa Fe can carry a family that would have to use two small, gas-sipping cars to go anywhere together, burning more gas together than this Hyundai does by itself. With gasoline now at a national average of $1.66 a gallon, fuel economy might not be at the top of everyone’s list of considerations in choosing a new vehicle, as it was in July when prices topped $4.īut most of us understand that today’s prices – at a five-year low – aren’t going to last, and that we do need to consider gas mileage when we’re shopping for our everyday vehicles.
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