2020 Hyundai Santa Fe review: A petrol V6 is nice, but too much for the front-wheel drive Elite?

CarExpert

4 cylinder diesel not for you? How about a punchy petrol V6!? Hyundai has rolled out a petrol V6 engine to the 2020 Hyundai Santa Fe and Paul Maric reviews the car in detail, plus the engine. It's only available in front-wheel drive though, is that an issue? Watch and find out!  Read the full review: https://www.carexpert.com.au/review/2020-hyundai-santa-fe-v6-elite-review/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=review&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=single-car-review  Skip Ahead: Intro: 00:00 Exterior: 01:04 Interior: 03:01 Infotainment: 04:30 Features: 05:16  Practicality: 06:00 On the Road: 12:38 Verdict: 15:20  We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.  Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.  Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1  You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.  Finally, we want this channel to grow with your support and feedback. If there's anything you don't like or would like to see us change, we'd love to hear from you! #hyundai #review #santafe  Follow us on social media to see what we're up to and to ask any questions!  CarExpert: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarExpertAus Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CarExpertAus Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carexpert.com.au  Paul Maric: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulMaric Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PaulMaric Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PaulMaric  @HyundaiWorldwide @hyundaiaustralia

Transcript

00:00 G'day, I'm Paul. Now, I've got some good news for you. Hyundai has ditched the naturally aspirated

00:05 four-cylinder petrol engine in the Santa Fe and instead replaced it with a really hearty V6

00:11 petrol engine, and that makes this unintentionally one of the quickest SUVs in this segment,

00:17 and that's always a good thing. Now, here's another fun fact for you. The steel in this

00:21 car comes from right here. Well, not literally right here, but Australia, and that is iron ore

00:27 from Western Australia and coal from Queensland, so there's a little bit of Australiana inside the

00:32 Santa Fe. This one here is the mid-specification Elite, and it's priced at just under $52,000.

00:39 If you do want to see the rest of the Santa Fe price range pricing, you can go down to the

00:43 comments section below. If you do want to jump ahead, there are some time codes there for you

00:47 to find the part of the review that you specifically want to watch, or if you're on

00:50 YouTube, just scroll down to the description and you'll see all the links there. If you are watching

00:55 this and you haven't subscribed yet, please hit the subscribe button and then follow that up with

00:59 the bell icon. That's going to tell you every single time we publish a new car review.

01:03 Let's talk styling now. In terms of dimensions, 4,770 millimetres long, which is just under 4.8

01:11 metres. It's not as big as something like a CX-9 or a Pathfinder, but it is still fairly big in the

01:16 grand scheme of things. Have a look at this design. There is a lot going on here. So, you have

01:22 satin chrome, which looks pretty cool, and then you have this split headlight design. I love these

01:27 LEDs. They're kind of narrowly fitted into there and they really give this an aggressive look.

01:32 Your headlights are actually in this cluster below here. So, you've got your standard beam

01:36 and then high beam, but halogen, ew. We have spoken about this before, especially here in

01:42 Australia. If you're driving in the country, you need to be able to see what you're doing,

01:45 and these halogens are just a bit nasty and don't give you the projection that you need,

01:49 but I do like this grille. It kind of emphasises everything that's going on. It's nice and big,

01:54 but not overly gaudy. I think overall, the design at the front here works really nicely.

02:00 Now, the curious thing about this car is the weight. This weighs around 1800 kilos. Because

02:05 the V6 is only available as a front-wheel drive, you're saving around 200 kilos on the diesel,

02:11 which is only all-wheel drive. So, there is a distinct weight benefit to going for the V6

02:16 petrol instead. So, these wheels, they're nice-looking wheels, all fairly sort of straightforward.

02:20 They're 18-inch alloys and they have quite a chubby profile on them. What are they? They're

02:24 60 profiles. So, this is going to give you that softer ride, even though the wheels are slightly

02:29 bigger. It's not going to crash over things and we'll test that out when we do go for a drive.

02:34 And then, come around to the back with me. So, over there, we have our proximity sensor,

02:38 by the way. This is the button to get in and out of the car. The roof rail in that satin chrome

02:42 finish up the top. You can see this car's fitted with a tow bar, which is interesting, given it is

02:47 a front-wheel drive car. So, when we go for a drive, I'll discuss that in a little bit more

02:51 detail. But, I think overall, this is a really nice-looking design and they've really finished

02:56 it off nicely. You'll be able to tell it's the V6 because of this, the 3.5 badge.

03:00 While Hyundai's gone for a slightly quirky design outside, inside the cabin here, it is all nice

03:07 and premium. So, I love the way they've divided all the black sections with the chrome highlights

03:12 and have a look at this roof. It's like a modern couch. They've gone for a really cool design

03:16 there. But, let me know in the comments below, have you bought a Santa Fe? And, if so, have you

03:22 got kids? Because I'm curious to see what this looks like after the kids have had some access to

03:28 it. You can also get different seat colours as well. So, this is the black layout and, for the

03:32 most part, it actually looks really good. So, let's get our hardness tester out. This is the device

03:37 we use to see how soft-touch a soft-touch dashboard really is. And, this goes from 0 to 100,

03:43 where 0 is soft and 100 is hard. So, I'm going to switch it on here. Test it on our dashboard.

03:49 We'll see what that's like. Oh, that's not bad. 57, it caps out out there. And, what about the

03:55 centre armrest? We'll see how that goes. Oh, that's not bad as well. So, it does show you that

04:02 Hyundai is using some soft-touch materials around the cabin to make it feel nice and premium. What

04:07 about build quality? Well, it all feels pretty nice and decent, but I did notice here with the

04:11 centre console lid, it is a little bit flimsy. If you haven't seen it yet, have a look at our IONIQ

04:15 review. You can click up there to watch it. That had a similar issue with the console lid, so it

04:20 seems like it's a thing that's common to Hyundais. The other thing I love about this is the seats.

04:24 Have a look at the diamond quilting up the top there. These seats look like they belong in a

04:28 high-end Audi, not a Santa Fe. Let's talk infotainment. You get this floating infotainment

04:33 screen, standard on the Elite. This is an 8-inch unit. It comes in-built with Apple CarPlay and

04:38 Android Auto. Now, if you do want a more detailed look at this infotainment system, click up here to

04:44 watch our full Hyundai infotainment review. But, outside of that, you're getting a 10-speaker

04:48 stereo, FM, AM and DAB+ digital radio, so they're handy functions to have. It is a little bit

04:55 disappointing, though, that the voice recognition button, when you hit that, it does nothing. Your

04:59 phone has to be paired in the smartphone mirroring function for it to work. Most other cars have at

05:03 least basic voice recognition function built into the infotainment system. This doesn't have

05:08 anything at all, which is a little bit annoying. You get shortcut buttons on the side there, and

05:12 it's a fairly easy-to-use system with a super high-resolution screen. Okay, what about the rest

05:17 of the features you're getting in the car? You have dual-zone climate control, USB connectivity,

05:21 you have two ports down the front here, an auxiliary port and a 12-volt outlet as well.

05:26 If we go further down, you have front and rear parking sensors, a reverse-view camera,

05:31 an electric park brake, you also have the ability to go through drive modes, we'll talk about that

05:35 later, with hill descent control. Then, in addition to that, you have radar cruise control,

05:39 low and high-speed autonomous emergency braking, automatic dimming for the rear vision mirror.

05:45 Ahead of the driver is a small LCD display with the trip computer, and also, it appears with

05:50 parking guidance controls. When you are in reverse or approaching an object, you have blind spot

05:55 monitoring, lane-keeping assistant, and of course, rear cross-traffic alert as well. Enough about

06:00 infotainment and features, let's talk about storage. How much have you got here? There is

06:05 plenty of places to put odds and ends. So, phone storage, you can either slot your phone down there,

06:10 or if you have a bigger phone, it sits beautifully down there. There's no wireless phone charging,

06:14 so don't expect that to light up or do anything interesting. Cup holders, plenty of them,

06:18 fits cup perfectly, and then inside there as well, you've got those little clips. Inside the doors,

06:24 you have cup storage and also plenty of storage for other things that are going to be floating

06:29 around. The center console is fantastic. You've got coin storage in there as well. Over here,

06:35 glove box. Glove box is fairly decently sized. You also have an air conditioning duct in there

06:40 as well, so you need to keep choccies and stuff cool. That's where you want to put them. And then,

06:44 finally, a little grip tray here as well to put coins and other things that you don't want

06:49 floating around the cabin. So, the seats look good, but are they comfortable? Yes, they are.

06:54 This feels so nice to be seated here. The steering wheel is a really good size. I find something

06:59 really weird with Hyundais. The leather they use, or whatever the material is on the steering wheel,

07:03 it tends to be quite slippery. So, when you're holding onto it, it kind of slips out of the hand

07:08 a little bit. Yeah, I don't know whether you want to treat that with something if you buy the car.

07:11 I'd hate to imagine if you're turning or something and it slipped out of your hand. It wouldn't be

07:14 very nice. But, outside of that, the seats are really comfy. I could picture myself doing

07:19 a thousand k's behind the wheel here. It'd be really a good place to be seated.

07:22 So, how friendly is the Santa Fe in the second row for adults and kids? Well, I can tell you from an

07:29 adult's point of view, the room here is pretty impressive. So, my seat is in my normal driving

07:34 position and I've got plenty of knee room there. Toe room is slightly compromised, but it's not

07:39 the end of the world. Mat pockets in the back of these two seats. Storage here for bits and pieces,

07:45 plus rear air vents as well. But, I love this. Two USB outlets so you can keep all the kids'

07:50 devices charged. In the centre, we have a centre armrest with two cup holders, which is a handy

07:56 feature to have. Now, because it's a three-row car, these two seats are movable to give your

08:01 rear occupants more legroom. And there's another fun function here. There are buttons on the side

08:05 of this seat that allow it to move backwards and forwards to give you more legroom. I don't know

08:10 how useful that is, especially if you've got kids, because I reckon they're going to be playing with

08:14 that a lot of the time. But, it's there nevertheless. You have window blinds as well to block

08:19 out all the nasties outside. There's also ISOFIX points for the two outboard seats and top tether

08:24 points for the entire second row. Now, there is another couple of really cool functions here that

08:28 I want to tell you about. Did you know that this car will prevent you from opening the door if

08:33 there's another car approaching or if there's a pedestrian or a cyclist? Now, the big advantage

08:37 here is that a lot of cyclists get knocked down from drivers that aren't looking out the car. Kids

08:42 always want to jump out of the car as quick as they can. So, when they go to open the door, if

08:46 there is another vehicle approaching, they won't be able to open it. It will just look like it's

08:51 locked, which is a great feature. In addition to that, the driver has the option of not only

08:55 locking access to the back of the car from the inside, but also locking access to the windows.

09:00 So, one push of the button at the front there locks the doors and stops the windows from working. So,

09:05 that is some fantastic functionality. And the final feature. Some of you may think this is

09:09 the most stupid feature in the world, but people lead stressful lives and we've seen countless

09:14 times in summer across the world, kids end up being locked in the back of cars and dying because

09:19 their parents forget that they're in there. You don't know what people are going through. So,

09:22 this car has a feature that uses ultrasonic sensors in the back here. If you go to get

09:27 out of the car and there's still an occupant in there, it's going to remind you to check

09:30 the back seats. I absolutely love smart technology like that. Hyundai has been clever and I'll show

09:36 you why in just a second. Obviously, with cars like this, this is slightly smaller than a lot

09:40 of its competitors. So, it is marketed more for just kids to access the third row, but will it

09:46 fit an adult? Only one way to find out. So, you can recline the seat by using the lever on the

09:51 side that pulls it forwards, backwards and also reclines the base as well at the same time. But,

09:56 if you do want to climb in there, you have a button on top of the seat that lets you in or

10:00 lets you out rather if you're in the third row. Then you've got a button here. So, you give that

10:04 one push, it rolls forward and then pushes the entire seat base. It's still going to be hard

10:09 work to get in. I think you have to kind of be a gymnast if you're an adult. There we go. I've

10:15 slid in there. So, from the back here, you have a little storage nook on the side, two cup holders

10:21 on the right-hand side, individual air vent controls and a blower control there as well. So,

10:26 you can control the amount of air that you're getting back here. It is disappointing that

10:30 there's no airbags for the third row. They stop around here somewhere. Can we fit in if I close

10:36 this though? Let's give this a shot. So, I'm pulling that backwards. Yeah, look, I can make

10:40 it so there is knee room here for me, but you can clearly see that if this is in its standard

10:44 position, you won't fit. What's the knee room like there? Yeah, so if this is in the position

10:49 where an adult can fit, you actually don't have any room in the second row. You're kind of

10:53 compromised. So, I think this is strictly a kid-only zone. Plus, I've got no headroom either.

10:59 Let's talk cargo capacity. Because of the reduced overall length, you're going to be compromised

11:04 here. So, it has a power tailgate, which is good news. Here's what I'm talking about. So,

11:09 there's only 130 litres of capacity there with the third row up and I have a feeling that's

11:14 going to mean this doesn't fit. Yeah, that's not going to close. So, what you have to do then is

11:22 drop that third row. Before we do that, I'll show you what's under here. You have the storage for

11:26 the cargo blind. I'll show you how that goes in as well in just a second. But to drop these,

11:30 it's fairly straightforward. You pull these tabs, seat folds down into place. That's all pretty

11:37 easy. And then if you do want to drop these two as well, it's even easier. You just push this

11:41 button on the side here, that will drop the right-hand side and then one more drops the

11:45 left-hand side. That is a really cool setup. Okay, let me show you this cargo blind. It's

11:50 good that there's a storage spot for it because often this stuff, if you leave it at home or

11:54 try and not have it in the car, you'll end up losing it or forgetting it somewhere. So,

11:59 it's good that there is a dedicated spot for it. And then you've also got two slots for the cargo

12:05 blind. So, if you don't need to have the chairs too far back in the second row, you can slot the

12:11 cargo blind there. Or if you do need a little bit more space, you simply remove it from its housing

12:17 and push it forward one stop and then it extends all the way. So, that is a pretty handy setup.

12:22 And then with our luggage, there is plenty of room for it to fit in here.

12:26 Look at that. So, it is a pretty big boot space, but keep in mind when you do have the third row

12:33 active, there's barely any room to put anything behind the third row. One of the big benefits

12:39 here of the Santa Fe and Hyundais in general in Australia is that the Hyundai Australia team

12:44 actually does the ride and handling tune exclusively for our market. So, these cars are

12:48 sent to Australia before they're launched. The engineers here get a hold of them and develop

12:53 their own ride and handling tunes so that it is built for our roads. When I say built for our

12:57 roads, the roads here in Australia aren't any better or worse than anywhere else in the world,

13:02 but they're quite unique where you go from having smooth highway roads and then you go to country

13:06 B roads where you have built up gravel on the side, you have washaways. They're all conditions

13:11 with gravel as well that you don't really get in other markets around the world.

13:15 Now, how does the Santa Fe handle? Well, it is a big SUV, but Hyundai has built in as part of that

13:21 suspension tune a little bit of compliance there, so it is sporty enough to throw it around without

13:26 it feeling too big behind the wheel. Curiously, Santa Fe comes with a number of drive modes and

13:31 you select them using this button down here. You've got comfort, eco, sport and smart. Smart

13:36 transitions between the modes depending on what you're driving is, and if you do bump it up to

13:40 sport, you get a sharper transmission shift points and you also get slightly heavier assistance on

13:47 the steering. Under the bonnet of the Santa Fe V6 is a naturally aspirated 3.5-litre petrol engine.

13:54 It produces 202 kilowatts of power and 336 newton metres of torque, and that provides you a combined

14:00 fuel economy of 10.6 litres per 100 Ks. We're seeing closer to 11.6 mainly with city driving,

14:07 but the good thing about this engine is how punchy it is. Simply just bury the throttle

14:12 and it gives you a nice little push in the back and away it goes. It gives you a really good surge

14:17 of torque and it's confidence inspiring, especially if you've got a big overtake lined up.

14:21 So the only downside to this engine is the flurry of torque that you get. So I've punched it here

14:27 out of that corner and I can see the traction control light going crazy there, and then we get

14:31 torque steer. It's the only drama you're going to have with sending so much torque through the front

14:37 wheels of what is effectively quite a heavy car, and then that's amplified in the wet. If you're

14:41 going even on a slight incline and you need to punch the throttle, it'll start becoming skittish

14:46 and the front end will start wandering a little bit. So it almost feels like it's too much power

14:50 when it is exclusively front-wheel drive. Really would like to see an all-wheel drive option here

14:55 with the petrol V6. So at 100 kilometres an hour on a country road here, it is a little bit noisy

15:00 in the cabin. You can hear that wind noise coming over the sides of the car, but in general the

15:05 tyres don't really push much into the cabin. So it is serene enough and then once you crank the

15:10 stereo you don't even notice there's any noise from the road. And finally you've got blind spot

15:14 monitoring to help you catch other cars in your blind spot, because sometimes that stuff does

15:19 happen. So Hyundai Santa Fe V6 petrol, I reckon this thing is an absolute winner. It is better

15:26 than the diesel because it's not as noisy and it has plenty of torque. Now the diesel is good,

15:30 but it kind of lacks the punch that you get in this. This gives you the confidence behind the

15:34 wheel. Where it's let down though, and especially here when it is a little bit wet, is the traction.

15:39 It has so much torque that it just starts going crazy, and unfortunately you can't get this with

15:43 all-wheel drive because of packaging. So that is the only disappointment, and that also means that

15:48 towing can be a little bit sketchy when the weather gets a little inclement. Keep in mind

15:52 as well that this is slightly smaller than the likes of CX-9 and like I said Pathfinder,

15:56 so that means you're not going to get as much room in the third row or even as much room behind the

16:00 third row. So if you do need that extra boot space you might want to look elsewhere. But outside of

16:04 that this car is sensational value for money, loaded with features and most importantly fun

16:09 to drive. SUVs shouldn't be boring just because you have lots of kids. Now if you enjoyed this

16:14 video please hit the like button and don't forget to subscribe and also hit the bell icon. That's

16:18 going to tell you every single time we review a new car. You can read the full review of the

16:22 Santa Fe V6 Petrol at carexpert.com.au and as always let us know in the comments whether you're

16:28 liking these videos, whether you want to see anything changed or whether you've got any

16:32 questions about the Santa Fe. Until next time, take it easy.

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