Hyundai ups safety game for Santa Fe

HYUNDAI has upped the value of its Santa Fe large SUV range by including a suite of active safety gear as standard across the range, as well as boosting the tech offerings for higher grade versions of its popular seven-seater.

Pricing on all but one variant remains static, with the Santa Fe kicking off from $40,990 plus on-road costs for the two-wheel-drive V6-powered Active X auto, hitting $41,850 for the Active all-wheel-drive petrol and $44,850 for the diesel-powered AWD Active $44,850.

The diesel AWD Elite has risen in price by $1000 to $51,990, while the flagship Highlander AWD diesel stays at $57,090.

Hyundai has also dropped the six-speed manual gearbox from the line-up that was offered in Active guise, with a six-speed automatic now the only transmission choice.

As part of the model year update, Hyundai has included its SmartSense suite of active safety gear on Active and Active X variants, ensuring it is now standard across the range. It was previously only offered as standard in the top-spec Highlander.

SmartSense includes autonomous emergency braking with forward collision warning, lane departure warning, blind spot detection and adaptive cruise control.

As well as the active safety gear, the Active and Active X gain new standard kit including a larger 4.2-inch TFT colour display in the instrument cluster – up from 3.5 inches – an electric park brake, power folding mirrors with puddle lights and an auto-dimming rearview mirror.

An 8.0-inch satellite navigation system incorporating Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity are new to the Elite and Highlander grades. This is an increase from the previous 7.0-inch unit.

Powertrains continue unchanged, with the 138kW/241Nm 2.4-litre naturally aspirated four-cylinder petrol engine powering the Active, with a fuel economy rating of 9.4 litres per 100km.

Following its introduction as a permanent fixture in the Santa Fe line-up in March this year, the Active X uses Hyundai’s 199kW/318Nm 3.3-litre petrol V6 that consumes 10.5L/100km.

Active, Elite and Highlander grades are offered with the 2.2-litre common rail four-cylinder turbo-diesel unit pumping out 147kW and 440Nm, sipping 7.8L/100km.

On top of the standard gear, options include metallic paint for $695 on any variant, while a beige interior adds $295 to the cost of the Active X, Elite and Highlander, a brown interior is $295 extra for the Highlander and a panoramic sunroof is $2000 more in the Elite.

Since its launch in late 2012, Hyundai has introduced a number of running changes and model year updates to its third-generation Santa Fe, including a mid-life refresh in late 2015.

The Santa Fe had its best sales result last year, with Hyundai shifting 7834 units, a 16 per cent increase over its 2015 result.

So far this year the ageing SUV is tracking 7.3 per cent ahead of the first six months of last year, with 4717 sold.

It is the fifth best-seller in the sub-$70,000 large-SUV segment so far in 2017, behind the Toyota Prado (8657), Subaru Outback (6225), Toyota Kluger (5993) and Holden’s Captiva (5345) and just ahead of the Mazda CX-9 (4657).

2017 Hyundai Santa Fe pricing*

Active X 3.3 MPi 2WD (a)	$40,990
Active 2.4 GDi AWD (a)	$41,850
Active 2.2 CRDi AWD (a)	$44,850
Elite 2.2 CRDi AWD (a)	$51,990
Highlander 2.2 CRDi AWD (a)	$57,090

*Excludes on-road costs