2007 Santa Fe: It's bigger and better

By David Zaslawsky

Central Alabama Business Journal

The second-generation Santa Fe will be manufactured at Hyundai's plant in Montgomery. -Photos courtesy of Hyundai Motor America

MONTGOMERY - The first generation Santa Fe arrived in 2000 and helped drive new customers to Hyundai dealer showrooms.
Since the Santa Fe was introduced in September, more than 425,000 have been sold.

It was Hyundai's first sport utility vehicle and first $20,000 vehicle.
"It was also our first runaway hit and it changed our customer base," Bob Cosmai, president and chief executive officer of Hyundai Motor America, told The Detroit News.

Now comes the second-generation Santa Fe. It is bigger, more powerful and will get better gas mileage than its predecessor. The Santa Fe is expected to be available in the summer.

The New York Times called the new Santa Fe "muscular, yet refined." Trevor Hofmann of the Canadian Auto Press gushed about the interior. "The basic design is more elegant, bordering on stunning," he wrote. He wrote that the old version's dash moldings were replaced "with classy curves and upscale wood grain."

Hofmann wrote that Hyundai "has come up with another hit. If its production execution equals that of the new Tucson, Sonata and Azera, look out Japanese carmakers …"

Hyundai is no longer offering a four-cylinder engine for the Santa Fe. All the Santa Fe models will be equipped with either a 2.7-liter V6 with more than 180 horsepower and an estimated 180 pound-feet of torque or a 3.3-liter Lambda V6 with an estimated 230 horsepower and 220 pound-feet of torque.

The 2.7-liter engine is still more powerful than its predecessor with improved mileage and the 3.3-liter engine is also more fuel efficient than the current engines. The base engine is a five-speed manual, but there is an optional four-speed automatic transmission.

According to AutoWeek, the Santa Fe will be Hyundai's upscale sport utility vehicle and will sell for about $2,500 more than the Korean automaker's Tucson SUV. Although the price tag was not revealed, Hyundai officials said it will be thousands less than a comparably equipped Toyota Highlander. "The all-new Santa Fe is a first-class experience at a coach-class price," Cosmai told The New York Times.

The 2007 Santa Fe, which will be manufactured at the company's $1 billion facility in Montgomery, will feature a third-row seat. The vehicle drew rave reviews at its unveiling at the North American International Auto Show at Detroit.

"This all-new Santa Fe is a quantum leap forward," Cosmai told The Detroit News. He told the Mobile Register: "We've designed a great car, now we're counting on our plant to build it for us."

The new Santa Fe, the first vehicle designed at Hyundai's center in Irvine, Calif., boasts bold new styling and an all-new unibody SUV platform.
The Santa Fe shares some design features with the company's HCD9 Talus concept vehicle - sculptured lines, finely detailed highlights and impressive front grille.

By making the second generation Santa Fe almost two inches taller, the interior is much roomier. Hyundai officials said the vehicle's third-row seats have more leg room than the third-row seat in the Acura MDX, Honda Pilot or Volvo XC90 and matches the leg room of the much larger Mercedes-Benz GL-class SUV.

Hyundai has packed its new Santa Fe with safety technology, including electronic stability control, anti-whiplash head restraints, six airbags including side air curtains, which will protect passengers in all three rows during side impacts. The side air curtains are optional on Toyota rivals RAV4 and Highlander.

Combining side and curtain airbags can reduce fatalities by more than 45 percent, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

The electronic stability control reduces single, fatal SUV accidents by 63 percent, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Hyundai officials expect the 2007 Santa Fe to receive the NHTSA's top five-star crash rating for front and side impacts.

Front and rear disc brakes are standard in all the Santa Fe models, which also comes equipped with an anti-lock braking system with electronic brake force distribution. There is also a tire pressure monitoring system.
The third-row seat in the Santa Fe can be folded flat and the total cargo volume is 79.4 cubic feet.

One of the more dramatic changes will be the ride - the Santa Fe will handle more like a passenger car thanks to a stiffer body structure.

The Santa Fe will have three models - GLS, SE and the premium Limited. The seven-passenger touring package is available on the SE and Limited models.
The top-of-the-line Limited ultimate package features a sunroof, rear seat entertainment system with an eight-inch LCD monitor, an Infinity AM/FM/CD-changer/MP3 audio system with subwoofer and external amplifier and power front passenger seat. Other features on the Limited model are leather seats, heated front seats, dual zone automatic temperature control with outside temperature display, chrome grille and a body color hatch spoiler.
Hyundai engineers have also reduced the cabin noise and the company said it is quieter than the Volvo XC90 at 60 mph.

David Zaslawsky is editor of the Central Alabama Business Journal. You can call him at (334) 230-2225 or e-mail at cabj@cabj.biz