Hyundais new Sante Fe

[Kiwi Phil]

My wife has been pestering me for a while now for a new vehicle, and yesterday came up with the idea of a Hyundai Sante Fe.<br />The article she has says a generation II model is being released shortly. <br />It is larger (4.8M), has a 7 seater option, protruding rear hips (rear bumper), twin exhausts. <br />It is to compete with Ford Territory, Toyota Kluger etc.<br />Motor options are petrol 2.7L or 3.3L BUT the option they wife is interested in is the 2.2L 4cyl Turbo Diesel.<br /><br />This vehicle has been release in NZ (Just), so do you have it in the USA or Europe yet.<br /><br />The questions I have are re the diesel motor, as in performance/economy/reliability/noise, and anything else I have missed.<br /><br />Anyone able to contribute?<br /><br />It dosn't worry me, but as the wife gets a few more miles on her frame, she finds it more difficult to get up and out of cars as opposed to stepping down and out of her friends all-wheel drives.<br />Cheers<br />Phillip

 

[JB]

Re: Hyundais new Sante Fe

Sounds interesting Phil.<br /><br />Our enviroNazis won't allow most Diesels yet. VW and Mercedes Benz have token offerings and our "big three" offer common rail DFI diesel pickups that are getting more popular. Low sulphur fuel becomes mandatory this year, so more might be offered.<br /><br />The common rail DFI turboDiesel engines are a whole different generation of technology ahead of traditional Diesels. They don't smoke or smell and they are quieter as well as more efficient than the old Diesels. A MB E350 gets about 23 mpg on Premium average, while the E300D is good for 30-35mpg.<br /><br />In Europe I understand that modern Diesels outsell gasoline engine vehicles. The difference between 35-70mpg on Diesel fuel and 20-40 mpg on regular gasoline is pretty large when gasoline is $6.00 a gallon.<br /><br />Part of the problem in the USA is that when I drove Diesel MBs in the 60s and 70s the fuel was very lightly taxed and sold for 25-50% less than gasoline. Now the taxes on Diesel fuel are roughly twice that on gasoline, making it more expensive than premium gas.<br /><br />I am waiting for 2 things:<br /><br />1. More equitable taxes between gas and Diesel oil, and. . .<br /><br />2. A good, turboDiesel, AWD ute that can tow my utility trailer with Big Orange on it (5,000lb)but still get better than 30mpg on trips.<br /><br />Then I might buy it.<br /><br />You gotta drive the Hyundai to see if they put a strong enough engine in it. The Jeep Liberty is offered here with an undersized MB turboDiesel and it is a SLUG that gets 16mpg. The V6 gas version does better than that.<br /><br />BTW. I am moving this to Non-boating tech.