Hyundai Santa Fe SR 2015 review

It was fitting that in the week Hyundai's new Santa Fe SR hit the CarsGuide garage, Hyundai announced it had poached the vice president, engineering, of BMW's M division.

The move is a clear sign that Hyundai wants to add some sizzle to its line-up.

Its first statement of intent was the Veloster, now the SR range is designed to attract the buyer with a sporty bent.

The Santa Fe SR is no X5M. At the moment, the sports tuning is confined to a body kit, brakes, suspension and wheels and tyres. And it all comes tied to a distinctly unsporty diesel engine. But it's a start, and the Santa Fe is a good vehicle for the experiment, with 48 per cent of buyers already willing to stump up the extra cash for the most expensive variant. The new model will be available in March.

Design

The SR's signature styling cue is a set of black, matte-finish 19-inch wheels, with red Brembo brakes nestled within the rims. On a white test car, they definitely make a statement. The SR also gets a body kit that makes the car look as if it's sitting lower on the road. Add in daytime running lights - part of a model-wide minor upgrade for the Santa Fe - and it is a smart looking family car.

Unfortunately the sporty styling doesn't extend to the cabin. Inside there are none of the highlights you'd expect on a sports model; no body-hugging seats, no stitched logos, no sporty dials or fake carbon fibre highlights. Not that the interior feels down-market. The dash layout is neat and uncluttered, with clear blue instrumentation and easy to navigate menus for the climate control and multimedia systems. The seats could do with more support for longer journeys and luggage space is a scarce commodity when the third row seat is in place.

About town

Although it's officially classified as a large SUV, the Santa Fe is more compact than some of its competitors and that means it's a little more city friendly, with good vision and manoeuvrability. That's helped by the technology on board. 

The 2015 model year update gets a smart tailgate that will open automatically if you stand behind it for three seconds. Front parking sensors and automatic parallel parking make life easier. For those that prefer to park manually, the side mirrors automatically dip when the car is in reverse, allowing you to line up the kerb. Satnav is standard.

On the road

Hyundai's model upgrade for the Santa Fe range included tweaks by local engineers to the car's suspension and steering designed to improve the balance between road-holding and comfort. On top of that, the SR gets H&R performance springs, the bigger brakes and more expensive Michelin Latitude tyres to improve grip.

It's still no sports SUV, but the changes have made the Santa Fe feel more confident through the bends. The ride, meanwhile, is firmer without becoming crashy over potholes or jittery over corrugations. Ground clearance is a soft-roader-like 185mm.

Performance

The 2.2-litre turbodiesel is an impressive unit, with plenty of grunt for family and trailer hauling duties. The secret to the performance is loads of torque, or pulling power. With 436Nm, it puts a lot of bigger six-cylinder petrol engines to shame.

The Hyundai lopes along at highway speeds, with very little of the noise and vibration you'd expect from a diesel engine. Around town at lower speeds, the engine noise is more intrusive, but still respectable.

The six-speed auto does a commendable job of extracting the most from the engine. Claimed fuel use on the combined city-country cycle is just 7.3 litres per 100km, but we saw about 11L/100km in the traffic.