First Impressions
2015 Santa Fe Limited in Night Sky Pearl.
JOHN: Good looking, handsome vehicle. I like it.
LAURIE: Hurrah! A handsome, sturdy, reliable, affordable five-seat (an additional two seats in the third row in the FE Sport model) car that gets full marks—and the coveted “Driving Me Crazy” Award for Terrific Family Car (I just made that up. See, this compact SUV deserves an award—in fact, last year Cars.com awarded the Huyundai Santa Fe Sport “Family Car of the Year.” NHTSA Five-star safety rating and more standard air bags! 71.5 cubic feet of cargo room to fit in dogs, golf clubs, two weeks’ groceries, and all the paraphernalia that come with kids! And mileage is okay, with 19 city/26 highway miles per gallon.
JOHN: You just saw it, dear. Aren’t you a little carried away? I mean, yeah, nice car, but hmmmmm. Ow! Yes, dear.
SUV’s and Crossover have gotten very popular. Why do you think this one will attract a following?
2015 Santa Fe Limited in Circuit Blue with boat in tow.
JOHN: Unless ‘people’ have money to burn, (and you know who you are) couples and families shop for ‘use’ first, “What ‘need’ is this vehicle going to satisfy?” Value, second, “Is this a value?” or “Am I getting a good deal?” And image, third, or more subliminally, “How am I going to look in this?” Remember the days when owning a mini-van made you ‘un-cool’? The Santa Fe really appeals to the utilitarian car owner – the practical guy, or girl, who wants comfort, some luxury, good gas mileage, ability to carry the ‘stuff’ George Carlin made famous, and look ‘hip’ while doing it. I can speak to the Santa Fe first hand because I owned a 2010 model. These types of vehicles definitely have an attraction over a broad spectrum of buyers. I drove lots of miles, with lots of ‘stuff’, over several years, in great comfort – and the one I owned didn’t have nearly the bells, whistles, or safety features that our test vehicle has.
LAURIE: Price and value. With an MSRP of $25,000 ($31,000 for the Sport 2.0T, which we test-drove) this vehicle includes, as standard, about the best warranties offered with any car (5-, 10-, 7-, and 5-year new vehicle, powertrain, anti-perforation, and roadside assistance, respectively); seriously excellent safety technology, six-speed automatic transmission and, 264 horsepower 4-cylinder “ECO system” engine, and a couple of dozen standard features—such as rear cross-traffic alert and lane change assist and rear side window sunshades—which are generally offered as options in other cars.
2015 Santa Fe Limited with Captains Chairs.
‘Practical’ is a word often used to define a vehicle like this. How does that fit this vehicle from your perspective?
JOHN: This is actually a continuation of the previous question and I am glad you asked. Our test Santa Fe had a lot of features that were practical for the current weather conditions – heated steering and heated seats. Those creature comforts were really ‘practical’ this past week. Carrying groceries, a trip to Lowe’s, a trip to Tractor Supply – bags, boxes, buckets, all went in the big trunk easily as both the opening and closing were power assisted, and you can open and close the trunk with the key fob. ‘Key fob’ being the operative word as keyless entry was the order of the day. There were the shopping trips with Laurie too, who is so helpful when she isn’t driving – like when you need to start breaking, turning, watching, parking – some of you have to have the same ‘help’. Ow! Just saying dear…Ow!
LAURIE: All I can say is, what would you do without my ‘help’, Johnny? After all, who makes the coffee in the morning and makes the bed and does the laundry most of the time and the dishes, too, and… Anyway, the best compliment I can give any car is that you don’t have to think when you drive it. That’s not to say you don’t have to think when you drive a car—what I mean is, the panel and controls in the Hyundai Santa Fe are where you expect them to be, in easy reach, and you don’t need a college course, like some that come with encyclopedic manuals, to understand how to operate this car.
JOHN: Not thinking when you drive? Let me ‘think’ about that one. Ow! Yes, dear!
2015 Santa Fe Limited – 8 inch Touchscreen with Navigation Available
Who buys this kind of vehicle and why?
JOHN: Empty nesters like us; families with kids from toddlers to teens; and young professionals who need a vehicle for their weekend getaway’s and home projects. That just about covers the gamut for practical uses.
LAURIE: Like Johnny says. Thing is, this is a city, suburban, country club and country car and with front-wheel drive, you can manage almost any roads (though after this awful winter, I daresay no car, even those with four-wheel-drive, were safe on the icy, snow-filled roads that crippled the nation.) The Santa Fe is one of those distinctive cars that serve a purpose for, as Nat King Cole sang, “kids from one to ninety-two.” And older!
JOHN: Isn’t that a Christmas song? Isn’t it March? Ow!
Snow? Ice? Don’t worry honey – MILK and EGGS! We will get MILK and EGGS! Couldn’t resist. Ow! Yes, dear.
What features in particular set this one apart from others?
JOHN: This had a lot of the ‘bells and whistles’ I look for – adjustable seats with memory settings, individually heated and air conditioned front seats, cruise control, GPS, lane change warning sensors, rear view camera, great sound system, Bluetooth, Four Wheel Drive (a big plus) and there are more. Some of these were standard and some were additional, but with a total package price of $36K for the model we drove – Sport FWD 2.0T – I believe a consumer is getting ‘value’ for the money. I want to mention gas mileage too. Our vehicle has a listed fuel economy of 22 mpg, and while not bad, our around town driving showed a 27 mpg rating, which I thought was quite good. When a vehicle exceeds its own expectations, that’s really good.
LAURIE: That’s an increasingly difficult question to answer. There’s so much competition among automotive manufacturers that each, it seems, strives to include more extra features as standard. I understand that beginning with the next production year of cars, rearview backup camera display is required. The Santa Fe has leather power driver and power passenger heated seats with lumbar support and seat memory in the Sport model; until recently, that’s something you generally didn’t see in a car in this price range.
JOHN: Well said, honey. Ow! I just can’t win.
What about value, comfort, and safety?
JOHN: Value I addressed, but I haven’t covered comfort, and it is worth talking about. The car was very comfortable – love those heated and air conditioned seats. There was Driver Selectable Steering Mode – Normal, Sport, and Comfort. Oh, there was the Rear Cross Traffic Alert, really good for backing out of those angled parking spaces into the road. The doors were big and solid (no head banging when I got in and out) and stayed open even on a grade. That’s sounds little, but it is a big deal when you don’t move as gracefully or quickly as you once did. Right, Laurie? Ow! The seat memory is always a great feature for me since I can hit the button and avoid being scrunched into the driver’s seat set for my sidekick, Short Stuff. Ow! You know I love you, dear. Ow! It can get tough around here.
LAURIE: Tough? You ain’t seen nothing yet, babe… Anyway, I’ve already ticked those boxes, but I want to mention a few more standard features that sold me on this car: the front fog lights with automatic headlight control intuitively adjusts the angle of the beam to give you optimum road illumination ahead; Hyundai’s Blue Link® Telematics is its trademark comprehensive car care and safety system utilizes mobil apps to allow you to start, stop, lock or unlock your car remotely, immobilize the car if it’s being carjacked, issue monthly vehicle health reports, and Lord forbid you’re in a crash, your car will automatically call Hyundai’s 24/7, 365-days a year, trained operators who will call for help—and if you can’t, if you’re knocked unconscious or in shock, that could be a life-saving feature.
Final thoughts?
JOHN: I like it. I like it a lot. Good solid vehicle with a great, practical upside, at an affordable price in today’s market. No wonder Hyundai has made such headway in the American market.
LAURIE: Perhaps the highest praise I can give any car is, I would be very confident having a young driver drive this car—and would go so far as to recommend it as a first car for a new driver. I didn’t even have a smidge of worry when Johnny got behind the wheel!
JOHN: Oh, that was a good one – MILK and EGGS! We must have MILK and EGGS! Ow! Love you, dear.
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Driving Me Crazy Columnists Laurie and John Wiles.
John and Lurie are a married couple in their “sensational sixties” who talk about today’s hottest, newest cars—and still manage to go to bed without getting angry at night.
John and Laurie Wiles have a combined driving history of ninety-five years. Laurie is one of only thirty-six journalists who are members of the prestigious New England Automotive Press Association (Tom and Ray Magliozzi, hosts of National Public Radio’s “Car Talk” among them.) Since 1998, Laurie has test-driven and reviewed over eight-hundred new model cars, trucks, and SUVs. John, a lifelong car enthusiast, has owned more than forty vehicles (so far.)
John and Laurie recently got the idea of combining on a weekly car review. Laurie explains. “One day, a gorgeous blue Porsche Cayman pulled in the drive. Johnny slides behind the wheel, cocks an eyebrow, and says, ‘The name’s Bond. James Bond,’ like he’s Sean Connery or something. The next week, a Chevy Camaro rolls in. Johnny gets one glimpse of that muscle car and shouts out, ‘Can you say N-A-S-C-A-R?’ Once I realized he wasn’t speaking in tongues, I realized his voice, together with mine, might be fun. After all, ‘sixty is the new forty.’”
John adds, “Men and women have very different opinions about cars and I think it’s good for people to get an understanding of what a couple think about a car, and what they like and don’t like. Of course, that doesn’t mean they have to agree on everything—you know, like the way it is in a marriage.”
Laurie, whose professional name is Laurie Bogart Morrow, is the author of a dozen books, including The Hardscrabble Chronicles (Penguin Putnam) and The Giant Book of Dog Names (Simon and Schuster. John is a retired program manager in the National Defense contracting industry and a teacher in the public school system. They live happily in Pinehurst, North Carolina.
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