Summer fun gets better with the roomy Hyundai Grand Santa Fe

By Botchi Santos April 22,2014

THE GRAND Santa Fe has become another sought-after bet in the hotly-contested diesel SUV segment.

 

Going up Tagaytay, Hyundai’s Grand Santa Fe made mincemeat of the tight, winding highway, slower-moving vehicles and undulating elevation changes—taking them with ease and confidence. Many drivers were surprised to see a lumbering SUV hauling serious behind on the road, but the Grand Santa Fe has the moves on all of them. Going down, the brakes held on resolutely, the manually changing gears really helping improve response with the engine-braking taking massive load of the brakes themselves. The LED driving lights and HID headlights cats a cool, bright and almost eerie glow in the dark, unlit parts of the south.

 

On the road, the Grand’s longer wheelbase means the ride is far smoother. It feels like it wants to waft, so you instinctively drive it carefully, as if on a parade with everyone applauding you. The length also means greater high-speed stability and a far smoother ride: Go at 100 kph and you feel like driving at a walking pace. The steering wheel is very light, but is in character with the Grand Santa Fe’s overall effortless feel. It offers a moderate feel yet still accurate and greatly reduces steering kickback on bumpy roads even when taken at elevated speeds.

 

Cornering is quite impressive for the Grand Santa Fe: It rolls a lot as would most SUVs in this segment, plus there’s a significant delay from steering input to actual chassis vector change. However there’s no disjointed, disconnected feel from turn-in to feeling the rears follow suit. You can easily account for the delay and adjust your driving style to suit. The brakes are equally impressive, if a tad hairy and overassisted at times.

 

No wonder that the Grand Santa Fe has become another entrant sought after in the hotly contested diesel SUV segment. It’s got a lot going for it—a powerful 2.2-liter R-eVGT CRDi VGT turbo charged and intercooled engine that delivers a mind-blowing  191.34 HP and, in the Grand Santa Fe’s case, a slightly torquier  436.55 Nm of torque (versus  421.83 Nm for the regular Santa Fe). Visually, the Grand gets differently designed, 19-inch alloy wheels and a revised front grill, both being unique to the Grand Santa Fe.

Rightful for grand

Crucially, the Grand gets a 2800 mm wheelbase, 100 mm longer than the regular, and lines up at 4915 mm, longer by 225 mm or almost 8.6 inches. This increase in length rightfully gives it the title of grand, because when people see it on the road, everyone does a double-take as it gives a good impersonation of a raised, stretch limo. It’s slightly wider at 1885 mm, 5 mm more than the regular, and 1700 mm tall, including the roof rails, which is 10 mm higher than the regular Santa Fe. The added dimensions increase its curb weight to 1865 kg dry, versus the 1718-kg weight of its shorter-wheelbase kin—a gain of 147 kg, the weight of two average-sized adults.

 

But one thing that the figures won’t tell you is that the Grand Santa Fe is very much luxurious, more so than the regular Santa Fe. The interior gets a much classier saddle-brown/slightly orange hue leather with perforations to help cool your bottom, and the second row gets more stylish, more posh and more luxurious, not to mention more supportive bucket seats. So much space, so much comfort, and the added overall length and wheelbase means the rear seats are a much more comfortable place to sit in. Adjusting the second row seats fore and aft, you can find a good balance of space and legroom for both second- and third-row occupants.  The downside is the Grand can carry one less person, seating a maximum of six passengers instead of seven, albeit with more space and comfort. Exclusivity is a privilege indeed, reserved for a few.

 

As befits Hyundai’s top-model SUV, the Grand Santa Fe gets six airbags in total: dual front, dual front-side and curtain airbags. Electronic Stabilization Program and ABS-EBD brakes round out the safety features. From a convenience stand-point, the Grand comes with dual-zone climate control, a 4.3-inch LCD screen which displays the infotainment system, LED driving lamps and HID headlamps, a power-operated rear tail-gate, a keyless go system with proximity key fob and a reverse camera, crucial when you need to maneuver the big Hyundai’s bum into tight spots, such as my townhouse carport.

 

The  areas that could use improvement, however, are the springs and dampers. Hyundai prioritized comfort above all else; the Grand truly is like a rolling sofa bed. But the soft suspension can make the ride busy for the driver on bumpy roads: At speeds of over 140 kph I found myself constantly correcting the steering wheel as the suspension got overwhelmed by bumpy patches on C5 and SLEx.

 

If you’re driving spiritedly, the chassis squats and dives excessively when accelerating or braking aggressively, which can be unnerving for your relaxing passengers. Other Hyundai vehicles, particularly the Elantra and Accent had this similar problem but their recent face-lift has rectified this at least. Hopefully Hyundai has a fix for the Grand near the horizon.

 

Soft suspension notwithstanding, Hyundai has a real winner with the Grand Santa Fe. It’s perfect for someone who wants the space and interior flexibility of a van, the go—almost—anywhere ability of an SUV and the exclusivity of an executive express. It trumps most other SUVs in refinement and comfort too, thanks to its crossover, car-based chassis versus the more agricultural ladder-frame design of its competitors. The steering, brakes and throttle are also engineered to have a light feel making everyday driving effortlessly easy to live with, thanks to the Grand Santa Fe.

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