We purchased a Santa Fe about 18 months ago. It was a demo model and had around 6K on the clock when we purchased it 4 months after it was first registered. It now has over 52K on it and my wife and I are very happy with it.

The Santa Fe replaced a 2.5 litre, quad cam Mazda 626 and I reckon that the Mazda was a tad quicker but only a tad. Mainly because the Mazda was a 5 speed.
I do find that there's a bit of a step between first and second in the Santa Fe that slows the acceleration down a bit! That is only a very minor point though and doesn't detract from the Santa Fe's overall driving pleasure.

We have had one or two minor problems with it, the most concerning ones caused by the so called tradesman who fitted a Nokia hands-free kit incorrectly causing the rear window demister, rear compartment power socket and a couple of other minor electrical bits and pieces to cease functioning. The local Hyundai dealership, Melrose Motors in Phillip ACT managed to sort it out pretty quickly but.

A week or so after the second or third service they called me up to tell me that the replacement front shock absorber had come in and asked me to drop the car in to have it fitted. Apparently they had noticed an oil weep from one of the original units and while they had arranged to replace it, they forgot to tell me about it. Nevertheless, thats what I call service!

I have had to have the drivers seat swab replaced under warranty cos a spring in the seat base came adrift and poked a hole in the trim but other than that, alls been pretty well. If you dont count the annoying rattle in the passengers side rear door that I reported on the first few services that they have never been able to locate and rectify. The only other painful problem Ive had is that the front wheels were out of alignment but this was only noticeable after a few months when the front tyre wear became really evident. Ill probably have to replace the front tyres in the next month by which time theyll have done around 55k or so but the dealer refused any compensation even though the alignment problem was verified by an independent party at around 20k. Bummer!

Mods Ive done. Ive updated the stereo to a Pioneer unit with a stacker which now takes the place of that parcel tray under the passengers front seat and Ive added a couple of 150watt driving lights that provide a bit of extra depth and peripheral illumination to take a fair bit of anxiety out of nightime highway driving.

Had a bit of a job fitting the lights, an old but very good pair of Marchals cos, since the car is not fitted with a bull bar I couldnt find anywhere to mount them. I ended up making a metal plate that is about as long as the grill that protrudes from under the grill and fixes to the top of the front bumper using the 3 existing bolts under the grill and on top of the bumper. The plate is wide enough to bolt the two lights onto it. The setup works very well, the only problem being that because of the size and weight of the Marchals and the required width of the mounting plate, it protrudes about 6 cm beyond the grill, the whole shebang tends to bounce around a bit particularly on rough roads. A couple of rubber wedges jammed in between the top of the bumper and the bottom of the plate reduce the movement but the nature of the design means that these work their way loose and they fall out from time to time!

I removed the blank switch facia that is located on RHD vehicles at least, to the right of the steering column and found that a rocker switch that I had lying around from an old Renault sits in the blank switch hole just like a bought one!

What other mods I may get around to doing. Illuminating the window switches and the black hole of Calcutta, that odds and ends area beneath the ash tray.

Fuel economy somewhere between 9 to 10 k to the litre and it doesnt seem to make much difference if its open road motoring or around town. Anyone manage anything much better than this? How bout the guy who fitted the after-market air filter?

What Id like to see. A factory sun roof option, an in-dash stacker and something other than the Darth Vader-like black plastic trim for the centre of the dash and the centre console. Although I must admit that I like the Vader-like dash design!.

Comments Id buy another one tomorrow but other than a couple of tweeters for the stereo, the new model doesnt seem to offer much more than what I have now and the Terracan just doesnt have the same appeal.