The well-crafted and overhauled 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport is a comfortable crossover utility vehicle with a solid ride that is spoiled by the bugaboo for this manufacturer — indifferent steering response. Despite switching to Sport, one of the three optional driving modes, it did little to improve the slushy electronic feel with a dead spot on top and a tendency to wander on the highway.
I've found many of the Hyundai/Kia models suffer from this poor steering, and it's too bad because these are very good cars now. The quick modernization is due to engineers working with a former BMW designer, blending European and Asian influences to quickly reposition the line in many classes. Just look at the steep uptick to sportier and more sophisticated cars from the rather humdrum everyday offerings of just a few of years ago.
The Santa Fe's eye-pleasing total redesign, with striking angular lines and a bigger footprint, is much classier than earlier versions. A sweeping windshield blends nicely into the panoramic sunroof and finishes with a tailored tailgate.
But this all comes with a price. It appears that Hyundai is setting itself up as the premium buy versus the more affordable sister company Kia. The MSRP on the Santa Fe is $29,450, but with the Leather Premium and Technology Packages like our test model, the 2013 will cost you $35,925.
The five-passenger base model is well fitted with a solid package of standard features and the new long-based Sport has seating for seven. Hyundai offers two bundles in which the upgrades, including leather, climate control, rearview camera, panoramic roof, navigation with touchscreen and Infinity surround sound can be found.
The restyled cabin is quiet and accented with contrasting patterns in the nicely fitted panels. Some soft touches have made their way onboard, and just a hint of wood trim smartens up the interior. The leather seats were mostly comfortable, supportive and are highlighted with contrasting stitching. Dropping the rear seats provides for a large-capacity cargo area. And here's something you don't often find: heated rear seats.
The infotainment center was easy to use except for the navigation, which was not very intuitive and, frankly, annoying. The dash is clean with two large gauges for the speedometer and tachometer separated by a digital display with a variety of car information. The steering wheel controls are well engineered, and the phone mated quickly with some nice prompts.
The driver sits up nice and tall with good forward sight lines. The slight driver forward positioning had a tendency to throw my turning radius off a bit. I found myself cutting corners tighter than the wheelbase allowed leaving me a bit askew when parking — and look out for the blind spot in the rear corners.
Under the hood, the 2.0-liter turbo is a solid performer making 264 horsepower but sucked a lot of gas even in ECO mode — just 21 mpg on average, which had my wallet open a couple of times in just a week of driving. The six-speed transmission was smooth under city driving but under heavy acceleration had trouble finding the right shift point.
This is a big, competitive class of cars; so how does the Santa Fe carve a niche stacking up against the Ford Escape, Nissan Murano, Toyota Rav 4 and Honda CRV? Well, one way is to continue to offer the best warranty in the business — 10 years or 100,000 miles.
