We bought the car new in early 2011 and it has met all our expectations. The 7 seats, great option and very functional. The ability to engage AWD at will has seen us go places where a normal car wouldn't.
Fuel economy - great. Admittedly on a country run, but have achieved 6.4 l/100km. Around town, doing the school run, varies between 7.7 and 8.5. :)
The lease period is about to end and we had decided to replace the Santa Fe with another Santa Fe.
Until we realised that while it has a towing capacity of 2000kg, it has a towball limit of on...Read more

Recently puchased a 2009 CRD SX 5 seater - got it for $18k with mod kms of 106k - but still has 2.5 yrs factory warranty So far it has been an absolute pleasure to drive, tight, smooth gear box, very economical and seems ok in light beach work - yet to be fully tested.
My friend is a badge snob and suggested to me to be wary as the Korean cars were "not up to scratch" - well hello mate - this is 2011 not 1988 !!, ...Hyundai have come a very long way and I am 100% happy with this offering and I am sure most would - if they tried it !
UPDATE....Read more

Well, we started by looking for the ford territory, or toyota kluger, wanted a 7 seater but not a van, wasn't to worried about awd. Started to have a look about, didn't even consider the santa fa to start with, boy were we wrong. Did a fair bit of reading, and could not believe all the complaints with the territory,how do they sell so many? Took one for a drive first, fuel usaged was terrible, they should be banned! had alot of body roll, the first coner when went round we both looked at each other and though gee. Even though i though it was ru...Read more

If you are after a 7 seater diesel AWD then look no further.

We now have 1500kms on our new SLX auto and cant be happier.

Forget the old wives tails about turbo lag and gutless diesels this is different and very different at that. 145KW and 436 NM you cant go wrong. If you want a car that can pull out in traffic without having to worry about ... am i going to make it in time .... (yes we had a Tucson) then this car is for you.

We are currently averaging 8.5 L/100kms around town. Our old Tucson returned 12l/100km same driving and it was 600kg lighter.

The diesel and the 6 speed auto are a marriage made in heaven.
...Read more

We are six weeks with our new Santa Fe and already we are extremely satisfied. We chose the manual model over the automatic. The car has a huge amount of grunt. It tows without effort. Very powerful and responsive. The seven seat configuration is very easy to use and the kids tell me that the rear seats are very comfortable. The car has a huge amount of boot space when the extra seats aren't in use. The 2.2 Turbo Diesel engine is very economical and we seem to be getting great mileage from the car. The cars interior looks impressive (esp...Read more

I am not picking on any one company or fuel outlet
it is my observation from experience and information from people who know modern vehicles

we have a 2006-7 model car which from from various people "in the know" would easily take the E10 petrol - we found that yes it would but performance was less and fuel consumption was greater. so we opted for 1 in 3 tanks of petrol 1 being non E10 as the dealer recommended on our one of our 1st visits.

we found that after around 12 - 18 months of this use we had our engine light come on and the en...Read more

I am a Holden man through and through, owned a vz acclaim wagon 7 seater. Loved my car " except for the fuel consumption". My wife planted a seed," would love a SUV one day, Manual." So I started to research, of course starting with the Holden Captiva. Was that disappointing, no great reviews, asked a trusted mechanic, he said steer clear, but gave us some good advise, check out the Hyundai Santa Fe, as well as others, but don't touch anything with a CVT Transmission.(check it out for yourself).

So my research came down to a Hyundai Santa F...Read more

First time I have bought a Hyundai (2011), was very impressed with it. No faults or problems and it felt very solid. Towing was great, economy super and the diesel auto made the world of difference as I do a lot of city driving. After this car, I will never buy manual car again. When I sold it, it felt like the day I bought it new...

I sold it only because I bought the new 2013 Sante Fe Elite. I must say, not taking anything away from the older model, but the 2013 has blown me away. Has all the mod cons, Bluetooth, seats are more comfortable...Read more

Bought this car (2012 Santa Fe Trail Diesel Manual) mainly for an efficient 7 seater that is big enough for longer family trips. After about 25000 km the only issue we have had is a rattle in the ceiling-mounted DVD player, which was fixed on warrantee. It is an enjoyable, relaxing car to drive and there is nothing really about it so far that we have found to be irritating or inconvenient.

We went for the 6 speed manual for fuel economy reasons. It does pretty much exactly in fuel economy what it should - 6.7-7 l per 100km for mixed driv...Read more

We purchased a 2012 build elite ex demo in april 2012 and have done approx 8,000km in the 6 months we have owned it. I researched this purchase heavily, including this site 6 months prior to purchase. Hyundai has a strange way of negotiating the handover and had to walk from 4 dealers due to this. Firstly, i would have rathered a Prado or Pathfinder as i love to get off road, however, my perspective and priorities changed and decided that the santa fe is more well suited the the real world requirements. main priority was safety, this car ticks ...Read more

We bought an MY12 turbo D auto Highlander in March/April this year and it is brilliant - we really can't fault it and we have now done 20,000 Klm. We researched and bought it due to kw and torque for towing. We have a heavy duty tow bar fitted and electric brakes and tow a 700kg horse float and one horse about 600kg + gear and it still has plenty of power and stability and passes plenty of the 'big name' 4wd's fully loaded up hill with plenty of shocked looks :) If you are not towing it is very zippy and easy to drive and park. The fuel consu...Read more

Just purchased a new Santa fe trail 2012
2.2 turbo diesel Auto.
Great car just love the drive.
Doing the deal not too bad paid deposit told 7 to 10 day delivery car at Brisbane port no worries
Once Oder in then nothing from the dealer had to go in to get a response
Response after 9 days was its ordered red it just the process now
The I don't care aditude was incrediable. After 3 weeks went in complained
Salesman I will check if it's here Yep here will now take a week to deliver and fit tow bar etc.
Complained
Ok you can have to day without tow bar No worries fit tow bar at 1,000kms service ...Read more

I bought a second hand (ex Qld Government) Santa Fe SLX 2010 4 weeks ago. It is currently sitting at a dealer in Mackay waiting for parts to rebuild the transfer case. What happened? We were going on holidays, just cruising up the highway with a box trailer on and then noticed a burning smell. Stopped the car, popped the bonnet and smoke was coming from under the bonnet. Couldn't tell where from.

RACQ towed us 150km's and then they eventually found that the oil in the transfer case had gone black and smelt terrible. Appears to have b...Read more

Bought the Santa Fe from Dandenong Hyundai in August 2011 which has pulled to the left from the time I drove out of the dealership. The price on the contract was increased by $50 to that agreed on the phone and full tank of Diesel was not on the contract. I did not argue about the $50 but did about the full tank of Diesel. The salesman then hand wrote "full tank of Diesel' on the contract.Rang and told the salesman about the car oulling left who said it could be an alignment issue to be fixed at 1000k service. The workshop initial response was ...Read more

We just love our 2008 Santa Fe. We originally went to test drive the manual, but wasn't in the shop at the time, so we reluctantly test drove the auto. It was pouring with rain, so after coming from a Nissan Navara 3 ltr ute, I (female)hated sliding out around corners & roundabouts,i was nervous. My husand booted it and you could feel the traction control kick in. We were amazed it stuck to the road like glue. Hence, we went straight back to the yard and ordered the auto. The pick up straight from standing with the auto is just amazing. Its...Read more