Hyundai Santa Fe (2012 - 2018) 2.2 CRDi Premium SE (7 Seats) 5d Owner Review

How reliable do you find the car?

No engine problems so far. However :- 1. From new, the smell of burning clutch when setting off was horrendous. It really was impossible to move the car without burning the clutch. Mentioned to dealer. Said it must be the way I drive - even though I've never seen this in other cars I've owned in the past 20 years. Anticipating that the next poor sod that owns this car will be replacing the clutch sooner rather than later. 2. From new, experienced engine jitters and loss of power at random intervals. Happened when pulling out of a busy junction and nearly caused an accident. Told dealer that I suspected it was related to clutch problem. Dealer took car for a week. Could not find a problem (of course). Had to live with it. Clutch smell and power drops got less apparent after six months or so. 3. Rear seat would not lie flat. Found this out in Ikea car park with a trolley full of large flat pack items. Dealer said would fix under warranty. Needed car for two days. They said they had never seen a car come from the factory like this before. Must just be my luck then! 4. Parking sensors stopped working one random afternoon just over one year after purchase. Dealer took car for another two days then claimed I must have had an 'impact' which 'damaged some connections'. Couldn't show me any damage though. Tried to say it was my fault and that they couldn't put it through as a warranty claim! I kicked up a stink and they eventually gave me my key back without any charge. 5. Hand brake button came loose around eighteen months in. Had cars with electric hand brake buttons many times in the past - I'm yet to have one snap from being pulled up with a finger. Now the button just rests in its hole and I have to push it down hard before rocking it back or forth to activate the parking brake. Is this break my fault or is it the cheap plastic and poor design? A thin plastic 'pin' on each side of the button was holding it down - both sides have worn down from my, I suppose, 'excessive' use of the parking button (four times a day in my journey to and from work) and have eventually sheared off. I suspect the dealer will not be interested in fixing this without some excessive charge for my 'accidental damage' so I haven't bothered telling them about this one. 6. Electric boot door problems. The number of times I have come out of work to find my car sitting with its boot open over the last two years is amazing. Is this me too? Am I accidently holding the open boot button down on the key while inside the building (two seconds to activate)? 7. While on the subject of poor key design and the boot opening problems - the key is actually a fob for keyless start/entry but you can hold down a little latch and release a proper key from inside the fob. Countless times I have reached into my pocket to find the key part missing from the fob. It releases face downwards on the fob (ie. it can fall out when hanging down on a bunch of keys) and comes free far too easily. I'm shocked I haven't lost it over the last two years. Have previously had to scour the building the find it after it has come free during the day. No doubt would cost a fortune to replace too!

Does the car do everything you expected it to do?

I drive like Miss Daisy. 8 of my 12 mile journey to work is on the motorway where I do 60mph then sit behind the first lorry I catch up to. I get about 34mpg. Hyundai claim I should be getting 42mpg combined. My old car (2009 VW Tiguan Escape) claimed 44mpg combined - I was getting over 50mpg with my driving style to and from work. No storage holes! There were hidden storage spots everywhere on my smaller Tiguan! I cant fit half what I had in my Tiguan in my larger Santa Fe - unless it rolls about in the bigger boot! No heated door mirrors! Didn't even check when buying - assumed this would be standard on a premium vehicle. Took it for granted on my Tiguan. More expensive, bigger Santa Fe and I cant see out of my wing mirrors half the year!