TO: Santa Fe owners. Questions about your driving experiences

I am considering a new Santa Fe (LX - 4 WD). I was wondering if anyone
has used it off paved roads? Not referring to X-country, but
washboard, dirt, steep, rutted (dry) roads. How extreme can you get?
I live in southern Nevada, and would need to drive on desert unpaved
roads (soft sand in places) steep, rocky mountain roads with
ocassional washed out areas, etc. Need high clearance for access to
hiking trailheads also.

I would appreciate your comments.

Also, when the rear seats are folded down, would there be room to
sleep inside? Sometimes weather conditions make sleeping inside a
vehicle better than tenting.

Their web site says the vehicle has 4 WD, but does not comment on the
type/mechanism used. Does it have a limited slip rear differential?

I see they call it 4 WD, but is it a true 4 WD, or practically
speaking an AWD?

How does the car sense when to go to 4 WD ?

As far as the techincal aspects, the Hyundai website is very
inadequate, as are their brochures. They mention the sound system in
great detail, but as far as the drivetrain goes, it seems to be an
afterthought.

Sales persons seem to be in the dark with the exception of cosmetic
details.

Thanks

My last Hyundai was an 87 Excel GL, which I traded at 140,000 miles.
Still didn't burn oil, but was starting to show a loss of power.





Remove the "FOUR YOU" in my email to reply.

 

To some extent it would depend on your tires but with the standard LongTrail
T/A I've had no troubles in getting into the hunting camp here in the
Canadian Shield country. Back country rutted, rocks, some mud etc a lot of
it just a trail through the trees. No soft sand but just about everything
else. Never scraped anything on a route which rips the exhaust systems etc
of a normal vehicle.

As long as you don't mind a bit on an incline, the back seats don't fold
perfectly flat. Sort of like having built in pillows except for the softness
(or lack thereof)

It is an AWD system with traction monitoring. If it senses a speed
differential between front and year it utilizes a silicone fluid coupling to
balance the power to stop wheel spin.

The transmission on the AWD 6 cyl is a shiftronic, which means that you can
switch to shiftronic mode and shift the foward gears manually. This is a
handy feature on many occassions, whether crawling between the rocks in the
bush or accelerating quickly on a short freeway ramp.

 

I don't off-road, and can't answer all of your questions. As a SF owner, I
can tell you that this veh is not a "serious" SUV. The tansmission is
geared for town/highway. The clearance is good, but not as high as a
conventional SUV. As far as sleeping in the back. My guess is that it
would be okay in a pinch (as opposed to a leaking tent.) The rear seats
don't fold down to the completely flat position though. I think you'd be
kind of short on leg room too. It might look odd, but I'm sure you could go
to any Hyundai dealer and fold it down and climb in. What does the salesman
care anyway?

 

Just came back from camping (BC - Canada) and took gravel logging roads
over about an hour drive. Great smooth ride with good traction. Very
impressed. This was in the 2x4 version.

 

I have a fact sheet from my dealer explaining the difference btwn the 2003
and 2003 1/2 (2004) Hyundai Santa Fe and that is what the Manufacture
(Hyundai) has.

The name of the sheet is "2003 Santa Fe 3.5L V6 Fast Facts" So maybe it is a
fact, what I wrote.

 

Here is a re-typed copy of the sheet.

http://pub108.ezboard.com/fhyundaisantafemessageboardfrm63.showMessage?topicID=3009.topic

 

I could recognize it came from the HMA press release. The marketing people
got it wrong again.

"...on slippery or uneven road surfaces, the system will change the power
split ratio to compensate for loss of traction..."

http://www.hmaservice.com/webtech/iindex.asp?id=394880398#_394880398

 

As I typed it was "under normal driving conditions" I never mentioned
anthing about slippery or uneven road surfaces. So maybe the ratios are
correct as typed.