2013 Hyundai Santa Fe Limited FWD / AWD

2013 Hyundai Santa Fe Limited FWD / AWD 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe Limited FWD / AWD
Instrumented Test TESTED

Given its corporate penchant for Hispanic-style names, Hyundai’s passing up the opportunity to differentiate its two Santa Fe variants by appending a simple Grande to the larger of the two siblings is a little surprising. But Hyundai kept the simple Santa Fe moniker for the larger, three-row version while dubbing the smaller, two-row variant the Santa Fe Sport. Go figure.

The Sport’s engine choices are fours: a naturally aspirated 190-hp 2.4-liter and an optional 264-horse, 2.0-liter turbo. The larger, three-row Santa Fe tested here operates with a robust 3.3-liter V-6 rated at 290 horsepower and 252 lb-ft of torque. This is essentially the same engine that made its debut in Hyundai’s 2013 Azera sedan, but because the Santa Fe is rated for heavier-duty cycles, such as 5000-pound towing, the powertrain engineers prescribed new piston rings, a three-stage intake manifold, a variable-output oil pump, and chromium nitrate electro-coating for the cams, rocker arms, and tappets to enhance heat resistance and reduce friction. The V-6 is teamed with a six-speed automatic transmission.

Respectable Propulsion

Those enhancements make sense. Leaving aside its towing capabilities and load capacity (gross vehicle weight ratings of 5512 pounds with front drive and 5622 with AWD), the V-6 has to propel more mass than does the sedan. Our test subjects weighed well north of two tons: 4161 pounds with front drive and 157 pounds heavier with all-wheel drive. The Azera tips the scales at about 3700 pounds, depending on equipment.

As you’d expect, that additional bulk affects acceleration. But you might be surprised at how well the Santa Fe acquits itself in sprints to 60 mph. In two Azera tests, we’ve recorded 0-to-60 times of 6.2 and 6.3 seconds. The front-drive Santa Fe achieved mile-a-minute velocity in 7.1 seconds, the AWD version 0.4 second later.

The six-speed automatic transmission is smooth enough and the engine delivers enough punch that the driver doesn’t find himself wishing for another cog or two. Like most auto-shifters, it includes a manual mode, but it’s a chore to employ, as the driver’s elbow fights with the center armrest.

Standing-start acceleration is about the only tangible dynamic distinction between front- and all-wheel-drive versions of the three-row SUV. Rolling-acceleration results—5 to 60 mph, 30 to 50, and 50 to 70—are all but identical, as are the skidpad results: 0.75 g with front drive and 0.76 with AWD. That’s about what you’d expect from a set of all-season Kumho City Venture Premiums (235/55-19, the top tire option), and it’s about par for the course in this class. This also goes for braking—176 feet from 70 mph for the all-wheel-drive Santa Fe, albeit with moderate fade, and 179 for the front-drive version, with no fade noted by our testers.

Both models deliver pleasant ride quality—smooth but not too squishy—with one asterisk: On washboard sections of gravel road (this is a sport-utility, after all), the rear end will hop around a bit, suggesting that spring rates and dampers are slightly out of sync. This is more pronounced in the front-drive version, but both models are guilty of the tendency.