2016 Hyundai Santa Fe Series II


Hyundai has launched the 2016 Santa Fe Series II update (facelift) in Australia. The seven-seater SUV comes in three trims – Active, Elite and top-spec Highlander. The range starts at AU$ 38,490 for the base Active grade with manual transmission.
The body of the facelift has been slightly revised to bring in an element of newness in the design. The changes begin with the front and rear bumpers that also house the silver-finish skid plates. Other noticeable revisions are the trapezoidal exhausts and chrome/satin finish on the front grille. The headlights and tail lights have also been redesigned along with the fog lights. The headlamps have been decorated with LED DRLs and the tail lamps are full LED units in the top-end Highlander trim. Alloy wheels too flash a new design, and depending on the trim, and come in sizes of 17, 18 and 19-inches.


The interior gets a revised 3.5-inch TFT instrument cluster, new audio head units and additional interior trims (Woodgrain effect for Active and Matte carbon for Elite and Highlander). The infotainment system in the Active that is operated through a 7.0-inch touchscreen display now gets 6 speakers and Siri Eyes Free and Google Now voice activation function. The higher grades are endowed with a larger 8.0-inch touchscreen with navigation and SUNA live traffic, Infinity premium sound system with 550 Watt output, auto dipping side mirrors and dynamic parking guidelines on rear camera among others.

The Santa Fe facelift can be opted in either petrol or diesel. Both units have been slightly tuned to provide better response and drivability. The 2.2-litre turbo-diesel inline four produces slightly better power figures of 197 hp and 440 Nm. The 2.4-litre inline four Theta II GDI petrol engine generates 185 hp and 241 Nm, which is a slight reduction but is claimed to provide better response.


The petrol engine offered only on the Active trim can be paired to a 6-speed manual or automatic gearbox and in both achieves a fuel efficiency figure of 10.63 km/l. The diesel on the other hand, comes with a 6-speed manual gearbox specifically on the Active grade, while the 6-speed automatic is offered on the rest of the lineup. Fuel economy with manual transmission is 15.87 km/l and with the automatic is 12.98 km/l.

The facelift brings in many safety technologies as well such as Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB), Forward Collision Warning (FCW), Smart Cruise Control (SCC), Blind Spot Detection (BSD), Lane Change Assist (LCA) and Rear Cross Traffic Alert (RCTA).