Truckish performance

Interior noise aside, the Santa Fe performed well on the road.

The ride is feels more truckish than carlike. The bumps are hard, and on the highway, I never felt confident in this vehicle. The power-assisted rack-and-pinion steering was fine in city driving, with a nice taut feel, but on the highway, it was too sensitive, which leads to lots of overcorrecting.

There's nothing bad to say about the powertrains. The 3.5-liter V-6 matched to a six-speed automatic transmission was excellent. Unlike many crossovers, which have transmissions that race to sixth gear to improve mileage by sacrificing performance, the Santa Fe seemed to pace itself, providing good acceleration, highway cruising and everything in between.

It also gets good gas mileage, hitting 20 mpg in the city and 26 mpg on the highway. A 2.4-liter powertrain that produces 175 horsepower will get you two more miles per gallon on the highway, which makes it almost irrelevant. Why get the four-banger when the six provides 111 more horsepower and gets the same city mileage?

    See also:

    Driveshafts and Boots
    Check the drive shafts, boots and clamps for cracks, deterioration, or damage. Replace any damaged parts and, if necessary, repack the grease. ...

    Theft-Alarm System
    This system is designed to provide protection from unauthorized entry into the car. This system is operated in three stages: the first is the "Armed" stage, the second is the "Alarm ...

    Manual transaxle operation
    The manual transaxle has 6 forward gears. This shift pattern is imprinted on the shift knob. The transaxle is fully synchronized in all forward gears so shifting to either a higher or a lower gear ...