Santa Fe is undergoing major change this winter, and I’m not referring to the beautiful, old New Mexico respite.
Hyundai’s popular midsize SUV crossover by that name has been redesigned for 2013, has shed 350 pounds and will be known henceforth as the Santa Fe Sport. It is already on sale.
Hitting showrooms in the next few weeks will be an extended-length, seven-passenger SUV to be called the Santa Fe. It is the former Hyundai Veracruz. Bringing both sizes under the Santa Fe identity is making the most of a popular model name.
Since it was introduced in 2001, the Santa Fe has been a consistently strong seller for the Korean builder.
So, remember this to keep the two new models separate: Sport (106.3-inch wheelbase) is for short, Santa Fe (110-2-inch wheelbase) is for extended length.
The Santa Fe Sport offers two 4-cylinder engines – a 264-horsepower, turbocharged 2-liter and a 190-hp 2.4-liter.
The regular Santa Fe, 9 inches longer than the Sport in overall length, will be served by a 252-hp, 3.3-liter V-6 engine.
I’ve been aboard the Sport short this week, equipped with the turbo-4, 6-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel drive. Hyundai uses a lighter, though stiffer variety of steel in order to achieve the weight reduction, and the Sport handles absorption of road dips and bumps in fairly smooth fashion. It’s a little slow on takeoff, but the Sport’s throttle response becomes impressive in midrange activity.
I found an extra button staring back at me from the steering wheel. To push it brings a choice of three steering settings – Comfort, Normal and Sport. Steering effort is increased by 10 percent from comfort to normal, and another 10 percent to sport. There’s nothing comforting about the comfort setting. It is so soft and so loose that it emphasizes the understeer tendency with the Santa Fe. The Sport and Normal settings are satisfactory with somewhat positive feel; I’d not even consider the comfort mode. That steering wheel, by the way, is heated.
The lighter weight and 4-cylinder power combine for a decent fuel mileage estimate of 19/24 for the Sport; I averaged 21.8 miles per gallon for 400 miles of combined city and highway driving.
The Santa Fe’s style for 2013 continues Hyundai’s “fluidic sculpture” theme of recent years, so prominent in the Sonata and Elantra sedans. A downside of the Sport’s sleekness, though, is when you mix the slope of the roof at the rear, the extra-thick C and D pillars and the tiny windows that separate them, the result is blockage of view out the rear corners.
A fine grade of perforated, saddle-colored leather seats and a panoramic sunroof highlight a roomy interior. The center stack is well-designed and controls are easy to use. The Sport has one of the roomiest cargo areas in its class – 35.4 cubic feet.
Blue Link telematics are standard on the Sport, and include lock and unlocking of the doors and remote start of the vehicle from indoors, destination choices and traffic/weather reports through navigation.
All these features are well documented and swell the thickness of the owner’s manual. In its leather case, the manual measures 2½ inches thick, a quarter-inch thicker than a manual for a Mercedes-Benz.
The Santa Fe Sport 2.0 T AWD comes at a base price of $29,450; the review model reached $35,925 in price with the addition of such options as the leather, sunroof, dual temperature control, heated rear seats, heated steering wheel, navigation and manual rear side window shades.
Among standard items are electronic stability control, hill-assist control, driver’s knee airbag, 19-inch wheels, fog lights, heated side mirrors, automatic headlights, AM/FM/CD/Sirius/iPod audio, cruise control.
Mazda3 hatchback low price, high mpg
The 2013 Mazda3 five-door hatchback, with SkyActiv 2-liter engine and 6-speed manual transmission, delivered average fuel mileage of 32.7 in recent testing. Equipped with a touch-screen navigation system and adaptive front-lighting system, the Grand Touring model is priced at $25,855.
The Mazda3 holds its own in a very competitive compact market, including Ford Focus, Chevrolet Cruze, Hyundai Elantra, Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic and Nissan Sentra.
The Mazda3, on a wheelbase of 103.9 inches, is 177.4 inches long, 69.1 wide and stands 57.9 high. It weighs just under 2,900 pounds. Its EPA rating is 27/38.
It provides good, sporty handling with mild performance from its 148-horsepower 4-cylinder engine.
Saturday Drive can also be viewed online at DenverPost.com/Autos. Bud Wells can be reached via e-mail at bwells@denverpost.com.
