Producing 197 horse power and 420 Nm of torque, current Santa Fe, in itself is quite a performer in its class. It performs well, it is pretty much loaded with gadgets and gizmos and the build quality is also fairly good.
But somehow…something, it seems, is amiss.
If you are out with a smaller budget and are looking to buy a smaller car, you wouldn’t look far. The smaller cars (if you can call Elantra small, that is) from Hyundai are doing very well in our country.
But when you are out looking to buy an SUV and are parting with Rs 20 lakh and upwards, you do tend to linger a bit. A Hyundai? For Rs 20 lakh plus? And that’s what I meant when I said that the Santa Fe has it…almost.
Besides the specs, the quality, the real world performance, and the looks (current Santa Fe looks pretty good), what anyone spending more than 2 million of your Rupee is looking for is that elusive image.
The Hondas, the Toyotas have been around a lot longer and have a better brand recall. But persistence pays. Hyundai has persisted with Santa Fe and the current model has turned out to be a beautiful and capable car and it has done pretty well in international markets.
Here in India, it is interesting to note that Hyundai has been testing the Next-Gen Santa Fe extensively for around a year or so. Rumours indicated an end 2013 launch but it, now, appears that Hyundai will first showcase the new model at the upcoming Auto Expo before opening it for public sale.
What you see here are fresh new spyshots of a test mule of new Hyundai Santa Fe doing test runs in and around its plant in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu courtesy, Indianautosblog.com. In India this New Santa Fe is expected to carry the same 2.2L CRDi diesel engine that the current Santa Fe sports, albeit in a better tune and efficiency.
For high-resolution quality pics of new Santa Fe test mule, click here..
Also Read: Upcoming Grand i10 Based Sedan To Get 1.4L Diesel Engine; Compact SUV Also Confirmed
– By Sufi
