The best SUV on the market period!

Author's Rating:

Pros: These vehicles come absolutely loaded with very few extra "options" available.

Cons: My wife wanted tan interior but they only had charcoal. No other cons.

The Bottom Line: 
This is a great vehicle. For the money none can compare.

Author's Review
We are a proud owner of a 2006 Hyundai Santa Fe GLS AWD 2.7L. This is our second Santa Fe. The rest of the story:

We had a 2002 Hyundai Santa Fe GLS AWD 2.7L that was totaled in a wreck in May 2006. A driver in an '06 Sebring ran a red light (way after it turned red) and took the whole front end off our vehicle. The reason for the totaling was the auxiliary undercarriage on the front passenger side was bent and it was a coin flip on whether to total or not to total (the Santa Fe is built on the Sonata chassis). Other factors including the time period to get the parts (we're in Alaska) and the long term car rental cost ultimately led to the decision.

Yes the front end was taken off but we were relatively unscathed. The Santa Fe knocked the Sebring across 3 lanes of traffic into the oncoming lane. The Sebring got the worse end of the collision. As far as safety the Santa Fe has one of the highest crash ratings earning 5 stars across the board except for the drivers side which rates a 4 (barely missing the 5 star rating). The body shop where we took the vehicle stated that the Santa Fe's are as solidly built as any SUV on the road today.

We did not hesitate in purchasing a new Santa Fe. Other than a few cosmetic changes and the addition of Traction Control System (TCS), which wasn't available in '02, it's like driving an old friend. I'm 6'4" and my wife is 5'11" and neither one of us have any problem with seating/head room even in the back seat. The split rear seats are in a 60/40 configuration and fold down easy enough (the extra room is what sold us on the Santa Fe-something the newer Tucson's don't have) giving more than adequate "cargo" space.

One other little known aspect in re to the Santa Fe. It uses BorgWarner technology the same found in Audi/VW, Peugeot and Honda.