2000 Hyundai Santa Fe GLS 2.7 V6 petrol from Australia and New Zealand

Faults:

Radio/CD onto my 4th player. All had the same fault, kept switching on by itself. This last one seems to be OK as it has been in for 9 months. I last reported that at 65,000kl-ms the front transfer case had total failure. This was replaced under warranty. At 90,000 klms the transmission began to knock when changing between 2nd & 3rd gear. Dealer checked it out with Hyundai Engineer and wanted to 'monitor the situation until its next service'

It has now got 98,500kl-ms and after revisiting the dealer its is booked in to have the final drive gears, bearings and transmission seals replaced.

General Comments:

I would still love the car if it was not for the weak transmission.

As I stated in my first entry. I now have major doubts over the build quality of the transmission.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 15th May, 2003

16th Mar 2004, 09:12

Yes I do agree that the transmission is a week point with Hyundai. Also this vehicle is not a real 4x4 vehicle as it is built on the very old Sonata platform. I call the Santa Fe a glorified car. I also had rust problems.

2000 Hyundai Santa Fe GLS 2.7 petrol from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

Doubts on transfer case, will it last

Faults:

Radio/CD keeps switching itself on, replaced 4 times under warranty.

Transfer case failed at 65,000klms replaced under warranty. Has any Australian Santa Fe suffered same.

General Comments:

I loved the car previous to the transfer case failure.

Great fuel economy and performance.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 3rd September, 2002

6th Oct 2004, 15:05

I also loved the Hyundai Santa Fe. I bought the SUV in 2000 and have put 115,000 highway miles on it. The car is in excellent condition, however the transfer case has just failed. Estimated repairs are about 3 thousand dollars.

This really irritates me. We have babied this car, and now a major repair through no fault or neglect of our own. Hyundai almost made me a believer, until this. Never again.

2000 Hyundai Santa Fe LX 4x4 2.7 V6 from North America

Summary:

Highly capable SUV at a small price

Faults:

Nothing!

General Comments:

This car is very comfortable with leather seats and seat warmers and with a relatively high driving position which decreases fatigue on long trips.

This vehicle is driven on mountainous dirt roads in severe winter conditions as well as on long highway trips with impeccable manners in both conditions.

Interior space is generous and well thought out for a short wheelbase SUV.

Fuel economy has been reasonable at an average 21 MPG.

Technical details include ABS, 4 wheel independent suspension, 4 wheel disk brakes, transmission that functions as fully automatic or as driver controlled override to manual gear selection, a very useful feature for muddy mountainous conditions.

Sound system is excellent with a CD player and an FM tuner which demonstrates good sensitivity and fringe area reception.

The quality of construction appears very high.

The single criticism I have relates to the power to weight ratio which makes for some sluggishness. This vehicle weighs in at 3700 pounds with about 180 HP to supply power. To me, this is not a problem, but others may place a higher premium on acceleration and speed. The vehicle cruises very well at 70 MPH even on mountainous Interstate highways here in northern New England.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 1st April, 2002