Faults:

The driver's seat takes the prize as the most uncomfortable seat on the planet.

General Comments:

I rent cars all the time, for at least week or two at a time, and most often for a month. This time I rented Hyundai Santa Fe, as I was hoping to like it and perhaps buy it soon, as I need a new car anyway.

The car has everything going for it: right price, decent size, all the bells and whistles such as Bluetooth, satellite radio, hands free voice recognition, trip computer etc.

But, all that cannot make up for the fact that the two front seats have been designed by someone who cannot grasp the idea of "comfortable seats". I have been in cars which are more or less comfortable (incidentally, the Hyundai Sonata has comfortable seats, but some other problems such as knee-killing center console), but never have I been in a car that produced pain in my legs and lower back almost instantly. My satisfaction with renting this vehicle lasted about 30 minutes. Then the pain started settling in.

I tried adjusting the driver's seat any which way possible; after all, I just could not believe that a seat would be that bad that one cannot find at least a tolerable seating position. However, the Santa Fe proved me wrong. It IS possible to design a seat that is uncomfortable no matter what. I tried adjusting it to no avail. The seat is short, hard, tilted forward (even when in lowest position), and the seat cushion is curved downwards, so in reality, only the driver's butt is resting on the seat; thighs are in the air, which creates muscle strain both in the legs and lower back. My back starts hurting within minutes of getting in this torture box, and so do my legs and knees. My wife, who is not as tall as I am, complained immediately about the same thing, so it is not just me (I am 6'4", she is 5'7").

Other than the fact that this car is impossible to drive due to incredibly horrible seat design, most else is good: good engine with decent MPG (better than the Sonata!), good handling, OK space.

The only other thing that seems to be the case with all Hyundais and Kias is that voice recognition is completely useless. You can try all you want to tell the voice recognition/handsfree who to call, and you will die laughing at what it thinks you said. It is so bad it seems that it chooses who to call randomly (repeating the same name will produce a different result every time). You can try all you want, and will finally just give up and dial the numbers yourself. This has happened on both the Kia Optima and Hyundai Santa Fe, so it seems to be a general issue.

All in all, in the past few months I rented a Hyundai Sonata, a Kia Optima (similar, but much better than Sonata!), and now a Santa Fe, and one thing is common to them all: They all have many good things to consider, and also one or two catastrophic problems, which make Hyundai cars perfectly useless. In the Sonata, it is the thirsty engine combined with bad performance and a few other things, in the Optima the same, and in Santa Fe, it is the terrible seat design.

I can now say that I tried, relatively long-term, all I ever wanted to try from Hyundai, and have concluded that the company designers are not mature enough to produce a satisfactory car. It seems that only those with very low expectations will like their cars.