Hyundai SantaFe 2.2 CRTD CDX

2006 2.2CRTD CDX Auto 7 seats, 42000 miles. Owned 1 year 12000 miles.

Good points: Stacks of space, spec is good and comfortable both round town and long journeys, the kids love it.

Bad points: Dealer network is expensive, useless and can only diagnose what the computer says. Find a specialist.

Poor MPG under 30mpg for a diesel,

Poor build quality & reliability: Gearbox is awful and takes an age to engage reverse, Door locks pack up intermittently, replaced crank sensor, ESP light still flashing after many attempts to repair, heated seats packed up and can't be repaired without spending a fortune, drivers seat leather split at stitching.

Will be selling once I can get it in a saleable state.

bought a 57 plate 2.2 crdi cdx auto in feb this year(2012) six months of ownership and its been back to dealership many many times...mostly for the esp light constantly coming on and not fixed as yet//they dont know whats at fault!!!!!!

just google esp light santa fe and read the pages on this

faults with door locks and they still dont unlock all the time..parts changed and dealership said common fault...

now my car is out of 5year warranty hyundai are washing their hands of issues..which im not happy with

it s a bit of a slow lump and isnt great for acceleration but once it gets going its not bad...but doesnt inspire me to over take sometimes...

would i buy another??????? no i dont think i would which is a shame as overall its not a bad car mpg between 33 - 45 mpg and the boot is massive..

like i said 6 months of ownership and its going to be traded in, this will be the shortest owned car in my vehicle history..

personally i think its more down to hyundai washing their hands of this on going esp issue rather than the car itself..

Bought the 5 seat Hyundia Santa Fe 2.2 CDT auto soon after it came out. A Euro 3 model Fantastic motor which doesn't mind floods, mud or snow. The latter, this winter, was interesting as the car behaved perfectly in temperatures well below -10 degrees C. Motorway cruising is very comfortable but I can't match some of the mpg others achieve. Local driving well under 30 as diesel takes ages to warm up, motorways 36-38 max. Reliability, after 44000 miles its never let us dowm. Like other early buyers I've had prolonged suspension problems. Simply bushes wearing all over after 4 years but apart from this a great car. I changed the tyres after 39,000 for General Grabber UHPs. They have a very good wet eather performance and are reasonably good on the snow too.

Best news is that I'm taking delivery of a new Premium Auto Santa Fe next week. I don't think the mid life update exterior changes have done it any favours but the new engine and other updates are superb at the price. Top Gear say it's not as good as the RAV4. It's not even a valid comparison given the size differences but What Car and Auto Express not forgetting Honest John all think it great.

Excellent all rounder for a family living in the hills. Used as a 7 seater tourer and a limo for my daughter and friends! Very good in rough road conditions - not suited for heavy off-road. Performed reliably on steep mud and snow (including 2 local rescues on Holme Moss) - except corners so fitting winter tyres to front. Escaped the Sheffield floods ahead of most 2008. Good fuel economy and remarkably good motorway performance. Not bad on noise either.

Down side is unreliability of clutch (DMF) and suspension assemblies requiring numerous warranty fixes. However I think the suspension cross link bug is fixed on newer models - and to be fair the DMF is a prob with all diesels. The comfort is a little hard on rough roads due to tight suspension settings.

the best car from 2006 2007 and the way car is going 2008

9 out of 10 all but the radio

This car, a Hyundai Santa Fe 2.2 CRTD CDX (diesel) is as good as new and it is 15 months old with 16000 miles on the clock and all has been a pleasure. The 2.2 engine gives me 39.9 miles day to day, 47.9 mpg on 150 mile round trip. It has 7 seats and you can change from 5 to 7 seats in less than a min - dead easy to keep tidy.

We bought this Hyundai SantaFe 2.2 CRTD CDX car new just under 4 years ago, thinking it would be ideal as we live halfway up a mountain (tarmac road, not track). It has proved to be the most unreliable car we have ever owned.

With the third clutch clearly on it's way out we decided enough is enough. The Hyundai dealership we bought from have declined to take it in part exchange for new as they say they are overstocked. The question was academic as there is no way we would buy another Hyunai, but interesting to see they have no customer loyalty. In trade for another 4 x 4 around 30 - 35 thousand euros the best offer we have had is 10 thousand euros.

We can't even get a ball park figure for fitting a new clutch without leaving the vehicle for inspection.

Just another point of interest, has anyone tried changing a wheel on this vehicle? Be warned carry extra tools or better still have a dummy run - it is a real challenge.

After going through the usual process of research, we were getting a bit fed up. There just didn't seem to be a vehicle out there which met all of our requirements - 7 seats, reasonable economy, reliability, good handling (i.e. NOT a huge agricultural tank), 4WD. The usual suspects (Rav4, X-trail, CR-V, Sorento) are all excellent vehicles but only seat 5. All of the 7 seat offerings were HUGE (Shogun), poor build quality and expensive (XC90, Discovery), or just a ludicrous amount of money (you know the ones!).

Then one day as we were reading the paper, my partner showed me an article on the new Santa Fe. Que the badge snobbery.....But on reading further, it seemed ideal - enough so to check out as we have a dealer within a few miles. So we test drove a 2.2 CRDT auto and loved it, although both of us like to DRIVE so the auto wasn't really an option and we decided on the manual.

We took delivery of our new Santa Fe last month, and have put about 2500 miles on it at the time of writing this review. After dropping off all of the paperwork a week before, we paid the deposit and were able to drive away within 20 minutes - excellent service.

We had only two minor issues - the coolant sensor wire was loose, resulting in the gauge not working - it took two minutes to fix. Apologies all round from the dealer, "we have never had one of these back for anything". Also, there was no audio manual included with the car - again, it took two minutes to sort out. We drove away into the sunset, happy with our new car....

We love the handling, and the car returns 36mpg overall whilst running in with the Climate Control on (staggering!). We also like the turbocharged whoosh of power when you press the throttle - it has bags of mid-range torque, the superb manners on both the motorway and back country roads, and the fact that it costs £10,000 less than the competition (take that, Disco boy!) .

We also love the head-turning looks, the luxurious, HUGE leather interior, HighMAT compatible CD player, and the two rear seats (our kids fight over them!).

There are some niggles (but all very minor) - the gap between second and third gear ratios (ours has a manual transmission), there's no RDS/TA on the stereo, and no sunroof option. It could also do with a six-speed box (3000rpm at 85mph in 5th gear).

All in all we are delighted with our purchase and wouldn't hesitate to recommend this vehicle. It's a real find.