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It was the nth time I was turning around to give our photographer the perfect shot. Nothing new to the ritual, so I did his bidding as I turned around the new Hyundai Santa Fe. Inadvertently I gave it a bit too much gas; the front wheels spun frantically and yet it showed close to no signs of torque steer. Torque steer is what happens when a diesel engine unleashes all its torque to the front wheels, momentarily causing them to lose lateral grip. But in this case, despite a powerful diesel sitting on the front wheels, the Santa Fe showed surprising poise, keeping its nose well under control. Was this Hyundai telling me something I should have noticed earlier?
There was something else too that caught my attention as I floored it. There was close to no diesel clatter in the cabin, except a distant turbo whine that wasn’t even tickling the nice surround sound system in the SUV. At that very moment, it seemed like Hyundai had not just caught up with the competition, but had become a company whose engineering skills have gone up a couple of notches.
The Santa Fe isn’t going to cause Hyundai’s plant in Sriperumbudur to become a beehive of activity. But what it will do, is change the way you and I look at luxury cars from the world’s fourth largest automaker, in India. For a start, the new Santa Fe isn’t a five-seater like the long gone Tucson, but a proper seven-seat offering. At 4.66 metres, it is just a tad longer than the Honda CR-V, but a bit shorter than the Toyota Fortuner. Unlike the Fortuner that looks big and beefy, this one looks particularly long and rather Audi Q7-esque in its proportions, especially when viewed in profile. But it hides its bulk very well, thanks to its rising waistline, a lower bonnet line and a sloping roof that curves into the C-pillar. Some may not like its softroader-ish stance, but it sure looks quite appealing when seen in motion.
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