Santa Fe or Ford?

ankles

In the light of my ever extending family I am now forced to invest in a tractor, sorry SUV. I need a 7 seater (3 kids plus anyone else) and I think I've narrowed it down to a Ford smax/Galaxy or Hyundai Santa Fe. I was thinking the 1.8tdci Ford or the 2wd Hyundai. Any comments/opinions? I would be holding on to it for 5 years or so but some value at the end would be nice. Also relative fuel economy and ease of driving etc. My wife will be driving it mostly.

colm_mcm

The Hyundai is holding up very well 2nd hand, but isnt as big inside. the Ford is the sensible choice, but the Santa Fe is much more impressive looking.

ankles

Hyundai doesn't feel as big alright, though dimensions seem bigger, like bigger boot etc. Mrs. Ankles likes the size of the Hyundai but I think the Ford makes more sense and is actually fun to drive.

Jemmy

ankles wrote: »

Hyundai doesn't feel as big alright, though dimensions seem bigger, like bigger boot etc. Mrs. Ankles likes the size of the Hyundai but I think the Ford makes more sense and is actually fun to drive.

My parents got a Sante Fe this yr! Lovely comfortable car!

colm_mcm

they are, and the 2WD is ok on fuel (know a guy getting in the mid 40's on average)

caesar

Sante Fe's are relatively cheap on parts in comparison to other marques or so I have been told. I've heard positives about them all round.

DonJose

Go with the Galaxy, I just bought an 08 Galaxy Ghia 2.0 diesel. and I am delighted with it. One of the best cars I've ever bough. Handles great, like a mid size car but there is tons of space. It easily seats 7 adults in comfort with some room for luggage, whereas a Santa Fe would seat 5 adults and 2 small kids in the rear. All the back seats fold flat, so you could do some furniture shopping at Ikea

Zube

The wife bought an S-Max in January, and it hasn't put a foot wrong. It's good to drive, quick for a bus, big inside, OK looking and nothing has fallen off. It's a 2.0 TDCi 6 speeder, and does 7l/100km, which is 40 mpg if my calculations are correct.

I honestly cannot see the appeal of a 2WD jeep, it sounds like an Avensis Sport, a Bentley Diesel or a Mini Estate, just completely silly.

RobAMerc

I read a review of 5 or 6, seven seater SUV's in Autocar earlier this year.

The upshot of the review was everyone including the cameraman said they would prefer to drive the S-Max they used as the camera mule home.

If your looking at this from a drivers perspective I would go S-Max too . I have driven one (all be it the 2.5 turbo) and its smaller sibling the C-Max and they are a stonking good drive for what it is, as most Fords these days normally are.

Zube

RobAMerc wrote: »

Its smaller sibling the C-Max and they are a stonking good drive for what it is, as most Fords these days normally are.

Drove a hired C-Max on holidays a couple of summers ago, not the latest model, but what a stupid car.

Everyone else in the segment has clever seating to give 5 individual seats, or 6 in a Multipla or FRV, or 7 in a Zafira etc. What's the C-Max's party trick? It converts into a 4 seater with no bootspace by folding the rear middle seat into the boot! WTF?

ankles

Zube wrote: »

The wife bought an S-Max in January, and it hasn't put a foot wrong. It's good to drive, quick for a bus, big inside, OK looking and nothing has fallen off. It's a 2.0 TDCi 6 speeder, and does 7l/100km, which is 40 mpg if my calculations are correct.

I honestly cannot see the appeal of a 2WD jeep, it sounds like an Avensis Sport, a Bentley Diesel or a Mini Estate, just completely silly.

The Santa Fe driving position is nice and high and it is roomy inside. Also it's kitted out nice enough. We would never need 4wd so cheaper 2wd would be the one to go with. Will have to go back and look at the Ford again.

Zube

ankles wrote: »

We would never need 4wd so cheaper 2wd would be the one to go with.

If you don't need 4WD, then you're not going off-road and you don't need an off-road style vehicle. You don't need the extra ground clearance, you don't care about angle-of-attack, you don't need the high centre of gravity and relatively poor cornering ability. You lumber yourself with all this off-road nonsense in a vehicle that can't even go off road, and for what?

A high driving position?

I think it's just a style thing: jeepy looking cars are in fashion right now, and makers with no credibility for making actual cars can make jeepy looking things and people go for them.

Would anyone seriously consider a family saloon from Hyundai, SSangyong, or Kia instead of an A4? No, but the Santa Fe, Rexton and Sportage sell just because they slightly resemble a Land Rover if you squint a bit.

Nissan are even doing it: the Almera was a terminally dull piece of crap, so they replace it with the terminally dull Cumquat, which looks like it might have 4WD! But doesn't!

ankles

Thanks for your candour Zube;) I agree style is part of it. Herself likes the look of the jeeps (you can take a woman out of the country...) and let's face it it's always an important element to actuaqly like the look of what you're driving. For what it's worth I agree and would favour the Ford as it's more practical, but costwise there's little in it so why not have the extra space. With 3 mini-me's we need all the space we can get!

Henry Ford III

Zube wrote: »

...Nissan are even doing it: the Almera was a terminally dull piece of crap, so they replace it with the terminally dull Cumquat, which looks like it might have 4WD! But doesn't!

Some do actually have 4wd.

RobAMerc

Zube wrote: »

Drove a hired C-Max on holidays a couple of summers ago, not the latest model, but what a stupid car.

Everyone else in the segment has clever seating to give 5 individual seats, or 6 in a Multipla or FRV, or 7 in a Zafira etc. What's the C-Max's party trick? It converts into a 4 seater with no bootspace by folding the rear middle seat into the boot! WTF?

Please - re read my post - I said its a good drive - I was talking about driver enjoyment, I don't know about the rest of it I only take up one seat.