2006 Hyundai Santa Fe

The Hyundai Santa Fe is a SUV made for small families and couples in urban and suburban areas. The body style is basic, but it comes in some nice to interesting color choices. It rides smoothly but doesn't have much pep. Its large appearance hides a tight interior that is cheap, a whole lot of non-durable plastic, mediocre electrical systems, and insufficient interior lighting.

When looking to buy this vehicle please make sure the recalls have been fixed. The brakes were recalled on a couple years and this could be very dangerous. I have cleaned up accidents caused by the ABS problems being ignored.

Mostly this Hyundai will nickel and dime you for the first 60,000 miles. Its basic oil changes are not overly expensive but tune ups can cost you. Many model years have been booby trapped by the spark plugs. There is need of special tools to replace plugs meaning either you need to purchase an overly expensive tool or pay the dealer ship to rip you off on a tune up. That said, if done every 3-4 months, there will be limited problems. If not, once you are over 60,000 miles everything will fall apart. Engine work will become both expensive and routine. The wiring tends to loosen up no matter how well you care for the vehicle causing alarm chimes to go off for no reason or my favorite complaint is that the air conditioner will turn itself on in cold weather, yeah, I have heard that several times. The Hyundai extended warranty is nice but easily voided. Be careful: if you miss its scheduled, expensive Hyundai check ups (dealership only), the warranty will be voided. Hyundai will also charge an arm and a leg for repairs that more often than not seem to fall outside of the warranty's coverage.

The Santa Fe does handle better in bad weather than expected (minus above problem with brakes). The ride is smooth and it maneuvers well in high traffic urban areas. For an SUV it parallel parks rather easily as well. I do not have much love for the Santa Fe. The dangerous situation with the brakes and the costly repairs turn me off.