Hyundai has had a very busy year, with a large focus on its electric vehicle offerings for the most part, but also introducing performance variants of its small hatch range and teasing with models yet to come, including the upgraded Tucson in the fourth quarter this year and the potential arrival of a ute within the next three to five years.
The main event for the Korean auto giant however, was the arrival of the new 2019 Santa Fe, the SUV Hyundai counts as the crown jewel in the range – and there’s good reason for that.
Despite Santa Fe’s being available in this market since 2000 with the SM model which became the CM in 2005, then the DM in 2012, Hyundai chose to look over the last decade of life in the Large SUV sector and some interesting observations were made.
For example, more businesses are buying large SUVs than private buyers – greater than 67 percent for business as against 34 percent private. Despite their prodigious size, 54 percent of large SUVs are petrol-powered as opposed to 46 per cent diesel, while 88 percent of large SUVs are AWD versus 12 percent 2WD.
Santa Fe however, has bucked the trends according to general manager Andy Sinclair, citing Hyundai’s popularity with the private buyer accounting for over half its sales. As to diesel petrol split, Santa Fe buyers prefer diesel with 95 percent diesel and five percent petrol uptake with again, about 93 percent uptake of AWD.   
Some things however, have changed. Back in 2008, seven seaters made up 66 percent of the market, today that figure is closer to 80 percent, which explains why there is no five-seat option for the new Santa Fe.  
The number of female buyers has increased from 25 percent to 33 percent and the age of the buyer is dropping too.
Interesting considerations.
As to the vehicle itself, Santa Fe has seen a very well graded advancement to today’s TM model, which is driving on the safety superhighway more than ever before. In Sinclair’s address, reference was made to statistics from the American Insurance Institute Highway Safety organisation, who ranked Hyundai as the top performer for safety out of 10 manufacturers, eight of which are represented here, in New Zealand.
With this in mind, the TM model launched is continuing this drive with its SmartSense safety tech umbrella introduced with the smaller Kona. This includes blind spot collision warning, forward collision avoidance, lane keeping assist, lane departure warning and driver attention alert. Later, Advanced Smart cruise control and lane following assist appeared on the Kona electric.
Santa Fe turned it up a notch, incorporating the above with blind spot collision avoidance (to actively steer the vehicle back into its original lane) rear cross traffic collision avoidance, leading vehicle departure alert and two new safety features: Safety exit assist and rear occupant alert.   
Safety exit assist prevents the electronic safety lock being disengaged if the vehicle detects another car approaching from the rear, while rear occupant alert prevents passengers/occupants/pets in the rear being forgotten about at the end of a journey.  
The new Santa Fe is larger in every critical respect from the outgoing model, most significantly with a rear design of the rear quarter glass, so 3rd row side vision is increased by over 41 percent. In terms of external dimensions, TM Santa Fe is 70mm longer and 10mm wider on a 65mm greater wheelbase.
Internally, Santa Fe’s cargo capability has seen a five-litre improvement over the previous generation when all seats are up. This means an increase of 31 litres overall when the 3rd row is down, and an overall increase of 10 litres when all passenger seats are down.
Clearly there are going to be significant internal differences, but we’ll cover that in a later review. What else is critical to the TM Santa Fe?
There's a new transmission in the form of an eight-speed automatic for the 2.2-litre common rail diesel which returns 7.5 litres per 100km and delivers 147kW at 3800rpm and 440Nm between 1750 and 2750rpm.
Hyundai has not forgotten those who prefer petrol. The 2.4-litre Theta II engine uses gasoline direct injection technology to deliver 138kW at 6000rpm and 241Nm of torque at 4000rpm delivered through a six-speed to give a 9.3 litre per 100km consumption figure.
There are three grades of Santa Fe – Entry, Elite and Limited – with petrol and diesel options available in each grade. All versions are all-wheel-drive.
Hyundai is confident the new generation Santa Fe is the most connected vehicle it has ever produced, which means there is a large focus on smartphones, your Santa Fe and how the two can work together. It starts with the simplicity of Hyundai Auto Link Bluetooth.
This basic form of connectivity uses a device on the car to connect to your smartphone which then acts as a communication interface between the car and a service provider.
It allows regular vehicle servicing alerts to be extended to monitoring the vehicle’s data and diagnostics in real time should a fault develop outside the regular schedule. The system also allows for Hyundai NZ to respond with roadside assistance if and
as required.
There are other functions: Auto Link Bluetooth system allows you to improve your fuel efficiency when driving, it can monitor your Hyundai’s health remotely, manage parking location and times and remind you of service requirements.
As with the Santa Fe’s themselves, there is a next grade up from Hyundai Auto Link and that is Auto Link Premium. This is a far more sophisticated level of connectivity allowing greater remote control from your phone to the vehicle.
With Auto Link Premium for instance, you can start the engine, activate locks, lights, horn and climate control from your phone. The vehicle gains an extra measure of security using Auto Link Premium’s Guard mode which notifies your phone of theft or impacts, and it is possible to set geofences to better keep track of your vehicle.
In the event of an accident, the system can send alert messages to nominated friends or family as well as Hyundai’s customer service team and at the same time, records the data at the time of the accident for insurance purposes.  
Auto Link Premium comes at a hmm, premium, as it is managed in partnership with the Spark telco network on a subscription basis. Your Hyundai dealer will have the details.
And that segues neatly into how much for the actual Santa Fe itself.
Starting with the Entry level GDI petrol, the Santa Fe comes in at $59,990 with the diesel priced at $66,990.
For the Elite, the petrol comes in at $69,490 and the diesel – again at a premium – at $75,490. The top of the line Limited carries an RRP of $76,990 for the petrol and $82,990 for the diesel.