Faults:

Steering wheel grip rubber cracked/flaked-off early.

Boot luggage pull cover self repaired early.

Internal central locking switches act up rarely since ~45000 miles.

New alternator req'd at 90000mi.

New Clutch req'd at 113000mi.

General Comments:

Though lacking the more sexy EU cockpit design of my previous car, I am very satisfied with Hyundai's build quality and reliability.

I, being somewhat of a mid-life Petrol-Head, have made serious performance demands on my Santa Fe throughout her years with me, which she has satisfied. Indeed she looks ready to continue to please for many more years.

My son has grown up in the back seat and has given her the normal childhood trials which have also left her unfazed. Throughout all this her bodywork remains as beautiful and unblemished as the days of her youth.

Even though I regularly leave her starving for basic servicing, usually +25000 miles between visits, she has always accepted my neglect without complaint. I expect her to soon require some vital organ transplants as she ages, but feel assured she will take my future teenage son for his first solo ride.

Faults:

Loss of acceleration when accelerating. Has happened 6 times in the past year. Cost of repairs $4,000!!! Very dangerous, as five of the six times I was accelerating to merge onto a major highway.

General Comments:

While I enjoyed my car for the first 4 years, this past year has been horrendous. Have replaced the computer, but continue to replace sensors, one by one, without any improvement to the outcome.

Faults:

Repeated clutch failure.

General Comments:

Judging by the comments on this site, and my experience, the standard transmission Hyundai Santa Fe seems to be a bad bet for clutch performance.

I've had three new clutches with just 48,000 miles on the vehicle. Hyundai refused to honor its vaunted 50,000 mile powertrain warranty on the second and third ones, and a respected local lawyer ruled in my favor at a Better Business Bureau arbitration hearing, awarding me about $900 that I paid a local shop for the repair. (Hyundai wanted $1400 for the work).

As is the case with others on this site, Hyundai cites "driving habits". Yet I have been driving clutch vehicles for 25 years, and the clutches have lasted an average of 60,000 miles.

Hyundai will also contest an outside shop's repairs, and claim that Internet comments - no matter how many - are not indicative of a problem.

Most recently, Hyundai sent both a lawyer and service manager to fight my small claims court case that it had failed to honor its warranty. They prevailed - unfairly and inexplicably in my opinion. Furthermore, I was chagrined to witness Hyundai spending that amount of money to quash a complaint, when it likely could have settled more cheaply by honoring its warranty.