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I had a 2006 Santa Fe Sport FWD 5-speed and utterly loved it (only sold it because the previous owner had let the frame get too rusted – apparently never rustproofed it, which is a necessity here where they use gobs of road salt every winter.)
Maybe I’m wrong but I notice on your new one that they seem to have eliminated one of the little features that I really liked: on mine the rear hatch window opened independently of the hatch door so when I had boats on the rack I could still open that window to slide paddles and other gear into the back without having the whole tailgate blocked by the safety lines, as was/is the case with all my other wagons and hatchbacks. That was a really nice feature.
I would have bought a new Santa Fe back in 2015 when I got fed up with the used Subaru Outback I bought (to replace the rusting Santa Fe) which turned out to be a complete lemon (spent more in 2 years to repair major parts than I paid for it despite that it only had 60K on it.) But on two trips to the local Hyundai dealer I waited for nearly two hours, being ignored by the all-male sales staff and unable to get anyone to help me. Walked across the street to the Mazda dealer and they treated me like a queen. I do love the CX5 but I do get wistful when I see a Santa Fe – for a moderately priced wagon it had such a smooth and quiet ride, quality build and detail, driver comfort and was such a pleasure to drive. I frequently make grueling 8 to 12 hour solo highway trips and that Santa Fe was as relaxing and stress free to drive on those outings as a much more costly Volvo 850 that I had owned before.
My wife has a '23 Santa Fe, and the glass section of the rear hatch doesn’t open independently. Wish it did. So far it’s a great car and my wife loves it.
That’s one thing I really like about my 4Runner even though it’s bigger than I need most of the time.
We bought the 2023 Hybrid Limited to replace our 2012 Limited that we bought new. Your 2006 was considered the first generation Santa Fe (2001-2006), then came the 2nd gen (2007-2012), 3rd gen (2013-2018), 4th gen (2019-2023) and just this year the 5th gen, although the latest one is a very different SUV, big and boxy that people seem to either love or hate! To the best of my knowledge, only the 1st gen had the independent rear hatch window.
Our current hybrid is also averaging 34mpg, and has a range of almost 600 miles on a full tank, which are nice bonuses. Both of our Santa Fes have been terrific cars, and probably the most trouble free we’ve ever owned (unlike the Land Rover Discovery we previously had that was a great car but seemed to cost us $1000+ every time we took it in for a service).
If I could get a newer Sante Fe with a manual trans, I would definitely consider it.
I love the reliability and driving fun of the little Mazda, but it doesn’t have to solidity and quiet ride I recall in the Hyundai so it can be tiring on long highway trips. And the wind tunnel ovoid shape of the Mazda drives me nuts – I cannot see the corners and even after driving it for 9 years I still tend to misjudge clearances with it so all 4 corners are scratched or dinged.
Nearly all my previous cars were essentially boxes: Dodge minivans, Volvo and Subaru wagons, WW buses, pickup trucks with caps (my company cars) – I even learned to drive in a 1955 Chevy wagon. Never clipped anything with them and could parallel park in the tightest spot expertly. My current other vehicle is a 24’ long GMC box truck (camper conversion) with no rear windows, but with the trucker side mirrors and it being a box, I can also parallel park that in one smooth move within 2" of the curb. But that egg shape defeats me.
And I dislike that the middle seat doesn’t fold down flush in the Mazda (though that was also the case with the 2006 Sante Fe, though the bed area was still a little longer). So I would probably find a Sante Fe preferable in many ways.
Still, I can’t give up that stick shift. I’m hardwired to drive that way – still feel anxious when I stop the camper and have a momentary panic that I’m going to stall out because the non-existent clutch isn’t engaged…
But as things are going in the US car market, I would probably have to buy a vehicle in Europe or Asia to get my preferred gearbox.
And then, they won’t let you import it unless you are exempted by a treaty I think.
We want to bring various things back and unless they are over 25 years old, it’s very difficult and expensive.
You certainly can’t find a new SUV in the US with a manual transmission. The newest Santa Fes use “drive by wire” transmissions. There is no lever, just a set of buttons on the center console, so you move from Park to Drive, or Reverse just by touching a button. If you power the car off (with another button on the dash) the car automatically switches to Park first. There are paddle shifters behind the spokes of the steering wheel to manually change the 6-speed gearbox up and down but I never use them. I do like the system of cameras the car has though, which gives me front and back views, and even a 360 degree bird’s eye view when I’m parking or reversing.
Fortunately we also have a Mazda Mx-5/Miata with a sweet 6-speed manual gearbox so I get my stick shift fix from driving that. It’s not very good for mounting kayaks though.
I watched a video the other day where two car jackers forced a woman out of her car and went to take off and discovered it was a manual transmission and nether of them knew how to drive it and ran away. I never thought of a manual as a theft deterrent but in today’s world I guess it is.
My 6-speed Mazda CX5 is “marginally” able to haul a pair of sea kayaks. This is a 45 pound 15’ plastic and a 32 pound 18’ skin-on-frame just before I left on a 3000 mile round trip to Quebec. I also had a class 2 hitch installed on it and can tow additional boats on the trailer.
1992 one owner Mad River Independence loaded and ready to head out tomorrow morning for the Hugh Heward (or at least a Half Hugh - 25 miles Grand ledge to Portland, Michigan).
Last September we did a 3500 mile round trip from South Carolina to Nova Scotia for 3 weeks of kayaking in St. Margaret’s Bay. We go there every year as my wife has family there. Our older Santa Fe, with our kayaks on Thule Hullavators, handled it perfectly even driving back through 12 hours of Hurricane Lee.
All loaded up and ready for the two day drive to Lake Superior. Both the Blazer Tahoe and the Necky Tesla have been with me for a very long time. The Blazer since 1992 and the Necky since 2002. Both have been refurbed because I can’t image not having them along on big adventures.