Hyundai Veracruz and Santa Fe

jimirl

I am a little confused. I am a new Santa Fe owner and to be honest, new to Hyundai as well. But I did all my homework before buying and got my facts.

Suddenly I see a truck I didn't notice before, the Veracruz. Is it new as in just came out new? I checked it on the Hyundai site and to me it seems just like a Santa Fe with different headlights and slightly different interior as well as a little more expensive.

What's the deal? Is it supposed to replace the Santa Fe or just be another cross-over truck option? Anyone know?

pelican19

New. Bigger. More luxury. More power. Has the 3.8 that is in the Entourage. My wife and I are considering trading in our Entourage SE for the Veracruz. She does not want to lose the third row. The Sata Fe's third row is a little tight compared to the Entourage. We are hoping the Veracruz's third row is a little bigger.

jimirl

I see, I didn't notice the engine difference and I didn't look at it's size too closely. It is funny though, because they do seem very similar. I am surpised they are making another SUV line. With the Tuscon, Santa Fe and Entourage it seemed they had all the bases covered.

I was at the dealer yesterday to get my title and registration for my vehicle and I didn't notice any Veracruzs around the showroom. Maybe if I saw it in person it would show it's differences more.

Good luck if you do trade into that vehicle I am seeing a lot of families getting away from the mini-van world and getting into sleeker, sportier SUVs. My friend's wife says all her married friends are feeling the same thing and I know they just got rid of their mini.

davesuv

The Veracruz is supposed to be available in spring 07, so it should be hitting the showrooms shortly. Details about it, including pricing is available on Hyundai's web site HyundaiUSA.

It's slightly larger than the Honda Pilot and comes standard with the 3rd row seat, 3.8L Lambda engine, and 6 speed automatic transmission. Inside equipment seems similar to the Santa Fe. It's built in Korea, unlike the Santa Fe's Alabama assembly site.

If you want something larger than the Santa Fe, it seems nice. I find my 2007 Santa Fe to be a perfect size for me. I have the optional 3rd row seats and find them to be well worth the money, even though I rarely use them. The few times I do need them, they're priceless. After 6 months, I still love my Santa Fe. It's my favorite car out of all that I've owned.

2007 Santa Fe AWD Limited with touring and premium packages
Dark Cherry Red with beige leather interior

joe97

The Veracruz is available now for the US market.

joe97

The Tuscon is a compact CUV, the Santa Fe is midsize CUV, while the Veracruz is on the larger end of the midsize CUVs, and the Entourage is a minivan.

You should check out both the Santa Fe and the Veracruz to see which one would better fit your preferences and needs.

chrisl4

Hyundia says the Veracruz competes with the Honda Pilot, Toyota Highlander and Nissan Murano. Though I read speculation somewhere this morning the Veracruz and the Azera may be the beginning of a Luxury line to compete with Acura, Lexus and BMW. Sorry but I couldn't find the article again.

jimirl

That's funny, because I thought the Santa Fe was competing with the Highlander and Murano. I didn't look at the Muranos but I assumed they were close to the Santa Fe in power and size. I know the Santa Fe is stronger than the HIghlander and appears to be the same size. I wonder why they would use the Veracruz against the new 4runner.

I could see why they would be interested in making a luxery line. The azera is a great car with a price to match. :shades:

kontent

It's weird that they made all their SUV's somewhat the smallest in their class. The Tucson is probably the smallest in the compact SUV class, while the Santa Fe is small amongst the mid size class, so it can compete against the bigger models in the compact class. With the Veracruz, it's smaller than most large size SUV's, so it can compete with the bigger models in the mid-size class.

The best thing about Hyundai is every SUV has a much different style and it's not just an enlarged version of the next class size down (i.e. Mazda CX-7/Mazda CX-9).

palmerd

Anybody notice the difference in the dashboard of the SF and VC? The SF has blue everywhere. The VC has blue but it's not everywhere. The speedometer for instance has a blue ring but the numbers are white. Is this better on the eyes? I've been hearing that the blue is harder to read at night. Is this true?

davesuv

The blue speedometer is very easy to read at night. Easier to see than during the day and just as easy as any other car I've owned.

2007 Santa Fe AWD Limited with Touring and Premium packages
Dark Cherry Red with beige leather interior

canucker

The main gauges are white with a blue ring and all the other controls are lit blue. To me they are very readable and my eyes are not what they used to be.

arumage

Having driven a Santa Fe and Veracruz, I'd say the biggest difference is room in the 1st and 2nd rows and refinement. There is much more room there. Seating 3 across the middle row is actually fairly comfortable. The 2nd row also slides forward and back, and the 3rd row can be entered from either side. The 3 row has 2 recline settings. The Veracruz is much quieter and more powerful. The transmission is far better at finding the right gear and is smoother overall. Body roll is much less pronounced, the suspension is better at soaking up rough pavement.

sduff68

I recently purchased a Santa Fe SE. It was the near luxury feel of the Santa FE and the luxury appearance that really sold me on it. Not to mention the firm (but not harsh) ride, the quietness, and the absolute beauty of the vehicle.

To me at least the two cars do not have an ounce of family resemblance. To me the Santa Fe actually resembles the new Buick Enclave more than it resembles the Veracruz.

Now that you think of it, the Tucson, Santa Fe and Veracruz don't look alike either. Kinda makes you wonder if Hyundai is doing this on purpose in order to appeal to different people with their three SUVs. The Veracruz appeals to people who were cross shopping the RX 350, or Acura MDX, but so does the Santa Fe Limited.

Maybe Hyunda is smarter than I thought...only time will tell.

tpfilm1

I actually think not having a family resemblance is a good thing. The Tucson is marketed as an economical alternative to Honda and Toyota. With a surprise benefit of being somewhat capable in moderate off-road use. The design of the Tucson is more masculine.

The Santa Fe is the same idea. A more masculine, more main-stream (vs the previous generation) style. Economy with a surprising moderate off-road capability.

I have seen the Veracruz but have not considered it. The Santa Fe is all I need/want. If I needed 3 rows of seating I would not be looking at an SUV. I would swallow my pride and get a mini-van.

I think that makers having all of their SUVs (or other lines) look exactly alike hurts them. To appeal to evryone something has to compromise. The buyer of the Ford Excursion is not the same as the buyer for the Escape. So the Escape has to have a more conservative design to keep it "all in the family." The only resemblance should be somthing small, like a grill treatment ala Saturn. The Outlook and the (new) VUE look nothing alike, but have the same grille treatment that tie them to the Saturn family along with the Aura.

Just my 2 cents. I'm not looking for any change!

sduff68

I think you make a lot of sense.

In the long run I suppose Hyundai will sell more of their SUVs because each of their SUVs look so different.

For example, someone who is really sold on buying a Buick Enclave might not consider a Veracruz because they don't like it's looks, even though it is in the same class as the Enclave.

However that same person might buy a Santa Fe because it looks like a smaller Enclave, and almost matches it in Luxury appointments, and costs much less!

Right now dealers can't keep the Buick Enclave on their lots, so Hyundai might be able to siphon off some of Buicks leftovers.

Wow, it is amazing to be talking about an American Vehicle that is so hot!

P.S. By the way the Enclave's interior is laid out very similar to a minivan. I probably would have considered getting one for my wife instead of our loaded 2006 Toyota Sienna XLE had it been available when I bought it in December.

blnewto

Having driven all 4 vehicles recently and currently own a '06 Sonata GLS V6 I must say the Veracruz is a much quieter, tighter and more refined vehicle than the SantaFe. I am in no way bashing the SF, it's a great buy for the money and compared to other similar sized and equally equipped vehicles it still is IMO, a class leader (much like the Sonata in the family sedan class). The Azera is a larger, much quieter, more refined vehicle than the Sonata, and the Veracruz compares equally to the Azera in it's refinement and overall high-quality luxury feel. For anyone considering a Lexus RX, or Acura MDX, I think the Veracruz deserves your attention too, it will compare very favoreably IMO.

kdahlquist

Huh? You think the Santa Fe looks like a Buick Enclave? I guess I don't see it. The comparison I hear a lot is from people who say the new Santa Fes look like 7/8 scale Touaregs or Cayennes. I definitely see the resemblance there.

The Veracruz definitely looks like the Lexus RX350, and that's no accident. Hyundai intentionally designed it to look and feel like the Lexus, but undercut the Lexus on price. Current TV ads for the Veracruz even feature a Lexus and a Veracruz parked side by side, and the Lexus owner getting into the Veracruz my mistake.

joe97

Actually should be the other way around, Enclave looks like the Santa Fe (Santa Fe did come out well before the Enclave debuted but I don't believe any copying were done on GM's part since the design had already finalized before the Santa Fe came out.

It's just concidence I think the Enclave, espeically towards the back end, share some resemblence with the Santa Fe but again both are fantastic CUVs.