AnswerID: 390436 Submitted: Sunday, Nov 08, 2009 at 07:19
Fab72
replied:
I have a mate who bought a Diesel Santa Fe brand new. Big mistake. The poor bloke has listed this as the worst mistake of his life. Having said that, the problems he has are not specifically related to the diesel engine.
Copy and paste added (direct from his Facebook site):
POOR.
1. Thin, hard and very un-supportive front seats. Very uncomfortable on long trips. Barely enough rearward movement of seat to fit taller drivers.
2. Angle of the drivers left foot rest is wrong and an un-natural position. Causes numbness in heel of foot on long trips. Rest is also very close to the foot applied park brake.
3. Park brake is a foot applied brake and interferes with natural resting position of left foot. No audible alarm to warn of brake still applied if moving.
4. Trip computer while accurate short term is not consistent long term. Average fuel consumption L/100 km alters when fuel tank is refilled. This should not alter as should be calculating AVERAGE consumption and level of fuel tank is NOT a factor.
5. Rear seats (7 seater) jamb on seat belts when unfolding causing plastic cover of seat belt buckle to fall off.
6. A very noticeable turbo lag when accelerating, both gently or harder. Difficult to take off smoothly at times when pulling away from corners in traffic. Often causes traction loss on front wheels and a subsequent annoying 'axle hop'.
7.
Suspension is harsh and frequently bottoms out.
8. Climate control is ODD to say the least. I don't want the A/C to come on every time I demist the front glass. A simple knob control to select where you want the air to go with OBVIOUS graphics would be much simpler!
9. Rear hatch door squeaks on rubber seal.
10. No over-speed alert feature.
12. Cruise control is erratic. Fluctuates up to -3km/h to +5km/h from intended speed.
13. Speedometer is inaccurate 2-3km at all speeds above 60km/h. Proven against other vehicles, roadside speed trap displays and
GPS.
14. No handle on inside of rear hatch door for emergency exit if needed.
15. I'm sure there will be more...
GOOD.
1. Fuel economy is OK at 8-9L/100km and performance of the 2.2L diesel engine is quite good when revs are up. However I have concerns about the towing performance pulling the caravan. Time will tell on that but big hills will sort it out I fear :-(
2. For the money probably not bad value but give me a REAL AUSSIE car any day!
3. 5 year warranty. It will need it and I'm well on the way to trying it out.
WHATS MISSING.....
The ability to fly up Willunga Hill at 80km/h with a caravan in tow!
Give me back the Holden Crewman any day...or a Sports wagon :o)
My 2 cents worth...buy a Holden Captiva. I lease one and it is faultless. Great dealer network. Aussie built V6 (although I have the diesel version). Third row seats split so you can have a 6 or 7 seater (unlike my sister's thirsty Territory which is either a 5 or 7 seater). High equipment levels. And even the second row seats fold flat. On the downside, the standard
tyres suck a bit when going off road. Being a lease car I have no choice, however, if I bough one, the only mod I'd do is run a set of A/T's.
HOLDEN CAPTIVA is currently
Australia's number one selling SUV.....that many people can't be wrong....and $35K is not far off the price of a new one.
Good luck...hope this helps.
Fab.
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