Hyundai Santa Fe Problems

The 12-month warranty is designed to give you confidence in the car, but if you’ve completely lost faith in it then it could be best to sell it and move on.

You’re very close to the limit at 1920 kg, but it is within Hyundai’s maximum for the Santa Fe. That said I would be conservative and try and lighten the load on tow somehow.

It’s always a risk to use a secondhand part, because you have no guarantee of its condition, but if you don’t want to spend the full amount for a genuine factory part then the risk might be worth it. If sold privately it would be worth $9000-$12,000.

The diesel is rated to tow up to 2.5-tonne so it should handle your camper with ease. There are a few reports of transmission/transfer case failures, as your mechanic has told you, but it’s not widespread, and with a warranty that lasts for five years with unlimited kilometres you should be well covered if something does go wrong.

Hyundai's new-gen Santa Fe has just launched in three model trims, all offered in all-wheel-drive in Australia. While other markets could have front wheel drive options, there are no Santa Fe models offered in rear wheel drive.

 Using a trim removal tool pop the vents out of the dashboard on either side of the radio. There are two screws on each side to remove, then the radio pulls forward and can be unplugged.

The fourth-generation TM-series Santa Fe was launched earlier this year, so a new model is not expected for another five years, or 2023.

You’re not doing many kilometres and only short trips, so would go for the petrol version.

They have to drain the pan and drain the transmission to fix the faulty solenoid, so they’ll have to refill it with new fluid and use a new gasket. If the solenoid wasn’t faulty there would be no need to drain the pan or replace the gasket, so I think you have a good claim to be covered for the whole cost of the repair, including the new oil and gasket.

You should approach the dealer in the first instance, and then Hyundai directly if that fails to produce a satisfactory resolution.

How long is a piece of string? If driven with care and serviced by the schedule (at minimum) any well-built modern car like the Hyundai Santa Fe should last at least a decade and several hundred thousand kilometres. As with all cars there will be repair bills when consumable or wear items degrade through use, but the Hyundai shouldn't be as expensive to repair as top-end European or Japanese competitors.