Hyundai Santa Fe News

Subaru, we love you but you're missing a few things.Where is your ute? Your retro-revived Brumby? And while we’re at it there are so many other models you should be making and selling in Australia. Here’s our shopping list of what Subaru needs to doOK, well it does look like the Brumby might happen, with CarsGuide reporting recently that Subaru and Toyota were teaming up to produce a small electric ute. And that’s exciting even if it’s only taken 31 years to bring the Brumby back. We’re not saying Subaru doesn't have any good cars in Australia - it absolutely does. The family favourite Forester is probably the best off-the beaten track capable mid sized SUV and the WRX is a superb rally car for the road, but there are more than a few missing models from Subaru’s line-up.The most obvious is a seven seater SUV, which would be able to compete with Mitsubishi's Outlander, Kia’s Sorento and Hyundai’s Santa Fe. Imagine a Forester XL — a three row, seven-seat SUV that’s about 200mm longer than the standard Forester at 4840mm length. It’d have Subaru’s symmetrical SUV and 215mm of ground clearance and be one of the most adept light-off roaders on sale. Price it from $50,990 to $73,000. It’d sell like cakes that are hot.You actually don't have to imagine a Forester XL, because it really exists in the United States and it's called the Ascent. It's  a three-row seven- or eight-seat SUV that's basically a big Forester.What about a Toyota LandCruiser or Nissan Patrol rival? Could Subaru build one of these? Not on its own, but it is very buddy-buddy with Toyota. In the same way Subaru’s BRZ sports car and Solterra electric SUV were both born out of joint ventures with Toyota, a LandCruiser Prado or 300 Series version could be entirely possible.Oh, and while we’re at it, a HiLux-based ute would also see Subaru go head-to-head with Ford’s Ranger, Nissan’s Navara and Isuzu D-Max.I’d like to think Subaru could come up with amazing names for these two new vehicles but history says coming up with a names isn’t really the brand’s strength. So the ute would likely be something like the Subaru Muster and the big hardcore off-road SUV would be the Subaru Longitude. Terrible names, great cars. And finally, a people-mover and you can thank the Kia Carnival for changing everybody’s mind about these vans being uncool and making them kind of desirable again. Subaru actually sold a seven-seater people-mover called the Exiga in 2012. It was based on the Liberty wagon, but it was discontinued in 2015 from Australia.Despite people mover sales only representing about one per cent of the total market share Kia still managed to sell 10,080 Carnivals in 2024 — that's a quarter of Subaru's total sales for the same year. Will any of these imaginary Subarus actually happen? Probably not. Well the Brumby small ute is likely. Subaru plans to make more joint venture EVs with Toyota, which also makes sense. Still a Forester XL would be nice.

Hyundai Australia has raised prices for hybrid versions of its Santa Fe large SUV by $1500 across the board, saying the move is aimed at better alignment of the price ‘step up’ between it and internal combustion engine (ICE) models in the range.

It now seems inevitable that one of world’s longest-running family SUV badges may soon be retired in Australia. With low sales and high pricing pressures due to unfavourable exchange rates and ongoing geo-political uncertainties, the Nissan Pathfinder is facing an uncertain future, as it continues to stumble against popular alternatives in the large, seven-seater SUV segment like the Ford Everest,

Ford Australia has axed so many of its cars over the past two years that it almost has nothing left on sale. It’s just lucky that one of the few cars left that it does sell — the Ranger ute —  does so in enormous numbers. So what’s missing from Ford’s line-up? A lot. Here are the cars we think Ford really needs in Australia right now.Ford lacks a rival, to not just to hardcore four-wheel drives like the Toyota LandCruiser and Nissan Patrol, but to more domesticated Aussie family favourites such as the Toyota Kluger, Kia Sorento and Hyundai Santa Fe.Yes, the Ford Everest seats seven and can go off-road with the best of them, but a more plush and comfortable suburban cruiser would fit nicely in the line-up.Now this might hurt a little bit and I apologise in advance, but in South Africa you can buy a Ford Territory. I know, what the Ford!?So, the South African Ford Territory is made in China and sold in other countries but it’s made in right-hand drive, which means there’s no reason why we can’t have it here.This new Territory isn’t as big as the Santa Fe at 4.63m long so it’s not really a large SUV but still, what a shame.What Australia really needs is a Ford Explorer, as in the petrol-powered version form the United States, not the UK electric version. The US Explorer is a a five-metre long seven seater, while the UK version is 4.4m and smaller than an Escape.Nope, bigger is better in this case and while the Explorer is currently only made in left hand drive, there is a chance a right hand drive might get the green light for the next-gen model.Ford axing the Escape is the car company equivalent to throwing away your only pair of pants just because you don’t like the colour of them.OK, that’s a terrible analogy but the point is mid-sized SUVs are the bread and butter of car brands and they sell all year long in large numbers and they’re kind of an essential item to car manufacturers. Ford axed the Escape because it didn’t sell enough of them. But it could easily bring back the Escape because it’s sold in the right-hand drive in the UK.Ford should seriously consider it, the mid-sized SUV segment is increasing in size at 19.6 per cent market share and Ford’s not able to join in the spoils. Toyota has the RAV4, Kia has the Sportage, Nissan has the X-Trail and Ford has nothing. No pants to wear at all.If there’s something Australians love almost as much as mid-sized SUVs it’s a small SUV. We’re talking the likes of the Toyota Corolla Cross, Hyundai Kona and the MG ZS. And Ford did have the Puma, but axed it in 2024 just four years after it arrived.The Puma was a high-quality feeling and premium looking SUV, but it was overpriced compared to its rivals and so sales struggled. People want premium looking at budget prices apparently.The Puma is sold in the UK as a hybrid and a fully-electric vehicle, so bringing it to Australia wouldn’t require anything other than a trip on a boat from Romania where they’re made.So there you are, Ford has pretty much all the cars it needs in right-hand drive to take the fight to rivals such as the Toyota RAV4 and Corolla Cross, the Kia Sorento and Hyundai Santa Fe.Will we see the Territory again? Will Aussies be OK with a Chinese made Territory? Given the the shift in attitudes and growing maturity towards Chinese brands and their rapid take-up there's no reason they wouldn't be.Sure bringing back the Territory nameplate, plus the Puma and Escape could be a risk for Ford, but would it be as big a risk as having all your eggs in the Ranger basket as it does now?

Does size matter? It’s an age-old question but when it comes to cars, it’s complicated.Most car reviews - rightly - will cover whether the model represents good value for money. That will usually include a focus on what is and isn’t included in the standard features list, the safety offering, quality of materials and more.Often this will include whether you get enough metal for your money. Is the car big enough for the price?My question is, should size factor into the value of a car? And how do you fairly determine value when each buyer has a different budget?I understand that everyone has different requirements when looking for a new car. A family of five will require more space than a family of two, or a single person, for example.But I would argue that size should not determine whether a car represents good or bad value for money.Again, I appreciate that many people will want as much car as they can get for their money, based on how they will use it. But surely things like overall vehicle quality, the drive experience and how the car makes you feel are just as important.Here’s an example. A Honda Civic e:HEV L costs $49,900 (drive-away). When compared with old foes like the Mazda3 and Toyota Corolla, it is seen as being quite a lot of money for a small hatchback.For roughly the same price as the Civic, you could buy an entry grade large seven-seat SUV like a Kia Sorento, Hyundai Santa Fe, Isuzu MU-X, or a Toyota Kluger.But just because you can get a bigger car for the same price, should you?If you don’t need the space, then I say you shouldn’t. And not just for reasons like the environmental impact of large vehicles, or the sheer space it takes up on the road. Although those reasons are also valid.If a smaller car ticks other boxes including being fun to drive, that should be enough.Back to my example - the Honda Civic hybrid is an excellent car. I would argue it’s the best small passenger car (as in, not an SUV) on sale in Australia. It has excellent build quality, a solid standard features list, a handsome design, nicely executed interior and an exceptional and efficient powertrain.Something like that is a perfect car for me. And I don’t feel like I would be ripped off buying this instead of a larger car.Similarly, if someone has the means to buy a premium car instead of something from a mainstream brand, that’s fine. As Donna Meagle famously said in Parks and Recreation, “Treat yo’self!”Sure, a circa-$60,000 BMW 120 hatch may not have the same level of standard features as a higher grade Toyota Corolla or Mazda3 - which cost $20,000 less - but who cares?If you have your heart set on a premium car like a BMW and you’ve got the money for it, then it doesn’t matter if it’s missing a few features.Whether it’s the materials in the cabin, the way it drives or the feeling you get when driving a premium European car, a model like that often just feels more special.A couple of years back I lived with a Peugeot 308 Premium GT hatchback for four months. That specific grade at the time was priced at $48,990 before on-road costs. Again, there was a lot of commentary about that being a lot of money “for a small hatchback”.I am not suggesting it’s cheap - it clearly isn’t. But that is an excellent little car that made me smile every time I got behind the wheel. I would be happy - proud even - to own one.To reiterate, there is nothing wrong with trying to get as much car as possible for your budget. If you want as many standard features as you can possibly get for $40k, and you are less fussed about how the car drives or its perceived quality, terrific. And there’s no shortage of options, especially with the growing number of Chinese brands offering affordable models.But equally, no one should be shamed for spending big bucks on a car that isn’t the size of a boat, or if it doesn’t tick every single box on the standard features list.

One of Nissan’s oldest nameplates, Pathfinder, may not be long for Australia as we know it, as legislative changes here and abroad determine the car’s future.But the potential replacement looming for our market to better take on the big-selling Ford Everest, Toyota Kluger, Hyundai Santa Fe and Kia Sorento in the big three-row SUV segment might be the knockout blow Nissan sorely needs against such tough competition.According to Nissan Oceania Vice President and Managing Director, Andrew Humberstone, the main stumbling block with the existing Pathfinder is around maintaining profitability and competitiveness in the face of looming tariffs in the United States.“Pathfinding is an interesting one because… of what's going to happen with tariffs, the whole Trump effect,” he told CarsGuide.“So where does that leave us, and how do we manage that?”Like its closest competitor, the Kluger (or Highlander, as it is known in North America), the past two generations of Pathfinder have been sourced from the US.That works in the Nissan’s favour post-tariff implementation, but the three-row SUV uses components from Japan, Mexico, China and elsewhere, meaning it is subject to potentially punitive taxes, that in turn makes the vehicle more expensive for Nissan Australia to import.And affordability has been the current model’s biggest bugbear with consumers.With the consistent low volume the Pathfinder delivers, Humberstone believes that the Pathfinder business case as it currently stands may not work moving forward.Last year, Nissan only managed to register 523 units, which represented a 63 per cent decline over 2023’s results of 1400 sales. The latter is still around a third of what the series used to manage a decade ago in Australia.Why? The Pathfinder was severely hamstrung by the unavailability of the base ST and mid-grade ST-L versions that the existing R53 series launched with here in late 2022.This meant that the cheapest version, the Ti, started from over $70,000, instead of under $55,000, where the entry-level alternatives, including Kluger, the Santa Fe and Sorento, commence.“We have opted to streamline the Pathfinder line-up due to unavoidable supply constraints and ongoing disruption in the global production environment,” a company spokesperson said at the time.This situation was only partly rectified mid-year with the return of the ST-L, which currently kicks off from $59,945 before on-road costs, meaning that the old ST remains AWOL.Additionally, the Pathfinder only offers an albeit magnificent V6 petrol engine. This competes against the far-more economical, now hybrid-only Kluger and Santa Fe HEV hybrid, that costs similar money to and less respectively than the ST-L, further eroding the Nissan’s appeal.In fact, with the NVES kicking in from January 1 this year, federal government-mandated fines in the future seem certain for the Pathfinder if things don’t change. Currently it emits an average of 245 grams per kilometre of carbon dioxide, against this year’s 141g/km standard – and the latter figure will fall annually.So, what about the alternatives?The strongest contender currently must surely be the current series’ Chinese fraternal twin, unveiled at the 2023 Auto Shanghai show, built by partner Dongfeng and also badged Pathfinder.In one stroke, this restyled and reengineered version with a sleek fresh look inside and out (while still boasting the same, big dimensions) would address the US R53’s biggest drawbacks – expensive sourcing and a thirsty powertrain, since it instead uses Nissan’s KR20DDET 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol engine.Producing 185kW of power and 386Nm of torque in Dongfeng spec and driving either the front or all four wheels via a nine-speed torque-converter automatic, in China the combined average fuel consumption figure is 8.6L/100km. That’s nearly 2.0L/100km less than what’s in Australian models today.Note, however, that the latter is also set to replace the V6 in the US Pathfinder soon, so we may see the four-pot turbo arrive in the existing shape in the not-too-distant future.Of course, other contenders may also follow, but these loom largest for Australia right now.According to Humberstone, Nissan has vowed to be more reactive and proactive with future models, giving consumers what they want whilst striving to deliver industry-best aftersales care, to win back buyers.“We need to be very agile in this kind of global economic situation,” he added.To that end, replacing established models with more cost-effective (read: cheaper) solutions from China is not out of the question.“We have a broad range of opportunities, between joint ventures with Chinese manufacturers, between product all over the world,” Humberstone explained.“What we're dealing with at the moment is: what is best for the market today and serves our purpose today, where we have critical mass that works for, number one, the consumer, number two the dealer network and, number three, for us.“Let's see if there's opportunity.”Watch this space.

Hyundai’s new plug-in hybrid Santa Fe is close to making its global debut with a prototype being caught testing ahead of its arrival this year.

Many so-called “all-new” models aren’t all that new. In fact, a sizeable chunk are reskinned versions of what came before, with fresh sheetmetal over the same general hard points.

I feel like 2024 was the eye of the storm. It’s the year, which sits between a big surge of electrification, yet before our market will be hit with a big shake-up with at least 12 new manufacturers entering the fray in 2025.

What are the Top 5 cars of 2024? Some of the previous years’ top-five still resonate strongly today – namely the Honda Civic Type R, Subaru WRX, BMW 5 Series and Kia EV9. Will any of the class of 2024 do the same in 12 months’ time?