Tow Test: Hyundai Santa Fe 2014

Coral Bay is a small, remote coastal town about 1200km north of Perth. Its shores are protected by the magnificent Ningaloo Reef, making it an aquatic haven and one of the few regions in the world regularly visited by Whale Sharks.

It is also a fisherman’s paradise with hundreds of anglers towing their boats north during the winter months each year to enjoy the warm weather, laid-back lifestyle and bountiful catch.

Earlier this month, I was one of those anglers.

It not only enabled me to cross another thing off my bucket list but provided the perfect opportunity to fully test the towing capabilities of the Santa Fe on a long haul.

While the 2.2-litre diesel and six-speed automatic transmission had proved a very capable combination towing the boat on shorter trips, this would be a much tougher assignment.

But it completed the task without missing a beat. Well, virtually. We did have an electrical problem early in the journey, which caused the trailer wiring to overheat and melt.

Luckily we were alerted to the issue before too much damage was done by a passing motorist and were able to cut away the affected section of wire and rejoin it — a job that took about 45 minutes on the side of the road.

I still don’t know what caused the problem but we never had any further trouble and after replacing a fuse in the Hyundai all the trailer lights worked perfectly.

The rest of the journey was trouble-free. We travelled a total of 2746km in 10 days and used just over 360 litres of diesel at the rate of 13.0L/100km and, according to the trip computer, at an average speed of 82km/h.

And both the car and boat, a 5.65-metre Ocean Whaler centre console, were laden with gear.

While we would not have been carrying our 2.0-tonne maximum towing weight, there were three passengers and a boot full of gear in the Santa Fe.

The boat was loaded with all our fishing gear, extra fuel, two car fridges and all of our supplies — all packed at the back of the boat to keep weight off the towball.

On the journey up to Coral Bay we encountered some pretty strong winds, something that unfortunately was an issue throughout our stay, but the boat sat behind the car like it was on rails for the entire journey.

In fact, there were large sections of the trip where it was easy to forget there was even a trailer behind the car.

Travelling at 100km/h the engine was spinning at around 2000rpm, which meant there was still plenty of power remaining when required for overtaking.

Driving north in WA means spending many hours on long, straight roads with very few hills, so for large parts of the journey to Coral Bay we had the cruise control set on 100km/h. (It is advisable to switch cruise control off on twisty or undulating sections of road when you are towing to ensure you maintain greater control over the vehicle.)

At no stage while the cruise control was on did I feel the transmission was hunting or overworking trying to keep the car at a constant speed.

On one long downhill section I was extremely thankful the system ensured the Santa Fe maintained a constant speed as we passed a police car parked halfway down the hill ready to pounce on anybody not prepared to use their brakes on the descent.

While it was hard not to be happy with the fuel consumption (the best figure achieved between refills was 11.5L/100km, when the wind was behind us) the range was reduced to just over 500km while towing.

With the price of diesel on the trip ranging between 156.9 and 186.8cpl, the reduced range (it gets around 700km on a long trip when not towing) meant it was often not possible to by-pass the more expensive roadhouses.

The unseasonally strong winds and rain that greeted us in Coral Bay meant the boat spent many days on the trailer and also forced us to find alternative ways of filling in our days.

We used one of these days to take the Santa Fe off-road in search of some sheltered waters good for snorkeling and again the Santa Fe surprised with its capabilities.

With no recovery gear on board and the Highlander model fitted with 19-inch alloys and low-profile tyres -- which is not exactly the ideal combination for sand driving, especially the fine, soft sand found on WA beaches -- we were very conservative in our approach.

Nevertheless, the performance of the Santa Fe, especially in 4WD Lock mode, which provides a 50/50 front/rear drive split up to speeds of 40km/h, and electronic stability control switched off, it was very good for a so-called soft-roader.

Even on some of the softer sections of the track the diesel engine had more than enough torque to ensure we ploughed through without too many problems.

And with the six-speed auto always in the right gear it was easy to maintain constant momentum to ensure we did not sink into the sand.

The only negative was that on bigger undulations the rear dampers struggled to control the reaction of the higher-rated rear springs, making the car feel a bit like a hobby-horse.

With nearly 10,000km on the clock the Santa Fe continues to prove it's hard to beat as an all-rounder that is comfortable and economical in the city, comes with good towing credentials and offers off-road capabilities that will more than satisfy most.

Santa Fe Highlander AWD CRDi pricing and specifications:
Price: $51,490 (plus on-road costs)