Tag Archives: Hyundai Santa Fe Sport
2014 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport: Improving Standards
Ever since Hyundai announced its 2014 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport, there has been a lot of buzz going around it. The first and the foremost thing that most of the reviewers noticed about Santa Fe Sport is its sharp styling along with the availability of plenty of advanced, standard and optional features. The pleasantly roomy and quiet interior of Santa Fe is like an icing on the cake, which is beautifully contributed by its acceleration and handling abilities that have been taken as a parameter enough to satisfy the expectations of the customers. But, because the competition is too tough to handle in the market especially among the small and midsized SUV segment for 2014, there is no doubt that 2014 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport is good enough to measure up to its rivals in the market.
If you check the reality, you will find out that the Santa Fe Sport does more than just measuring up its rivals and in literal terms, it can be described as the smaller sibling of last year introduced Santa Fe, which is a three row seven seat SUV. The five passenger Santa Fe Sport has ditched the third row seating option and comes with five passenger seat measuring around 8.5 inches if measured from bumper to bumper. Because of all these alterations, driving the 2014 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport is a more engaging experience and it also navigates easily through tight confines and shows great ease in handling small areas. To make it even more competitive, Hyundai has introduced two engine option for its customers wherein the base engine is of 2.4 liter with four cylinders which is powerful enough and the livelier turbocharged 2.0liter option for more refined driving.
Despite being the smaller version of Santa Fe, the Sports’ version is still roomier and provided excellent comfort to the adults. Ample cargo space is enough to handle routine luggage and also accommodate daily errands of a family. To keep the pace with the current tradition of Hyundai, Santa Fe Sport also offers appealing convenience options and excellent luxury features for the competitive price it comes at. To top it off the generous warranty coverage offered by Hyundai can be considered an icing on the cake.
Additionally, the 2014 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport matches to almost every top ranked small sized crossover in terms of features, convenience and comfort especially with the likes of Ford Escape, Honda CR-V, Mazda CX-5 and Toyota RAV4. Like any other SUV, Santa Fe Sport falls short in fuel economy department and that is the only major drawback that can make you step back from buying it. If you compare it with other small crossover SUVs, you will find that Santa Fe Sport trails by 3 to 4 mpg in the combined driving feature department. Even with these few drawbacks, 2014 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport makes an excellent recommendation for your short list of consider buying SUVs in 2014 as it comes with class, comfort, luxury and elegance packed in a single packet excellently.
The 2014 Honda CR-V
Having remained one of the best selling SUV’s for several years the Honda CR-V is a perfect blend of practicality, comfort, usability, driver involvement, fuel economy, reliability and low ownership cost and these qualities still remain unmatched by any other compact crossover SUV till date. Folks who look for a small family vehicle this little SUV should top your test drive list. The 2014 Honda CR-V carries over unchanged into the new year and no issues with that since the compact crossover one of the best in its niche.
What best describes the Honda CR-V is the word “easy” because that is certainly what it makes your life. The 5 passenger crossover SUV comes in LX, EX and EX-L trim levels. While the LX comes standard with 16 inch steel wheels, full power accessories, keyless entry, a blind spot mirror, a rear view camera, cruise control a height adjustable driver seat, a tilt and telescoping steering wheel, a 60.40 split folding seat with reclining trunk mounted fold handle, Pandora internet radio control and all the fancy stuff that there should be in a modern compact crossover, the EX adds to it 17 inch alloy wheels and other luxuries like a sunroof, fog lights, body colored mirrors and door handles, rear privacy glass, a cargo cover and six speaker sound system. The EX-L boast everything along with roof rails, automatic headlights, heated mirrors, dual zone climate control, leather wrapped steering wheel and leather upholstery, eight way power driver seat with two way power lumbar, satellite radio and even a seven-spear surround sound system including a sub woofer.
Powered by a 2.4 liter four cylinder engine, the 2014 Honda CR-V runs on 185 horsepower and twists with 163 pound feet of torque and is mated to a five speed automatic transmission that comes standard with all the models. There is a choice for the buyers between front or all-wheel drive on all models. The fuel economy rates at 23 mpg city/31 mpg highway and 26 mpg combines while they drop by 1 mpg each in AWD models. The real world driving also testifies the numbers. The Honda CR-V greets the driver with a very precise steering wheel and commendably steady handling. Also, ride quality is smoother and unlike the previous generations, 2014 Honda CR-V sports a relatively quiet cabin.
The 2014 Honda CR-V faces tough completion with competitors like the Chevy Equinox, the 2014 Ford Escape, Hyundai Santa Fe Sport and of course the 2014 Mazda CX-5. In fact, the Jeep Cherokee and Subaru Forester also stand as strong alternative. And since the exterior of the 2014 Honda CR-V is quite bland and materials used in the cabin aren’t as high-quality as in some of the rivals, it seems hard to get excited about the vehicle. But for those who believe in making decisions based in practicality and sensibility rather than an emotional choice based on a highly stylish grille or amazingly plush interiors, nothing comes remotely close to the 2014 Honda CR-V.
2014 Kia Sorento Is The Safest SUV!
Among the vast number of compact SUVs that have been coming out in the market since crossovers gaining support over their truck based fathers, the 2014 Kia Sorento has stepped up and made a mark which might help in making the model a huge success in the SUV world. With the help of its brilliant safety features, the Sorento joined the Honda CR-V, Hyundai Santa Fe Sport, Mazda CX-5, Kia Sportage and Subaru Forester in the category of five star winners from the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration). Also, the 2014 Sorento gained a Top Safety Pick Rating from the IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety).
Orth Hedrick, the director of product planning in the US was quoted as saying, “Already a compelling entry in the compact SUV category, earning a five-Star rating from NHTSA makes the Sorento an even stronger contender within its segment while underscoring Kia’s overall commitment to delivering safety and exceptional value to our customers.” Officials at KIA stated that the vehicle showed great results in all the three categories of frontal crash, side crash as well as rollover crash.
The trend of making changes to an existing model so as to keep them on the top continues to breed within companies and the 2014 Sorento is the result of the same. Although the changes that Kia has made to the Sorento can barely be seen directly, there are still a number of structural changes which led to the five stars that the SUV now flaunts. If the company is to be believed, then the Sorento now sits on a new platform. Further, you might find a few changes in the exterior looks as well!
The new 2014 Kia Sorento features a mighty 3300cc V6 engine which is capable of providing a massive torque of 252 lb.-ft. (290HP). Paired with a highly efficient 6 speed automatic transmission system, this engine provides as much or even more thrust to the vehicle that any average user would want. The vehicle comes with an all-wheel drive drivetrain. A peculiar thing to note about the Sorento is that even though it is a compact SUV, it features a third row of seats. Yes, it is a seven seater! We like to say that the Sorento is hence, a bit larger than compact SUVs but way smaller than the large truck based ones. A nice new technology equipped in the 2014 model makes the SUV’s ride a lot more fun. We’re speaking of the FlexSteer option. The driver can choose between three modes of steering control as per his needs – Comfort Mode, Normal Mode and Sport Mode.
The conclusion that one can draw is that the 2014 Sorento is absolutely worth investing in. Being a perfect choice for families on account of the third row of seats, the Sorento just earned a factor which places it above most of the vehicles of the same category. Featuring such a good number of safety features, the SUV definitely earned the amazing ratings!