2013 Hyundai Santa Fe, the long hauler: Motoramic Drives

Santa Fe, N.M., was officially founded thirteen years before the Mayflower Pilgrims arrived in New England. The Spanish conquistador Don Pedro de Peralta christened the town in the early seventeenth history as “La Villa Real de la Santa Fé de San Francisco de Asís (Translation: “The Royal Town of the Holy Faith of St. Francis of Assisi.”)

Hyundai wasn’t the first to borrow the name for a mode of transportation that has nothing in common with the town: The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, founded in 1859, never actually reached Santa Fe. And the 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe isn’t the best choice for conquering the deep canyons around the Rio Grande that kept the railroads away.

But the nameplate has been a winner for Hyundai, so much so that the Santa Fe is now offered as both a short-wheel base and a long-wheel based package, which effectively replaces the Veracruz. The rationale for the rebranding campaign is not to confuse Hyundai conquests, but simply to attract more customers to the popular Santa Fe badge, according to the automaker’s marketers. You can now super size your Santa Fe to accommodate six and seven passengers.

I drove the 2013 Santa Fe where it belongs — in a decidedly urban environment, where the biggest crevice in the landscape is a formidable pothole, traveling from Manhattan to Mt. Kisco one recent fine New York City spring day. From the outside, the Santa Fe is not a bubble mobile; sharp curves taper back toward angular rear. In other words, you don’t have to look like your average commuter put-putting along with 1.5 kids, even if you happen to be one.