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Santa Fe Gallery
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| PERFORMANCE RATING: |
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This is no high-performance Range Rover Sport/ML 55 AMG rival, but the 2.2-litre diesel engine (148bhp, 225 lb-ft of torque) makes a good workaday choice.
It might not win any prizes for straight-line acceleration (0-60 in 11.6 secs with the manual gearbox, 12.9 secs for the auto) but it's strong enough to cruise comfortably at motorway speeds and should be well-suited to towing a good-sized caravan or lighter-weight horse trailer: it can pull up to 4,850lbs with the manual gearbox and 4,409lbs in automatic form.
We really can't see the appeal of the 2.7 V6 petrol version (186bhp, 183lb-ft). It's slower than the diesel (0-60 in 11.7 secs), largely due to that power-sapping four-speed auto gearbox, and generally lacks flexibility and mid-range muscle. It really struggles up steep hills unless you slot the gears down and rev it right up and is no quieter or smoother than the diesel on the motorway or when meandering round town.
UK buyers will not be offered the 3.3-litre petrol engine available in the US, at least at first, though if enough people ask for it, it could come here. If you've really got to have a petrol engine then it might be worth waiting for that.
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